No matter how big the matter is, it all depends on the circle of friends.

From the excitement of winning the Olympic Games to the clever placement of brand advertisements, WeChat Moments, with its unique social magic, has become a new battlefield for event marketing. This article will take you to explore the power of Moments advertising, explain why the battlefield of brand marketing has quietly shifted, and how we can find our place in this marketing feast.

01

As early as August 1st, when Zheng Qinwen played the first game, someone in my circle of friends was shocked that she was beating Schwiatek so badly that he posted three messages in a row to express his respect.

When she won the championship, my circle of friends exploded. As I scrolled down, all I saw was Zheng Qinwen, Zheng Qinwen, Zheng Qinwen, Zheng Qinwen, Zheng Qinwen.

I liked each post and read them one by one.

Some explained the value of a singles gold medal, some shouted “Ahhhhh” hundreds of times in ecstasy, some analyzed how powerful her inside corner cutting and volleying shots were, and some were worried that tennis coaches would take the opportunity to raise prices and that they would not be able to get courts.

Later, a WeChat Moments interactive ad was stubbornly squeezed in:

Bawang Tea Princess celebrated Zheng Qinwen's gold medal by inviting everyone to swipe right and fist-bump with the Olympic athlete, and gave away 100,000 free meals.

If you show me an advertisement when I'm browsing content somewhere else, I will definitely frown.

What bad luck! What the hell is advertising again?

But on such a happy day and surrounded by a bunch of familiar people cheering for Zheng Qinwen, this advertisement is very pleasing.

You see, it didn't say anything else, just excitedly exclaimed like an old friend that Zheng Qinwen is really awesome, and then said to me, buddy, let's cheer for the Olympic athletes and give them a fist bump.

He also gave me a chance to get a free meal. Today, all the bills were paid by Mr. Ba.

What can I think?

I have liked all the posts, so I will definitely give Ba Wang Cha Ji a right swipe.

This kind of opportunity to create an advertisement that is pleasing, unobtrusive, covers a huge population, and integrates advertising into users' lives is extremely rare.

In a sense, you can't find this kind of gameplay outside of the circle of friends.

02

After watching for this period of time, I also discovered a very interesting phenomenon.

If you don’t check WeChat groups or Moments, you will probably feel that this Olympics lacks volume.

Whether it is a social platform or a content platform, users seem to be still chatting about the usual topics or watching Xiaoshuai and Xiaomei.

Such a big event seems to be just a small episode in these places. There is information, but not much.

If you only look at these platforms, you might even think that big event marketing is no longer possible.

If even the Olympics can’t attract users’ attention, what’s the point of big event marketing?

It’s no use. My defenses are broken. I can’t stay in this industry anymore.

But if you look at the Moments with the three characters Zheng Qinwen, or even the Moments ads posted by Bawangchaji with a lot of likes from common friends, you will discover another world——

A world where big events retain enormous influence even in the midst of fragmented information.

As long as you find the right place, big events will still be big events and there will still be a lot of traffic.

It's not just the Olympics.

The end of all major events actually lies in WeChat Moments.

03

This is not nonsense, there is evidence.

I have joined many WeChat groups and have thousands of friends on WeChat.

During this period, I have seen a lot of discussions about the Olympics in various WeChat groups and friend circles.

In any group, as long as someone forwards a certain game, many people will immediately pop up to discuss it.

After an important game, many people will express their feelings or complaints in their circle of friends, and there will be passionate arguments in the comment section.

And hidden in this real traffic that can be targeted to specific people are huge opportunities for event marketing.

In the past, it was very monotonous for brands to take advantage of major events such as the Olympics. They could only spend money to cover places where consumers might appear.

Spend tens of millions or even hundreds of millions on sponsorship, and advertise crazily on major platforms, and people will naturally see you when they discuss the Olympics.

But if you still do this now, you are really wasting money.

It’s not that traditional channels are completely useless, but if you only invest in traditional channels, then they are completely useless.

Why?

Because you will miss the places where traffic from major events really gather, the efficiency of your delivery will be very low, and the money spent will not be worth it.

In the current industry environment, low efficiency is tantamount to suicide, which means you will lose a few colleagues.

Think about next month’s mortgage, think about your family and children, and be more careful when spending money.

Of course we have to take advantage of a major event like the Olympics, but we can’t do it blindly, and certainly not by spending money on it.

The key battlefield for major event marketing is in the WeChat ecosystem, in WeChat groups, and in WeChat Moments.

When fighting a war, do we also have to deploy troops to key positions?

When you do big event marketing, the budget is your manpower.

You have to throw them to the right position at the right time, using the right method.

That is, invest in your circle of friends.

04

Big events require big money, big publicity, and big noise.

When it comes to WeChat Moments ads, there is never a lack of “big”.

What's so big?

1. The deeper the emotional foundation with users, the more firmly a brand will be remembered.

Compared with public social platforms, semi-private places like Moments are naturally more suitable for carrying users' personal emotions.

As long as brands seize moments like the Olympics and Chinese Valentine's Day when users generally release their emotions in their circle of friends, they can easily lay a deep emotional foundation for themselves.

Why do we need an emotional foundation?

Because advertising not only needs to be seen by users, but also needs to be remembered by users.

Deep emotional resonance is the key to a brand being remembered by users.

I was walking on the street and looked up to see a billboard. In between watching short videos, I saw a commercial. I did see this commercial, but its impact on me was minimal. It was over and I forgot about it immediately.

But if you can get into my circle of friends and play with me as a friend, then I will most likely remember you.

Because we have things that happened together, time that we spent together, and emotions that we have resonated with together.

2. Through completely different advertising methods, distinctive brand expression can be achieved.

Compared with most traditional channels, Moments ads not only have rich and diverse display forms, but are also not restricted by time and layout, and have a broader space for development.

To give a few examples, during the opening ceremony, I was browsing my Moments and saw Alibaba Cloud setting off fireworks and showing off its operations, demonstrating how it [used AI-driven cloud computing technology to support the global cloud broadcast of the Paris Olympics].

I may not know what this means or how Alibaba Cloud did it, but I can definitely feel its grand presence, strength and capabilities.

When the game had its highlight moment, I checked my Moments and saw that Jindian invited me to cheer for the Chinese athletes. Should I cheer for them?

I can give it a boost.

Now Jindian also lets me pat Zheng Qinwen, Zhang Yufei, Pan Zhanle as familiarly and cordially as I pat my friends in the Shashao group...

My fingers are numb from slapping them.

Then tell me, how can I forget Alibaba Cloud and Jindian?

At first glance, it seems that users watching fireworks in their Moments, taking photos and chatting under the ads are not as impressive as buying trending searches on other major platforms.

But when you advertise, are you trying to look good and deceive yourself, or are you trying to achieve conversions and results?

If it is the latter, the penetration and influence of the circle of friends will definitely be beyond your imagination.

Good conversion requires subtle influx of information and digging deep anchor points in the user's life.

The event is a big event, but what can really make users remember the big event and your brand are always the small details and little fun things in the small circle.

And compared to buying trending searches everywhere, Moments advertising has another advantage -

Be able to lock users' emotions on the brand as much as possible.

Hot searches will inevitably lead to clashes of different opinions. Once users start arguing, it is actually difficult for them to pay attention to what the brand wants to express.

However, there is almost no such risk in Moments ads. Users only see you, pay attention to you, and remember you in the end.

3. With high-frequency and in-depth interactions, you can have a "lasting love" with users

Advertisements that fail to trigger user interaction are like a one-sided relationship, destined to be a tragedy.

But if you advertise on WeChat Moments, you will never lack interaction.

Why wouldn’t I interact with billboards on the roadside or ads that flash by on short video platforms?

One is that most traditional advertisements do not have interactive functions, and the other is that users have no motivation to interact at all.

Who am I interacting with?

It can't be just for self-entertainment.

However, when users interact with Moments ads, other people in the Moments can see it.

Even this interaction itself is an expression of user attitude.

Moreover, Moments ads can be forwarded with one click or viewed by @friends, spreading explosively in the user’s social circle.

Just like the interactive advertisement in the circle of friends of Anta + Fan Zhendong’s championship, as soon as the brand is launched, it will be liked by all parties.

This like is not just for this advertisement, not just for this brand, but also for Fan Zhendong's hard-earned Grand Slam.

This strong emotion derived from major events is the perfect bond between users and brands.

05

The key point is that WeChat is behind the Moments ads.

In other words, it is the huge ecosystem of WeChat.

On the one hand, the WeChat ecosystem has sufficient and rich technical reserves.

No matter what creative ideas you want to come up with, Moments can accommodate them.

But if you switch to other platforms, there may not be such components and such mini-programs.

If you place traditional advertisements, such as TV ads and bus stop signs, even if you want to do something more personalized, the hardware does not support it.

On the other hand, the WeChat ecosystem also has a wide enough influence.

Your advertising must not only be creative, but also be seen by more people.

You made a very creative advertisement on a small platform in a remote corner, but the cost-effectiveness is actually very low.

Maybe in the end, few people know about the great work you have done, because the platform's traffic pool is so small and the upper limit of dissemination is so high. Even if your penetration rate reaches 100%, it is just self-admiration compared with WeChat Moments.

But the WeChat ecosystem is different.

The communication ceiling of the WeChat ecosystem is that there is no ceiling.

This is something that almost everyone uses. To some extent, it is no longer just an Internet platform, but a part of our lives, and even a mirror reflection of the real world.

In the field of [big event marketing], WeChat Moments actually has no competitors.

It’s not that your circle of friends has 123 advantages while others have 456 advantages, but if you look around you will find that you can only choose your circle of friends.

Except for Moments, other platforms will hardly provide what you want.

Why do brands do event marketing? Isn’t it just because they want to make a big splash?

You are a big brand, you need to do big things and come up with a big idea at a big node.

The platform you choose should, of course, have a large number of users, a high level of activity, a wide variety of gameplay, and even a wide range and depth of discussion.

Otherwise it won’t be able to bear it.

If we look at it one by one, isn’t that the WeChat ecosystem?

Whether in terms of depth, breadth or user activity, if WeChat ecosystem says it is second, then the first can only be Three-Body Planet.

You can even understand it as a kind of Internet water, electricity and gas. You use it every day, and people around you use it too. It is as common and widespread as water, electricity and gas.

Sometimes you may even forget its existence because it is so common, just like some brands, when talking about advertising, may subconsciously ignore the fact that they can also advertise on WeChat Moments.

But when you really need to do big things and need more people to see you and discuss you, unless you can put ads in the air or in electricity and water meters, you have to choose the WeChat ecosystem and Moments ads.

Either you don’t do it at all, or if you want to do it, you can only invest here, and you must invest here.

There is no other national social tool of this level, and there will be no other Moments advertising.

You have no choice.

If you want to promote your products on a large scale, investing in anything other than WeChat Moments is a waste of money and will only make things fun for your competitors.

When you post on WeChat Moments, what you post is no longer advertising.

It’s the user’s entire life.

06

To put it bluntly, no matter how big the event is, it has to be implemented in the small details of daily life.

What is daily life?

Those team fights are not it, those void confrontations are not it, those magic duels are not it, and those black silk thighs wiping the glass are not it.

WeChat groups and Moments are our daily life.

You are familiar with this group and know who will be in it. You are familiar with your own circle of friends and know who will comment on you. The things you post in it are expected, just like you feel at ease knowing which old man or woman you will meet when you are strolling downstairs in the community.

Like me, if I have any thoughts or emotions after watching a game, I like to post them on WeChat Moments for people I know and are familiar with.

This is my own small circle, a safe zone I have built in the Internet forest.

Only here can I take off my armor with peace of mind and stretch comfortably.

Whether it is the Olympics, the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Valentine's Day, as long as you are doing big event marketing, you must always follow this principle:

Any major social event must be implemented within the small circle of individuals.

Only by grasping thousands and millions of small circles can we grasp the real big influence.

Yes, other platforms also have their own ecosystems, users also have small circles and circle cultures, and can also build small worlds.

But from any perspective, the WeChat ecosystem is a [big world].

As long as you want to do big event marketing, you must not miss this big world.

It’s about taking responsibility for your creativity.

It is also responsible for your wallet.