Micro-Blog Wet Marketing Ripples In Marketing Circles

Relying on the transmission of 140 words, micro-blog is splashing circles in the marketing circle.

"If you want to get a diamond ring for free", "if you only buy 1 yuan worth of clothes for 888 yuan", "if...". Inadvertently, some keen businessmen have begun to transform micro-blog, a tool for people's communication, into a marketing tool and disseminate their information and products through "wet marketing".

All of this is due to the rise and fall of micro-blog. In the short span of two and a half years, micro-blog originator and US commercial website twitter rapidly accumulated more than 100 million users, and the valuation was approaching us $1 billion. In China, micro-blog has just started but is also developing amazing. Sina micro-blog since August last year, since the public survey, according to rough estimates, the number of users is approaching 10 million.

Because the micro-blog platform breaks the bondage of the original geography, knowledge and class among people, it can reconstitute social groups, share information and initiate public actions based on common preferences and experiences. Optimists believe that the marketing effect of micro-blog is expected to be like "the future is wet" by Clay Sjoki, the author of the book, "is shaking the fundamentals of many enterprises and even the industry, and even the situation will be destroyed."

Wet is a metaphor. In Clay Sjoki's writing, the future is wet because people, people and groups share and communicate with each other in a mild way with common interests, instead of communicating dryly as before. In the eyes of new marketers, wet marketing based on wet world, wet society and wet living background will be the most destructive mainstream marketing mode in the future.

"The characteristics of micro-blog will bring great imagination to marketing." Miao Ying, director of sina micro-blog business, said: "whether celebrities or grassroots, large enterprises or small and medium-sized companies, as long as there are communication needs with the target audience, micro-blog can start marketing."

In foreign countries, Twitter has made use of its data, search engines, advanced business accounts, and third party application software based on API data. In April this year, twitter also launched a new platform for advertising websites, allowing advertisers to pay for advertising information on twitter search pages and take the first step towards large-scale revenue.

In China, as far as now, DELL, China Eastern Airlines, L'OREAL and VANCL, which are sensitive to Internet marketing, have set up experimental fields on Sina micro-blog to build brand effect and increase sales volume through viral marketing.

Of course, not everyone is so optimistic. "Micro-blog marketing eight characters have not yet been left." Hu Yanping, director of DCCI Internet data center, said micro-blog is still in the testing stage. It has just started, the small circle is hot, the public users are cold, and the profit model has just begun to explore.

Sohu vice president Fang Gang also said: "micro-blog in China as a social media, mainly to give full play to its information dissemination nature is enough." Excessive commercial development and high expectations will make micro-blog overburdened and develop in the opposite direction.

Micro-blog marketing experience

As early as August 2009, during the Sina micro-blog testing period, VANCL was one of the first batch of registered micro-blog enterprises, relying on micro-blog to promote information and promote sales directly. Xu Xiaohui, assistant president of VANCL, told reporters that within three days of VANCL stocking listing, micro-blog's viral marketing has achieved thousands of sales miracles.

Xu Xiaohui told reporters that in addition to this, enterprises can carry out a variety of ingenious marketing on the micro-blog platform. For example, through personification, they can help enterprises and fans to establish relationships beyond the buying and selling relationship; guide fans to participate in the activities of enterprises and even the opening of new products; and monitor brands and products related topics.

According to the reporter's understanding, on Sina micro-blog platform, VANCL tried various marketing methods: launching 1 yuan to kill the original price of 888 yuan clothes; pulling Chen Yao and Xu Jinglei to interact with VANCL products; moving out the best fashion designer to tell the story behind them. Inside the VANCL company, it requires brands such as brand, marketing department and other related departments to launch micro-blog on Sina and other websites. Updating micro-blog is also regarded as part of staff KPI assessment.

"As an open platform, the value of micro-blog is gradually being excavated." Miao Ying told reporters that on the micro-blog platform, everyone is both a communicator and an audience. The two roles are interlaced and disseminating instantly, forming a powerful information dissemination system. This is unparalleled by the vertical transmission of blogs and SNS communication.

On the blog platform, publishers are more like a traditional media. When they publish information, they can only comment on it by their readers, but it is difficult for readers to interact with readers. This is different from the forwarding mode of micro-blog. Readers can transmit their interested content to readers' fans at any time to achieve the spread of distributed weave.

"Micro-blog stipulates only 140 words of record restriction, and also greatly reduces the threshold of communication." Miao Ying said micro-blog bloggers can write their ideas sparkles at any time and anywhere through mobile phones and computers, changing the way that bloggers need careful thinking and logical expression.

Another feature of micro-blog is that it connects with search engines to become an open platform. This is very different from SNS's limited communication between old friends and good friends. The group rebuilt in accordance with values and preferences is seemingly unorganized, but in reality it is an organization that promises to exert tremendous influence.

"The value of communication mentioned above is being paid more and more attention by more and more enterprises." Miao Ying said.

According to the reporter, in addition to VANCL, DELL, L'OREAL and China Eastern Airlines are also registered on Sina micro-blog, using this platform to disseminate information, answer questions and set up images. Miao Ying told reporters that the East China air hostesses collectively entered Sina micro-blog, which was named "Lingyan" in front of the real name, but not all the Eastern Airlines flight attendants micro-blog could be named "Lingyan". Only the stewardess who can represent the image and service quality of China Eastern Airlines can be "unified image", which helps enterprises to disseminate brand awareness and reputation.

Twitter's attempt

In the United States, many years ago boldly predicted that Google would overtake YAHOO analysts. A new question is speculation: when will twitter surpass Google.

There is no doubt that this is a marketing mode of small lotus.

"Enterprises are still advocacy of enterprise value and brand on Sina micro-blog". Miao Ying said, micro-blog's real marketing potential has not yet erupted, and its prospect can not be underestimated. "I think in the initial stage of micro-blog, every big enterprise should first occupy the corresponding position, register micro-blog account, lead employees and partners to learn and adapt micro-blog marketing."

Although micro-blog marketing has taken only a small step, the bold attempt and conjecture of the enterprise has begun. Miao Ying told reporters that sina micro-blog is actively exploring various possible marketing channels, including developing software with APP developers, finding joint points with e-commerce companies.

In April of this year, Sina Micro-blog has upgraded the platform website. The new version can support a developer to apply a number of different app key (open platform entry password) applications, and app key applicants can be used immediately after submission.

According to Miao Ying, Sina micro-blog has already had many application software partners, and has developed many interesting applications. For example, search for the "Cupid sword" on Sina micro-blog. It can help men pick out your favorite beauty. "One of our users was shocked at that time, because one of them was his girlfriend." These application tools provide users with tools that are closely related to entertainment, knowledge and life, and enhance their stickiness.

"Although these applications haven't started charging yet, they will have great potential in the future." Miao Ying said that when the time is ripe, Sina can also collaborate with application developers in advertising, revenue and so on.

Hu Yanping also agrees with this. "Sina micro-blog's functional upgrading of open platform website is the most correct decision since its birth, because single micro-blog service is difficult to exist in the future." In his view, the next step is to integrate micro-blog with other real-time, interactive, relational core applications within and outside Sina platform.

Just in April of this year, Sina micro-blog and Kaixin net were officially bound to share excellent content. "People, relationships and content are three things that form an organic combination of micro-blog." Miao Ying said, "if we combine micro-blog's constituent elements with e-commerce, there will be great room for development."

Try to make bold imagination, if Taobao sellers move their auction platform to micro-blog platform, or micro-blog will make propaganda platform, and then direct the seller to Taobao online purchase, how much market space will it develop?

And led by twitter. Micro-blog website Many attempts have been made, which will also provide a lot of reference for China's micro-blog marketing. The US Twitter has launched the user address location sharing service, that is, when other users browse the specific twitter information, they can simultaneously check where the sender uploads information. Yu Yi, an analyst with Analysys International, believes that micro-blog can also integrate location services to screen users' needs and location information, so as to achieve active and accurate micro-blog marketing and create value for advertisers.

In addition, users on twitter have been directly linked to e-commerce to achieve one-stop shopping. Twitter has also made use of its data, search engines, third party software applications and website advertising to launch diversified marketing.

"Micro-blog's timeliness, openness and searchability make it an effective media tool." Miao Ying said that it can accurately position according to the specific crowd and style, launch more precise, active and effective marketing, and create a new business mode.

Marketing value is hard to assess

In the wake of sina's hot water trial, micro-blog, another big portals Sohu, gave a completely different judgement.

"The core value of micro-blog lies in Dissemination of information It is false to give it rich marketing imagination. " Fang believes that China's micro-blog is constrained by China's special regulatory environment, immature business climate and other factors. "Excessive expectations will hinder its growth".

As we all know, as early as last August in August, micro-blog had a twitter like Chinese grass root website. But restricted by some constraints, these websites are no longer in operation. According to the insiders, with the increasing number of micro-blog users and the increasing user activity, the supervision of micro-blog by relevant departments is bound to be more important.

In addition, Fang Fang believes that the soil of China's micro-blog marketing has not yet been matured. "The operation of social media requires specialized knowledge, and whether China is a private or state-run enterprise, such talent reserves are very weak, which is not conducive to launching large-scale marketing operations."

"Micro-blog's own attributes also determine that it will only play the marketing nature of social media, and it is difficult to do more commercial development." Fang Gang said, just like a few years ago, when the blog was just born, practitioners had made many angles and multi-level optimism about their business value, and even some personal sellers moved the e-commerce sales platform directly to the blog, but practice proved that this is not feasible.

"Every Internet product system has its corresponding supporting system. For example, e-commerce platform must have a complete credit system and trading system. These supporting systems are in great need of investment, not overnight." Fang Gang said.

For the analysis of micro-blog's marketing value, Hu Yanping thinks, "single micro-blog has no vitality. Micro-blog can only burst into life with the combination of portals, that is, no portal, no micro-blog. On this basis, different micro-blog should open up and co-exist, but Chinese practitioners are unwilling to do so. He believes that micro-blog is just an innovative product, not a revolutionary application, and the value of micro-blog marketing is hard to assess.

Turning eyeball attention into money, micro-blog marketing is a flash in the pan or vitality, which is still a problem.