Click to read the original article for details. In 2019, the topic of private domain traffic suddenly became hot. Many companies talk about private domain traffic in every conversation. Analyzing the reasons, it is mainly because the cost of public domain traffic is getting higher and higher. According to Analysys data, before 2014, Alibaba's customer acquisition cost was no more than 30 yuan per person, but by 2018, the customer acquisition cost for Alibaba and JD.com had rapidly climbed to over 300 yuan per person. With external traffic costs rising and operational difficulty increasing, both e-commerce platforms and enterprises have begun to pay attention to the topic of private domain traffic. Today, I will discuss with you some issues about private domain traffic and the underlying operational logic. What is Private Domain Traffic Private domain traffic generally refers to traffic that is owned by a brand, merchant, or individual, and can be used repeatedly by customers. In contrast, public domain traffic generally refers to traffic that is allocated to you by platforms like Baidu, Tmall, Toutiao, etc., through algorithms, and through your purchase or SEO optimization and other operational means. Private domain traffic generally has carriers. Common carriers include personal WeChat accounts, QQ groups, WeChat groups, corporate WeChat official accounts, service accounts, Douyin, and Weibo accounts. When users add you as a friend, join your community, follow your official account, service account, Douyin, or Weibo, they enter your carrier. When the user base reaches a certain size, generates traffic, and has the potential for monetization, this traffic is called private domain traffic. Advantages of private domain traffic: A. High cost-effectiveness: Displaying and recommending information to these users does not require additional payment. B. Strong sustainability: As long as users do not leave, you can continuously recommend and display information to them. C. Two-way communication: This traffic allows interaction and communication; the relationship between you and users is equal. D. Strong stability: Users do not leave after use; they remain within your platform. Ways to Acquire Private Domain Traffic The prerequisite for doing private domain traffic is to build your own private domain traffic pool. There are three common methods: Interest inducement: Common forms include scanning QR codes to receive red envelopes, downloading apps for cash, scanning codes for gifts, scanning codes for materials, etc. Two years ago, Dongpeng Special Beverage, which was very popular, accumulated tens of millions of fans through the one-item-one-code form. This form is simple, fast, and effective, but its disadvantages are significant: it costs money, a lot! And the user retention rate is extremely low. Product/content attraction: Moving users through high-quality content itself to form conversion. This is also a common form used by public accounts like New Distribution. However, when enterprises do this, they often fall into the trap of self-congratulatory copywriting. Don't ask me where to find excellent editors. On one hand, enterprises generally cannot afford excellent editors. On the other hand, most problems lie with the enterprise leaders themselves. Violent addition: Commonly seen in micro-business, where people forcibly add WeChat friends through various forms, then violently spam their circles to sell products. Common in their circles are posts about happily picking up Maseratis, and monthly income of a million is not a dream. I believe that whether for individuals or enterprises, it is recommended to attract users through products and content themselves, because such users have the strongest stickiness, are easy to retain, and are the most valuable traffic. The Underlying Logic of Operating Private Domain Traffic Pulling users into your private domain traffic pool does not mean the work is over; on the contrary, it is a new beginning. Operating private domain traffic is a very complex and systematic job. Essentially, private domain traffic is more about operating yourself than the other party. Let's start from the underlying logic. Suppose you are operating a personal WeChat account's private domain traffic. In this account, you and your traffic (users) can be roughly divided into five types of relationships:
Intimate relationships: family, relatives, lovers, spouses, children. Close relationships: classmates, good friends, besties. General relationships: business partners, colleagues. Social relationships: followers, friends of friends. Stranger relationships: friends added inexplicably, followed brand official accounts, competitors, service providers and customers. Among these, the traffic that can generate monetization generally refers to the three types from close relationships to general relationships to social relationships. Among them, the value of monetization increases layer by layer from stranger relationships to close relationships. Therefore, the core work of operating private domain traffic is essentially the process of gradually operating stranger and social relationships into general and close relationships. This process is called: traffic (user) operation. Four underlying keywords for private domain traffic operation: persona, momentum, trust, value. Five levels of persona: Operating private domain traffic is essentially operating your persona. From the perspective of user experience, your persona can be broken down into five levels of cognition: 1. External layer: Let users perceive your appearance, grooming, clothing, moments, speech, and articles. 2. Role layer: Where you come from, what you do, what position, what level. Essentially, when you are in a bank or on a plane, the attitude, etiquette, and words of flight attendants and service staff are determined by their roles. 3. Resource layer: What resources do you have? Through what resources do you build your role? 4. Capability layer: What personality traits do you have? What abilities do you have to achieve your goals? 5. Original intention layer: What do you want? What do you want to do? What is your ultimate goal? This is essentially your strategy, your core. We see a person's moments or the content of a company's official account; on the surface, it is the external, but essentially it is determined by the role. The role is determined by resources and capabilities, and resources and capabilities are determined by your original intention. So, before you do private domain traffic, you must think clearly about why you want to do it, what your ultimate goal is, and what your strategy is. Momentum: Having a persona is not enough, because having a persona does not make people recognize and accept you, nor are they willing to pay for your products and services. You need to create momentum. Momentum is built on the basis of persona and is a necessary condition for gaining others' trust and dependence. A person with high momentum can influence many people. 1. KOL People now like to use KOL to describe people with high momentum. KOL (Key Opinion Leader) is generally translated as key opinion leader. Baidu Baike defines them as people who have more and more accurate product information, are accepted and trusted by relevant groups, and have a significant influence on the purchasing behavior of that group. Unlike opinion leaders, KOLs are authorities in a specific field or industry, built on the role basis we just mentioned. Although KOL is not a necessary condition for high momentum, KOL is indeed a fundamental element naturally possessing high momentum. A person with high momentum is not only in the professional field, nor only in their own charisma. In fact, on mobile, it is difficult for users to feel your momentum from the other side of the screen. You must use highly active text, images, articles, communities, and other communication media to show your momentum to users: interesting, fun, professional, connotative, viewpoint, stance, wise, emotional, resourceful... The advantage of having momentum is that it allows users to identify you from the crowd in a very short time and pay attention to you. 2. 1990 Theory Several core points of high momentum: • Have a wider source of information; • More, richer knowledge and experience; • Deep thinking, unique viewpoints; • Faster information mastery; • Correct and valuable content for people; • Continuous output; • Talkative, good at expression, strong interpersonal communication; • Love new things, pay attention to trends, care about changes, willing to accept change; KOLs are early adopters of products and services. If we use the 1990 concept (the population is roughly divided into 1% innovators, 9% early adopters, 90% followers), these people are the 1% of the 1990. 3. Influence Amplification Formula: KOL + Community + Media We see many people have very professional abilities and strong momentum genes, but KOL alone is not enough. KOL cannot amplify momentum and form ripple effects for secondary or N-th transmission. We need to use the 1990 strategy to help amplify this influence through core users. This influence amplification formula is: KOL + Community + Media (Moments, Official Accounts, Short Videos, Weibo). Let's take Teacher Liu Chunxiong as an example: Teacher Liu's influence amplification formula can be understood as: Teacher Liu Chunxiong + Liu Chunxiong New Marketing Group + Teacher Liu New Marketing (Official Account). Teacher Liu Chunxiong = KOL = professional viewpoints, opinion output, 1%. Liu Chunxiong New Marketing Group = Community = topic fermentation, influencing innovators, creating ripples, cultivating and influencing the 9% group. Teacher Liu New Marketing (Official Account) = Media = public domain traffic acquisition, viewpoint amplification, releasing voice to the 90% group. It should be noted here that the form of community is not just having a WeChat group. As long as there is a group of people, with a recognized and shared experience, and you can contact them, this group can be called your community users. Trust: Only people with high momentum can influence others. In the past, in an era of low communication efficiency, Hitler could use "Mein Kampf," a book with neither high theoretical level nor logic, to influence all German youth before World War II. Today, similarly, we can use the high momentum built under role positioning to influence a group and make others trust you. Why do many companies' official accounts have no readers, and Weibo has no interaction? Because from the beginning, the persona of this media represents the company, not an individual. As a user, no one wants to have a dialogue with a certain company. As mentioned earlier, an important keyword for private domain traffic is equality. What is equality? A company is an organization, a collection of people doing things for a common purpose; it is an organization. But most users follow you, and in their relationship layer, you are only a stranger relationship. If you cannot build trust, no relationship can be established. This is like an exoplanet outside the solar system; with a slight gravitational disturbance, it will leave you. So how to build a trust relationship? It is necessary to ensure that users feel that they are communicating with a living person. Moreover, let users feel your momentum and feel your professionalism or authority in your relevant field. If you are an enterprise, the brand is the best weapon to build user trust. If you want to add a layer, it must be meeting in person: meeting in the real world. Why do this? People obtain external information through five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. But media and products are always thin and easily disturbed by external influences to change their perception of you and your products. When users communicate with you face-to-face and visit on-site, it will permanently imprint their cognition of you or your products, and they will not be easily swayed by public opinion. We see that Jiangxiaobai is now doing a product called the community project. This product essentially brings online fans to meet in person. The purpose is to deepen users' more three-dimensional and complete feelings about Jiangxiaobai through physical inspection and touch. I was also invited to visit the Jiangxiaobai distillery before, saw the complete brewing process, and found it different from what I imagined. So I emotionally posted a moment, and the most common question from my friends was: Jiangxiaobai is actually brewed from grain? This surprised me. Jiangxiaobai has so many fans, but for so many years, in the public's perception, it is a product mixed with alcohol. This misunderstanding seems to have a long history. Why did so many users misunderstand Jiangxiaobai before? I think the core issue is that Jiangxiaobai only connected with users through products + content, and did not build a more three-dimensional trust relationship between users and the brand through "meeting in person." Fortunately, Jiangxiaobai realized the seriousness of the problem. Through study tours and visits, they let a large number of users visit Jiangxiaobai, experience the entire brewing process on-site, and understand Jiangxiaobai's culture and original intention. Do not underestimate the value of meeting in person. The early user accumulation of Taishan Draft Beer was by sincerely making friends with users, inviting users one by one to the Taishan Beer factory, or having the general manager and German brewer go to the user's city to hold fan meetings, communicate face-to-face, and build this trust. Value: Every contact should not waste users' time; it should create value for users and make them feel it is worth it. I have always told my colleagues that the core value of New Distribution's content is: everyone's time in this world is very scarce. Since users spent 10 minutes reading your article, you must let them take something away, not just watch the excitement and move on. If you cannot create value for users, and continuously create value, why should users follow you, participate in your activities, or buy your products? The core of value itself comes from the scarcity of experience or beyond-expectation product/service experience. If you cannot do this, never waste users' trust currency. When users buy your products/services, it is essentially depositing and withdrawing from a trust account. If the experience is good, buying is also depositing money; if the experience is bad, not buying is also deducting money from the trust account. Let's take an example: Douyin's internet celebrity Beef Brother, whose signature slogan is: Bring down the price of XX products for me! During the 618 promotion, a 500ml beer, a main product of Budweiser, was sold at a minimum of 0.7 yuan in Beef Brother's event. Consumers saw it and found the price indeed cheap. Lipstick Brother Li Jiaqi, known as the number one lipstick influencer, claims that the lipsticks he promotes are always the lowest price on the entire internet. If he finds a platform with a lower price during his live broadcast, he will permanently block that brand's lipsticks. What did everyone discover? These internet celebrities are essentially KOLs, and they cherish and protect their feathers extremely. This feather is the trust of fans. Comparison of Public Domain Traffic and Private Domain Traffic Compared with public domain traffic, the core difference of private domain traffic lies in the relationship between you and users. Under different relationships, the logic of transactions and the cost of transactions are different. Private domain traffic focuses on building a closer relationship between users and operators, and reducing transaction costs through trust. Public domain traffic, on the other hand, obtains transaction opportunities through platform endorsement, cost-effectiveness, and operational means. For brand owners, they should do private domain traffic with the left hand and public domain traffic with the right hand. The brand is more like a trust currency; its value lies in adding points to various traffic, but this does not mean that you can skip relationship operations if you have a brand. Let's summarize the core content of this article: Advantages of private domain traffic: high cost-effectiveness, strong sustainability, two-way communication, strong stability; Paths to obtain private domain traffic: interest inducement, product/content attraction, violent addition; Essence of private domain traffic operation: operating relationships; Four underlying keywords for private domain traffic operation: persona, momentum, trust, value; Five levels of persona: external, role, capability, resource, original intention; Core of becoming a high-momentum KOL: 1990 strategy, formula: KOL + community + media; Core of building trust: sincerely making friends with people, meeting in person, increasing three-dimensional cognition; Value shaping: do not waste users' time, provide users with beyond-expectation products/feelings/services. This article focuses on the underlying value logic of private domain traffic operation. For friends interested in specific operational methods, there are many online; I will not elaborate here. I recommend reading the book "Private Domain Traffic" co-authored by teachers Feng Ping, Liu Yanfei, and Zhu Zhongyu, available on JD.com.