Who is driving the popularity of Zibo barbecue?

Zibo barbecue has become a new top food in the food world. What is the reason for its popularity? And after going viral, why does the popularity of Zibo barbecue continue to rise? For a city, what is the key to turning "traffic" into "retention"? Let's take a look from the author's perspective!

Recently, Zibo, Shandong has started a barbecue craze on social platforms with its barbecue soul "three-piece set" of "oven + small cakes + dipping sauce", and Zibo barbecue has become a new top trend in the food world.

At present, the popularity of Zibo barbecue continues to rise. Terms such as "Why is Zibo barbecue so popular", "The charcoal-burning guy in Zibo has been smoked black", "Zibo's efforts are beyond my imagination", and "Immersive check-in in Zibo barbecue" have successively appeared on the Douyin hot list.

The popularity of Zibo barbecue is reflected on Weibo, Xiaohongshu and other platforms. There are more than ten hot searches on Weibo, such as "Zibo barbecue is awesome", "21 Zibo barbecue hotlines can be checked online", and "What is the soul of Zibo barbecue". In a short period of time, there are more than 40,000 notes about Zibo barbecue, and various travel guides continue to attract more people to check in Zibo.

From a local specialty to a popular barbecue hot spot on the Internet, what is the reason for the sudden popularity of Zibo barbecue? And after going viral, why does the popularity of Zibo barbecue continue to rise? For a city, what is the key to turning "traffic" into "retention"?

1. The Zibo barbecue craze swept the entire network

The energy of the college students has played an indispensable role in the Zibo barbecue craze. According to the description of the Douyin author @最江阴评论部, the group that first popularized Zibo barbecue was the college students who were quarantined in Zibo during the epidemic. Because they were treated like family members during the quarantine, they established a deep relationship with Zibo, and their last meal after the quarantine was Zibo barbecue. Because of this, Zibo barbecue has become a thought in their hearts.

At the beginning of this spring, this group of college students went on a group trip back to Zibo. Zibo barbecue has gained a certain popularity on the Internet. With the check-ins of some food bloggers and store exploration bloggers, the popularity of Zibo barbecue continues to rise, gradually sweeping the entire Internet, attracting tourists from all over the country to check in.

Among the many bloggers who check in for Zibo barbecue, @B Tai, a blogger with millions of fans, visited the Zibo market with a scale. His experience of shopping in ten stores without missing any weights has brought a lot of goodwill to Zibo online. In the video, @B Tai first came to a braised meat shop in Badaju. After the boss weighed the meat, @B Tai took out his own scale to verify that the result was accurate. The boss said that he was doing long-term business and would not do anything that missed the weight. Finally, the boss gave @B Tai a box of Shandong-specific sauce, fully demonstrating the warm hospitality of Shandong people.

In this video, @B太 went to the roasted sweet potato stall, fruit stall, seafood stall, cake stall and other stalls, and all of them were accurate without exception. During the consumption process, the hospitality and simplicity shown by the various bosses attracted many netizens. "I've decided to go to Zibo on May Day", "Zibo, Shandong, has a lot of extra points", "Shandong people are really simple" and other comments can be seen everywhere.

No overcharging, no price hikes, no cheating, local merchants in Zibo have reached a consensus that "whoever wants to smash Zibo's bowl, Zibo will smash his bowl." In the video, @B Tai commented: "Zibo, Shandong is a city that I have to admire! Shandong barbecue is in Zibo! Zibo consumption is even more amazing! Reliable!" @B Tai showed Zibo's comfortable consumption environment, which prompted netizens to transform their enthusiasm for Zibo barbecue into offline consumption.

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

The uniqueness of Zibo barbecue has made many bloggers focus their cameras on the food itself. An independent charcoal grill, a plate of dipping sauce, a stack of old-style cakes, and a bundle of green onions are the standard configuration of Zibo barbecue. Under the lens of @阿王教授, the crispy cakes wrapped around the sizzling beef skewers, and the green onions bursting in the mouth, the moment of eating the barbecue was very satisfying. And Shi Lu, director of the Zhangdian District Culture and Tourism Bureau, even live-streamed how to eat Zibo barbecue. In the video, she folded the cake in half, dipped it in sauce, unfolded it, put a few skewers of meat and green onions on it, rolled it up, and started eating.

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

In addition, Zibo barbecue has certain social attributes. Several friends sit around a small table, order their favorite meat and vegetable skewers, and then chat while grilling around the small stove, which is full of the flavor of life.

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

Under the lens of @梓博小乔, small tables were filled with diners, and the atmosphere was relaxed and joyful. Many netizens left messages in the bullet screen and comment area, "What a happy atmosphere, our beautiful Shandong", "Harmonious society, happy speed", "This is the nightlife, as long as you don't make trouble, eat skewers, sing songs, and release the stress of the day, how wonderful it is."

2. Why does the popularity continue to rise?

The reason why the popularity of Zibo barbecue continues to rise is closely related to a series of measures taken by the local government and is also related to the hospitable local residents.

In order to welcome tourists from all over the country, on the Zibo barbecue train, the directors of the cultural and tourism bureaus of Yiyuan and Gaoqing in Zibo personally served passengers and distributed cultural and creative products to passengers for free. In @小粉's video, various cultural and creative products were received in large quantities, which made many netizens envious. Some netizens said in the comment area that "I saw a small city desperately grasping the opportunity for development", "Zibo locals want to ride it", "This is the right way to create a civilized city and a tourist city", which shows the attraction of the barbecue train to netizens.

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

In addition to the barbecue train, Zibo City has also established a barbecue association, released a barbecue map, set up a barbecue bus line, offered half-price accommodation at youth stations, prohibited taxis from overcharging passengers, and held the Zibo Barbecue Golden Furnace Award. Public security organs in various places have "spoken out" to ensure safety at night, and the Shandong Provincial Government immediately responded by launching a 399 yuan high-speed rail tour of Qilu package on April 7... A series of measures have been taken to ensure tourists' "food, entertainment, accommodation, and transportation."

The local government's expansion of tourism around Zibo barbecue, such as the Badaju Morning Market, Tangku Cultural and Creative Park, Wenchang Lake, Haidai Tower Zhongshuge, etc., has increased the playability of a trip to Zibo and increased the desire of netizens to check in.

It is worth mentioning that recently, the slogan "Youth has no price, hard seat direct to Lhasa" became popular, and "special forces-style tourism" became popular among young people, especially college students. Some college students traveled across three provinces in eight days during the winter vacation, checking in at dozens of scenic spots, while others took an overnight sleeper train to reach their destination, walked around and checked in at multiple scenic spots before returning to school.

The "special forces-style tourism" of going on a whim also applies to the trip to Zibo, and "special forces-style tourism: eating all over Zibo" has even been on the Douyin hot list. In @阿文哇哦's video, she challenged her limits and ate all over Zibo in 24 hours, eating more than ten kinds of food, such as purple rice cakes that were enlarged versions of leek boxes, old-fashioned cream cakes that recalled childhood memories, fragrant and soft milk bars, soy milk that cost one yuan a bag, and soup dumplings full of soup.

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

Netizens also teased her appetite in the comment section, "Does your stomach have 128G?" and "This is not a college student special forces soldier, this is a college student special tank." Some netizens were completely attracted to Zibo and said, "I watched three Zibo videos in a row. The first one was that Zibo was not short of weight, the second one was giving gifts on the train, and the third one was free travel with a high-speed rail ticket. I can't miss going to Zibo this year."

The popularity of Zibo barbecue is also reflected in the data from the Culture and Tourism Bureau. A set of data released by the Zibo Culture and Tourism Bureau showed that in the first week of March, the number of passengers arriving in Zibo exceeded 21,000 for two consecutive days. The data on March 5 even broke the highest record in three years, reaching 48,000.

3. After the explosion of Zibo barbecue

The reason why Zibo barbecue has been able to become a new top trend in the food industry from a local delicacy is the joint result of the efforts of college students, local governments, short video social platforms, and various bloggers.

It is foreseeable that with the passage of time, the popularity of Zibo barbecue will gradually fade, but it is undeniable that Zibo barbecue has become the "business card" of this city, which is of great significance to the future cultural and tourism development of the city.

Through this phenomenal event, we once again saw the potential of short video platforms. From multiple hot topics online to the endless stream of tourists checking in offline, each platform used its own unique energy to drive the fermentation of hot topics.

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

For bloggers who check in at Zibo, using hot spots to enhance their influence is still a key point in their creative process. For example, @B太's video "Shandong Zibo is a city that I have to admire!" received 3.13 million likes, and he became known by more people. @小粉, who shared the barbecue train, has less than 10,000 followers, but the video "Lucky to sit on the barbecue train" received 820,000 likes. Because of the great influence of the video, she was personally received by the director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Yiyuan County, Zibo.

The explosion of Zibo barbecue on the Internet has allowed us to see the original appearance of life, and the fireworks in life are returning. Under the stimulation of multiple favorable factors, travel content is regaining vitality. In this year of recovery, perhaps the question that is more worthy of our consideration is: where is the next "Zibo barbecue"?

Author: Aries; Editor: Ji Nan

Source: WeChat public account "TopKlout (ID: TopKlout)"