How should educational companies acquire customers on Kuaishou?

2019 was a "winter period" for the education industry, and a number of old brands, including Web English, which had been established for 21 years, collapsed. But no one expected that a sudden epidemic would accelerate the migration of education from offline to online, making short videos the most popular way for educational institutions to acquire customers.

For example, short video courses and live teaching have naturally become the main ways for educational companies to attract customers and spread their brands at this stage.

1. Why should educational companies enter the short video field?

Looking at the mainstream customer acquisition platforms for domestic education, whether it is the previous Baidu investment, WeChat fission, or social e-commerce and Douyin in 2019, the channels are being overdrawn at an increasingly faster rate, the price of leads is rising, and scarce traffic has become an unbearable pain for the education industry.

According to the "2019 China Online Education Industry Market Outlook Analysis Report" released by the Forward-looking Industry Research Institute, the data shows that in the next few years, the scale of online education users will continue to grow at a rate of about 15%. By 2024, it is expected to exceed 400 million people, and the overall market size will exceed 450 billion yuan. The market potential is very large.

In this environment where traffic is too expensive and companies are forced to look for new traffic pools, Kuaishou, a high-traffic content platform that has not been developed by the education industry due to its low-quality and rustic image, has also entered the field of vision of entrepreneurs.

According to the "2019 Kuaishou Education Ecosystem Report" released by Kuaishou Big Data Research Institute, there are currently more than 1 million education-related short video creators on the Kuaishou platform, and the average daily live broadcast of education-related content reaches 2.2 billion times, covering more than 100 million people, and the average daily viewing time is about 734 years.

Although there are more than 990,000 teachers on Kuaishou, the gap in the education market is still huge compared to the nearly 300 million daily active users, and the gap on other short video platforms is basically similar.

Therefore, for the education industry, the opportunities of "short video + live broadcast + education" are just like when people talked about "Internet +" in 2015. The sources of customers and traffic trends are relatively clear.

2. How do educational companies acquire customers on short video platforms?

On November 25, 2019, Ma Hongbin, senior vice president of Kuaishou, publicly announced that Kuaishou will set aside 6.66 billion traffic to subsidize education accounts before the Spring Festival. This year, many companies are likely to choose Kuaishou as the main channel for short video channels, so Kuaishou will be used as an example below.

1. Education accounts that have already settled in Kuaishou

In fact, there have been educational accounts entering Kuaishou to develop short videos since a long time ago. Among them, the following are the most well-known brands:

(1) Homework Helper

Estimated number of matrix accounts: 300 (including 10 official accounts and 290 personal accounts)

Estimated total number of fans: 1 million

[Zuoyebang official account] was registered on February 28, 2019. It has published 102 works so far. The publishing frequency has become weekly since December 2019. It mainly introduces Zuoyebang live classes and related teachers. 29 videos were released in February, with an average playback volume of 1,000+.

The main user group of Zuoyebang is basically concentrated on two top accounts where real people appear to explain the corresponding subject questions. Among them, the account [Homework Help Math Teacher] with 557,000 followers has released 187 works since it was registered on October 1, 2019. The update frequency is basically daily. The number of views of each video is more than 10,000, and the highest number of views for a single video has exceeded 3 million.

Since its registration on September 29, 2019, [Homework Helper Math Teacher] has released 147 works, with an average playback volume of about 10,000.

(2) Xueersi

Estimated number of matrix numbers: 280

Estimated total number of fans: 1.2 million

【Xueersi Light Course】mainly produces videos in the form of comics and animations. The first video released on October 26, 2019 had over 180,000 views. A total of 161 videos were subsequently released, and the number of views of a single video was basically no less than 40,000.

Accounts like [Xueersi Light Class Math Teacher] were registered between 2019.10.26 and 2019.10.30, and are updated at a frequency of 1 to 2 videos per day, with an average playback volume of around 2w.

The characters of the accounts under Xueersi are very well designed. For example, the Chinese teacher Yueyue teaches in ancient costume, and the literacy brother Peng creates a suspenseful atmosphere to output knowledge. In addition, the best performance of Xueersi should be the independent account without brand name, such as [Wenquxing who will pass every exam], which currently has 563,000 followers.

(3) Who to learn from

Estimated number of matrix numbers: 170

Estimated total number of fans: 1.6 million

Compared with other educational corporate accounts, top matrix accounts such as [Geshuixue] with hundreds of thousands of followers basically started operating in December 2019, and it has only been 3 months so far. Therefore, it has to be said that these accounts of [Geshuixue] understand the user psychology of the Kuaishou platform very well and will take advantage of hot topics.

For example, its Chinese language account has video captions full of handsome men and beautiful women, including screenshots of popular TV series and anime. It not only naturally attracts the attention of students, but also attracts the attention of fans of such dramas and animations. Finally, it is supplemented by the famous quotes from popular dramas and animations and the BGM, which can easily resonate with people and expand the audience circle for the second time.

Therefore, the number of video views of the top accounts of [Geshuixue] starts from 100,000, and it is common to exceed one million.

(4) Yuanfudao

Matrix number: 300+

Estimated total number of fans: 12w

Different from Xueersi and Zuoyebang, which vigorously operate their own accounts, Yuanfudao mainly uses the [Yuanfudao Teacher] account and only posts some information, previews, and small knowledge videos.

However, since the first video was released on July 17, 2018, the daily update operation stopped until December 11, 2018, and was not resumed until February 5, 2020. Only 14 videos have been released so far. However, some personal accounts under Yuanfudao are updated irregularly.

(5) VIPKID

Number of matrix numbers: 50+

Estimated total number of fans: 2w+

[VIPKID official account] The first video was released on September 10, 2019. After that, the updates were more casual. It was not until February of this year that weekly updates began to be maintained.

VIPKID North American Foreign Teacher Classroom only joined Kuaishou in January this year and has released 31 works so far. All the videos feature North American foreign teachers. The number of views is currently unstable, with most of them ranging from 4k to 13k.

In addition, companies such as Zhangmen One-to-One, Jiemidui, and Xiaoyuan Search have not yet made any large-scale moves to seize Kuaishou's traffic.

2. How to acquire customers specifically?

Because before the Spring Festival, Kuaishou allocated 6.66 billion yuan in traffic subsidies to education accounts, and compared with the traffic blocking between WeChat and Douyin, the traffic exchange between WeChat and Kuaishou will make the sharing operation much smoother, which is very suitable for companies that already have WeChat fan groups to start on Kuaishou.

In general, there are six ways for educational accounts to gain customers on Kuaishou :

(1) Content

(2) Follow the trend

(3) Live broadcast + group chat

(4) Charting

(5) Delivery

(6) Make good use of the recommendation mechanism

Let’s take a look at these six customer acquisition methods one by one.

(1) Content

Content is the daily and core means of increasing followers. The quality of your works must be stable, the voice and image must be consistent, and the field must be vertical. Only then can users remember what kind of teacher you are, what kind of personality traits you have, and what you mainly teach us.

For example, Yuanfudao has several accounts under it, 310, and each account has a different content positioning:

• The Yuanfudao teacher with 70,000 fans does not need to appear in person, but only provides some information, previews, and small knowledge in the video;
• Yuanfudao online education just broadcasts video ads;
• Other personal accounts, such as "猿扶道xxx老师", are all about personal life.

Some people may have doubts about the third type of content: "It's supposed to be teaching, but how can anyone watch it if I just show my daily life content?"

Let’s speak with facts.

A video made from a collection of ordinary life photos has reached nearly 450,000 views, 30,000+ likes, and nearly 4,000 comments in 2 weeks. The other videos of this teacher have basically all received over 10,000 views, and almost all the comments are from students, who all say:

• "The teacher is so handsome, I want to listen to his class!"
• "I want to be a sophomore in high school right away!"
• "Can the teacher come teach in junior high school?!"
• "Praise this teacher so much, can he come teach physics?"

Why can an ordinary video achieve such an effect?

【1】Insight into the audience + contrast

Because Kuaishou's users are very low-end, students in ordinary third- and fourth-tier cities, and even fifth- and sixth-tier cities, mostly lack educational resources, and most of the teachers they meet are older and serious. These teachers rarely have "common language" with children, and even the most amiable teachers find it difficult to "get along" with students.

Therefore, the image of a teacher who is young, energetic, sunny, handsome and non-preachy has a strong visual impact and appeal to these children.

【2】Reality

In the videos, he goes out to play, stays in bed and doesn’t want to get up, and he also posts delicious food to deliberately “seduce” people. The video content is natural and real, showing the same emotions as children. There is no sense of oppression brought by the identity of "teacher", so children will feel close to the teacher and there is no identity barrier.

The living environment such as clothing, food, housing and transportation that he revealed in the video will quietly affect some children on the Kuaishou platform, and invisibly stimulate these children to study hard and pursue these good things.

A similar situation is with Mr. Li from Yuanfudao, where some students even took the initiative to post videos to express their love for the teacher, which invisibly added a new source of customers for the brand.

(2) Follow the trend

For the education industry, hot topics are the most difficult to pursue, because most universal hot topics have nothing to do with education. For example, Xiao Zhan, who has become the new top traffic star thanks to the hit drama “The Untamed”, should we invite him to give a lecture? Don't make trouble, I can't afford that money.

So is there really no way for educational accounts to take advantage of this hot topic? In the personal account of Matrix under Xueersi, there is a math teacher who has a unique way of doing things.

"It is known that Xiao Zhan has 2 million fans. How many days will it take for the whole world to be his fans? Assuming..."

Compose questions based on Xiao Zhan-related data to reduce student users' resistance. Use answers such as the number of global fans, which can easily arouse gossip, to guide students to calculate the results.

In addition, after the broadcast of "Better Days", apps like [Geshuixue-Gaofen Classroom] seized the traffic hotspot of Yi Yang Qianxi among the young group, and easily obtained nearly 1.2 million views and nearly 200,000 likes by using a combination of movie screenshots + movie copywriting collection + current popular songs.

Using the screenshots of the hit TV series "Joy of Life" as an example, to catch a top star like Xiao Zhan, there is no need for too much technical intervention, and 76w+ traffic and 12w+ likes can be obtained.

Therefore, the hot spots of short video platforms can be the recent popular BGM on the platform, or they can be topics or challenges. In short, combining the latest popular elements with educational content can potentially gain a lot of exposure and quickly attract fans.

(3) Live broadcast + group chat

Live streaming is one of the best ways to increase followers and make transactions on short video platforms, because it is interactive, which makes users feel more involved and allows for instant questions and answers.

The Kuaishou group chat function is similar to the QQ group. It allows users to apply to join and screen accurate users. Then, through group notifications, it ensures that potential users can receive live broadcast information as soon as possible.

In addition, during the live broadcast, you can also ask everyone in the live broadcast room to share the link on WeChat, or increase the efficiency of increasing followers by sending red envelopes, connecting to the microphone, etc.

To put it simply: "Live streaming is fun, and it's fun all the time if you keep live streaming."

(4) Charting

The source of increasing followers by ranking high is the gameplay of e-commerce and entertainment anchors, who can occupy the top positions on the list by sending a small amount of gifts. Then make an agreement with the live broadcast teacher to guide users to follow your account.

(5) Delivery

The Kuaishou account investment is similar to Dou+ investment, and it is one of the fastest ways to increase followers. One is to deliver it to users within the site, using the CPM exposure logic; the other is to deliver it to one’s own fans, allowing the work to be pinned to the top, similar to Weibo’s fan channel. Before the New Year, the price for 1,000 exposures was about 8 yuan, and sometimes there were discounts.

The core of advertising is to calculate ROI. You can evaluate the effect of advertising through exposure, playback, and cost per single fan, and carry out subsequent optimization.

(6) Make good use of the recommendation mechanism

There are six indicators that affect Kuaishou's recommendation mechanism:

aNumber of likes

When we see a Kuaishou video, there is a heart in the upper left corner. The more hearts there are, the more likely it is to be popular.

bCompletion rate

Whether the user has finished reading your content or only read half of it, this is used to identify the quality of our content and user preference, which is related to our recommendation volume

Number of comments

By reading more comments on your peers’ videos, you will be able to find ways to guide users to leave comments. The more comments the better.

dForwarding quantity

Retweeting itself can bring us accurate traffic. Just think about why others would retweet your Kuaishou video and you will know how to create 15-second Kuaishou content.

Number of followers

Most people will look at the works on the Kuaishou homepage before deciding whether to follow it. If there are few works on the homepage and the quality is not high, I will stop following it.

f Past weight

Whether it is illegal, whether it is vertical, and the number of videos released

So as long as you do:

• Master the release time. There is no best time, only the most suitable time.
• Focus on improving the four indicators of likes, comments, reposts, and completion rate;
• Actively participating in topic challenges can increase the chances of being recommended;
• Continuous operation.

Old videos also have the chance to become popular again. This is the "re-watching" phenomenon, also jokingly called "digging up the graves". (This is the case with some videos pinned by accounts)

3. Misconceptions in customer acquisition for education companies

There are also big differences in the users of different short video platforms. For example, Kuaishou’s users are more down-to-earth than those of Douyin.

A big misconception among education companies is that: my offline lectures are all students, and there are many students who watch short videos, so if I post educational content on the short video platform, there will be students watching it.

I just want to ask: For companies that create video accounts with this kind of thinking, has your account died?

You have to know that offline orders are negotiated with parents. How many children take the initiative to ask to go to classes? Even offline he is "forced" to study by his parents, so will he choose to watch boring educational content in his free time when he has short videos?

No way! He would quickly swipe away to watch interesting, entertaining things, such as funny videos and gaming videos.

After collecting statistics on user behavior, the recommendation mechanism of the short video platform will recommend more and more funny videos and game videos to children. Your educational content will have fewer and fewer opportunities to be exposed to children.

This is one of the fundamental reasons why many educational accounts have no viewers.

For example, on Zuoyebang, the same video content but different user attributes results in a 20-fold difference in the number of views.

Therefore, you need to first understand the attributes of your intended audience. For example, if you want to register and operate an account on Kuaishou, and you find that many users are from rural areas, lack educational resources, or drop out of school early due to financial reasons, then you may be more popular if you output some educational content with strong practicality, popular science, life, or historical stories.

Source: Kas Data-2019.08

Nowadays, the TikTok market has begun to gradually sink, and the educational content section has also undergone some changes. You can reply [TikTok Sinking] in the background of Bird Brother's Notes official account to receive the PDF version of "Analysis of TikTok's Sinking Market".

4. The future is promising

There are only two reasons why companies enter short video platforms: to expand brand publicity and to promote subsequent conversions. However, there is still a long way to go for educational accounts to balance content and marketing and successfully acquire traffic.

However, it must be admitted that Kuaishou's layout in the education track has been officially and widely rolled out. For education companies, short video platforms have become the main traffic price depression, and it is a trend for education and training companies to settle in short video platforms. Whoever seizes traffic first and verifies the ability of educational companies to commercialize on Kuaishou as quickly as possible will have the opportunity to maximize the benefits.

Don’t be afraid of entering the market late, insist on high-quality output, now is the best time!

Author: Wang Twelve

Source: Wang Twelve