It’s time for “classical graphic and text self-media” to change

Known as "classical self-media", they had to succumb to reality and began to transform to short videos, but they simply could not adapt. Why? This article will explain to you the changes faced by graphic self-media. If you are interested, you can take a look.

At the beginning, some people described WeChat official accounts as "classical self-media", and some people were not convinced. Until WeChat official accounts also became a feed stream format like Toutiao, Baidu and other platforms, "classical self-media" had to succumb to reality and began to transform into short videos. More and more "classical self-media" tried to make short videos, but under the new media form, few people could adapt to the gameplay of short videos.

Short videos are more about scripts, editing skills, sound, and visuals, but it is difficult for graphic self-media to adapt to this system. Even if there is a hit video, it is impossible to "scale replication". Why do many graphic self-media fail to transform into short videos? The fundamental reason is that they do not have a thorough understanding of the two. In the field of graphic, he may be a high school student, but in the field of short videos, he may be a primary school student who has just touched the threshold.

In addition, short videos require more teamwork and are more expensive, so many self-media with pictures and texts simply don’t dare (or are reluctant) to make high-cost transformations. Behind most of the short video success stories we have seen so far, almost all of them are teamwork and involve a lot of capital investment, which self-media with pictures and texts simply cannot adapt to.

It is not just short videos that are changing, readers’ tastes are also changing. At first, graphic self-media stood out with their distinctive personalization, thus gaining the love of fans. Fans like to read XXX’s analysis/opinions on something, and storytelling graphic self-media are also liked by many people.

However, as time goes by, readers' interests and tastes change. Just like fishing bloggers, users may like a certain type of fishing content in the first few months, but if it continues for a few months, readers may get tired of it because it is always the same routine. Therefore, some fishing bloggers will constantly change the "script" to meet the needs of their fans.

What changes in graphic and text self-media is the main content, but the writing style will not change. Just like Mimi Meng’s once popular articles, after reading dozens of them in a row, each with a similar routine, users can easily get "aesthetic fatigue".

The change in users' tastes is also reflected in their dislike of preaching. Content that teaches you how to be a person, how to do things, and how to make money is very popular at first, but once users discover the "truth", this kind of preaching content is no longer popular, and users will pay more attention to "self". Among them, the most popular is "entertainment", which is also the reason why short dramas on short video platforms have been popular recently. You may think these short dramas are boring, but if you look at it from a lower level, their experience and taste of entertainment is very "vulgar". It is enough to have fun and have enough curiosity. As for "taste", it is not considered at all. Short dramas meet their needs in their spare time and are "very enjoyable" to watch. Is there a problem?

The second change that graphic and text self-media faces is the platform. According to Guo Jing's observation of the Internet circle, content platforms such as Toutiao, Baidu, Yidian Zixun, and Penguin have actually been changing all the time. For example, the so-called "clickbait" may be very popular in this period, but when you use this type of title, the platform has already marked it as "clickbait", and you either cannot publish it directly or limit the flow of it.

Another example is sensitive words. Content creators must pay attention to sensitive words. Many times, your manuscript has no traffic, most likely because of the sensitive words that appear in the content. The platform will not issue relevant announcements on sensitive words. This requires individuals to judge and accumulate by themselves. You can also use third-party sensitive word detection tools for testing.

The changes in the platform are also reflected in the fact that different content platforms may have different "preferences" for content. For example, on Toutiao, Baidu, Tencent Penguin and NetEase, different titles will have different effects.

The most obvious platform differentiation is between media platforms and community platforms such as Xiaohongshu. If you use the same methods as media platforms to create Xiaohongshu, you will basically fail. Xiaohongshu's title has a 20-character limit, while media platforms generally have 30 characters. Xiaohongshu's cover image is very important, while media platforms have three cover images. If the cover image is too fancy, the manuscript may not be approved.

In the past, Toutiao's micro headlines used a single-row display, just like media platforms such as Baidu, Tencent News, and NetEase News. But recently, Toutiao's display format has become double-column, which is very similar to Xiaohongshu. Behind the change in display format, content creators themselves need to change.

The display mode of WeChat public accounts is completely tilted towards the "personalized recommendation" mode. Even if users do not follow a certain WeChat public account, they are likely to see the content of other accounts in the subscription account, which means that the value of "title" is increasing. If your title and keywords are not good enough, then the number of clicks will be small and it will be difficult to get the system's recommendation. If your title and keywords are right, then it is very likely to get further recommendations for information. In the background of the subscription account, everyone can clearly see the source of traffic and the proportion of recommended traffic.

To put it bluntly, "title parties" are more likely to survive in the current WeChat public account model. For content creators, it is particularly important to come up with a "good title". Even if you don't know how to come up with a title, you should spend more time on it.

My official account was founded in 2013, and it has been more than 10 years since then. In the face of changes in the outside world, I would like to say that the first thing is to accept, and the second is to learn.

Author: Guo Jing's Internet Circle

Source: WeChat public account "Guo Jing's Internet Circle (ID: guojingdequanzi)"

This article was originally published by @郭静的互联网圈 on 運動派. Reprinting is prohibited without permission.

The title image is from Pexels, based on the CC0 agreement