In the era of new media, with the rapid development of mobile Internet technology and the high popularity of mobile terminal equipment, the marketing positions of various industries have also been transferred. Relying on the characteristics of simplification of content production, fragmented dissemination, cross-platform dissemination, and strong interaction, short videos have quickly gained a large number of mobile users. Some brand merchants and users have seen the dividends brought about by the development of short videos, and they have settled in short video platforms one after another, which has spawned a new marketing model based on corporate marketing, Internet celebrity marketing, and user marketing. However, behind short video marketing, there are also problems such as homogenization of content, irregular product sources and channels, and incomplete product characteristics, which need to be solved urgently.
Keywords: new media, Douyin, Short video marketing
With its simple content production, fast dissemination speed, vivid and interesting picture presentation, and integrated use of popular music and venues, short videos have led the trend of the new media era and become a new marketing communication position favored by various industries. Therefore, an emerging marketing communication model came into being—short video marketing model. Among the short video platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, Volcano, and Second Shot, Douyin is the most representative short video platform. Since its launch, it has occupied the top position in short video traffic, and the number of users has continued to grow [1]. This article studies the marketing characteristics and marketing model of Douyin short videos, as well as reflections on this model, with a view to providing a reference for companies that want to enter Douyin for short video marketing.
The fit point between Douyin and short video marketing
The reason why short video marketing has been able to enter the user's vision and prosper, and has become a popular marketing model for user groups, is mainly based on the following characteristics of short videos:
1) Simple content production
The short video platform represented by Douyin encourages users from all walks of life to participate in the production and release of original short videos. Users can use the functions that come with Douyin to create short videos. At the beginning of short video creation, many amateurs and even Internet celebrities did not have professional short video shooting and editing capabilities, but through the editing and special effects functions that come with Douyin, they can simply make a short video without exposing their own creative level. This allows mobile short video users to shoot and create short videos anytime, anywhere, and publish their own original short videos. It is precisely thanks to the simplification of short video creation that user content production has become mainstream, which has promoted the prosperity of short video content creation.
2) Fragmented spread
The Internet provides technical conditions for the widespread dissemination of short videos, making it more convenient to record and watch short videos, adapting to the fast-paced reading habits of users in the new era, and at the same time filling the fragmented time of users. In addition, the fragmented dissemination of short videos can realize the maximum transmission of effective information in a limited period of time, and users can receive all the information of short videos in a short period of time. Using fragmented time, short video marketing has also evolved into marketing with intermittent processes and continuous effects, maximizing marketing effectiveness [2].
3) Cross-platform dissemination
Some daily short videos have a high degree of adhesion to users' lives, which can attract users' attention, thereby generating a fan effect and stimulating users to have a strong desire to share. Users can selectively spread the content of short videos according to their personal preferences, and finally realize the fission spread of short videos after multiple subjects spread them. At this stage, the Douyin platform supports one-click login authorized by social software accounts such as WeChat, Weibo, and QQ. Users can forward short videos from the Douyin platform to various associated social software platforms with one click to realize cross-platform dissemination of short videos [1].
4) Effective communication
At this stage, the short video platforms represented by Douyin are all highly interactive. In addition to cross-platform communication and interaction, strong interaction can also be achieved within the short video platform to achieve effective communication between users. First, within the short video platform, users can interact with short video creators by leaving a message or sending a private message under the video posted by the short video creator; users can also like, share, and bookmark the short video, leaving their own browsing traces. Second, this kind of interaction just meets the basic social and commercial needs of short video creators. On the one hand, short video creators interact with users to understand their interests and preferences, laying the foundation for creating works that meet the needs of the audience in the future. On the other hand, based on users' love for their own short videos, short video creators can accumulate a group of fans of their own, monetize them through fans later, and enjoy the economic benefits of short videos.
Analysis of the marketing model of short videos
1) Corporate marketing: open an official corporate account
The process of traffic conversion of Douyin short videos is “content production—traffic harvesting—traffic conversion”. In this process, the content quality of short videos is an important factor affecting the dissemination effect. After each company opens its own official Douyin account on Douyin and authenticates the company, users can quickly lock in the company from many brands with the same name. Subsequently, companies can post some short videos that are close to their own brand tone and interesting on certified official accounts to attract users. Compared with traditional advertising, such short videos that use scenario stories to show one's own brand are closer to life and more grounded in the eyes of users, which can narrow the distance between users and enterprises. The short video time is short, and the number of releases is not limited. Therefore, companies can shoot multiple short videos around their products to show as many product features and product advantages as possible, and use the “top” setting to highlight the short videos that can most attract consumers at the top of the short video homepage.
For example, Innisfree has opened its own official account on Douyin and passed corporate certification. Users can quickly find Innisfree's official account among the many brands with the same name. In the introduction of the homepage of the official account, Innisfree introduced the brand tone of its products through short text. Immediately afterwards, Innisfree focused on the brand tone of “the beauty of the skin, the protection of nature” in the top three short videos. By showing green forests, clear water and blue sky, and natural plants, users can feel the nature and purity of the product. In addition, Innisfree has also released many short videos of other products. The shooting content is specific to the efficacy of each product. It mainly introduces the functional characteristics of the product to users through short plot-style videos.
2) Wanghong marketing: Create a differentiated Wanghong design
There are various Internet celebrities in the Douyin platform, and each Wanghong has created their own unique personality in their respective fields. These Wanghongs attract a group of fans who like this “human design” by creating a human design, and after the fans have accumulated to a certain extent, they can realize the monetization of fans. The most common form of monetization for Wanghong is to receive advertisements. After Wanghongs have a certain amount of fans, they will not accept various advertisements indiscriminately. Most Wanghongs will combine their “personal settings” and their fields to receive advertisements that match their “personal settings”. Advertisers will also be more inclined to look for Wanghong who match their own product characteristics to promote their products, which is more conducive to increasing fans' acceptance of the product and quickly turning fans into potential consumers of the product [3].
Taking Douyin's popular science videos of traditional Chinese medicine as an example, many attending physicians in top three hospitals have opened their own Douyin accounts. They attract users by shooting short videos of medical science related to their own fields. Lao Wu, an obstetrician and gynecologist with 7.6 million Douyin followers, has shared a lot of little knowledge about maternal and child care on his homepage. Therefore, most of the users who follow him are pregnant women and Bao Ma. In addition, most of the advertisers who look for him for brand marketing are infant product companies. Compared with other channels to understand and buy infant products, consumers are more confident in the professional recommendations of professional doctors [4].
3) User marketing: viral spread
In addition to representative corporate marketing and Internet celebrity marketing, users also have marketing power that cannot be ignored. The marketing behavior of users is often spontaneous. They watch some popular short videos and rush to imitate them after they resonate, placing themselves in a certain trend. The starting point of user marketing is often highly entertaining, which is different from the strong purposefulness of corporate marketing and Internet celebrity marketing. At the same time, user marketing tends to have a greater influence, and it shows a viral spread in terms of communication methods.
For example, the theme song of “Michelle Ice City” is popular with Douyin with a simple brainwashing melody. Users only participate in the dissemination of the theme and the singing of copyrighted songs out of fun and interesting psychology. “Michelle Ice City” officials also seized the marketing opportunity. Some stores launched activities to sing and give away drinks, which prompted more Douyin users to actively participate in the activities and increased the visibility of their own brand. There are even many users who use the theme song of “Michelle Ice City” as their call ringtone and alarm clock ringtone [1].
Reflection on the short video marketing model
Douyin has a strong user gathering power. With its rich communication content and wide range of dissemination, it has gradually become the main position for companies to promote their own products. However, the emergence of any kind of new media is a double-edged sword, and the advantages of Douyin may also be transformed into disadvantages in some ways. Therefore, we need to reflect on the problems in Douyin short video marketing and further study improvement measures.
1) The content is low in originality and the homogeneity is serious
Douyin is filled with a large number of works, but the quality of the works varies, and many works show homogenization and low originality. This homogenization phenomenon is mainly reflected in the creation of short video content and the push of short video content. First, the homogenization of short video content creation refers to the high degree of similarity in the output of short video content, and users can get together to shoot whatever content is popular. This makes many users don't need to think about what to shoot at all, they just need to follow the trend and imitate the popular short video content. Second, the homogenization of short video content delivery refers to the use of big data technology in the Douyin background to judge users' interests and hobbies, and then make personalized recommendations based on users' preferences. This allows users to always browse to similar short video content. In the long run, it will cause users to experience aesthetic fatigue and resistance, which in turn will affect the impression of the product in the hearts of users [4].
In view of the homogenization of short video content creation, Douyin can introduce measures to encourage users to publish original short videos, such as giving more exposure to high-quality original short videos and motivating more users to join the original team. Today, Douyin has established an original creators Alliance to provide copyright protection and rights protection prosecution services for original short video creators. In view of the homogenization of short video content delivery, companies can use some popular music and combine some vibrato stems to design personalized product slogans to increase the interest of short videos and reduce the disgust of users when they see advertisements.
2) Product sources and channels are not standardized, and the quality is uneven
Douyin is filled with a large number of businesses. In addition to some well-known big brands, there are more unknown niche brands. Many anchors who promote products on Douyin are only responsible for product recommendations, and they have no real understanding of the actual use effect of the product, whether the product formula is safe, and whether the source is formal. This will lead to a large number of consumers of some net celebrity products, but there will be many problems after consumers use them. Sometimes after consumers receive the goods, they find that the use effect of the goods is completely different from that described by the Internet celebrity anchor, and even the products recommended by some celebrity anchors will have fakes. Therefore, the source channels of Douyin products urgently need to be standardized.
In view of the above problems, Douyin can standardize the source channels of products from three aspects. First, starting from the inside, Douyin can set up a professional verification team for different product categories to verify merchant information and product sources, and seal the product in time if there is a problem; second, Douyin can encourage consumers to report problematic products in real name, and deal with merchants after verifying that they are correct; third, Douyin can also sign cooperation agreements with merchants, and merchants can use the formal product source channels provided by Douyin. In addition, Douyin should also improve the after-sales service guarantee system to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. When the communication between consumers and businesses is invalid, they can apply for Douyin to intervene and solve the problems they encounter in a timely manner.
3) The short video duration is limited, and the product characteristics are not fully reflected
The “shortness” of short videos is mainly relative to medium and long videos. This kind of “shortness” can be more focused on the content, allowing users to understand the main features of the product within one minute. This also makes it necessary for marketing short videos to show where they attract consumers the most within this minute. But it is more difficult to do this. It is impossible to show all the advantages of a product in just one minute, and it is not conducive to attracting consumers to buy products by focusing only on the accumulation of advantages [5].
In this regard, short videos of marketing and promotion can supplement product information with medium and long videos. Product promoters can use short videos to show the most prominent features of the product, and then shoot medium- and long-length videos to introduce the features and functions of the product in detail. When consumers see short videos and become interested in products, they can further watch medium- and long-length videos that detail the products to increase their understanding of the products.
C onclusion
The development of short video in the new media era is unstoppable. Relying on its own advantages, short video marketing has gathered a large number of user groups, reshaped the traffic pattern, and provided new marketing growth space for marketing entities to tap new economic benefits. In view of the current problems of homogenization of content and irregular product sources and channels in short video marketing, we must actively take corresponding measures to make short video marketing a sustainable marketing path.
References:
- Wang Jingdan, Short video marketing communication in the Era of new media, Journal of Hangzhou Normal University (in Chinese), 2020 (04) : 113–120.
- Gao Yan, Reflection and Reconstruction of short video marketing model in the Era of new Media, Publisher, 2020 (in Chinese), 2021 (08) : 62–64.
- Qu Jiajie, A brief analysis of the marketing model of short video platform in the era of new media development, Marketing (in Chinese), 2020 (51) : 9–10.
- Zhou Jiahui, Strategies for short video marketing in the era of new media, Media Forum (in Chinese), 2021 (20) : 58–60.
- Wang Yanan, Investigation on the characteristics and Development path of mobile short video dissemination, Cradle of Reporters (in Chinese), 2021 (09) : 125–126.
- Cao Tong, Analyze the operation model of short videos: take Douyin as an example, Media Forum (in Chinese), 2020 (23) : 37.
