WeChat official accounts have officially entered the "downstream market". What impact will this have on Party A and self-media?

This article introduces the impact of WeChat official accounts on Party A and self-media after entering the "downstream market", and encourages friends who are interested in official account operations to read and learn.

The last round of discussion and research on WeChat public accounts was in 2014. Many big names, such as Qiye, Qinglong Laozei, Heima Liangju, and Zenghang, were once the "kings" in this field. When it comes to WeChat public accounts, there is a scene of enthusiasm everywhere, and you can find WeChat public account study groups all over the country. However, with the continuous changes in WeChat public accounts and the decrease in traffic, no one is studying WeChat public accounts anymore.

Things change over time. The traffic of WeChat public accounts, which was once quiet, seems to be back. My observation is based on the following points:

1. A friend of mine just opened a WeChat public account, and one of his articles has been read several thousand times.
2. A public account with only a few thousand followers has over 10,000 views;
3. A colleague in the self-media industry wrote three articles in a row with over 100,000 views.
4. Some niche public accounts that are written purely for fun can occasionally produce "explosive hits".

WeChat public accounts have reached the point where as long as you write, you will have traffic . The background is that WeChat public accounts have once again changed the operating rules, completely breaking the subscription relationship, and the proportion of traffic from the system's personalized recommendations has greatly increased. For a more detailed interpretation, you can read my article "WeChat public accounts are becoming "Toutiao-like", will self-media usher in a "second spring"? ", which has been read more than 10,000 times so far. This was basically impossible in the past, as the opening rate of WeChat public accounts was very low, and 10,000 reads would require nearly a million fans to achieve this data.

Today’s WeChat public accounts are Toutiao, Baijiahao, Penguin, NetEase… Algorithms dominate everything, and subscription relationships are no longer important. In the past, you might say that Ma Huateng and Zhang Xiaolong once subscribed to your public account, but now the situation has obviously changed. Even if the big guys follow you, you may not read it. You still look at the algorithm recommendations.

So, on an app with more than 1.3 billion monthly active users, what changes will occur after WeChat official accounts change from subscription relationships to personalized recommendation rankings ? That is, WeChat official accounts have entered the "downstream market".

According to Guo Jing's observations in the Internet circle, after personalized algorithm recommendations, the system recommends content to users across the network, not to subscribed users. But who is still reading WeChat public accounts? From my own WeChat public account, I am a "sinking market" user. Of course, the "sinking market" here is definitely not a derogatory term. Everyone should have awe for the "sinking market", instead of bringing derogatory and contemptuous elements to the mention of "sinking market". No one is superior to anyone else .

The fans’ avatars and user nicknames can be seen from the background of the subscription account. Although some users do not follow the account, the user portraits can be seen in the comments section under the public account. It is obvious that some fans are older, and in the comment section, the age portraits of some users can also be roughly seen. These people are typical users from fourth- and sixth-tier cities and rural areas.

So, after WeChat official accounts enter the "downstream market", what impact will it have on Party A and self-media?

First, the delivery strategy needs to change . The consequence of algorithm recommendation is the dilution of influence. This does not mean that the current WeChat public accounts have no influence at all, absolutely not! But the influence of a single account is no longer as influential as it was in the past.

For Party A, what needs to be done now is to use the power of algorithms to maximize the brand and influence. The specific operation method is to increase the amount of original articles released. People who have done SEO before should know a word called "screen domination". So, now Party A's delivery strategy must be the "screen domination" gameplay. A large number of original articles from different angles are released on one platform, which can easily form the brand's potential and influence, just like "618". If all the "618" related hot spots are positive content about your company, then the effect will be absolutely great.

Secondly, try not to write "Eight-legged Essays" . Regarding the "Eight-legged Essays" in the technology circle, there was once a joke in which Zhang Yiming satirized the "Eight-legged Essays".

The underlying logic is to break through information barriers and create a new industry ecosystem. The top-level design is to focus on the user perception track and reach the detonation point through differentiation and granularity. Delivering value is to achieve lasting benefits by using a reused approach in vertical fields. Extraction of transparent attribution analysis is used as a tool to empower products, and experience measurement is used as a closed-loop criterion. The highlight is the carrier, and the advantage is the link. Think about the entire life cycle, improve the logic and consider resource inclination. The methodology is a combination of punches to achieve platform standards. Zhang Yiming's speech

A 150-word employee report includes words such as closed loop, link, gripper, granularity, empowerment, and play style. Among the major domestic Internet companies, the words made up by the zoo factory are often made into various gossips by netizens and circulated online.

The typical feature of the "downstream market" is that you have to write something that I can understand, rather than something that I can't understand at all. So, for Party A and self-media, they need to try to avoid some "high-sounding" concepts and biased words. After all, the knowledge levels of different groups are different, and if people can't understand, it will be even more difficult to influence others.

Finally, content is still important . Many people think that since WeChat public accounts are all based on algorithms, what is the point of content? Isn't it enough to just write something casually and make a pure clickbait title? In fact, it is not the case. Content is still very important. Your article is not only about the number of readers, but also about influence. Moreover, if the content wants to be popular, for example, millions of views, it depends even more on the content. Of course, don't write "stereotyped essays".

I personally think that the logic behind the return of WeChat public account traffic is that the supply has decreased. There are millions of Toutiao and Baijia accounts, and although there are 30 million registered WeChat public accounts, the daily update volume is probably only a few hundred thousand, which is far lower than platforms such as Toutiao and Baijia.

However, the number of readers of WeChat public accounts is still very large, with more than 1.3 billion monthly active users. Even if only half of them read it, there are still more than 600 million people reading it. This number is no less than the number of users of Baidu, Toutiao, and NetEase News.

I recently read about an old self-media writer who has been writing for more than ten years. His last update was half a year ago. He is a typical "annual update" author. There are actually many such self-media. So, when the supply becomes less, now you just need to update and you will have traffic.

As for Party A and self-media, they should make good use of this opportunity of WeChat public accounts going lower-level. To put it bluntly, the Internet is all about traffic. In the past, due to the constraints of the subscription system, our content could not reach lower-level users. But now, under the algorithm recommendation mechanism, everyone has the opportunity to see our articles.

What are the current WeChat public accounts and self-media competing for? It’s the individual’s “online sense” and also the client’s “online sense”. What kind of content do you think will be seen by users in tier-4 and tier-6 cities and rural areas ? Here, we must abandon the perspective of the elite.

I never thought that 10 years later, the WeChat public account research would rise again. In the past, people were still entangled in whether it was to B or to C. In fact, under the algorithm, to B is no longer the case. Now it is all to C. That’s right, let’s write some human language.

Author: Guo Jing

WeChat public account: Guo Jing's Internet Circle