2022丨Review of the hottest cases of Internet operations

As the growth of Internet users has peaked, the main theme of Internet operations is also changing. Over the past year, there have been many platforms that have grown. This article summarizes and analyzes the popular cases of Internet operations in 2022 and shares them with you.

2022 is destined to be a year that will go down in history. The international situation is turbulent and disputes continue. The epidemic situation is sometimes good and sometimes bad. With the market environment like this, the online operations of various industries are also volatile.

Fortunately, starting from 2023, the epidemic has become a thing of the past, and the supervision has finally been gradually lifted. With the full opening up, I believe that 2023 will be the year when the economy will be able to rise from the bottom and restore normal economic vitality;

As the growth of Internet users peaks, the main theme of Internet operations in 2022 has changed to the e-commerce era. Whether it is non-e-commerce platforms such as Baidu, Douyin/Kuaishou, or original life service businesses such as Meituan, they have all entered the e-commerce field since around 2022, accelerating the logic of commercial realization. At the same time, it also points out to the entire Internet industry that e-commerce is the most reliable and effective path to commercialization.

Good fortune and misfortune are closely related, difficulties and opportunities often complement each other, and growth is always reserved for those platforms that are prepared; the following cases are extremely classic operational cases in 2022. It is a pleasure for us to learn and practice them from time to time!

01 Wanglaoji's "Hundred Family Names" became popular

The first case to go viral in 2022 was the e-commerce operation strategy of Wanglaoji in January; on January 4, with topics such as #Wanglaoji has released a new version of Hundred Family Names# and #Wanglaoji Surname Totem Jar# becoming hot searches on Weibo, this classic case left a deep impression on consumers.

Wanglaoji awakens the surname culture deeply rooted in consumers' hearts through the form of one can, one surname and one totem, stimulating their interest and attention to the product. The words "Good luck to every family, auspicious New Year" printed on the gift box packaging are in line with consumers' demands for good luck during the Spring Festival. While arousing emotional resonance, it also gives the brand a high degree of recognition and memorability. In addition, Wanglaoji also accepts more surname customization on 115 surname totem products such as "Li Laoji, Chen Laoji, Zhao Laoji", etc., to meet consumers' personalized expression needs.

[Operation time] January

【Operational products】Wanglaoji beverage products

【Operation Module】Product Operation + Activity Operation

[Creative Strategy] Replacement of the same name, inheritance of the surname; direct design display on the can

【Growth Strategy】Self-propagation of activity cases, recommendation in WeChat Moments + Wanglaoji’s proactive promotion

Brief introduction to operations:

First, China is a society based on personal relationships. Family culture is a deeply ingrained cognition, and every consumer has a natural liking and interest in surnames. However, surname culture is still a bit far away from daily life, so once you encounter such a down-to-earth activity in daily shopping on the Internet, it will inevitably attract everyone's attention. This way of playing the activity can cover the entire country, the entire society, and everyone.

Second, this activity is launched during the "New Year's Goods Festival" during the Spring Festival. When everyone is preparing for the New Year's goods, they are very concerned about the gatherings of relatives and friends during the Spring Festival. Therefore, once there are products with surname jars, it is equivalent to a good entry point for family gatherings during the Spring Festival, which immediately draws in the emotions of the whole family; so the attention will be very high.

This type of activity is very suitable for brands with surnames; it has good replicability!

02 Event Operation: Winter Olympics

For this case, you can directly refer to this article I wrote: From the perspective of event operations, why did the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics have such a huge reputation?

03 Taking advantage of 315, the domestic brand White Elephant instant noodles took off

After the 315 Gala, the "Tukeng Pickled Cabbage" incident triggered heated public debate, and all related instant noodle manufacturers were negatively affected. Afterwards, Baiyang Food responded on social media: "In a word, there is no cooperation, you can eat it without worry, a person with a clear conscience has nothing to fear." Then, it said again: "We have never cooperated with the pickled cabbage company that was exposed, thank you for your concern. Baiyang has been sticking to quality for 25 years, and it has always been consistent." Among the large number of clarifications and apologies, Baiyang was like a clear stream, and quickly became popular, soaring in popularity in a short period of time, and dominating the hot search list for many days.

[Operation time] March

【Operational Products】White Elephant Brand

【Operation Module】Brand Operation & E-commerce Operation

[Operational Strategy] The three steps of social media public relations: ① Correct the public perception → ② Play the emotional card → ③ Build a reliable brand image through the keywords of "the glory of domestic products"

【Growth Strategy】E-commerce conversion: ①Tap-water-like rush to buy; ②Out-of-stock/short-selling products further promote consumers to rush to buy;

Brief introduction to operations:

The popularity of Baixiang is due to the subjective initiative of active interaction and clarification. However, from a strategic point of view, the operation idea is still very clear:

① Communicate positively and actively, make it clear that you have no relationship with a certain company, so as to set the record straight;

② In self-media communication, it is stated that one-third of the employees are disabled, and that they are conscientious companies that donated money and materials as soon as possible during the heavy rain in Henan, etc., to play the emotional card;

③It shows that Baixiang is the only company among the four instant noodle giants that refused Japan’s investment. It has promoted the brand image of domestic products and is called the light of domestic products by netizens. Therefore, a series of topics related to Baixiang have become hot searches: #One-third of Baixiang’s employees are disabled##Baixiang’s food random inspection pass rate is 100%##Baixiang instant noodles are the light of domestic instant noodles#... Wave after wave of popularity has made Baixiang popular, and the sales of its products have skyrocketed in a short period of time.

④ Don’t look at what netizens say, look at what they do, that is, after the brand has become popular, look at whether the commercialization grows; when the sales of Baiyang products soared, Baiyang issued a notice calling on consumers to consume rationally, "buy as much as you can eat, don't waste." This made more netizens become fans and consumers; this public relations technique is mature and sophisticated, and can be regarded as a model!

04 The ultimate in rusticity is trendy, Luckin Coffee and Coco Tree Coconut Juice cross-border collaboration

On April 8, Luckin Coffee posted a message on its official Weibo account: “Countdown 3 days! This cooperative brand’s first collaboration in 34 years.” The official Weibo account of Coco Tree Group also posted a message at the same time: “Authentic coconut milk, Coco Tree brand’s first collaboration in 34 years.”

The cooperation between the two parties has launched two styles of packaging bags, the earthy "Coco Tree Tribute to Luckin Edition" and the fresh "Luckin Tribute to Coco Tree Edition". The cup sleeves of the products continue the "earthy" style of the Coco Tree Group.

[Operation time] April

【Operational Products】Cross-border Cooperation

【Operation Module】Product Operation + Event Operation + Content Creativity

[Creative Strategy] The fusion of the traditional earthy flavor of Coco Tree and the trendy Luckin Coffee; the creativity of the cup sleeve

【Growth Strategy】Promote Haibo and coffee sales in Luckin stores; self-propagation on social media and recommendations in Moments

A brief discussion on operations - When the most down-to-earth content and the most fashionable retail brand are put together, the two "extreme" businesses can easily arouse consumers' curiosity. With the guaranteed customer flow of Luckin Coffee's thousands of stores, such interesting and curious activities will inevitably arouse consumers' "interesting" attempts and self-propagation. The core point of this case is the imagination aroused by the combination of two "extreme", "diametrically opposed" and "inconsistent" brands.

05 Seizing the dividends of staying at home during the epidemic, Liu Genghong became an Internet celebrity

There are miraculous cases every year. During April and May of 2022, the most watched case was undoubtedly the popularity of Liu Genghong on Douyin. The data is the best explanation. He gained 10 million fans in 7 days, 60 million fans in half a month, and his number of fans was close to that of Li Jiaqi. The number of live broadcasts exceeded 100 million. A top Douyin fitness blogger was born. I am afraid that there is only one person who can become popular in the field of fitness with such a rapid increase in fans. It has to be said that it is a miracle.

[Operation period] April-May

【Operational Products】Liu Genghong's Personal Brand

【Operation Module】Content Operation

【Operation Strategy】Live broadcast + fitness video content

【Growth Strategy】Self-propagation

Brief introduction to operations:

Liu Genghong's sudden popularity is difficult to replicate and is a special case. Fundamentally speaking, April and May were the time when the epidemic was raging. First-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen were at their most tense, with cities closed or quarantined, not to mention second- and third-tier cities. Long-term home isolation will have a great impact on people's emotions, which requires a certain outlet. Actively exercising at home is a rare scene, so seizing the dividends of staying at home during the epidemic will inevitably have a strong boosting effect in the field of fitness.

On the operational level, the "Liu Genghong Girl" and "Compendium of Materia Medica" music designed by Liu Genghong's team are very good keywords. They have secured a good positioning, and with the active or self-propagation of live broadcast + video, it is easy to gain momentum.

06 Cute pets are launched online, and KFC's Pikachu becomes popular

The Psyduck music box is one of the toys that come with KFC's Children's Day meal. During the Children's Day holiday, KFC launched a Children's Day meal and gave away toys such as the Psyduck music box, Pikachu music box, Pikachu picnic kettle, and Pokemon suitcase co-branded with Pokémon. One hand says "hurry up" and the other hand says "hand in homework". Consumers who purchase three children's meals ranging from 59 yuan, 69 yuan, and 109 yuan can get a random Pokemon co-branded toy.

The price was over 1,000 yuan but it was sold out as soon as it was launched; the Psyduck music box that danced with its hands to the magical music became the biggest hit and was quickly sold out. On a second-hand trading platform, the price of the toy even reached 1,300 yuan.

[Operation time] June

【Operational Products】KFC fast food business

【Operation Module】Activity Operation + Product Operation

【Operation Strategy】Magical music, fun toys, and cute pets;

【Growth Strategy】Buy and get a free gift, and the threshold for the activity is not particularly high (59/69/109), and the gift is positioned as a limited edition, thereby increasing the value of the gift; when this value is much higher than the main product, it is easy to create a rush to buy;

Brief introduction to operations:

The most interesting point of this case is that the gifts overshadowed the main business. It was originally a children's activity for KFC meal sets, a buy-one-get-one-free promotion; but it was just like when you were a kid, you went out of your way to buy Little Raccoon instant noodles in order to collect a set of toys/cards;

The target user group of this activity is children, but it is actually also aimed at families; so the functions of the gifts need to be beautiful, cute, interesting, magical, practical, etc., at least one or two of them. At the same time, the ID design must be beautiful, which is in line with children's cuteness and adults' cognition; I remember that when I was Xiaomi, the company emphasized "design aesthetics" for all products, and designed consumer products like works of art.

So, first of all, this Psyduck giveaway is very interesting and cute in appearance, and both children and adults will like it. Secondly, it has the characteristics of magic, fun, and the practicality of a music box. Moreover, and more importantly, it is limited in quantity. At the same time, the activity threshold is relatively not high. Therefore, under such circumstances, it is bound to be a big hit because the value of the limited Psyduck has actually far exceeded that of the KFC meal. Later, users went to KFC not to buy KFC, but to buy Psyduck.

07 New Oriental's Dong Yuhui becomes popular

Half a year after its launch, on June 16, 2022, Oriental Selection became popular due to the live broadcast of its anchor Dong Yuhui, which triggered widespread dissemination and discussion on social media. By the way, it also led to a continuous rise in the share price of New Oriental Online; according to data, the peak sales of Oriental Selection in June were 50-75 million, and the peak in October was 100-250 million, with an average of 10-20 million per day. From now on, the explosive power is stronger and the daily sales are also very stable.

According to news from Dongfang Zhenxuan, 60% of its products are self-operated. Agricultural products and nutritional supplements are all OEM-branded, while snacks are less OEM-branded. Moreover, with the natural English core, you can learn English while shopping, which satisfies both material and spiritual needs.

[Operation time] June

【Operational Products】Dong Yuhui's Personal Brand

【Operation Module】Content Operation

【Operation Strategy】Excellent content output and interaction

【Growth Strategy】Self-propagation of cases and recommendation in WeChat Moments

Brief introduction to operations:

Most netizens' comments on Dong Yuhui are: sincere, humorous, profound, and informative. How can such a host not be loved? Dong Yuhui's popularity reminds me of a former teacher at New Oriental, "Mr. Luo Yonghao"; in comparison, Dong Yuhui has Mr. Luo Yonghao's sense of humor, but at the same time he also has the corresponding content accumulation; in the 6 months since the launch of Oriental Selection, it has finally become popular through continuous user accumulation.

Success always comes to those who are prepared, and Dong Yuhui is one of them.

08 The “Darkened” Mixue Ice City

In late June, many people discovered that the brand IP of Mixue Ice City, Snow King, had been “blackened”. The official profile picture of Mixue Ice City on food delivery platforms, WeChat public accounts, and Douyin accounts has become the black Snow King. Not only online, but also offline stores have been turned into the black Snow King.

The "blackened" Snow King immediately sparked heated discussions and speculations among netizens, and the official also started to interact. Someone asked why there were still some store avatars on the food delivery app that had not been blackened. The official of Michelle Ice City humorously replied, "I used sunscreen, so it takes longer to get dark." Someone else asked why the Weibo avatar had not been "blackened" yet, and the official also wittily explained that it was "still sunbathing."

It was not until 18:00 on the afternoon of the 19th that Mixue Bingcheng officially announced the correct result on Weibo: "There is only one truth behind the darkening. The Snow King went to the mulberry garden to pick mulberries and got tanned." It turned out that Mixue Bingcheng's ultimate goal was to build momentum for its new product.

[Operation time] June

【Operational Products】New Products from Mixue Ice City

【Operation Module】Activity Operation

【Creative Strategy】Reverse thinking of white and black, color change

【Growth Strategy】Avatar color changing game case social communication, sparking discussion

Brief introduction to operations:

Mixue Ice City's brand IP marketing has always been praised by peers, and various online and offline interactive activities have repeatedly stimulated a large amount of UGC. In this new product marketing, Mixue Ice City took advantage of the hot event of "Zhengzhou High Temperature" to come up with a "black" creative idea. When the high-quality creative content aroused the natural curiosity and attention of netizens, the official response further won a lot of goodwill and secondary dissemination. When the attention reached a climax, the new product was launched, which triggered a sales boom.

By the end of June, topics related to the Snow King's dark transformation had generated over 500 million Weibo readings and nearly 80,000 discussions, making it a very successful case of explaining the marketing of a hot new product.

09 If vegetables could talk, Shanghai RT-Mart would produce fresh copy

In early June, the copywriting of Shanghai RT-Mart supermarket became a hot topic. RT-Mart, which is good at "making things happen", released a firework literature of various vegetables as daily consumer goods. Through the dissemination of RT-Mart's anthropomorphic content, it had a strong emotional resonance with consumers;

At the supermarket shopping site, onions, carrots, potatoes, etc. were labeled as "cold palace vegetables", and tomatoes, shallots, garlic, cola, etc., which were once difficult to buy, were called "supermarket top-tier products". These copywritings use a humorous attitude to show the "psychological value" of food products in supermarkets after the Shanghai epidemic was lifted, as well as the optimistic mentality of Shanghai people after the restart.

[Operation time] June

【Operational products】RT-Mart fresh products

【Operation Module】Content Operation

【Operation Strategy】Anthropomorphic content design

【Growth Strategy】Self-propagation by consumers and recommendations from friends circle

Brief introduction to operations:

The value of excellent copywriting is that it can connect with the user's heart. When everyday vegetables suddenly "speak to users", users often find it novel and interesting. Secondly, when they see the content, there will always be sentences that touch the user's heart. At this time, the user's emotions and the brand will form a strong resonance; the deep-sea old yellow croaker said: On the way to work, I have exhausted my life's physical strength; the banana said: Unripe bananas are like projects, they will turn yellow if left alone; the discounted vegetables said: Go to work, go to work at a price of 1.5 yuan per pound...

This series of literary posters by Runfa combines two seemingly unrelated scenes, the workplace and the supermarket, through teasing copywriting, accurately capturing the hearts of workers, and cleverly combining product features to successfully resonate with workers.

10 Second Uncle's video went viral on the Internet

In the short video "Three Days Back in the Village, My Second Uncle Cured My Mental Burnout", the blogger used his own perspective to tell the story of his second uncle's ordinary yet extraordinary life in the countryside. There were no special effects, no sensationalism, no packaging, just a straightforward account of the life. However, it was such an inconspicuous person who was drowned in the crowd, but was praised by the People's Daily and brought tears to hundreds of millions of netizens.

Some people say that this is the best story they have read this year, and it cured all their hypocrisy and emptiness. Others say that the life of the second uncle is ordinary but noble, and it makes them believe that "life kisses me with pain, but I repay it with songs" really exists.

[Operation time] July

【Operational Products】Video Content

【Operation Module】Content Operation

【Operation Strategy】Content Spiritual Core

【Growth Strategy】Self-propagation of cases and recommendation in WeChat Moments

Brief introduction to operations:

Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory mentions that the highest need of human beings is self-realization. This video is essentially about this point; the balance between human expectations and reality of self-realization; any content about people can often establish a strong emotional resonance with the general public.

11. Probably the hottest innovative product in 2022: Dun Dun Bucket

Ton-ton barrels first became popular as a new category, and then became a hit brand from the category. This popular "barrel" brand is BOTTLED JOY. After Wang Yibo announced on Weibo that he had officially become the global spokesperson for the brand, it added fuel to the fire for ton-ton barrels. In the official announcement video, the brand started from three life application scenarios, and compared ton-ton barrels with small cups of drinking water in the background of deserts and remote mountains, highlighting its product performance such as reminding healthy drinking water and keeping warm in winter. Popularity and fashion have made ton-ton barrels a fashionable way of drinking water, with sales soaring and constant topics, and more and more celebrities and trendsetters spontaneously recommending them.

[Operation time] September

【Operational products】ton barrel

【Operation Module】Product Operation

【Operation Strategy】Brand Spokesperson

【Growth Strategy】Two-way promotion of company + brand, video dissemination, e-commerce content promotion

A brief talk on operations - Ton-ton barrels are an original and new category. After analyzing all the user needs, we will find many vertical demands. Ton-ton barrels are a small vertical demand for drinking water - large-capacity drinking water.

However, if you simply design a larger cup without making any changes, there will be no innovation or significant growth.

The innovation of ton barrels lies in:

①ID design, not only has a large capacity, but also makes a big difference in appearance from the current daily cups;

②The appearance design conforms to the design aesthetics and looks very beautiful;

③ Naming method: It is named "Tonton barrel" separately. The overlapping pronunciation of "tonton" has the characteristics of subtly influencing user cognition and strengthening user memory, and it is also catchy to read;

④ Endorsement: Introducing spokespersons can further create a greater voice and conversion among young groups.

12 It is possible to become rich/famous overnight. I am talking about you:

A small game called "Sheep a Sheep" has been popular on WeChat Moments and various social networks. The sudden increase in difficulty, the gameplay of fighting for provinces, and the clearance rate of less than 0.1% have driven players to challenge the game repeatedly, driven by the complex feelings of "the more angry, the more they play" and winning glory for their hometown. Some players said that the reason they were "obsessed" was the feeling of "escaping from death". In summary, the game is set to be very difficult, giving players a glimmer of hope, and through various competition mechanisms, players can't stop playing in surprise and despair.

[Operation time] September

【Operational products】Sheep Sheep Game

【Operation Module】Product Operation

[Operational Strategy] Hell-level clearance difficulty, provincial level competition

【Growth Strategy】Through social networking, we have improved stickiness, the ability to attract new users, and formed a commercialization path

Brief introduction to operations:

The game is very simple, a simplified synthesis game, similar to Lianliankan. The main task of the player is to move the fruits and put 3 identical water drops together to eliminate them. From the gameplay point of view, this game is exactly the same as 2048 and Synthesize Watermelon. The gameplay is simple, but it is magical enough to make people addicted. It is extremely simple, the picture is fresh, but it also requires some thinking; at the same time, it also adds the ranking mechanism, as well as the current fashionable commercial model of watching videos to win points/opportunities.

13 The latest operation method: AI is hot (the first year of AIGC)

This year, Baidu has released a number of AI intelligent virtual characters, including Du Xiaoxiao, Ye Youyou, etc. It has to be said that they are the most beautiful AI assistants on the entire network; at the same time, in 2022, Douyin launched the annual trendy special effects event - AI painting, which quickly became the most popular special effect among young people...

From a formal point of view, AI painting and other forms of artificial intelligence, like PGC and UGC, all use corresponding strategies to output better content, except that the content producers have changed from real people or institutions to AI tools;

With the popularity of AI intelligence, 2022 is also called the first year of AIGC on the Internet, which refers to the use of artificial intelligence technology to generate content.

[Operation time] 2022

【Operational Products】Various AI tools

【Operation Module】Product Operation + Content Operation + Event Operation

[Operational strategy] AI virtual image release, AI trend activities (AI painting), AI poster design (Ali uses AI to generate posters and slogans), etc.

【Growth Strategy】Operation strategy of publishing platform + self-propagation by netizens

Brief introduction to operations:

People always yearn for the latest and most fashionable tools. When AI can liberate people's hands and minds, it will inevitably attract a large number of users. The biggest difference between humans and animals is that humans are good at using tools.

14 2022 Internet buzzwords

This year, many popular Internet memes were born under the witness of the vast number of netizens. "I really know how to thank you", "CPUed...", "Ice cream assassin"... In your mind, which one is the most representative annual meme? The "Top Ten Internet Buzzwords" selected by "Language and Characters Weekly" are freshly released;

Author: Zhao Feitan, WeChat public account: zhao-feitan; About Xiaomi operations manager, former senior product operation of JD.com, winner of the 2016 JD.com 3C Innovation Award.