The “essence” of brand content marketing

In the field of corporate self-media, most brands' self-media have not been successful. What is the reason? What is the real meaning of content marketing? There are three key ways to reverse the content problem. Let's take a look.

This is a common problem, especially in the field of corporate media.

Many companies try to expand their coverage by operating various platforms, such as Xiaohongshu, Video Account, Douyin Account, Kuaishou Account, etc. They hope to reach more audiences in this way, however, the expected results are often not achieved.

In reality, these efforts are usually minimal.

The video has very few views, and likes are often posted by internal company staff.

Soon after, the employee in charge of new media operations may be fired for failing to achieve the expected results due to failure to meet KPIs. As a result, the social media accounts that were once carefully built are abandoned in a corner.

I noticed that most brands’ self-media have not been successful. There are two main reasons:

First, brand demand is often greater than consumer demand. When you open their Douyin accounts, you often see only introductions to their own products, which shows that they do not understand the operating mechanism of the platform well enough and have not found a way to solve pain points in consumer scenarios.

Secondly, whether it is videos or articles, many brands try to use scraps to operate their own media. Some just publish some casually taken pictures after a little editing, while others directly use unclear live broadcast clips of Internet celebrities.

However, what is more serious than these problems is that many brands have not figured out why they should conduct full-network self-media operations, and what long-term strategy content marketing is actually intended to achieve.

So we must ask, what does content marketing really mean? My answer is: “freedom.” Why?

Five years ago, if a company wanted to do marketing, it was a big project.

You have to find a media, negotiate a timeline, and pay them. You may also need to find an advertising agency to write, revise, and confirm the copy. Worst of all, you don’t know when it will be published.

Now, the emergence of new media has made all this easy. As long as our content is attractive enough, we can easily get the attention of consumers. However, this does not mean that there are no problems.

You may ask, what about the content that no one pays attention to?

I used to be troubled by this, but later I got inspiration from an open journal article by Joel Huber, a professor at Duke University.

Someone asked him, how can you publish so many successful articles every year? He opened the folder on his computer and said: Look at these articles, none of them are published publicly, and some articles may never see the light of day.

This made me realize that the successful content we see is just the tip of the iceberg. A large amount of content may be ignored or even abandoned.

Brands and teams should realize that successful hits with 100,000+ views are not the majority. Many brands actually have a hard time on the road of content marketing.

Moreover, there are millions of brand accounts engaging in content marketing, which makes the content market diverse and competitive. If our content has no characteristics, it will most likely be ignored by consumers.

So, I want to tell you:

First, the development of social media has made content marketing more free, but this freedom also brings challenges. Second, since the quality of content varies, if you want to succeed among the new generation of consumers, you must improve the quality and attractiveness of your content.

To reverse the content problem, we must grasp the key points, and there are three points that cannot be avoided.

1. Understand where your customers are

If you don’t understand what your customers like, it will be difficult to define the cornerstone of your content. A vivid metaphor is like building a tall building on sand. Without a foundation, it may be blown down by a gust of wind.

Therefore, if a brand wants to engage in self- media, it must lay a solid foundation so that it knows how to tell the brand story.

For example:

In 2004, there was an extremely popular American TV series called "Desperate Housewives".

This story is about the relationship between several housewives in a middle-class community. There are all kinds of dramatic elements, such as jealousy, hatred, betrayal, and even murder.

If we use Chinese standards, this drama cannot be considered a mainstream drama. It is a little different from our imagination of American middle-class family life. Where do you think it is popular in the United States?

Many people think that places like New York and California are the places where people are more open-minded and receptive to new things; but guess what, the result was completely unexpected. The most popular place to watch the show was Utah, which was considered a very traditional and conservative place in that era.

I started wondering, what is this?

Later I realized that although the lifestyle in Utah may be very different from that in the TV series, the plot in the show touched the hearts of the people there.

The people there cannot experience the various plots in the drama in real life, but in the process of watching the drama, they can gain a sense of immersion, a feeling of anticipation and curiosity.

This made me understand that when understanding customers, we must never make superficial mistakes; many people have had this experience, thinking that satisfying their own needs is equivalent to satisfying consumer needs, but in fact they have not grasped the key point.

You can compare it with the company’s brand and think about what its target group is.

Just like products like blood glucose meters and home ventilators, sometimes you don’t necessarily have to go to Douyin or Kuaishou to broadcast live. Instead, it is important to put the advertisements where the target group can see them.

Of course, there are still some details to consider. When I see some companies creating content, their content is like a "master key", thinking it can suit everyone. However, in reality, it is impossible for everyone to be interested in the same thing.

I think we should divide the target groups and prepare special content for each group.

Some companies look at the world through tinted glasses. They think their identified consumer interests are correct, just like an old naughty boy who sticks to his own opinion.

They ignored the changes in time and scenes, just like trying to find a new destination with an outdated map. As a result, the content was out of touch with reality and consumer needs.

for example:

Some time ago, I talked with the content manager of a fitness brand. They believed that on short video platforms, they should emphasize making the body stronger and losing weight, and content marketing has always revolved around this theme.

In fact, people nowadays have a more diversified understanding of fitness. They think that fitness is not only for appearance, but also for relieving stress and diet management.

If we continue to stick to traditional concepts and fail to adjust content strategies in a timely manner to adapt to new consumer demands, the content may become out of touch with the actual needs of most consumers.

2. Granularization of content demand

This is particularly important for B2B companies. Many B2B content managers belong to new media or marketing departments, and their orientation is mainly "lead-centric."

There is no right or wrong answer to this. The key point is that every time you get a lead, it is relatively "broad", or even just the same, and it is impossible to convert it. That means that all the work has been done in vain.

Let me give you an example:

There is an internet celebrity housewife in the United States named Ree Drummond. After graduating from the University of California, she followed her husband to a remote farm. She started blogging and shooting short videos very early and became an internet celebrity writer.

Do you know how she became popular? Because she understands what users are thinking.

Although life on the farm may not be so easy, people only see the beauty she describes. She shows everyone an ideal farm life, and urban women will be moved when they see it, thinking how nice it would be if they could live such a life.

Of course, some people criticized her for not showing real farm life, but she responded that she was showing her imaginary world, in which urban women were full of yearning for rural life.

She captures those urban women who yearn for rural life. So, the most important point is:

When we do content marketing, we must understand the needs of users and know what they are thinking and what they like, so that we can capture their hearts.

When I was creating content, I often encountered a problem.

It means that you spend a lot of effort to write good content, but the number of readers is not high. On the other hand, content with a high number of readers is not necessarily good content. As long as you capture everyone's emotions, you can become popular.

So, sometimes when I am working on commercialization, I work hard to write a good article, but the person in charge of the client will tell me: "The boss only cares about the number of readers", as long as the content is acceptable, it's fine. I can only helplessly think of other ways.

In this case, few creators are willing to write good content because even if you think the content is good, if the dissemination effect is not good, the boss may not buy it.

In the past, this situation was embarrassing. After talking to some bosses recently, I have a new perspective.

I found that in the past, many people (including bosses) had a very one-sided understanding of content. They thought that as long as they wrote a popular article with a high number of readers, they could create value.

Why do you think so?

The boss doesn't write content, but asks the team to write it. This is different in recent years. Many bosses have started to write articles themselves and have independent ideas because of business difficulties.

During the writing process, they began to realize that the number of readers cannot fully represent the value of the content. The real value should be to see whether the content can bring practical results, or even to say, to spread the value of the product.

For example, some bosses may not be able to write popular content themselves, but their independent thinking can bring customers. Therefore, they began to rethink what kind of content customers really want.

I think this is actually a change in the granularity of content. People have started to go from casting a wide net to in-depth research. From focusing on the number of readers to focusing on the quality and actual effect of the content.

3. Content highlights and relationships

There is an interesting definition of "relationship" in quantum physics:

Relationship = Information How to judge whether you have a good relationship with someone?

In other words, it’s just about how much information you know about the other person, as well as the latest updates, and how much of it is synchronized with you.

for example:

Zhang Lan, who was very popular some time ago, is very familiar to netizens and some even call her "Sister Lan". Why?

Because Lan Jie generously shared her struggle stories, private life, and various interesting things in her short videos and live broadcasts, which made everyone feel particularly close to her. After Zhang Lan became popular, Ma Liuji hot and sour noodles became a hit. Brands should also do this.

However, this poses a huge challenge to the brand.

In the past, brands were like loudspeakers, simply posting content about influencers’ factory visits and supply chain tracing on social media. Now it is different, and a completely new, people-centered interactive link scenario needs to be set up.

What does it mean? Brands not only need to speak for themselves, but also need to build a platform for users to perform.

Marketo is an American company that provides marketing automation software services. Their content is generally technical, which some people may find a bit boring.

So, they came up with a new idea and published a coloring book called "Big Marketing Activity Coloring Book", which is like a game, allowing users to learn about products and industry knowledge while coloring.

This book is mainly for CEOs of large companies who are not so interested in advertising. This kind of interesting coloring book has become their "ring", allowing users to participate themselves and deepen the interaction between them and users.

Let’s look at Caterpillar. All of their content revolves around their brand image – “a tough guy with a soft heart.”

They demonstrated the meticulous craftsmanship of their products and their care for society and employees. Their clever approach was like setting up a "ring" for consumers to participate and experience the advantages of their products and the value of their company.

During the recent 618 pre-event period, the human resources department of a shoe-selling company released a photo of an interview with a new employee.

This photo was not released by the marketing department, but it contains the company's logo and some scenes.

Their approach is like telling every employee that you are all content creators, and everyone can participate and build the brand together. In this way, the brand is no longer just the company talking, but users and employees can participate together.

So, what is the true meaning of content marketing? In the era of free content, we should not follow the trend and produce the same content as many other brands, but should focus on the strategy, culture and core.

So, what does content marketing really mean?

In the era of free content, we should not follow the mass route and produce stereotyped content like most brands. Instead, we should dig deep into the core value of the brand from a strategic and cultural perspective.

If the above three weaknesses can be solved, the content will no longer be so bland and lack innovation as it is now. Only in this way can brand content marketing truly show its charm.

4. Lifestyle Brands

So, how should a brand find its core? I think we should learn from “lifestyle brands”. What should we learn? There are three points:

1) Culture as the main theme

Brands like Guanxia have created their own brand culture - oriental, humanistic, artistic, and fragrant - by expressing Chinese culture and telling stories that we have been familiar with since childhood.

Brands like Gaga and Aranya strive to create a lifestyle atmosphere through various eating, drinking, entertainment and community interactions, so that consumers can feel a sense of belonging while enjoying their products or services.

There are also brands like Snow Peak, which provide products and services that can meet people's pursuit of a healthy life. Therefore, it is easy for them to take health as the core and make people remember it quickly.

For example, MUJI, through simple and environmentally friendly product design and packaging, conveys a green and low-carbon lifestyle concept, which is easily accepted by everyone.

So, you can think about it, what is the main line of your company's brand and content core?

2) Pay attention to emotional concepts

As a young person working in society, I also face various pressures.

I long to find a way to vent my emotions and relax myself. Just like now, sometimes I go to the temple to worship Buddha, and sometimes I try to wear brightly colored clothes to express my youth.

In fact, these are all about achieving inner satisfaction through consumption. Every time I see brands like MUJI and Guanxia, ​​I can really feel inner peace and satisfaction.

What they offer is not just a product, but more of a lifestyle.

Think about it, what emotional values ​​does your company's brand convey? How are these values ​​highlighted? Is it visual? Or concept? Or content?

For example:

The maternal and infant brand "Babycare" has been ranked first in the maternal and infant industry on Tmall for four consecutive years.

So far, there are about 45 million channel users. Based on the concept of "redesign for love", in order to truly relieve the pressure of having children for the new generation, they started to promote "painless childbirth" last year.

Together with the experts of the Department of Anesthesiology of Peking Union Medical College, we appealed and established a public welfare fund project. In addition to public welfare, we also have dialogues with users. They rarely make 30-second TVCs, but basically long videos of 10 minutes.

We also invited Jiang Sida to interview Reyiza, asking her to talk about what kind of identity change she faced after she became a mother from a girl with personality and cynicism, and whether she was still herself after becoming a mother. We also found Professor Liu Qing to discuss a series of dialogues, such as why humans have children.

Think about it, is your company's brand still frantically doing integrated marketing and TVC output concepts? The content of those high-quality brands has already taken root in the user base.

3) Keep the bottom line and create scenarios

We live in an era where chasing hot spots and grabbing traffic can bring short-term success, but from a long-term perspective, the most important thing is to maintain the brand's bottom line.

What is the bottom line?

Stick to the core concept of the brand. Many brands, such as Hilton's Tempo, ARKET and Snow Peak, operate in a content-driven way.

These brands all have their own clear brand bottom line, that is, "brand proposition". No matter what festivals the outside world celebrates or what marketing they do, they rarely follow the trend.

As for creating scenes, if you are an online Internet brand, the most important thing is to provide core users with many co-creation and participation activities; if you are an offline brand, you may need to use some colors and styles to create unique scenes for users.

Tagi is a good example in this regard. Friends who have been there should know that the store and product design are memorable at a glance.

In summary:

The essence of content marketing is "cultural positioning".

If a company cannot find the core, no matter how much content it creates, how many social media accounts it opens, or how many KOLs it finds, it is just building on sand, let alone long-term plans.

Author: Wang Zhiyuan, public account: Wang Zhiyuan