The Internet celebrity with 40 million fans was scolded and cried, and the national cultural and tourism war went crazy

As the Spring Festival travel season approaches, the national cultural and tourism war has begun. Different provinces have shown their talents. Let's take a look at their methods of attracting talents~

Internet celebrity Bai Bing was scolded and cried during her first live broadcast.

As a top anchor on Douyin with nearly 40 million fans, Bai Bing's first live broadcast attracted much attention. According to Chanmama data, the live broadcast, which did not bring any products, had a peak online audience of over 700,000, and a total of nearly 12 million viewers.

Although her popularity was overwhelming, Bai Bing burst into tears at one point, saying that she felt "too wronged". "I came back this time to support my hometown, but the comments were all scolding me, saying that this guy used a dirty trick and that this guy maliciously competed in the market..."

The controversy originated on January 7, when Bai Bing shouted to the Jilin Provincial Tourism Bureau: "Are you guys capable?" Many netizens were confused, but Bai Bing said that he felt that Jilin "didn't understand the promotion", so Bai Bing, who was so "busy" that he even refused his father's call to go home for the New Year, decided to go back to Jilin to help with the promotion. Not long after the video was released, Jin Ming, director of the Changchun Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism, also responded publicly, welcoming Bai Bing and the team to "go home and take a look".

The high-profile start, coupled with a subsequent promotional video about Changchun Ice and Snow New World, led some netizens to question whether Bai Bing "didn't know whether to promote himself or his hometown". Some netizens also questioned whether his promotion of lower ticket prices was "malicious competition and malicious market seizure", which also prompted Bai Bing to start a live broadcast to respond.

Although she was "scolded to tears" during the first broadcast, Bai Bing was not discouraged. She started her second live broadcast on the afternoon of January 16, and directly set the live broadcast location in Changchun Ice and Snow New World, taking nearly 10 million netizens to tour the live broadcast room.

Bai Bing's live broadcast of visiting "Ice and Snow New World" on January 16

Behind the top internet celebrities’ hard work in promoting the product is a battle for traffic that has lasted for nearly a month.

In summer, Zibo is in summer, and in winter, Erbin is in winter. Cultural and tourism departments across the country have seen the "enormous wealth" brought by Internet traffic. They have also reaped great rewards in the past year from increasing followers to attracting tourists. As a result, they have used all kinds of methods to attract "customers" on the Internet and compete for traffic and attention.

From releasing 75 videos a day, to using cheesy rap, to recruiting top stars for publicity, and even using the "beauty trap" of a large number of handsome men and beautiful women.

Internet traffic is hard to find, so it is understandable that you have taken advantage of the express train of internet celebrities. From Ding Zhen four years ago to Bai Bing now, the combination of internet celebrities, short videos and cultural tourism has become a trend in the cultural tourism industry. However, from the traffic-monetization process of each internet celebrity city, we can also find that how to take over the traffic is more important than how to obtain the traffic.

1. The first melee in 2024, the cultural tourism industry in various places is "going crazy"

Over the past month, the story of Harbin and the "Southern Little Potatoes" has dominated the entire Internet.

"Little Potato from the South" was sent to the children's area by the Northeastern big brother

The story begins with tourists from the south pouring into Harbin Ice and Snow World. The Northeasterners joked that they had never seen snow before, saying that "Southerners are the scenery of the Northeasterners in winter" and nicknamed them "Southern Little Potatoes". Then, the staff pushed the tourists from the south, who were less than 1.6 meters tall, into the children's area. The merchants sliced ​​frozen pears and served them on plates, and served roasted sweet potatoes with spoons. The Oroqen people were invited to come down the mountain to perform reindeer...

One story after another and the video clips quickly went viral on the Internet. Harbin was criticized by locals as "Harbin, you make me feel strange!" and mocked by netizens as having a "pleasing city personality". It also gained a huge amount of traffic and money.

Data from the Harbin Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism showed that Harbin’s total tourism revenue during the three days of New Year’s Day was 5.914 billion yuan. Official data from Ctrip showed that during the New Year’s Day period, 75% of Harbin’s tourists came from other places, mainly from Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing. The number of travel orders during the three-day holiday increased by 158% year-on-year.

Seeing that Harbin has reaped the first wave of "flooding wealth" in 2024, netizens from all over the country could not sit still earlier than the local cultural and tourism industries, and they all called on their hometowns to learn quickly. As a result, local cultural and tourism industries also started the road to improvement.

The first to break out of the circle was Henan Culture and Tourism, which used the "sea of ​​questions tactic" and worked hard to "cut the computer to smoke", and the frequency of short video updates on the account became 20 to 30 times a day.

Subsequently, the official accounts of Shanxi Tourism and Hebei Tourism followed suit and also increased the number of videos. Shanxi Tourism posted 57 videos in less than 12 hours, while Hebei Tourism, calling itself the "volume king", posted 75 promotional videos in one day, saying that "75 is the limit for Douyin, not the limit for Hebei Tourism."

If you can’t win with quantity, then win with content.

Hunan's culture and tourism industry has become popular thanks to its nonsense literature. "The most amazing thing about Hunan is that for every Hunanese person, there will be one more person in Hunan..." The embarrassing effect was so great that many netizens reposted and joked, "It's a great photo, don't take it next time."

Shandong's cultural tourism industry has become popular with the folk rap, with a song "Your surname is Dong, you come from the three provinces in the northeast, it's cold over there. My surname is Dong, I come from Shandong, it's sunny over here..." receiving millions of likes. Cultural tourism in various places has followed suit, with various folk rap videos emerging one after another, not only making the locals break down, "You make me lose face in this hometown propaganda war", but also making the author of the original song "My surname is Shi" "smoke smokes when swinging the microphone".

The nonsense literature and earthy shouting have not ended yet, and the cultural tourism in various places have started to recruit people. Hebei Cultural Tourism has found Zhao Liying, Chongqing Cultural Tourism has found Xiao Zhan, and Qingdao Cultural Tourism has found Huang Xiaoming...

Celebrities bring their own traffic, but they are not very “down-to-earth” after all. At the end of the melee, local cultural and tourism agencies directly set their sights on Internet celebrities and handsome men and beautiful women: they also bring their own traffic and can interact with tourists in a down-to-earth manner.

Henan Yuntai Mountain, mocked by netizens for using the "beauty trap"

Hebei Tourism and Culture showed short videos of beautiful internet celebrities wearing Warring States robes; Henan Yuntaishan Scenic Area directly invited internet celebrities to shoot a promotional video, and asked a handsome man to "welcome the princess home" at the train station; Jilin Tourism and Culture and Culture cooperated with top internet celebrity Bai Bing to attract Internet traffic.

2. Cultural tourism relies on influencers to leverage their power

Cultural and tourism industries in various places have gone crazy on short video platforms. On the surface, they are playing with memes and interacting with each other, but in reality they are targeting the surging traffic on the Internet.

Last year's Zibo and this year's Harbin, the two cities' sudden popularity were driven by netizens and social platforms. It also proved the impact of online traffic on offline cultural tourism: whoever can win word-of-mouth and attention online may become the next city to gain "enormous wealth".

After Zibo became popular, local bosses came out to "persuade people to quit"

During the May Day holiday in 2023, Zibo ranked first in popularity on Baidu Maps. Zibo Railway Station sent a total of 240,300 passengers, an increase of 85,000 passengers and 55% compared with the same period in 2019.

In recent days, Harbin has not only received tourism revenue, but also received unexpected "specialty product returns".

On January 6, Harbin gifted 100,000 boxes of cranberries to Guangxi, surprising countless Harbin residents: "Erbin, why didn't I know we had cranberries?" Subsequently, searches for cranberries on Taobao and Tmall increased by 958% year-on-year, along with searches for cranberry juice and dried cranberries. A Heilongjiang cranberry merchant on Douyin sold out a year's supply in just a few days. "The quantity is fixed, what should I sell in the future?"

The unexpected effects of the entire network have forced local cultural and tourism companies to stop waiting and start actively competing for the Internet's attention. Collaborating with Internet celebrities is both a way of leveraging their power and a way of seizing the initiative in this wave of publicity wars.

Changchun Tourism's short video in response to Bai Bing received 503,000 likes, the most among her many short videos. On the day of the response, Changchun Tourism's account gained 11,000 followers, and then 19,000 on January 8. Previously, Changchun Tourism's followers did not exceed 10,000 for many days.

The traffic effect of top internet celebrities is significant. Although accompanied by controversy, Changchun Cultural Tourism and Jilin Cultural Tourism have successfully become popular. Bai Bing's two live broadcasts have directly brought popularity to Changchun's "Ice and Snow New World", a tourist attraction that most tourists had not known before.

Before Bai Bing, the model of cultural tourism and internet celebrities had already appeared.

On November 11, 2020, Ding Zhen, who set the entire network on fire with his 7-second short video, became one of the earliest internet celebrities to be associated with culture and tourism.

After Ding Zhen became famous, his hometown, Litang County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, also dominated the Internet. On November 15, 2020, Ganzi, Sichuan announced that all A-level scenic spots in the prefecture would be free of admission. Three days later, Ding Zhen became a formal employee of Litang Culture and Tourism and began to promote his hometown, successfully making Litang famous - data shows that on November 17, 2020, hotel bookings in Ganzi area increased by 111% compared with the same period last year.

The combination of internet celebrities, short videos and cultural and tourism departments has become a trend and a fashion.

In the following year of 2022, directors of cultural and tourism bureaus from all over the country came out to cheer for their hometowns, using all kinds of tricks to express their support for their hometowns, saying “Everyone is welcome to check in.”

He Jiaolong, then deputy head of Zhaosu County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, riding a horse on the snowy plain

Compared to Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou, which are tourist cities that have been blessed by God and have long been famous, other cities need to work harder to establish their own brands.

In the era of short videos, short videos, which can be promoted quickly, widely spread, and directly present dynamic images, have obviously become the best way to promote culture and tourism. In the past four years, local culture and tourism have built up the "infrastructure" of short videos more and more perfectly. Even if they cannot grasp the ever-changing hot spots on the Internet, many culture and tourism accounts have opened submission channels and directly welcome netizens to submit, bringing the promotion of culture and tourism to a new height.

3. What really attracts tourists is not internet celebrities

Tapping into internet celebrities is obviously a "shortcut" in the battle for traffic, but the combination of internet celebrities and cultural tourism is not a long-term solution.

On the one hand, the life cycle of an Internet celebrity is difficult to determine. In the rapidly iterating Internet, an Internet celebrity who once dominated the entire network may be forgotten in the next second.

Ding Zhen, who made Litang popular four years ago, now has much less traffic than before. In the recent cultural tourism promotion war, Ding Zhen appeared again in the promotional video of Sichuan Culture and Tourism, and received 119,000 likes, but the comment area was not very friendly. The "sweet wild boy" many years ago has been forgotten by everyone.

On the other hand, the cultural and tourism departments that have taken advantage of internet celebrities may be able to gain temporary traffic, but how long it can last depends on whether the local area can be ready to take over.

The cultural and tourism industry is different from live streaming sales. The final monetization needs to be transferred to offline. Even if there is online monetization of specialties such as cranberries, it still depends on offline industrial belts.

Northeastern uncle transforms into "Jia Zi Yin" for tourism

Looking at Zibo and Harbin, the two cities became internet celebrity cities not because of the publicity or call of a certain internet celebrity, but because after becoming popular, they leveraged the overall local resources and the local tourism industry chain was ready to take over.

What Zibo and Harbin have in common is top-down maintenance, from officials to local residents.

Zibo launched a barbecue train and barbecue bus, Harbin launched an ice and snow tourism train. Businesses and hotels in both cities are maintaining reasonable prices. Local residents even invite tourists to "stay at my house if you can't book a room" and spontaneously crack down on local "black-hearted businesses" to maintain the local tourism environment.

The conveyor belts at Harbin Airport are starting to move cautiously

The promotion of cultural tourism combined with Internet celebrities must also be well prepared. The recent performance of male and female "Da Ji" in Yuntai Mountain has caused quite a controversy.

When tourists attracted by an influencer’s promotion have a bad experience, they will easily blame the influencer himself. When an influencer causes public outrage because of a certain statement or an incident, netizens will also tend to vent their anger on the products promoted by the influencer.

Internet celebrity publicity can only quench thirst temporarily. What is needed for cultural and tourism marketing is a snowball effect. Only with continuous dissemination and more people’s participation can the snowball get bigger and bigger.

If we want to expand and strengthen the local cultural and tourism brand, continue to attract consumers to travel and consume locally, and convert Internet popularity into offline consumption popularity, it still depends on the self-cultivation of local cultural and tourism.

Author: Wang Zhan, Editor: Si Wen

Source: WeChat public account "E-commerce Online"