---
title: "Private Domain Is Not Contact, It's Relationship!"
description: "The article emphasizes that private domain traffic is not about mere contact but about building relationships with users. It outlines steps to create user value, transform relationships into channels, and maintain long-term engagement through continuous value delivery and community building."
author: "赵波"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2020-10-22"
language: "en"
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# Private Domain Is Not Contact, It's Relationship!

> The article emphasizes that private domain traffic is not about mere contact but about building relationships with users. It outlines steps to create user value, transform relationships into channels, and maintain long-term engagement through continuous value delivery and community building.

**-01-
**Fans Cannot Be Freeloaded**
Fans, from the English word 'fans', originally meant enthusiasts of sports or movies. In a marketing context, those who follow you and those who support and like you can all be collectively called fans. Associated terms include community, private domain traffic, official accounts, and Weibo. **The value of fans lies in their willingness to establish a certain relationship with you, which can be unilateral, bilateral, or multilateral.** Unilateral, such as users subscribing to your media, following your topics, and being willing to receive your message pushes.
Bilateral, actively participating in activities you organize, such as fan meetings and tasting events, and willing to help you repost and recommend to more friends around them.
Multilateral, users proactively organizing activities, topics, or even transactions related to you with other users. For example, we see fans of many traffic stars spontaneously organizing various communities to support their favorite stars. **The relationship with users constitutes the interaction of interests between you and users.** Of course, having a relationship does not necessarily mean commercial value. For instance, those who discuss Porsche the most may not be the ones who buy Porsche, but that does not mean there is no relationship between Porsche and these people.
In the past two years, private domain traffic has been particularly hot. Many people think that users who follow their corporate official accounts on platforms like WeChat and Weibo are their private domain traffic. However, to date, I have not seen a single FMCG brand that operates its official account fans well. Why?
Because the relationship between users and you in the official account is called 'subscription', which cannot be strictly considered fans.
**The core of private domain is to build relationships with users, not just contact.**
Let me ask you a question: Who do you say 'keep in touch' to? Isn't it those you may or may not contact? Who do you build relationships with? It must be those who have a stake in your interests, right?
Establishing contact is easy, but building relationships is not. So never have a tool mindset, thinking that you can use various friend-adding techniques to add people and then sell things on your Moments.
If you have any marketing sense, think about it: if you don't create value for users, like posting ads in official accounts and Moments every day, freeloading off users, who is foolish—the consumers or those who spam ads?
**-02-**
**The Prerequisite for Building Relationships Is Creating User Value**
**The starting point of a relationship is that you can create value for users. In marketing terms, so-called value is meeting user needs.** User needs essentially stem from a lack of material or spiritual/emotional fulfillment. So the core of building a relationship with users is to provide a feasible solution to their sense of lack. Trump's trade war against China and the suppression of Huawei made people widely recall China's century of weakness and bullying by great powers. At this time, national confidence and a strong mentality became an attitude that everyone craved. We need a strong China, we need a strong company—this is a typical strong mentality. So Huawei's posters seem not to express its own interests, but the values conveyed by the posters satisfy the public's need for a sense of strength and leadership.
During the pandemic, everyone knew business was tough and people were anxious. At that time, the boss of Lao Xiang Ji stood up and said, 'Not only will I not lay off employees, but I won't cut salaries!' Would you have a strong sense of identification with such a leader? **Today, providing a sense of scarcity to users is increasingly difficult. The internet has eliminated material scarcity and information asymmetry,** and can offer you good things from around the world that you know and don't know. People's lives are improving, with 300-500 million middle class rising, and cost-effectiveness is no longer as important. But this does not necessarily mean expensive goods; rather, it means having a certain scarcity that can interpret one's character and taste, and through the scarcity you provide, users can gain pleasure, satisfaction, achievement, and security in the relationship.
**-03-
**Why Is Relationship So Important?**
**In the past, the focus of marketing competition was control over channels. In the future, it is control over the relationship between you and users.** Teacher Liu Chunxiong said that relationship is the channel, and relationship is the core of today's business. Why are almost all internet giants rushing into community group buying? The core is that community store owners are not only physically close to consumers but also closer in relationship. The semi-acquaintance relationship between store owners and community residents allows for communication without hindering sales. Community groups are an excellent carrier for new retail.
**-04-
**How to Monetize Relationships?**
**Teacher Ding Ding discussed three steps for monetizing private domain traffic: fan-ization of users, channel-ization of fans, and community-ization of channels.** **I believe these three transformations are essentially a process of moving from no relationship to unilateral, then to bilateral, and finally to multilateral relationships.** Of course, transactions can occur at each level; it's not that if there's no relationship, there can be no transaction. You can sell on Taobao, but the problem is that users trust Taobao, not you, so you have to pay extra traffic costs for that transaction. So you see, it's increasingly difficult to generate transactions without building relationships with users, which is why traffic is getting more expensive. Therefore, **for brand owners, how to establish a relationship with users online, offline, and in communities that allows for interactive communication, emotional and value connection at any time is the core of marketing.** This relationship can be emotional or material, but regardless, it must be a product or service that satisfies users' sense of lack. Of course, besides directly building relationships with users, you can also leverage others' relationships with users to do business.
The first is to turn relationships into channels: using a benefit distribution mechanism, turn people with certain relationship capabilities into human resources within your organization, leveraging their networks for transactions. A representative brand is Sishijiu Fang, whose model can be described in one sentence: 'Start with crowdfunding, succeed with co-creation, thrive with alliances, and achieve through fission.'
Sishijiu Fang initially had 49 crowdfunding shareholders and co-founders. They used a martial arts approach, establishing a company called the General Headquarters, with each person founding a branch, and then another crowdfunding, eventually creating 108 branches. The first core circle, the 49 crowdfunding shareholders and co-founders, is the most core part. Founder Zhang Chuanzong is one of these 49, meaning the highest unit, named the General Headquarters. If each of the 49 crowdfunding shareholders invested 100,000 yuan, but if it were just investment, that would be wrong, and the matter couldn't continue. They raised money and also channels. With a 4.9 million yuan capital base, solving the money problem, they began to solve the co-creation problem.
Not only did they contribute money, but they also had to work, and then the 49 shareholders each founded a branch. There were at least 49 branches, and some developed additional branches. Thus, they gradually established 108 branches, each like a sales company. Each branch then conducted another crowdfunding. The first core circle: 49 people, the General Headquarters. The second core circle: branches, 108 people. Then the third circle: terminal stores. For example, 30 people invest in a 100-square-meter store in a community, each investing 10,000 yuan, and they get a club where they can dine, drink, and entertain friends, while also gaining 30 shareholder-level partners, which is also a social circle. **For a store, crowdfunding brings in 30 people, which is 300,000 yuan. This is also raising money. How to co-create? Each shareholder is required to build at least one group with over 100 people. 30 people × 100 equals 3,000 people. It's likely that the store's coverage through these 30 shareholders' groups will exceed 10,000 people.** Once this traffic pool is established, do you still need to wait for customers? **This business model has stores in front, social interaction in the store, and communities behind.** The establishment of the store is a good crowdfunding reason; it's in the community, highly reliable. The 30 people who crowdfunded are themselves a social circle, and the store is a place for them to entertain their friends. So, 'social in the store' has two meanings: first, social interaction among the 30 people; second, a social venue for the 30 to interact with outsiders. Sishijiu Fang has many industry KOLs participating, such as Liu Jun, President of Lenovo China, as Chairman; Yu Shiwei, the top Chinese trainer, as Chief Culture Officer; and Yang Liping, a world-class dance artist, as Chief Art Officer. It also gathers many channel dealers needing transformation—IT, telecom, home appliance dealers—and bosses from various industries, as well as Fortune 500 professional managers and retirees looking to contribute, to serve as branch leaders or hall masters. Currently, it has laid out 108 sales companies nationwide, each crowdfunded, with about 20,000 shareholder-level partners and 1 million members. The sales model is shareholders plus members.
The core of this model is not just crowdfunding; it's essentially using equity interest bundling to pull people with certain relationship capabilities into the organization, and then leveraging participants' networks to become distribution channels. Relationships can also become retail/experience/promotion terminals and a means of trust endorsement. For example, Yangyuan Zhi Hui, leveraging the semi-acquaintance relationship of community store owners, uses mini-programs in community groups for 1-yuan flash sales, achieving large-scale consumer experience. We'll discuss details in later articles.
**-05-
**How to Build Long-term and Stable Relationships with Users?**
**To establish sustained, long-term, and stable relationships with users, the prerequisite is to continuously provide value and form a stable symbiotic relationship.** This symbiotic relationship is essentially a sustained, stable interest exchange system. **The connection between brand owners and users must continuously create interactive value beyond the product, learning value, social value, and emotional value, so that users have the desire to interact with you.** The purpose of operating this relationship is to achieve mutual benefit and symbiotic growth with users.
What is interactive value beyond the product?
**1. Accompany users in growth.** Like Nian Gao Mama, I sell products, but I teach you how to be a good mother. My products make your baby smarter. To be a good mother, you must listen to my courses and use my tools; courses are free, tools are paid.
Lululemon, which has been very popular in recent years, leverages professional users (KOLs) and communities to continuously create a desirable lifestyle.
**2. Unique and scarce brand value.** I buy AJ to show off, but if everyone has them, I'll wear a limited edition others don't have. But to buy a limited edition AJ, I must continuously follow AJ's information and interact in communities.
**3. Become a cultural belief.** I just like One Piece, Jay Chou, or Hua Chenyu. I'm willing to follow all their peripherals beyond their works.
**4. Continuously provide freshness to users.** For consumer goods, it's hard to provide freshness for sustained consumption, but I think there are a few models to reference. One is Pop Mart, which uses blind boxes to continuously create surprises (familiar + unexpected), keeping participants engaged. Another is Coca-Cola, which, despite selling one flavor for a century, uses its 70/20/10 content investment rule—70% practical content, 20% innovative content, 10% brand new ideas—so different circles can feel the Coca-Cola they want most.
The third is Red Bull, which through its brand positioning 'Your energy, beyond your imagination' creates an extreme sports spirit, generating unlimited Red Bull brand stories through its sponsored sports and athletes' stories. To achieve this, Red Bull also established Red Bull Media House. This studio has magazines, websites, radio, TV, record labels, film production companies, providing Red Bull with various forms of promotion including print and TV ads, online and offline. It also signed many sports stars and planned and sponsored a series of extreme sports like parkour, skydiving, skateboarding, drifting, surfing, and freestyle mountain biking.
Red Bull records these projects in photos or videos, creating impressive brand stories that fascinate countless consumers.
**5. Sincerely make friends with users.** I sell insurance, but as I sell, I become friends with you. Because the relationship is deep, you not only buy yourself but also recommend family, relatives, and friends to buy.
**6. Provide ultimate cost-effectiveness.** Your product/service is decent, and I recharge to become a member to get some discounts. Based on the lure of benefits, I'm willing to build a long-term relationship with you.
**-06-
**How to Continuously Get Users to Recommend**
Creating value for fans is essentially about retention. Fans have an even more important value: helping enterprises solve social dissemination and obtain continuous traffic. We need to use mechanisms to complete the process from users producing content to distributing content. I think there are several ways:
**1. Continuous recommendation by professional KOLs.** In fact, many enterprises today are trying to monetize decentralized traffic through influencers, experts, and ordinary people, through various communities and matrices. But in my view, this monetization is essentially like shopping guide-style selling, not true professional KOL recommendation. I often buy things from a public account called 'Aige Chibaole'. The founder Wen Jia has also been a guest in New Distribution's live room. I like buying from this account because its food recommendations are excellent. Many snacks I've tried based on its recommendations have never disappointed, which makes me highly recognize its professional capability. In my view, this is a true KOL—being sufficiently professional in a field, and such professional recommendations can truly gain user and fan recognition.
**2. Incorporate 100 KOCs from each city into your system.** Teacher Liu Chunxiong once expressed a viewpoint: KOLs are media, KOCs are channels. Why are KOCs channels? Because they are between KOLs and ordinary consumers, having both the professional influence of KOLs and the intimacy with consumers. So, the BC integration that Teacher Liu Chunxiong has been talking about is essentially about using KOCs to connect online and offline and link with communities. Of course, many enterprises are already practicing this model, such as Taishan Beer's direct-operated stores, Lidu Liquor's city partners, and Jiang Xiaobai's brand ambassadors. Essentially, they bind local high-quality network nodes with social and sharing capabilities through interest bundling, making them our spokespersons in local social networks. This model is still very effective today.
**3. Million Fans Experience Plan.** Continuously invite users to visit your factory, interact, and co-create various products and activities. For example, Lidu Liquor offers immersive experiences, letting users understand liquor brewing, participate in product co-creation, understand the blending process, and see how extreme products are produced. Through experience and co-creation, users switch roles and earn social currency. Jiang Xiaobai has also been doing factory tours in recent years. Qingdao Beer's factory tourism has become a must-visit attraction in Qingdao. As long as you persist, this will gradually accumulate amazing explosive power.
**4. Make consumers remember and be able to explain your product's selling point in one sentence.** Pop Mart's mini-program sales exceed its Tmall store, indicating that most of Pop Mart's product sales are triggered by social interaction, not by seeing ads. This means the social currency you provide to users must be concise, clear, and easy for users to tell friends in one sentence what your value is. Don't ramble on too much. Taishan Beer's own selling points: contains yeast, all malt, unfiltered. But the selling point consumers actually remember, which I've heard countless times in various occasions, is one sentence: This beer has only a 7-day shelf life! Let me give another example: When you mention the crosstalk actor Yu Qian, what's your first reaction? It's the person in Guo Degang's mouth—smoking, drinking, and perming his hair. Is Yu Qian really like that? What is this? It's a persona. But why do audiences remember this characteristic rather than the real Yu Qian? Because this characteristic best fits the audience's expectations in the relationship. It's people symbolizing complex things for easy memory. Good products are easy for users to remember, but to get others to recommend, you must give them a reason and selling point that's easy to spread. Otherwise, no matter how good the product, it's hard to spread through consumers' mouths.
**Conclusion:** Teacher Liu Chunxiong expressed that **many people overlook the generational gap brought by technology.** From hand-to-hand combat in the cold weapon era, to the volley fire of smoothbore muskets before World War I, to the large-scale use of Mauser rifles in World War I, and the mass slaughter of automatic rifles and machine guns in World War II, it's evident that tool improvements create generational gaps in warfare, leading to one-sided victories. **If decision-makers still use old tactical knowledge systems to fight against more efficient tools, the result will be a disastrous defeat and elimination. The same applies to future enterprises: what defeats you is not your competitors' weapons, but your outdated knowledge concepts and entrenched interests.** Today, all enterprises that do marketing well essentially use new technology to the extreme. Those that don't do well lack not methods but a deep understanding of the impact of new technology on marketing. So enterprise digitalization is not about wearing new shoes on old roads, but truly starting from the underlying value logic and using new digital tools to reconstruct marketing models.
But this reconstruction, I believe, must first focus on user value. Only after doing retention well can you talk about traffic. If retention is not done well, no matter how much traffic, it's like sand in your hand—can't grasp it, can't keep it.
| Founder of New Distribution, FMCG industry channel expert, author of over 400,000 words of original FMCG industry research articles. For communication, you can add WeChat by long-pressing. When adding, please indicate your company, position, and name.


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