Two development paths for operators

All walks of life and all positions require operations. Operations are complex and tedious. In the final analysis, they can be divided into two development paths: one is to create content, and the other is to directly monetize traffic. The author of the following article mainly explains operations in detail around the two methods of content and traffic monetization. Let's take a look.

The scope of operation is very broad. Operation is needed in all walks of life and all positions. Operation is complicated and tedious, but just as people with different styles can ultimately be divided into men and women, operation can ultimately be divided into two development paths: one is to create content, and the other is to directly monetize traffic.

You can think about it, are the operations positions you are working in all centered around these two areas? For example, if you are doing live streaming or video accounts, your primary goal is to increase your followers, and to increase followers you need to create content, so you are in a content position.

For example, if you are doing e-commerce, is it directly exchanging money for money? Opening a through train is actually changing money into money. All operations cannot escape these two paths. Which one do you belong to?

1. Content Path

I have met many operators, and they all have ideas and want to start their own business. The most convenient way to start your own business is to create content yourself. Look at self-media platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu, there are so many big accounts that have millions of fans by themselves.

The current media environment has made the threshold for starting a business particularly low. As long as you have ideas and some skills (such as cross-dressing PS, etc.), you can find your own place in it.

Therefore, creating content is the first thing that operators think of. If you ask everyone what their plans are for next year, many people will choose to create content to increase their fans, and then monetize by selling products after they have fans. So is it easy to create content now? In fact, it is already very difficult.

Personally, I think the only platform that still has some benefits now is the video account, although I don’t use it. It is precisely because the voice outside is small and not many people are doing it, which shows that there is an opportunity. However, there is a prerequisite, that is, this platform can really be made and should not be shut down after a few years, otherwise we will have bet on the wrong horse.

The underlying logic of creating content never changes, whether it is pictures, texts or videos, now it is video that dominates the world. I have recently been working in e-commerce and have followed some bloggers who talk about e-commerce. My feeling is that these people have not spent any energy on creating high-quality content.

Their videos are several minutes long and the text is full of typos, but it doesn’t stop them from getting a lot of likes and followers, because people are looking for the real stuff, and don’t really care about the empty talk. There is another account that has never posted a short video, but it has tens of thousands of followers even when it broadcasts live at night.

When I first started shooting short videos, I made a draft, but it sounded very artificial when I read it, and the number of views and followers was not high. Later, I let myself go and just spoke out loud, without adjusting the camera angle specifically. I just shot and spoke casually, and I didn’t expect the number of views to be several times higher than before.

Although the data is still far behind that of big internet celebrities, it illustrates a truth: when creating content, don’t be pretentious, the more down-to-earth the better. Isn’t Xiao Yangge the same?

If you really want to create content, my advice is to try not to go it alone. Have a team, with some responsible for shooting and editing, some responsible for the script, and some responsible for appearing on camera. There is strength in numbers, and the chances of success will increase accordingly. Anyway, creating content is indeed much more difficult now than before.

2. Traffic Monetization

Some people say that the end of content is live streaming with goods, implying that the best way to monetize traffic is live streaming with goods. This is indeed the case. It does not rule out monetization through courses, but those are relatively rare. The most common way is to sell goods.

Is it better to create content first and then monetize traffic, or to monetize traffic directly? Before I started e-commerce, I would choose the former, but after I started e-commerce, I prefer the latter.

Take the recent Pinduoduo as an example. How do others do it? They just open a store. If one store fails, they switch to another one. This is obviously the idea of ​​​​monetizing traffic.

Because the e-commerce platform itself already has a huge amount of traffic, what we need to do is to put the products to be monetized on it, obtain traffic through natural flow or through traffic, and monetize it. As for how to obtain low-cost traffic, it is a technical job.

The core of traffic monetization is to calculate the investment-output ratio. If you spend 100 yuan and get back 90 yuan, can such a business be sustainable? It cannot be sustainable. I have seen some opinions online that it is necessary to lose money in the early stage, increase the traffic, and then reduce the cost by dragging down the price in the later stage. My practical experience tells me that this way is basically unworkable.

The profit of selling a product is 20 yuan. If you offer 15 yuan at the beginning, there is still a 5 yuan space, and it seems that there is still room for profit. But the reality is that after you offer 15 yuan, the actual profit will be more than 25 yuan.

You think you should run it this way first and build up the link weight first, but when your weight is up, you switch to setting the investment-output ratio for the entire site, but you are already stuck and cannot set a high investment-output ratio. Running according to the investment-output ratio locked by the system will only lead to a loss of money. Looking at such a plan, it is really a waste of time.

There is only one requirement for us to monetize traffic, which is to understand the rules of the platform. A few days ago, disinfection products suddenly became popular, but in just two weeks, it was too late for you to enter the market. The price war has already started. This is the e-commerce environment. Those who do not understand the rules of the platform will become cannon fodder once they enter.

If you want to monetize traffic through e-commerce platforms, my advice is to have stable cooperation with manufacturers. Don't cooperate with people you are not familiar with. It is normal to be cheated. For example, just when you start selling the product, the other party will cut off the stock or increase the price. It is too difficult to deal with. The business environment is much worse than the operator's environment.

3. Both

Recently I like a profession very much, e-commerce lecturer. At first, I thought others made money by selling courses, but later I found out that they also opened their own stores, creating content and monetizing traffic, making money from both ends, which is really good.

The most taboo thing in operations is a single profit model. Others can make money through the store and also make money by leading others. This model is quite good.

One advantage of leading people to make money is that you can quickly collect external information. Traffic monetization requires speed. You can only make money if you plan earlier than others. To plan earlier than others, you need to have the most first-hand information.

You can’t guess by yourself if something is about to gain popularity. Bring more students and have dozens of people give you feedback, which is much more efficient than looking for information by yourself.

Maybe I will be able to lead people in the future, but that will be a few years later. Traffic monetization cannot be done without three to five years of accumulation. For example, what products should be selected for traffic monetization during the Spring Festival, and what the market trend will be after the Spring Festival. If you have not experienced two or three complete Spring Festival e-commerce, it is impossible to perceive them.

It is said that the primary problem after the holidays is out of stock. If you have sufficient stock, you will have the capital to compete with your competitors.

There are people around me who are engaged in knowledge payment. To put it bluntly, if you know something that others don’t, you can use it to monetize it, whether it is operational skills or e-commerce sales, the money you make is from the information gap.

4. Final

My suggestion is that if you can go directly to the second path of traffic monetization, then go directly to the second path. The content path is too difficult and uncontrollable. Of course, if you can do it, then it will be stable.

Not everyone may have the opportunity to come across e-commerce, but it is not difficult. You can first register a store, sell a few products and get a feel for it. Traffic monetization will come much faster.

Author: Tiger Talks Operations

Source: WeChat public account "Laohu Jiangyy (ID: laohujiangyy)"