Soft article marketing is a systematic project that cannot be explained clearly in one or two sentences. Therefore, this article is not a quick tutorial. I just want to attract people by throwing bricks and mortar, hoping to give you some inspiration and some help.
What is soft article
First of all, we need to clarify a concept with everyone, what is soft article. The so-called soft articles refer to articles that promote a certain product. From this perspective, any article that can achieve this effect can be called soft articles.
What is a good soft article?
I believe that everyone wants to write so-called "good" soft articles, and does not want to let others criticize what they write. So how do you write something that can make users say "good"? It's very simple, it helps users solve problems. If what you write can help users solve problems, especially some problems that are very troublesome for users, then users will definitely say "good". Of course, the product you want to promote in the article should be integrated naturally, and should not be too stiff and off-putting to users.
Many people may think this is difficult, but it is not difficult at all. The most important thing is a matter of writing mentality. As long as you write every article as a normal application article, forget about the word "soft article" and write it carefully, users will eventually recognize you. Articles written with "heart" are different.
How to amplify the effect of soft articles
I often see soft articles written by some webmaster friends on websites such as admin5, portal, Tuiyiyi, and China Webmaster Station. To be honest, many of them are good, but the effect may not necessarily be good, or the effect can be amplified. So how to amplify the effect of soft articles? Twelve words!
1. Create a series of articles
The coverage and effect of an article are limited, and if everyone has read it once, it may not have much of an impression. But if he writes ten similar articles in a row, the number of people covered and the effect will not be as simple as 1+1 equals 2. Moreover, users often see similar articles, which will greatly deepen their impression of related products. It is also easy to form such a series of articles, such as adding a unified prefix to the title and a unified author introduction to the article. Or there is a certain consistency in content.
2. Build brand image
In addition to connecting articles to form a series, some images should also be created through these articles. This image can be a person, a virtual image, or a product. Let’s give an example each:
A. Example of "people": Mou Changqing believes everyone knows that he is a typical example of establishing his own brand image through articles. He may not have written many articles, only a few dozen in total, but he persisted in writing for more than three years, and these articles are all of great practical value to users. The more articles he writes, the longer time passes. Everyone thinks It's hard not to remember him.
B. Example of virtual image: I believe everyone knows that IT168 is an IT portal. I remember that in the early days of building the website, they created a virtual character named "Niu Cou". Each article was like a short story, spreading some knowledge to everyone through the story. At that time, Niu Duocuo's articles were very popular and spread widely, and his reputation even surpassed that of IT168 itself.
C. Product example: Tuiyiyi forum has a website diagnosis section, which allows people to diagnose websites for free. There are many diagnostic cases in it, all of which are very classic and representative, so we compiled these cases into articles and published them. After posting more than twenty articles, many friends now know and are familiar with this forum, and people come here to communicate every day.
In addition to these two, there are many other ways to expand publicity, and I will write a special article to explain them in the future.
Tips: This article is original by Jiang Likun (Big Pot Rice). If you want to see more articles, please search Tui Yiyi or Jiang Likun. Please retain this copyright information when reprinting.
How to effectively spread soft articles
If you want your soft article to spread quickly and widely, the easiest way is to publish it on the news source website of your industry. The news source website mentioned here refers to the kind of place where similar websites like to reprint articles. For example, on Sina, his articles will be reprinted by many websites. For example, admin5 and China Webmaster Station, almost all webmaster websites, will go to these two places to repost things.
In addition to choosing the first website, sometimes you also need appropriate public relations, such as some key articles and asking relevant sites to help recommend them.
Three basic forms of soft copy
Having said so much, let’s talk about the formal classification of soft articles, which will help everyone organize and write soft articles effectively.
1. For the media
To explain, the media mentioned here refers to news or public relations releases specifically pushed to the media. Usually this method is used to hype news when there are major events and activities. For example, website launch, new product launch, etc.
The form of expression of this kind of article is basically based on the traditional news form. When writing, pay attention to deeply exploring the news value of the event itself, and try to connect the content with some hot events or influential platforms. For example, new product concepts, new website models, certain celebrities participating in investments, etc.
In terms of media selection, various news media are the main ones, especially industry news media.
2. Targeted at industries
The so-called targeting the industry means targeting the user groups within the industry. For example, an IT website is aimed at people in the IT field. If it is an industry website, it is aimed at people in the industry circle. Generally, this kind of article is mainly to expand influence in the industry and establish brand status.
Compared with the first article, this article has more expression forms and the writing focus is also different. Here are the five most common topic types.
a. Experience sharing
b. Exchange of views
c. Authoritative information
d. Third-party comments
e. Character interviews
3. For users
This is the most commonly used one and refers to articles that directly face end users. The main function of such articles is to win users' favor, increase user trust, and even guide users' consumption behavior.
Such articles can be expressed in various forms, but there is only one basic principle, which is to focus on user needs and have a certain degree of readability. Listed below are six types of themes.
a. Application type
b. Entertainment type
c. Controversial type
d. Picture type
e. Reporting type
f. Comprehensive type
At the end of writing, I would like to emphasize two things to note.
1. Soft articles should not be too soft. As mentioned before, a good soft article should remove the part that needs to be promoted, and it should be an article that is very valuable to users. Never write soft articles as pure "soft articles". Apart from promoting your own products throughout, you won't be able to find anything of value.
2. You also need to use your brain when learning from others. Many friends are very smart. Sometimes when they can’t find a suitable topic, they will learn from other people’s articles. This is absolutely correct. But when you learn from it, you must not copy it mechanically. At least change other people's words and ideas into your own words and ideas. I read a very classic article on admin5, which collected 100 promotion methods. As a result, in this article, I saw at least dozens of plagiarized works. Basically, they just changed the title and then directly plagiarized other people's content.
Author information: Jiang Likun, whose online name is Big Pot Rice and founder of Tui Yi Yi (www.tui18.com). If you want to see more articles by the author, please search Tui Yi Yi or Jiang Likun. New operation/promotion communication group 9: 52414511, welcome to join.
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