There are many discussions on the Internet about the operation of vertical SNS. I will also try to use Honeycomb (www.ArtComb.com) as an example to share some operational experience with you. Welcome to exchange and discuss!
1: Accurately position and accumulate high-end users to establish brand image
Nowadays, due to the emergence of some SNS open source website building software, the threshold for building SNS is extremely low, and SNS sites are popping up everywhere. At this time, how to create a unique site puts forward high requirements on the team's operational capabilities. In the early stage of website construction, business goals, directions and specific long- and short-term profit plans should be carefully planned, possible profit points should be predicted, and the return on investment of the project should be evaluated. A new SNS is more suitable to focus on a certain industry field, deeply explore the needs of specific groups of people, and seek profit points from it. The positioning of website user groups must be precise, and you cannot blindly seek perfection. Try to capture a small group of high-end users who are closest to your profit needs in the early stage, establish the image of the website, and then use these users for word-of-mouth communication.
The most effective way for vertical SNS to package the brand image is to intensively cultivate website content, invite some industry experts to stay, guide users to have in-depth exchanges and discussions on industry topics, and play the academic card. This requires operators to have keen judgment on the cutting-edge information of the entire related industry and certain academic research capabilities, so as to be able to effectively guide users to conduct academic and professional exchanges, and strive to avoid communication between users becoming general. It is difficult for an industry SNS site without substantial communication between users to attract high-end users, and high-quality active users are the most valuable resource in a vertical site.
Take Fengchao.com as an example. It was officially launched in June 2008 and is positioned to serve outstanding Chinese artists. The ideal expected users are mature and outstanding artists, which is related to long-term profit plans. Since the site had a single function when it was first built, it was not very attractive to general users. Therefore, when Honeycomb Network was first launched, it did not rush to promote it everywhere. Instead, it used its own connections to quietly invite some teachers from art departments in universities to come in and use it. These university teachers generally have good academic strength and excellent educational background. After coming in, with a little guidance, the site can obtain some excellent content (original articles, pictures of excellent works, etc.), and the exchanges between them are mostly on professional topics. And it is full of academic standards! The academic atmosphere of the website has begun to take shape. At this time, new users can feel the professional value of this site. The most important thing is that these early-stage scholar users with certain academic abilities are active on the website. The experience gained by ordinary users interacting directly with these scholars is unmatched by reading articles on traditional information sites. The high-end brand image and effect of the website began to take shape.
Summary: Don’t blindly promote expansion in the early stage, because pushing immature products to users will undoubtedly dig your own grave. We should focus on accumulating high-quality users, strive to create a high-end professional image of the website, and resolutely avoid water-based and entertainment content!
2: Intensive cultivation of content, screening of users, and establishing the core values of the website
Nowadays, due to the popularity of open source SNS software, it is difficult to form technical barriers to SNS website building; ordinary small companies have limited funds and cannot take advantage of scale and promotion; then how to stand out in the industry competition and attract excellent users to stay for a long time? This depends on the website Unique core values and cultural atmosphere! An excellent industry site must strive to form its own unique cultural atmosphere and core values. This cannot be copied, and it is also the best magic weapon to contain and defeat competitors. For example, Fengchao.com positions itself in publicity as “the ideological habitat of contemporary art elites” and emphasizes “creation, sharing, communication, and feeling the charm of ideas.”
Creating a unique cultural atmosphere and establishing unique core values is not a day's work, it requires long-term careful operation! Controlling the screening of high-quality users and sorting out the essence of content are the most effective and necessary means.
Here are some specific experiences to share:
1. Establish a professional group, use senior members to continuously publish some professional topics and content in the industry, and organize member discussions. The more specialized and cutting-edge the topic, the better. Don’t be afraid of being too high-key, so as to appear professional; the log guides users to only post original and reposted articles. Use topics and clear divisions!
2. Artificially screen users, highlight the influence of high-quality and potential users, and weaken low-end users (the low-end users here can also be understood as non-profit target users). Take Fengchao.com as an example: the group targeted by Fengchao.com is mature and outstanding artists, so for Fengchao.com, people from non-art industries such as IT professionals and ordinary art school students or enthusiasts are low-end non-profit target users. The overactive participation of these non-profit target users in website communication may not be a good thing for the website. It will weaken the professional atmosphere of the website and make it difficult for in-depth communication between users. The result is the loss of high-end users. Vertical industry sites should not be too greedy for superficial prosperity. Users are more valuable than more users. So don’t be afraid of losing users, let those who should leave quickly leave, and save your efforts to retain high-end users.
3. Discover high-quality content, create controversial topics, stimulate user discussions, and allow high-quality users to experience the feeling of masters competing against each other, thereby gaining a sense of satisfaction and increasing their loyalty! A common trick used by Fengchao.com is to immediately discover some controversial topics in the art world. Forward it to guide users to participate in discussions, and the effect is good. Now the number of replies to original logs in Hive is basically above 30, and the number is over 100.
4. Limit the number of groups, gather popularity, and focus on supporting academically strong professional groups. Guide and classify entertainment topics and concentrate them into a dedicated group. This not only releases users' entertainment needs, but also avoids the tendency of the site to be entertainment-oriented to the greatest extent.
5. Produce industry academic topics to strengthen the professional image of the site. The method adopted by Hive is to invite experts in the industry to regularly produce academic topics to attract users and strengthen users' sense of identification with the site.
Three: Use events to expand influence, gather popularity, and play the favor card
The biggest advantage of SNS is that website users can interact easily with each other, have strong affinity, easily organize activities, and easily establish a sense of trust and belonging among users. When operating, attention should be paid to discovering and utilizing emergencies within the site, allowing users to participate in and face one thing together, and increase mutual affinity. Once a solid human foundation is formed between users, the possibility of user churn will be greatly reduced.
For example, on February 15, 2009, a Songzhuang artist posted a diary on Fengchao.com called "The Deadly Sect Poet Has Fallen." He told the story of his poet friend He Lu, who had been poor for a long time and had no money to see a doctor. He eventually fell ill at home and was given emergency treatment in the hospital. But there is no rescue fee. Some members responded to the post one after another, and the administrator immediately pinned it to the top after discovering it, and guided users to discuss rescue plans. The number of log replies reached more than 130. On the 16th, Fengchao.com launched a rescue campaign, organizing artists to donate money to help He Lu, and posted some discussion articles on Fengchao.com and other art websites to build momentum and attract public attention. Beiqing Daily reported this on the 17th, and the incident of poet He Lu's critical illness began to enter the public eye. Red Net, Beijing TV, Sina and other media have reported the Helu incident, and communities such as Sohu Forum and Tianya have also launched heated debates on whether poor artists should be rescued! Members of Fengchao.com have also continued to participate in related debates. Here In the process, the emotional relationship between members has been consolidated, and users’ brand recognition of Fengchao.com has been greatly improved!
Four: Pay attention to user experience and pay attention to details
User experience not only refers to the interface design and operating experience of a web page, but more importantly, the intangible psychological experience. It is necessary to make the target users feel that they are being noticed here and give them a sense of belonging and identity. The method is simple but requires patience, that is, pay attention to him frequently to say hello, leave messages according to his preferences or reply to topics he is interested in. This is easier to do in the early stage when there are not many members. When there are more people, it is necessary to make use of the old members to interact with some less familiar members. Establishing a volunteer system is a good way to help reduce the burden on website operators. At the same time, attention should be paid to guiding high-quality users on the site to establish relationships with each other and experience the pleasure of collision of ideas, which will help consolidate user loyalty.
Regarding page design, vertical sites should be concise and practical first, not too fancy. After all, people come here for communication needs.
Five: Make good use of open platforms, select applications, and enhance site competitiveness
Properly utilizing some open platforms and cooperating with some professional application developers will effectively enhance the website's competitiveness, improve user experience, and save your own development and operation costs.
It should be noted that for vertical SNS, third-party applications must be selected according to their own characteristics. Don’t be greedy for too much. They should focus on utility applications and do not blindly follow the popular applications of other SNSs. For example, if other mainstream SNS popular friend buying and selling, parking space, and recently popular farm games were opened to Honeycomb, no one would care about them, because the users there are all adult users with their own careers. The game will just turn it off.
Six: Dig deep into user needs and integrate industry resources according to profit plans
The biggest profit point of vertical SNS is not advertising, but the derivative services brought by integrating industry resources. The strength of SNS is to manage human resources, and this is the most valuable. If you capture the elite group of the industry, you will also capture the elite's pocketbook. The rest is how to invest in what they need and launch related services.
Taking the artist group on Hive Network as an example, artists basically have several purposes for going online:
1. Learn and communicate with peers;
2. Obtain industry information and look for opportunities;
3. Package and promote yourself, gain fame and increase your influence;
4. Carry out art transactions and sell your own works.
5. Other needs
Based on this analysis, Fengchao.com clarified its profit idea at the beginning of the establishment of the website, that is, using SNS to build a good artistic ecological environment. Plan the future user identities into the following categories: art investors (collectors), galleries (art commercial institutions), critics, artists, and enthusiasts, so that a complete industrial group can be basically formed. The platform of Honeycomb.com The nature will become more and more prominent. After forming a certain scale, some specialized derivative services will be launched and service fees will be charged.
Demand and transactions are generated between people, and huge business opportunities are also included, so the most important thing is to first firmly grasp the high-quality users of your site!
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