How to apply star-chasing publicity channels to brand marketing?

The channels used by star-chasing fans to promote their idols are the same as when we do marketing promotions. The difference is that star-chasing fans use all-round coverage when promoting their idols, while we selectively choose channels for promotion.

Celebrities need publicity and exposure, and these things are not only done by the companies and teams behind the celebrities, but also by fans. They hope to do their best to promote their idols so that more people can know the good of their idols and make their idols' star journey smoother.

So how do fans and fan sites promote their idols? Through which channels and platforms is the promotion carried out? What is the rhythm of publicity? How effective is the publicity? Can we use the promotional channels chosen by fans and fan sites when chasing stars in our marketing?

Let’s take a look at the star-chasing publicity channels.

Clarify the theme and purpose of the promotion

Before looking at the promotional channels, we must first clarify the promotional theme and purpose. No one will do promotion for no reason, and the same goes for fans. Therefore, the first thing to do every time you promote is to determine the promotional theme, or more bluntly, to clarify the promotional content. What is the content theme of this promotion? The purpose of publicity is to make it clear what effect you want to achieve?

These two common questions determine the channels we choose for promotion. Where should we advertise our idol’s songs? Where should dramas promoting idols be aired? Where should we place advertisements for idols’ brand endorsements?

In order to list as many channels as possible, I will take the idol’s birthday party as an example.

Idol birthday parties are usually held offline, and live broadcasts are also held online. From this, we can see that our promotional themes are two-fold:

1. Congratulations to my idol on his birthday.
2. Spread the news about your idol’s birthday party live broadcast .

The purpose of publicity also corresponds to it:

1. I hope more people know what my idol’s name is and what he looks like, so as to increase his popularity.
2. Attract people to watch live broadcasts or learn about idols and accept recommendations from fans.

Below I will divide the entire promotion process into three stages: warm-up period, activity period, and after the activity ends. Let’s take a look at what channels and methods fans and fan sites use to achieve the promotion goals.

Warm-up period promotion - online and offline channels and methods

When chasing stars, based on the fans' love for their idols, the birthday party can be said to be the most important event of the year for every fan. Therefore, the promotion is also particularly attentive and comprehensive, and the warm-up period is also very long.

The promotional pre-heating period for a birthday party like an 18-year-old coming-of-age ceremony may even start planning and launching a year in advance, because the fan base is large and there are many fan sites, which means there are many people doing the promotion. Although they are all around the same theme, they all have their own plans, so the time period is long.

This is different from our regular marketing activities . The regular marketing warm-up period will not exceed one month. Most of the time, it is a warm-up period of one or two weeks because there is only one company doing this. Ignoring the time period of the warm-up period, let’s take a look at what kind of promotions fans and fan sites have done on which channels respectively.

1. Online

• Social platforms: Weibo (fan groups’ own production (videos, pictures, texts), self-media influencers , brand partners’ official blogs, media platforms’ official blogs); WeChat (fan- operated WeChat public accounts , fans’ personal friend circles , WeChat self-media influencers); QQ (fan groups, fans’ personal QQ spaces);
• Social information platforms: Douban , Zhihu, Tieba , etc. (open screen hard advertising, in-site graphic and text publishing).
• Short video platforms: Tik Tok , Meipai , Weishi , Miaopai, etc. (open screen hard ads, platform-initiated interactive activities).
• Video media platforms: iQiyi , Youku, Mango TV , Tencent, etc. (open screen hard advertising, self-production by fan groups, platform proactively opening up activity columns, platform inviting fans to produce and then displaying in columns, homepage recommendations, self-made entertainment information news program news broadcasts).
• Star-chasing entertainment platforms: Bilibili Animation, Yin Yue Tai, etc. (opening screen hard advertising, self-produced by fan groups).

In addition to fan investment in the above channels, the idol’s publicity team and event co-organizers will also participate in the investment.

Whether it is chasing stars or doing marketing, when making a publicity plan, we need to analyze the characteristics of the target audience according to the publicity theme and publicity purpose in all publicity channels and platforms, such as: idol birthday party promotion.

The main target groups are young people who are interested in entertainment and fans of idols. The main publicity channel is online, and the main publicity platform is Weibo, because Weibo is the social platform with the most concentrated and fastest dissemination of entertainment information, and it is also the platform where idols themselves reside.

In addition to the independent promotion by fans and fan sites and the promotion by idol teams, most self-media also actively participate in the promotion for their own interests.

2. Offline

• Transportation: airports (LCD screen hard advertising), airplanes (body advertising, boarding passes, in-cabin TVs, wifi connection pages, helicopter banner tours, etc.), high-speed rail stations (LCD screen hard advertising, in-car TVs), buses (bus stop sign hard advertising, bus body advertising, in-bus TVs), subways (subway station hard advertising, subway car TVs), cars (passenger station screen hard advertising, car TVs), taxis (taxi lighted electronic text screens, in-car broadcasts), cruise ships (offline on-board activities, wheel body advertising, external LED light advertising, cruise ship TVs), shared bicycles ( OFO , Mobike , Qingju and other APP opening screen hard advertising, joint promotions).
• Buildings: city landmarks (external LED screen hard advertising), shopping malls (LED screen video, hard advertising in shopping malls, elevator advertising ), buildings (external text and light hard advertising), residential areas (locker LED screen, elevator advertising).
• Traditional media: newspapers (advertising, publication of event content), television stations (advertising on local television channels).
• Offline stores: cinemas [in-cinema LED screen advertising, pre-screening advertising], restaurants [customized product packaging, customized roll-up banners, customized table stickers, customized table signs], banks [media machine advertising].
• Public welfare: donations and condolences to nursing homes, donations and condolences to cleaners, condolences and donations to welfare homes, environmental protection, desert soil and water conservation, vegetation protection, animal protection, helping students realize their dreams, establishing Hope Primary Schools, environmental management and protection, condolences to veterans, assistance to the disabled, etc.
• Offline gatherings of fan groups: Fans from different regions post event information on Weibo to call on fans from all regions to hold offline events at a unified time, location, and clothing (or other specific symbols). The content of the event usually includes recording videos, preparing birthday gifts by hand, etc. The final product will be recorded with video and shared on various online platforms.
• Others: hot air balloons [customized hot air balloons, banners with greetings], stars [naming], houses and land [gift of right of residence and right of use].

The offline publicity between fans and fan base follows the principle of all-round carpet-style publicity, covering the land, sea and air. This publicity method also includes topic marketing and event marketing . Some unconventional publicity methods, such as helicopters, cruise ships, etc. can be used as materials for topic marketing and event marketing, and feed back from offline to online.

Such techniques are also very common in commercial marketing. For example, when Bestore launched a new product, it contracted the Shanghai Global Harbor Twin Towers, danced together, and accumulated energy to ignite the Internet celebrity landmark - "58 floors, 248 meters, 8 sides with a total of 48,000 square meters, and a 360-degree twin-tower giant screen."

Promotion during the event: online and offline channels and methods

After the warm-up period of promotion, it is time to test the results when the event begins. The effectiveness of the warm-up period promotion can be evaluated through the live broadcast viewing data and the popularity of real-time dynamic sharing. So what we need to do during the event is to participate in the event to make the event data look better.

1. Online

• Social platforms: Weibo [real-time sharing of activity updates, sharing of emoticon output, sharing of animated images, sharing of beautiful images , keyword hot searches, hot topics, real-time popular Weibo posts], WeChat [real-time sharing of updates in Moments].
• Video Media Platform: Real-time webcast of partner platforms.

2. Offline

Commercial stores: Fans organize offline gatherings to watch real-time broadcasts.

As mentioned in the previous promotional objectives, one of the purposes is to attract people to watch the live broadcast or learn about idols and accept fans' recommendations. The live broadcast also started when the event started, which means that the promotional effect and purpose of the warm-up period have been reflected.

As participants of the event, fans only need to watch the live broadcast and keep up with the popularity of Weibo, the key online promotional social platform. The promotion they do is also real-time dynamic promotion.

Post-event promotion: online and offline channels and methods

The end of an event does not mean the end of the entire promotion. You should produce a lot of things worth sharing during the event, and add the last bit of fuel to it before the heat of the previous warm-up and promotional effects during the event has completely dissipated.

Activity data reporting and review of the highlights of the event can continue the popularity of the event and make people have a deeper impression of the event. Data is particularly important in this regard. Because it is the most intuitive, just like the sales of Taobao and Tmall on Double Eleven every year, a string of numbers can make people continue to climax.

on-line:

• Social platform - Weibo [sharing of videos, pictures, blog posts, emoticons, hand-drawn, voice and other outputs, hot topics, keyword searches, real-time popular Weibo posts, and summary analysis reports on fan circle activities];
• Short video platforms - Tik Tok, Meipai, Weishi, Miaopai, etc. [sharing of video output, sharing of program content recording, sharing of program clips];
• Video media platforms - iQiyi, Youku, Mango TV, Tencent, etc. [replay of event content, display of program clips from the platform in the event column, display of fans' output in the event column, and news broadcast of self-made entertainment news programs];
• Star-chasing entertainment platforms - Bilibili Animation, Yinyuetai, etc. [sharing of video output, sharing of program content recording, sharing of program clips];
• Social information platforms - Douban, Zhihu, Tieba, etc. [long graphic analysis of program content, long graphic analysis of idol and fan performance in activities, and release of activity review content].

From the length of the stages, it can be seen that the highlight of the entire publicity period is the warm-up period, because it directly affects our publicity purposes. The publicity and summary analysis after the event are also very important, which can not only consolidate the popularity and improve the data, but also provide experience for the next event promotion .

This series of channels that fans use to promote their idols when chasing stars can be fully utilized in commercial marketing. However, the amount of use needs to be determined based on the aforementioned promotional theme, promotional purpose, characteristics of the target audience, and promotional budget. The above channels can be combined arbitrarily, or a single channel can be selected for promotion.

In fact, after reading the full text, you will find that these are the channels for publicity, covering land, sea and air. The channels used by star-chasing fans to promote their idols are the same as when we do marketing promotions. The difference is that star-chasing fans use all-round coverage when promoting their idols, while we selectively choose channels for promotion. It can be understood that the fishing tools are the same, but the fish caught are different.

If you don’t know how to start when doing promotion, I hope that reading this article can give you some inspiration and let you know what online and offline channels you can use.

Author: Brother’s Innocence, authorized to publish by Qinggua Media .

Source: Brother's Innocence