More than 7,000 words of hardcore sharing, 13 suggestions for operating WeChat public accounts in 2024

At present, the overall operation data of public accounts is showing a downward trend, but it is still very important for enterprises to operate public accounts well. This article provides 13 key suggestions for the operation of WeChat public accounts. Starting from the internal operation logic of public accounts, it proposes an operation method that combines users, content, communities and other aspects, and provides inspiration for the conversion of public account data. Let's take a look at how to operate WeChat public accounts well!

Hello everyone, I am Nan Zebei, the founder of Qiqixuan.

WeChat public operation refers to carrying out a series of social marketing activities through the WeChat public platform and using WeChat as a carrier, so as to establish a stable communication, interaction and trust relationship with users, enhance brand image and popularity, promote sales and increase fans.

To put it bluntly, through a variety of means and skills in the WeChat ecosystem, we can better achieve "user acquisition" and "user conversion" as well as "better maintain existing customers."

However, as a senior operator who has been operating WeChat public accounts for more than 10 years, and who was responsible for leading the operation of a million-follower account six or seven years ago and has planned many popular content with more than 100,000 readers, I want to objectively tell you that WeChat public accounts are really very important, and we generally recommend companies to do so. However, WeChat public accounts are not omnipotent, and everyone should still be rational.

We have found that many of our consulting clients still have expectations for public accounts that do not meet normal expectations. For example, a client in a special industry who started from scratch plans to publish about 100 articles a year on the public account, and we guarantee that each headline article will be read more than 5,000 times and the number of fans will increase by at least 200,000 per year.

At the end of 2023, for enterprise accounts that mainly promote products, even if they have a budget of several million, the possibility of this data being realized is almost zero , not to mention that the customer's budget is limited. Unless you buy the data directly, just ignore what I said.

Of course, there are also those that have grown up through public accounts, such as the cake brand Panda Buzou. At that time, most of the customer orders were completed in the mini-programs in the WeChat public account. But that was seven or eight years ago. At that time, takeout was not as popular as it is now. Live streaming had not yet taken off. The most important thing is that they not only put a lot of advertising online, but also have a dedicated offline promotion team to direct traffic to the public account.

The time nodes, market environment, and resource allocation are all different, so we must look at them rationally.

WeChat public accounts, due to the platform attributes, are difficult to leverage public domain traffic. Even for many accounts with no practical value, it is already very good if the data does not decline.

Then why do we still recommend that companies must create official accounts?

It’s very simple. Although it is difficult to leverage public domain traffic, you can maximize private domain conversion capabilities by cooperating with video accounts and private messages.

2023 is almost over, and there are still many companies or operators consulting on various issues regarding official account operations.

Today, we will focus on the "Official Account Operation Strategy - A Senior 100,000+ Reader Official Account Operation Operator Shares More Than 7,000 Words of Practical Knowledge, 13 Key Suggestions for Official Account Operation in 2024" column. The following are 13 suggestions for operating WeChat official accounts in 2024, I hope it can help you.

1. Be rational

In the previous article "Brands are closing down one after another, what is the way out? Save these 9 suggestions!", one of the suggestions is that everyone should be rational. The same is true when it comes to specific platforms. We should still be rational and make objective judgments based on the characteristics of the platform.

How to do it compared to this platform?

More importantly, you need to have a basic understanding of the platform. First, determine whether it is worth doing it, and then decide whether to do it.

From the overall environment, it is indeed difficult for public accounts. The data of most public accounts in various industries have declined compared with previous years.

Why? Let me briefly summarize.

1. From the perspective of WeChat official account platform mechanism and internal ecological environment

First, internal competition has intensified and traffic costs have increased. Most public account data has basically plummeted. For example, the opening and reading rate of public account headlines has dropped from an average of 12% at the beginning to 5%, and now to 0.5~2%.

Secondly, without a recommendation mechanism, high-quality content is only the foundation. If there is no early fan base, no matter how good the content is, without official traffic support, the basic data will not be optimistic (PS: most of those who guarantee fan data are not very reliable.)

Of course, last year the official account also launched similar content recommendations and picture notes, but compared with the ones on certain books and certain audio platforms, they are not worth mentioning.

2. From the perspective of the external ecological environment of the Internet

First of all, competition in external channels is equally fierce, and traffic diversion is serious.

Secondly, from the perspective of content presentation, we have to admit that most people prefer videos to pictures and texts.

Thirdly, many people outside the industry are fooled by various big Vs who sell courses, and they really think that new media is profitable and they can easily make millions a year. But the reality is that new media has gone from the wild growth in the early stage and the content is king in the middle stage to the full commercialization now, entering the era of business is king, and it is still iterating.

3. Market requirements for operators’ capabilities are increasing

There is an interesting phenomenon: we all know that operations are irreplaceable in the future and can even determine the direction of enterprises and markets, but there are only a few top operators in the entire market. People often ask me to recommend reliable operations managers to them, and some of them may be well-known leading Internet companies.

In other words, we are not short of operations, but what we lack is top operations.

2. Is it necessary to create a WeChat public account?

Some people may say, since you say that the overall effect of WeChat public accounts is not as good as before, is it still necessary to do it?

I will give you a simple analysis for individuals and companies.

1. Personal situation

If you are a newbie starting from scratch and want to make a living through a public account.

In this situation, I personally feel that the early stages are very difficult.

Moreover, at the current stage, if you don’t have any top-tier resources and you create a personal account from scratch, it’s not very likely that you will be able to monetize through traffic.

Therefore, novices who want to make a living through public accounts are advised to consider carefully.

But if you want to improve yourself through WeChat official accounts, then I suggest you start doing it right away. If you put your ideas into action, you will be ahead of many people.

Even if you only update it once a month, it is also a reflection on a certain topic.

Through continuous output during the operation of the official account, you not only improve your writing skills, but also shape your self-awareness and core competitiveness. This kind of value will generally benefit you for a lifetime.

2. Enterprises are advised to

If possible, companies must have a public account. Let me briefly summarize it below.

(1) In terms of user base, WeChat has nearly 1.3 billion monthly active users, making it an indispensable super app.

(2) In terms of conversion effect, WeChat is one of the best platforms for private domain conversion among all current media platforms.

(3) From the perspective of traffic accuracy, since the launch of WeChat Search in 2019, the number of active users has exceeded that of Baidu, making it a huge source of accurate traffic.

(4) From the perspective of overall marketing, we can use WeChat official accounts as a vehicle to link the entire WeChat ecosystem [official accounts + video accounts + communities + mini-program malls], and even connect other external channels such as official websites, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.

3. Clarify the purpose of operation

Based on the analysis of 1 and 2, if you decide to create a public account, the next step is to confirm how to do it?

First of all, everyone needs to be clear about the purpose of creating a WeChat public account?

In fact, whether it is an individual or an enterprise, they all want to obtain relevant benefits through the operation of WeChat public accounts.

For enterprises, building word of mouth and establishing an image is very important in the operation of WeChat public accounts. Through word-of-mouth communication by users, more users can understand the brand and improve brand awareness and reputation. Operators need to reflect the characteristics and image of the company in each article, such as using unique colors, logos, etc.

Sometimes, we meet some friends who want us to provide them with some general plans for WeChat public account operations. But in fact, the operation strategies of public accounts in different industries and businesses are different.

Before a company operates a public account, it should think about the characteristics of its own products and services, and then operate them in a targeted manner rather than blindly following the crowd.

For example, for a to-b type small and medium-sized enterprise, if your average order value is very high, then 10w+ readings will not mean much to you. You need to carry out refined operations and do precise traffic diversion.

For example, for a toc-type enterprise, if the average order value is not high, then 10w+ readings means a lot to you, and you should increase the traffic and strive to make it a hit.

For example, tob-type enterprises can be divided into those that focus on branding and improving conversions; those that focus on precise traffic and optimizing keywords, etc. Different types of enterprises need to operate according to actual conditions.

For individuals, it is important to build IP and strengthen personal image. There is still a big difference between personal and corporate operations. Personal accounts are more conducive to IP building, and by continuously strengthening personal image, a steady stream of traffic can be obtained. Finally, profits can be realized through various channels such as advertising and knowledge payment.

In short, although running a public account makes money by traffic, to really do it well, you must clarify your own needs and grasp the balance between "user thinking" and "traffic thinking" so that you can operate it with ease. You should think about the characteristics of your own products and services, and then operate them in a targeted manner, rather than blindly following the crowd.

4. Deep Insight into User Psychology

In the era of information explosion, deep insight into the psychology of target users has become an essential skill for public accounts and private domain operations.

Through user research and behavior analysis, we can understand user needs, preferences and behavior habits, build user portraits and lay the foundation for precise operations.

When conducting in-depth insights, it is not just a simple user portrait, but also an understanding of the user's emotional needs and psychological motivations. Through regular questionnaires and user feedback analysis, we can understand the user's preferences, pain points and expectations, so as to meet their needs more accurately.

Many people blindly pursue the number of readings and always want to be seen by more people. However, in the era of inventory, the cost of traffic continues to increase. Rather than focusing on the general user group, focusing on precise target customers is the key.

If your boss doesn't appreciate you, but you keep smiling, it's not polite, it's overly flattering. Similarly, if the brand's service targets are not accurate users, then it's like licking the dog, and in the end you'll have nothing.

Therefore, unless your account has tens of millions of followers, don’t expect all of them to be your customers. The monetization ability of 10,000 followers is not necessarily worse than that of 1 million followers, and the monetization ability of only 10 precise customers reading is not necessarily worse than that of 10,000 general customers reading.

5. Output valuable content

Although in the era of inventory, content is no longer a prerequisite for becoming a hit, for small and medium-sized enterprises that do not have much budget for promotion and traffic, the only way to succeed is to continuously output high-quality content.

For most companies, the most important thing about WeChat public accounts is content. Providing valuable content is the key to attracting fans.

The content should be valuable, interesting, and innovative, and be able to help fans solve problems, provide useful information, or entertain and inspire fans.

If the content quality is not good, or it is all about corporate services or introductions, and has a strong marketing nature, then focus on accurate traffic and don't blindly pursue readership, which is meaningless.

6. Diversified content formats

User needs are diverse, so the content formats of public accounts should also be diversified. In addition to traditional graphic and text formats, we should also explore short videos, live broadcasts and other formats to meet the reading habits and preferences of different users.

The practicality of diversified content forms requires operators to constantly try new content forms, obtain data on different content forms through testing, understand user preferences, and summarize experience in practice to form a content strategy that suits the characteristics of the official account.

For example, in the fields of finance or artificial intelligence, in addition to information, the content also needs to output some in-depth views related to the industry, and the presentation format should be concise and clear. In the fields of food and beauty and skin care, the copywriting needs to be more active and not too rigid, and the presentation needs to consider more exquisite long pictures and SVG animations. For government public accounts, the content tends to be policy sharing, daily activities, etc., and the presentation is mainly concise and grand.

In short, it is necessary to plan corresponding operation strategies based on the conditions of different industries.

7. Social Interaction and Community Building

Social interaction and community building are effective means to increase user stickiness. Build a deep community, enhance user participation through activities, lucky draws, etc., and get closer to users.

In practice, we can hold some special events through a combination of online and offline methods, invite industry experts to share online, or organize offline gatherings of users to enhance interaction between users.

At the same time, operators should respond to users' messages and comments in a timely manner and actively participate in community discussions.

But here, don’t expect to cause fission by holding raffles and other activities.

Some clients from public institutions or state-owned enterprises are more concerned about fission and viral spread.

As a trader who has planned various fissions, I want to pour a bucket of cold water on everyone.

You now want to stand out through group fission, activity fission, distribution fission, card and coupon fission, group buying fission, and lottery fission.

But have you ever thought about whether your benefits are more attractive than those of banks? Whether your cards and coupons are more attractive than those of Meituan? Whether your group buying activities are more attractive than those of Kuaituan?

Even if they are wealthy and powerful and invest real money, it is difficult to make a splash in the fiercely competitive market, let alone a small shrimp with a limited budget.

If you want to take off by fission, just listen to it and don’t take it seriously.

In addition, don't imagine that customers attracted by activities can be easily converted. In most cases, these customers are general customers who come for benefits, not real loyal users.

The essence of fission is still human nature, everyone wants to take advantage.

8. Use data to drive decision making

I see many people create public accounts and just post content without doing any data analysis, which is actually a pity.

Regardless of which platform, data analysis is a must.

For official accounts, data analysis is the most important part of their operations.

Through data analysis tools, we can deeply explore user behavior data, understand user preferences and behavior paths, and formulate precise operation strategies based on data to achieve better user experience.

In actual operations, operators need to learn and use various data analysis tools to analyze key data such as user access paths, dwell time, click-through rates, etc., identify potential problems and make quick adjustments.

9. Various forms of promotion combined punches

1. Cross-platform integrated operations

Integrate the operation of the official account with other social platforms to form a full range of brand exposure. At the same time, pay attention to the characteristics of users on each platform and formulate different operation strategies. It is necessary to establish and maintain multi-platform accounts and use the advertising promotion, social sharing and other functions of each platform to expand brand influence.

2. Mini Program Marketing

Mini programs have become an important expansion point for public account operations. Through mini programs, users can not only stay longer, but also have a richer interactive experience. If conditions permit, you can consider developing some interesting and practical mini programs, such as quiz games, points malls, etc., to increase user stickiness within the mini program.

3. Online and offline integrated promotion

Online and offline integrated promotion is the trend of public account operation in 2024. By combining online and offline activities, all-round brand promotion can be achieved. Online special live broadcasts can be organized, and industry experts can be invited to share their experiences and interact with users online. At the same time, offline activities can be combined, such as holding offline salons and press conferences, so that users have the opportunity to get close to the brand and enhance brand awareness.

4. SEO Optimization

When operating a WeChat official account, you also need to consider SEO optimization. You can improve the search ranking and exposure of the official account through keyword research, content optimization, tag setting, etc.

10. Smart use of emerging technologies

The application of emerging technologies such as AR, VR, and AI in the operation of public accounts can improve user experience and lead the trend of science and technology. Operators need to keep paying attention to the development of new technologies and be good at incorporating them into the content of public accounts.

1. AR technology

In actual application, you can consider introducing AR technology to allow users to experience the effects of virtual reality by scanning pictures or QR codes. Or use VR technology to achieve virtual roaming and lead users to have a deeper understanding of brands and products. Such attempts will not only increase users' sense of novelty, but also win more attention for the brand.

2. Make good use of AI

The emergence of ChatGPT has indeed promoted the development of many industries and has brought about a qualitative improvement in the efficiency of many positions.

However, although AI plays a positive role in improving efficiency, it can also make people lazy and unwilling to think or explore in depth. Therefore, content practitioners need to use AI with caution and not let AI completely control their content creation.

It still takes time and effort to verify the authenticity of the content integrated by AI and the data captured.

The controversial incident involving Teacher Liu Run some time ago, from a certain perspective, is also a reflection of the use of AI.

It may be the pressure of creation. Liu Run's team was one of the first to introduce AI to assist in creation. Many of his self-media content is currently produced by AI. For example, many of his videos in his video account are also generated by digital human videos. AI has indeed improved their efficiency, but at the same time, some people accuse his content of being empty and lacking in practical content, and even question that he knows nothing about business analysis and is only good at theories and concepts.

11. Flexibly respond to policy risks

It seems that few people pay attention to this, but the change of policy environment is the reality faced by the operation of public accounts. Operators need to pay attention to relevant policy trends at all times and remain sensitive to regulations. They should flexibly respond to policy risks, operate in compliance, and ensure the long-term healthy development of public accounts.

For example, at the end of April this year, in order to actively respond to the "Internet Advertising Management Measures" issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation, the WeChat official account WeChat public platform operation center issued a notice on the compliance of WeChat public account marketing content. The notice mentioned that in the future, when promoting goods or services in various forms and attaching shopping links and other purchase methods, the word "advertisement" should be clearly marked. Later, it was upgraded to require mutual selection from June 30, but many people still did not take it seriously, resulting in many accounts that privately accepted advertisements being blocked.

Although I have said many times before that compared with other platforms, WeChat official accounts are really friendly to content marketing. However, as official account operators, we need to always pay attention to the relevant policies and regulations of the platform, constantly improve our knowledge system, and enhance our compliance operation capabilities.

12. How to become a top operator

Operations positions are derived from the rise of the Internet. Compared with many positions in other industries, they are considered emerging professions.

Although the entire operations field has made great progress in recent years, the overall knowledge of the operations system is relatively scarce, and the quality of the few reference books on the market is mixed, so there is still a long way to go in the future. In addition, the work of operations positions is generally very tedious, with a lot of things to do, and the overall environment is very impetuous, resulting in many operations personnel having no time, or simply unwilling to spend time learning and thinking.

Many people use their fragmented time to casually read a few articles on operations or attend a few classes, and then they think they can do anything and have become an operation expert. (This was the case when I first came into contact with operations more than 10 years ago. At that time, I thought I could do anything, but now I feel shallow and ignorant)

How is it possible to become a good operator so easily?

I believe many people have heard of the 10,000-hour rule. That is to say, as long as 10,000 hours of practice are put into practice, anyone can go from frequent practice to extraordinary practice. Although Ericsson himself came out to emphasize that there has never been a 10,000-hour rule, it is just a less rigorous interpretation of psychological science research by a best-selling author. His original report emphasized "deliberate practice" rather than the magic number of 10,000 hours. But it is not difficult to find that if you want to become a master in a certain field, you must have a purposeful and continuous learning, continuous practice and review, and continuous output.

As an operator, having basic operational literacy and mastering various operational skills and methods are just the necessary foundations. But we cannot stop there.

• Good top operators need deliberate practice, lifelong learning, and continuous self-improvement through learning.
• A good top operator can see the overall situation, quickly identify the most core leverage points among many complex possibilities, and use them to leverage more things and results.
• A good top operator can use all relevant means and methods to help customers establish and maintain good relationships between products and users, so that product value and user value can be relatively maximized.

13. Do you need to find a professional operator?

Many companies do not have the energy or budget to operate public accounts, or their own operations are not effective, so they want to find a third-party public account operation team to assist. Regarding this situation, I will also share with you briefly based on our many years of operation experience.

1. Does the company need assistance from a professional agent?

I think this needs to be decided based on the company's own situation.

If the company’s own operations staff currently have operational capabilities, they can “better achieve user acquisition” and “user conversion” and “better maintain existing customers” in the WeChat ecosystem through a variety of means and skills.

In this case, I don’t think it is necessary to ask an external WeChat public account operation team to intervene.

On the contrary, it is recommended to consider the intervention of a professional WeChat public account operation company in the following situations.

• The company is just starting out and wants to improve its brand reputation through new media, but is afraid that its own operation will not be effective;
• Traditional enterprises or offline physical enterprises without any new media operation experience;
• For companies that have some knowledge of new media operations but whose operation results are not ideal, it is recommended that they consider hiring a professional operation team to train their own operation staff.
• Companies with slightly better operating results but lack sufficient manpower and time to be responsible for new media operations.

However, the quality of the operating agencies in the market is uneven. It is recommended that you do not just pick one when looking for one, but need to consider many aspects.

2. How to find a reliable agency company?

The best way to test it is to first look at the agency's own platform. If their own layout, display and other overall operations are chaotic and a mess, most of these agencies are not very reliable.

In addition, there is another situation that I think is also unreliable.

That is, most of those who can promise to give you good-looking basic data such as the number of fans and the number of readers are unreliable. If the data of WeChat public accounts is still so easy to achieve at the current stage, why don’t they go to generate traffic themselves, why don’t they monetize through their own traffic, and why do they still work hard as agents!

This kind of data promise is indeed delivered to customers in the end, but everyone in the industry knows that it is bought and has no meaning. However, the bosses don’t know this and think that the number of fans and reading volume is good, so they mistakenly think that the other party is doing a good job.

Here, it is recommended that when you encounter such an agency that promises data, do not get bogged down in invalid data such as their increase in followers and reading volume, but be straightforward and ask them to promise conversion data.

For a business, only the final conversion data is meaningful. Otherwise, even if you buy 10,000 fans or 100,000+ views a day, it is meaningless.

As one of the largest social media platforms in China, WeChat has hundreds of millions of users and a large amount of high-quality content. Although the market competition is fierce, as an important means of corporate marketing, WeChat public accounts still play an irreplaceable role for both companies and WeChat itself.

I hope everyone can do a good job in public accounts and private domain conversion.

Author: Nan Zebei

WeChat public account: Nanzebei (ID: nanzebei)