Will your site still be there in 5 years? What will the online community look like in 5 years? Will you create the miracle of Jack Ma and become the next legend in 5 years?
prophetic revelation
In 1964, Mike Hanke proposed in "Understanding Media" that with the application of electronic technology, the distance between people will gradually shorten in the future, and the earth will become a "village." At that time, his predictions were ignored by the academic community. Today, this is an indisputable fact.
In 1998, Jack Ma gave up the "China Yellow Pages" and returned to Hangzhou to start his own business again. The B2B Alibaba business model was proposed, and the team started with about 17 people. At that time, others thought "Jack Ma is crazy." Ten years later, he created the miracle of the Internet and achieved the Jack Ma era. In 2003, Jack Ma led his old department to copy the e-Bay business model and prepare to establish the C2C Taobao model. Foreign precedents have laid a solid foundation for Taobao's success. Five years later, Taobao became Asia's largest online retail distribution center, with annual transaction volume reaching 100 billion yuan.
At this time, it seems that Jack Ma has jumped out of the traditional online virtual community and made a "three-seven jump", skipping the shortcomings of traditional communities. So what is the future for the approximately 70 million small and medium-sized sites across the country?
The evolution of online communities
Virtual communities in the traditional sense are built outside of reality. Traffic determines the market value of the community, and advertising by merchants is the main profit point. In the late 1990s, before the Internet became popular, the click-through rate for advertisements among Curiosity Trend netizens was about 10%. In 2008, statistics from the Ministry of Information Industry of China showed that there were about 300 million netizens, accounting for 1/5 of the country's total population. The click-through rate of online advertising is less than 1‰, and the value of virtual community advertising has dropped sharply.
Advertising is the lifeblood of virtual communities, and businesses generally report that online advertising is ineffective. The income of virtual communities has begun to be supported by advertising, which has changed. In the past three years, major communities have generally been revamped. For functions that focus on virtual community communication, they have only begun to use the "1+1" community operation model; 1 virtual communication platform to attract people + 1 e-commerce platform to provide benefits to netizens = benefits to the crowd. A common gathering platform for people.
The market is preconceived, and the first person to eat crabs is often successful. As early as a few years ago, Zang Li identified the market gap between online communities for ordinary consumers and established China's largest food ordering website (Fantong), with an annual output value of 300 million yuan.
The “1+1” model has become common in major communities in recent years, such as Shanghai Qijia Group Buying Network, Sichuan Chengdu Food, Drink and Entertainment Network, Anhui Hefei Forum, etc. The most successful such “1+1” virtual community + e-commerce is Xici.
The gestation of N2C model
Whether it is B2B, B2C, B2T or C2C, they all have a specific era background. If the Jack Ma model is playing checkers, then the group buying B2T is a deformity. Being squeezed out by B2B and B2C, and wanting to get a share of the huge online crowd, we have to find another way. In recent years, major communities have been continuously revised. It is not difficult to find that the revision of early virtual communities based on communication with people is inevitable for the development of online communities.
The network community-to-consumer e-commerce model [Networking to consumer], referred to as N2C, has taken shape in the revised small and medium-sized sites. The most successful one based on this kind of section is Xici. Xici has continued to expand on its basis and has transformed from a community into a portal site.
In addition to communicating with people in virtual communities, the N2C model takes advantage of the common interests of the population to provide an advertising platform for merchants and benefit netizens. Judging from the current N2C model, except for basic online communication. The services provided are roughly 1. Electronic discounts 2. Points exchange for gifts 3. CRM system platform 4. Online booking 5. Offline activities 6. Points entrusted advertising space and so on.
The future of N2C model
In the new network environment, the N2C model has emerged. What will be the future of this late-born child? Apart from the major virtual communities, what is the future of small and medium-sized sites?
There are probably two directions to stop selling advertising space to support the "outcasts of the times". One is to stay in the local area and never get ahead. The other is to stay in the local area and become a portal in the short term. It is already undergoing revision. And this kind of N2C prototype has problems everywhere, such as the quality of network management, the connection between online and offline sectors, difficulty in cashing out points entrustment, constant complaints about offline activities, etc.
In the future virtual community, there will also be a market for vegetable ordering based on N2C. Maybe we will see it in 10 years. There is no longer a wet market, the wet market will be the commonality found in the two models of B2C and N2C. The future of N2C will be like a wet market. Competition in the industry will be fierce, and the prototype at this time will soon become a golden phoenix flying out of the "shangougou".
Postscript: The author conducted a simple survey on nearly 20 first-level portals, 50 second-level sites, and 100 various forums across the country within half a year. In 5 years, there will be 70 million small and medium-sized webmasters. Those who want to stand out will implement The N2C model has completely revised the section. Within 5 years, we will see a complete N2C model, a new profit model for online communities based on a new concept of online community operations.
Note: What is N2C
Network community to consumer e-commerce model [Networking to consumer] referred to as N2C
You can call it new network, new consumption, new community, new concept, new environment, new concept, etc. To put it simply, it is the "1+1" model; it started in a local community in the early stage and later became a virtual community after one or more revisions. Communication platform + 1 e-commerce platform for site members. This is a countermeasure to adjust the market strategy in a timely manner due to fierce competition, shrinking market share, and difficulty in maintaining the website's own expenditure on advertising.
Characteristics of N2C prototype 1. Consumer information guidance 2. Consumer electronic discount coupons 3. Website member points exchange for gifts 4. Member online booking 5. B2T online and offline activities connection 6. Advertising resource sharing 7. Merchant-member customer management system
This business model is more common in non-portal communities. The most successful one in recent years is E-Long’s West Temple.