Will Video Accounts be the hope for WeChat? Let’s take a look at some fatal problems first

A few days ago, Ma Huateng released an internal letter, emphasizing that "short video + live broadcast is the core of future business" and pointed out that Video Account is an important product for Tencent to develop in the future. But can Video Account live up to this high expectation? This article will first talk about several fatal problems about Video Account. Interested friends can take a look together.

Hello, fellow villagers. I am the village chief.

Just a few days ago, Ma Huateng issued an internal letter, calling on all Tencent employees to be alert and sounding the alarm for the business of individual departments.

It also emphasized again that short videos + live broadcasts are the core of future business . Whether from the perspective of the Internet or from the perspective of empowering entities, short videos cannot be ignored.

He also directly pointed out that Video Account is an important flagship product to be developed by WeChat and even Tencent in the future, and gave it high hopes.

So, today the village chief will talk to you again about Video Account.

1. Short videos have become the foundation

It is no longer appropriate to use the word "trend" to describe short videos. Just like e-commerce now, it should be called basic standard.

So stop discussing whether short videos have a future or not, and instead think about your own business and what is most important is how to make short videos and how to integrate into short videos.

Although text and picture content will always exist, their proportion will become smaller and smaller compared to short videos.

Just like writing public accounts now, except for the top ones, the reading volume and influence of small accounts like ours can only be described as terrible, and there is almost no possibility of any hit.

But on short video channels, any individual or account with a single-digit number of followers can almost get millions or tens of millions of views.

For WeChat, besides chatting, the most important thing for users is content consumption.

But how to seize users’ time is not through pictures and texts, but through videos.

These videos include personal life records, teaching content, knowledge sharing, film and television works, entertainment live broadcasts, etc., which are difficult to carry with pictures and texts.

2. Many short video products failed

I think the reason why Ma Huateng issued such an appeal and warning is that short videos have been integrated into every aspect of his life.

Even he himself may use products such as Douyin and Kuaishou every day, including conducting surveys on friends and employees around him.

However, Tencent has failed many times in the field of short videos.

For example, there are more than a dozen types, such as Sukan, Weishi, Youvideo, Hotpot, Xiaoshiguang, Xiafan, Maobing, Yintu, Shanka, etc.

Although Weishi has been around for a while and even used the traffic from WeChat Moments, there is still no product that can compete with Kuaishou and Douyin.

Video Account has been around for three years now, and it is said that the daily active users and other data are quite impressive, but is Video Account really the right path? Can it really continue?

3. Can the video account take on the big responsibility?

The village chief has been paying attention to it since the video account was launched, and he has even tried it once or twice himself.

First of all, it is completely certain that the video account must have traffic and it is entirely possible to make transactions.

Whether it is selling books or clothing through accounts, or giving rewards through live broadcasts, some people are making money.

But the biggest problem is that it is not universal enough and not just necessary enough, and the atmosphere and awareness that everyone needs to play with the video account has not been formed.

In addition to the fact that its basic functions have always lagged behind, Video Account still has several obvious problems to solve.

1. The positioning of the video account is unclear

If Video Account is just a new short video platform or a short video or live broadcast tool, then it is unnecessary for users.

Because users have products such as Kuaishou, Bilibili, Douyin, Haokan, etc., which are completely sufficient. Including in terms of content, all major platforms have repetitive content.

Therefore, for video accounts, you must first figure out what your positioning is, what your priority tone is, and who your user group is.

In the past, public accounts and WeChat were used because there was too much competition in the industry and there was no saturation, so everyone took advantage of the blank period.

But now if we want to snatch food from the tiger's mouth, we must first ask ourselves who we are and give an explanation to the users.

Otherwise, in the eyes of users, the current video account is just a small function and a small entrance in WeChat, rather than an independent product or platform.

2. Not enough role models on the video account

We have said before that video accounts are like official accounts, the platform does not intervene enough and allows users to play on their own.

There are no continuous activities, rewards, themes, etc. Compared with Xigua and Douyin, it is still too weak in terms of content, users, and influencer operations.

Chinese people like to follow trends, and merchants have the most sensitive noses for trends. They will go wherever there is traffic and money-making opportunities.

But on the video account, this platform did almost nothing to help fuel the flames. Instead, as soon as there was a little spark, the platform poured water on it.

In the past, all kinds of players, both online and offline, were actively helping to build momentum for video accounts, but the platforms chose to remain silent or even suppress them.

As a result, there is no role model for making money in the gaming community?

Without role models, there will be no appeal, attraction, or communication power, and no one will come to this platform to play.

Relying solely on some contracts and spending money to find some big Vs to cooperate with is all short-term and not a natural flow.

Once the cooperation period was over, the players withdrew.

Video accounts should continue to create and support profitable players and cases in order to attract others.

If you don’t hear anyone making money on a platform, who would play?

3. Video accounts are not open enough

In addition, the reason why many players do not play on the video account is mainly because the attitude of the video account is vague.

First, compared with the content on video accounts, the content on short video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou is richer and larger in scale.

Especially for some bloggers who build communities and share knowledge, they mainly monetize through courses, training, communities, etc., and there is no lack of suspicion of exaggeration and hype, but they are restricted on the video account.

Especially Gong Wenxiang, who had previously set up a special club for video accounts, but later stopped doing it.

This has prevented many other players from committing fully to the platform.

Secondly, it was rumored that the daily active users of Video Account had exceeded several hundred million, but many content creators only gained tens of thousands of followers a year, and the number of views was also pitifully small.

The video account seems to be restraining its traffic push, including the fact that apart from the discovery channel, there are too few other exposure channels for the video account.

Third, short videos + e-commerce are the basic monetization combination, and it was originally thought that the threshold for video accounts would be very low.

However, I didn’t expect that the threshold for opening a store on Video Account is getting higher and higher. Recently, the deposit for many categories on Video Account is higher than that of Douyin and Kuaishou.

Merchants have not yet tasted the sweetness, but they are setting up high thresholds. Isn't this a typical way to drive people away?

4. Video account must be independent

Although Tencent has failed many times in short videos, it must be emphasized that if the video account is not independent, it will never be successful.

In other words, even if it is not a video account, but other short video products, it cannot be dependent on WeChat, otherwise it will always be just a small function of WeChat, rather than an independent platform.

Especially as a content platform, how to make users more immersed in content consumption and allow the platform to be more free in functional design and commercial promotion, independence is the only way.

But for Tencent, it is not easy to make an independent short video app.

The first is a question of timing, the second is a question of investment, and the third is a question of positioning.

It is important to know how determined Tencent is to make short videos and how it will do it.

Just like Tencent’s Weishi, it’s actually a lot of noise but little results. Many people have never heard of it, but they gave up after just a few years.

As Ma Huateng said in his open letter, it is time to fight internal corruption and address problems in individual departments.

5. Are you still optimistic about Video Account in 2023?

Although Lao Ma issued a final warning, the village chief still has doubts about whether Video Account is worth all in in 2023 and whether there will be a huge bonus period.

According to the current situation, we will need to wait and see for at least half a year. If the video account remains the same in June or July 2023.

Then you can almost give up on it and just treat it as a tool for private live broadcast on WeChat, something to play with.

But it is not suitable for everyone. How to make this move depends on WeChat.

Author: The village chief lives in Shili Village

Source: WeChat public account "Shili Village (ID: shilipxl)"