Introduction: Content is the carrier and the 'fundamental base' linking to the shelf scene. E-commerce has shifted from incremental competition to stock competition, and consumers have shifted from satisfying single material needs to diversified and personalized needs. Therefore, interest-based e-commerce represented by Douyin has become a new growth model for enterprises. Media predict that Douyin e-commerce GMV has exceeded one trillion yuan, becoming a key channel for enterprises to focus on besides traditional e-commerce platforms. Undoubtedly, Douyin e-commerce GMV will continue to grow. How to achieve growth under the Douyin e-commerce model has become a topic of thought for many enterprises. To this end, New Distribution interviewed Wan Gang, founder and general manager of Jiudian Network. He led his team to serve well-known brands such as Tianrun, Sanyuan, Chao Neng, and New Hope. He is skilled at leveraging content to drive brand growth, forming a content-centric operational process and strategy that achieved dual growth in brand sales and buzz. He was also rated as a 2022 Douyin Content Power Brand Service Provider. (The interview content only represents the personal views of the service provider company.)
Content Power = Good Content + Communication Power Douyin e-commerce has evolved from interest e-commerce to full-scenario interest e-commerce, where interest becomes the driving force for consumer purchases. Enterprises need to tap into consumers' potential needs and then guide users to complete orders. How to find consumer interest points? The answer is content. The "Douyin E-commerce 2022 First Half Year Industry Report" released by Chanmama shows that in the past year and a half, the proportion of likes in video interaction volume has declined, while the proportion of shares and comments has gradually increased. The communicability of content has gradually become one of the criteria for users to judge good content, a trend consistent with Douyin's algorithm adjustments in live rooms. Therefore, good content will also gain more exposure opportunities in traffic distribution.
Data source: Chanmama
Such exposure opportunities will directly lead to user order behavior. Therefore, creating a consumption path of content-interest-order is a huge opportunity for brands. To this end, Jiudian founder Wan Gang summarized a formula: Content Power = Good Content + Communication Power. We analyze this formula from two dimensions.
First, what is good content? In the interview, Wan Gang mentioned Tianrun Dairy. They set Tianrun's core strategy as "new choices," mainly promoting a bucket yogurt. The biggest highlights of this bucket yogurt are, first, the large bucket and large quantity, and second, the inclusion of a large spoon. Buying yogurt with such packaging hits the family yogurt consumption scenario. The large bucket and large spoon became the most popular combination for consumers, also creating a marketing hotspot for Tianrun. With an investment of only 500 yuan, it created 400,000 yuan in sales for Tianrun Dairy. The logic behind this case's success is to capture consumers' interest in large buckets and large spoons through content, creating a product logic that is useful and fun, stimulating consumers' purchase desire.
Second, what is communication power? Communication power refers to the way content is disseminated. Wan Gang divides it into three categories.
1. Paid mechanism: Investing advertising fees on the Douyin platform, regardless of content quality, the platform will recommend it to more people. This method tests the brand's internal advertising capability.
2. Platform communication: If content is high-quality and favored by users, it triggers a series of likes, comments, shares, etc., which triggers the platform's algorithm recommendation mechanism and spreads automatically. This tests content quality.
3. Fan communication: When the brand does not invest in advertising and content quality is average, it cannot enter the platform's algorithm recommendation mechanism, but fans may help spread it, though the effect is minimal.
Obviously, the best communication power is the second type. The more high-quality content produced, the more content is pushed to users, and the higher the chance of converting users. Therefore, content increment can drive business growth, and content becomes a catalyst for business. Content begins to shift from "finding" consumers to "creating" consumers.
Using Jiudian as an example, let's break down how content connects with consumers.
Two-way Link between Content and Consumer Groups As we all know, Douyin's algorithm is centralized. It pushes video content based on user preferences, which is an essential evaluation mechanism for Douyin and is effective for all platform users. Whether content producers or consumers, every operation on the platform is like a command. The platform judges user nature based on these commands, classifying users into high-quality users, silent users, lost users, recoverable users, etc.
First, how to create content? First, position the consumer group, produce content based on the group, and then feed back to the consumer group through the algorithm mechanism, accumulating high-quality users, achieving a two-way effort, and forming a virtuous cycle.
1. Find the target group based on product selling points For the same washing and care category, during the service process, Jiudian clearly differentiated the selling points of Chao Neng and Baimao products. Wan Gang introduced: "We positioned Baimao's target group as Generation Z. Why Generation Z? Because one of Baimao's products is peach-flavored, very fragrant, and the packaging is a vibrant pink, so targeting Generation Z consumers, the content creation is more youthful." When creating content for Chao Neng, the target group was positioned as refined mothers, because Chao Neng focuses on "natural, environmentally friendly, green," with selling points such as low foam, easy rinsing, 0 irritation, 0 residue, which are very suitable for refined mothers. By highlighting the product's active ingredients, live room scene setup, and the host's exquisite makeup, they connected with the refined mother group.
2. Find the target group based on consumption scenarios Where the scenario is, there the users are. For the same Tianrun bucket yogurt, besides the product itself attracting some consumers as mentioned earlier, Jiudian expanded its consumption scenarios in product packaging. They "repurposed" the large bucket of Tianrun yogurt, from using it as a lunchbox for picnics or as a toy storage box for children, or as a lunchbox for office workers. This series of scenarios shifted the "edible" function of bucket yogurt to a "practical" function, not only satisfying consumers' need to drink yogurt but also expanding the application range of the yogurt bucket. In this scenario, Jiudian created new demand, centered on the scenario, bringing a new wave of growth.
3. Find the target group based on brand regional characteristics For the same dairy product, when serving Xiajin Milk, Wan Gang endowed it with the brand characteristic of "tranquil and light," because Xiajin Milk is a brand from Ningxia, and Ningxia has goji berries, which give a tranquil and light taste. So combining with regional characteristics brings consumers a different consumption experience. In addition, Laisser is also a brand that has set a new strategy based on brand positioning, namely "take it slow." Wan Gang mentioned that because Laisser is a brand from Dali, Yunnan, and Dali itself advocates a slow lifestyle, they hope that when consumers see Laisser on Douyin, they can recall the lifestyle proposition closely related to Dali. The content planning hopes that consumers in this fast-paced society can learn to enjoy life, not be impatient, take it slow, and discover more beautiful things around them.
So, good content is a bridge to consumer minds. This bridge is like a link, transitioning from the pursuit of the front link to the pursuit of the back link. How to understand this? The "front link" refers to shares, likes, comments, participation, etc., which are interactions between consumers and the content itself. The "back link" refers to following, direct purchase, store visits, registration, etc., which are user behaviors closer to product transactions. It can be seen that Jiudian's content strategy is more in line with back-link behavior, driving consumers to place orders through content, completing conversion, and achieving growth.
Thoughts on Douyin E-commerce In the past year, based on the underlying logic of full-scenario interest e-commerce, many brands have achieved full-lifecycle management of products and brands, ushering in long-term growth with both product and brand benefits. At the just-concluded 2022 Golden Mouse International Creative Festival Douyin E-commerce special session, Raise a Cow, as a new dairy brand, carried out full-scenario layout on Douyin e-commerce with content as the core, achieving deep conversion "from traffic to retention." With the help of KOL scenario-based content seeding, leveraging platform marketing IP to expand buzz while improving conversion, both buzz and sales increased across the board, ultimately achieving annual total GMV of 700 million yuan and a brand member increase of 400,000. Similarly, during this year's Double 11, Douyin e-commerce's single-day payment GMV hit a historical high. In the shelf scene, 531 products had payment GMV exceeding one million yuan, and the number of active products increased by 134% compared to last year's Double 11 promotion. As the hub for "people finding goods," Douyin Mall's search scene daily average payment GMV increased by 142% compared to last year's Double 11 promotion.
Image source: Douyin Double 11 Good Products Festival Platform Report
In the content scene, Douyin e-commerce stimulated user participation through various content gameplay, such as full reduction activities, deposit pre-sales, plus platform traffic exposure support, around Douyin Mall, search scenes, short videos, and live streaming across the board. It must be said that in the post-pandemic era, Douyin e-commerce has achieved both fame and fortune. Behind this, content is the carrier and the "fundamental base" linking to the shelf scene. At the same time, in Douyin content creation and consumption, we also see several segmentation trends.
1. Content ingredient trend: The pursuit of health and safety is an eternal theme for consumers. More and more consumers are paying increasing attention to product ingredients. As mentioned earlier, in the case of Jiudian serving Chao Neng, content was created based on product ingredients to lock in consumer groups.
2. Rise of niche culture: Some niche brands with regional characteristics have begun to enter the public eye. In the first half of 2022, the popularity of some "niche" interest tags on Douyin increased rapidly, and interest circles around these contents began to thrive, with commercial value gradually becoming apparent. For example, regional brands like Laisser and Xiajin served by Jiudian created circle content culture with regional characteristics, covering consumer groups with "similar interests."
3. Rise of segmented categories: From 2021 to 2022, Douyin e-commerce added 19 new leaf categories in kitchenware products and 11 new leaf categories in personal care products. The continuously segmented product categories come from the platform and merchants' insight into consumer scenario pain points. Only products that truly meet user needs can have lasting vitality.
Since the development of Douyin e-commerce, we have seen more and greater possibilities in the industry. More importantly, it brings us thoughts. The complete consumption chain of Douyin e-commerce uses content as the carrier, linking the shelf scene. Enterprises need to update their business concepts, using content as the core to link to products, thereby achieving dual growth in enterprise sales and brand buzz. Mu Qing, Vice President of Douyin E-commerce, also mentioned at the 2022 Golden Mouse International Creative Festival Douyin E-commerce special session that Douyin E-commerce's mall, due to the synergy of the content field, has many different innovative gameplay methods that can help merchants improve the efficiency of converting content fields to shelf scenes, bringing breakthroughs in business, people, and brand. We also look forward to more FMCG enterprises riding the "east wind" of Douyin e-commerce in the post-pandemic era to set sail.
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