Spending tens of thousands of dollars to bring an observation of fan circle marketing activities

With the continued popularity of many "star-making programs" such as "Idol Producer" and "Produce 101", the influence of fans has been recognized by brands . As an ordinary fan who started in March this year, I have joined 50+ fan groups, used 20+ mini-programs to vote for my idol, and spent more than 10,000 yuan on the road of chasing stars. While happily chasing stars, I am also observing fan circle marketing and classifying and sorting it out, hoping to bring some inspiration to friends who need to be exposed to fan circle marketing.

Marketing activity classification

Marketing activities centered around celebrities and fan clubs can be divided into three categories: e- commerce marketing that uses celebrity endorsements as a combination to drive sales, fan club product marketing that uses celebrity portraits and rights as a guide for fans to drive traffic to products, and video pre-marketing that uses deep celebrity involvement as a gimmick to build momentum for variety shows.

E-commerce marketing (taking new product endorsement as an example):

For e-commerce marketing activities taking celebrity endorsements as an example, the key is how to balance the demands of the brand and fans, and rationally utilize the influence of celebrities to guide fans to purchase.

By preheating and creating momentum and achieving conversion through content (circling seed users , the first wave of conversion), leverage the power of the fan base to spread the virus , then stimulate purchases by unlocking benefits (the second step of conversion within the fan base), and continuously guide purchases by generating high-quality UGC content through fans posting their orders (the third step of conversion outside the circle).

For marketing planners, it is necessary to clarify the output direction and brand purpose of fan event planning and to control brand expectations in advance.

Fan circle product marketing (taking ranking activities as an example)

Background: There are many niche products targeting fan circles, such as "Super Star Fan Club", "Magic Fan Student", "Owhat" and other apps, and many small programs, such as "Star Power List" and "Orange Idol". The profit model of these applications is still unknown. It is speculated that they can attract precise fan traffic and make profits through advertising or selling peripherals.

For these applications, the current demand is to attract a group of precise users, namely the fan base, while for fans, it is to help idols obtain relevant rights and interests. The "ranking" function can best meet the needs of both.

Creating a hit that goes viral also requires certain marketing actions, such as packaging during festivals, targeting precise user groups, and creating a battle atmosphere among fans.

Variety show marketing (a brief introduction)

Due to the deep involvement of celebrities, variety show marketing is the most popular among fan groups. Successful variety show marketing, from the beginning to the end, can launch activities among fan groups to guide fans to deeply participate, and continue to drive traffic to the program. For example, before the recording of the program, fans can vote to help their idols obtain program props. During the recording of the program, fans can help idols unlock Easter egg props and assign tasks. After the program ends, fans spontaneously produce content to recommend their idols and the program, such as editing videos. For some individual programs, direct monetization of fan traffic will be achieved, such as purchasing memberships and purchasing products from partners to vote for idols.

Key points of marketing activities

After analyzing the above three types of celebrity fan marketing activities, we can extract the following key points for successful marketing activities:

Balance the demands of sponsors and fans: sponsors provide the money, and fans are willing to work hard to buy things for their idols, but excessive promotion of sales will be counterproductive. Fans’ feelings should not be completely ignored in order to take care of the sponsors’ sales.

Counterexample: A brand signed a boy band as its spokesperson and announced real-time sales on its official website. At first, fans would buy crazily for the ranking, but the top three idols in terms of sales ability were given a smiley face icon, and the bottom three were given a crying face icon, which caused dissatisfaction among fans. Finally, the brand came out to apologize.

(1) Establish a mechanism to deeply involve fans in activities

Any marketing must take into account the stratification of user behavior . It is necessary to retain users who are lightly involved, while also allowing deeply involved users to have fun. Fan groups are willing to participate deeply, and the depth of participation in activities can be increased by setting up small tasks, games , viral sharing and other mechanisms.

(2) Targeted group delivery + breaking through fan circle KOL

In addition to finding precise fan groups (Weibo super topics, Rabbit Zones, Douban groups, WeChat QQ groups, etc.) to target, you can also make breakthroughs through fan circle KOLs. Information can be released by support stations and fan leaders with appeal, which can make the event more influential.

(3) Clarify the core outputs of the activity

Even with the hottest traffic, the number of fans on Weibo super topics is only a few million. After all, the number of active fans in a celebrity’s fan circle is limited, and their purchasing power is even more limited. When doing celebrity marketing activities, it is necessary to clarify the core output and not focus on improving indicators that are difficult to improve.

A little bit of discussion

1. Can we give fans more conversion motivation?

• Idea 1: Can celebrity-endorsed products be purchased in groups, which can not only satisfy fans’ purchasing demands but also help the brand to increase sales?
• Idea 2: For fans who really lack purchasing power, their enthusiasm can also be mobilized. They can participate in activities to complete tasks, and while promoting their idols, they can also purchase products at a lower price.

2. How to go from inside the circle to outside the circle?

There is no clue on this issue yet...

3. How should brands manage this group of users in the future?

• Idea 1: Encourage users to continuously produce content, and brands to organize content and continuously promote conversions.
• Idea 2: Reversely promote the brand through fans, such as understanding fans' demands for products and brands, encouraging the brand to produce new customized/gimmicky models, and giving them to fans/selling them at low prices through marketing activities.

4. Can there be bigger event marketing ?

• Combining signed celebrities and charity to create activities will not only enhance the brand image, but also attract fans and passers-by.

Thank you for reading. This is my second time writing, so there must be many shortcomings. You are welcome to leave a message for communication and advice.

Source: coincidence2go