Who will become the "second Lei Jun"? Let's talk about the six major schools of bosses who become Internet celebrities

Now many CEOs of companies have begun to shape themselves into Internet celebrities to interact with netizens and reduce public relations and publicity costs. What types of entrepreneurs are there who are Internet celebrities? In this article, we will summarize them.

The hero of a cool novel, a top star in the automotive industry. Lei Jun’s Douyin followers increased by over 4.5 million in 40 days. After the billionaire CEO opened the car door and made Xiaomi SU7 popular, other bosses became “envious”.

Nezha Auto CEO Zhang Yong called on "learn marketing from Lei Jun"; Changan Automobile Chairman Zhu Huarong said "traffic is the productivity of future (corporate) leaders."

On the evening of May 17, 360 founder Zhou Hongyi shared his thoughts on "Should entrepreneurs create IP?" He said: "In an era where minds are formatted by short videos, the way companies communicate has changed. For entrepreneurs, creating IP is a top priority and a required course."

But most business owners may not have the conditions that Lei Jun has. Lei Jun's personal experience as a hero in a cool novel, his popularity among the audience accumulated over the years, and the huge support of Mi fans are the key to his rapid rise to the top of the list of entrepreneurs.

For the boss, if the IP is not done well, there is even a risk of failure, as was the case with Qu Jing, former vice president of Baidu.

But we have to do it. Under the leadership of Lei Jun, the bosses themselves have become an important part of corporate marketing, which can reduce customer acquisition costs, support brand building, and drive corporate development.

So, how can bosses build their personal IP and make themselves internet celebrities?

By combing through the explorations of different companies, we have summarized 6 main methods for building corporate IP, and hope to discuss them with you.

1. “Talent” School

Typical representative: Lei Jun

The "talent" here does not refer to the talent of Olympic champions or e-sports players, but a kind of temperament that can fit the communication of social media and resonate with netizens.

Lei Jun’s “male protagonist in a cool novel”, Zhang Chaoyang’s “life of lying down”, Yu Minhong’s “counterattack from the Jedi”… these are all very dramatic, and are also the key to these bosses becoming top internet celebrities.

A wealthy boss, instead of making great strides in the business world, opened a physics class, hoping to make netizens understand what mechanics and thermodynamics are, and how to calculate the lunar tides and the Earth-Sun Lagrange points.

It turns out that big bosses can also "not do their job properly". This wonderful contrast has won Zhang Chaoyang the love of a large number of netizens. As of press time, the Douyin account "Zhang Chaoyang's Physics Class" has attracted more than 1.94 million followers.

Because of the black swan event, Yu Minhong's career, which he had worked hard for all his life, fell into a trough, but he did not retire. Instead, he started again after a dignified exit. This indomitable spirit of struggle is very consistent with the value orientation of the Chinese people. The success of Oriental Selection has added a sense of satisfaction of a Jedi counterattack for Yu Minhong.

The story of a cool article is a very popular type of story, and this is true for Lei Jun and Yu Minhong.

Most bosses who can make a career have some outstanding qualities or ups and downs in life. It may be the fastest way to create IP for bosses to extract a temperament that is suitable for social media dissemination and amplify it.

2. Listen to Persuasion

Typical representative: Zhang Yong

If the boss really has no "talent", listening to advice might be a good choice.

Because of his poor sitting posture during the live broadcast and calling netizens "lickers", which was suspected to be an implication of Lei Jun, Zhang Yong probably did not expect that he would become a negative example of Lei Jun in the eyes of some netizens and be labeled as "arrogant, low EQ" and so on.

But under the criticism and suggestions of netizens, Zhang Yong began to run wild on the road of being the "most obedient CEO of a car company." He changed the way he shot videos to make them more intimate; he sent videos as WeChat messages and actively played memes with netizens; he self-examined and humbly asked for advice. With this combination of punches, Zhang Yong's social reputation quickly changed.

Looking at the comments section of Zhang Yong's Douyin, we can find that more and more netizens think that Zhang Yong may be too "straight", and his mind is focused on the product, and he has no bad intentions. One netizen left a message: "I suddenly like Zhang Yong's personality. He dares to do and say, does not make gimmicks, does not play the emotional card, and tells a real story about cars."

In the recent Nezha name change event, Zhang Yong attracted a large number of netizens to participate. According to statistics from the Douyin data tool Xindou under Xinbang, after Zhang Yong released the name change solicitation video, his personal Douyin account "Nezha-Zhang Yong" gained 200,000 followers in 5 days.

Another person who focuses on listening to advice is Jie Rou’s president. This year, the Xiaohongshu account “Jie Rou Ba Zong” began to update Jie Rou’s president’s circle of friends, and through actions such as extremely pampering fans and listening carefully to user opinions, he established the persona of “a Ba Zong who listens to advice”, which became an important part of Jie Rou’s corporate IP creation.

Lv Bai, Chief Content Officer of Zhongshun Jie Rou, told the editorial department of Xinbang: "Brands have reached the 2.0 stage: in the past, it was about the differences in product selling points, but now it is about whether the brand has something more humane. The same pack of tissues, if it pampers fans and listens to advice, will attract more users and make them more determined to place an order."

Who doesn’t like a boss who is approachable and down-to-earth? If the boss has no idea about creating an IP, it is better to interact more with netizens, continuously iterate the content in constant interaction, and focus on a development system.

3. Storytelling

Typical representative: Wei Jianjun

Not every boss will accept your advice. At this time, telling your own story is also a good choice. After all, many bosses are experienced people.

Take Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motors, for example. As a veteran in the automotive industry, he has rarely interacted with netizens since joining Douyin on April 18, and has mostly been sharing his daily life. Watching his videos, you can feel the aura of a business tycoon.

But as a "billionaire" who has proven himself in real life, his life itself is topical enough. When Wei Jianjun attended the annual meeting of China's longest-running H-9 squadron and rode a motorcycle back to the village 40 years ago, he showed a wonderful sense of the times.

As of press time, Wei Jianjun’s Douyin account with the same name has 450,000 followers.

Recently, Jia Yueting, the founder of LeEco, released a video saying that he would try to commercialize his personal IP. It is understood that the operator behind this is Da Xiong from Xiongke Group. Some industry insiders commented that Jia Yueting has the most dramatic personal story in China. Putting aside the controversy, Jia Yueting does have the story conditions to become an Internet celebrity.

4. Interview School

Typical representative: Guo Yonghong

If you don’t have your own story, then record other people’s stories.

In April 2023, Guo Yonghong, the head of SF Express's national regional sales, opened a personal Douyin account "SF Express Guo Yonghong". The core content is the "Guo Yonghong's Industry Visits" and "Yonghong and His Friends" series, which mainly record the stories of people related to SF Express. As of press time, the number of Douyin fans of "SF Express Guo Yonghong" has reached 830,000.

People love to listen to stories, and sharing other people's stories is also a proven way to attract traffic. The most typical example is "Cheng Qian's Circle of Friends". By interviewing the wealth stories of entrepreneurs from all walks of life, "Cheng Qian's Circle of Friends" almost became the number one IP in the business interview track before the public opinion turned against it. As of press time, the number of Douyin fans of "Cheng Qian's Circle of Friends" has reached 6.08 million.

For business owners, the best stories are told by executives, employees, partners and customers. This is also the best way for companies to create content.

5. Troublemakers

Typical representative: Zhou Hongyi

When talking about the creation of personal IP for enterprises, Xu Danai, CEO of Xinbang, believes that "telling stories is worse than reasoning, and telling stories is worse than doing things."

From selling Maybach and replacing it with a domestically produced new energy smart connected car, to becoming the "oldest car model" at the Beijing Auto Show, to pushing for the name change of Nezha and linking up with the controversial blogger "Da Lan", Zhou Hongyi's main theme is that he will continue to stir up trouble as long as he lives. This has also made Zhou Hongyi the most popular entrepreneur internet celebrity after Lei Jun recently.

In fact, Lei Jun is also a master at "making trouble", and the most famous one is his 1 billion bet with Gree Chairman Dong Mingzhu. This was also a hot topic in the Chinese business circle that year.

If you want to quickly break the circle and attract traffic, causing trouble is undoubtedly the fastest way.

Of course, there are risks in doing things, and bosses need to be cautious. For enterprises, they are doing long-term business, and some traffic cannot be taken, and some hot spots cannot be taken advantage of.

6. Creative

Typical representative: "Towel Master"

Recently, taking advantage of the popularity of short dramas, "Towel Master" used short drama techniques to film the story of the founding family of Jieliya into the "Towel Empire Theater Edition".

"I am a third-generation entrepreneur born in 1999. My family has been doing business for three generations... According to the plot of the novel, I have to compete with my younger brothers and sisters for the family property... Just when I thought I had won, my second uncle came back from England..."

The novel and interesting content made "Towel Master" gain 160,000 followers in two days, and the cumulative playback volume of the "Towel Empire Theatrical Edition" series of content reached nearly 100 million. Jie Liya was also followed up by many media reports.

In addition, business heirs including Annie Ding, daughter of Xtep, and Tea Tiantian, daughter of Zhejiang Minghuang Tea, also followed suit and filmed short drama stories about their own companies. Short drama stories have even become a way to name business heirs. For example, the first video of "Please Call Me Xiaowu" recently was a short drama story about a second-generation coal miner forced to start a business.

Business owners always have various concerns about appearing on screen to create IPs, such as fear of bad reputation, lack of energy, and dislike by young people. At this time, business heirs with fewer burdens, better understanding of young people, and more creativity become a good choice.

At present, the person with the most fans in this field is Luo Cheng, the second son of Holiland. By creating a high-looking social terror boss persona, Luo Cheng's personal Douyin account "Boss Luo Cheng" has 3.07 million fans as of press time.

VII. Conclusion

Duoduo CEO Tuo Buhua believes that IP has three golden standards: "It can quickly evoke emotional resonance, it can span a certain time period, and it can cross boundaries in multiple fields." In my opinion, if a company is building a personal IP, it can also add one more point: it should not cross the boundaries around the company.

Unlike Internet celebrities who first generate traffic and then monetize, enterprises have their own main business. They first generate business and then create content and find traffic. This is essentially a corporate behavior. When enterprises build their personal IP, they cannot get all the traffic and all the hot spots, and they cannot damage the corporate image for the sake of traffic.

Nowadays, more and more companies are trying to create personal IP. I believe that the industry will gradually explore a truly effective and replicable methodology for creating corporate IP.