Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 200 Douyin's Content Differentiation Strategy

Back at Douyin Company, Chen Xiu immediately summoned Zhang Yiming and held a small meeting in Su Xiao's office.

"Creating content differentiation?"

Zhang Yiming looked at Chen Xiu with shining eyes, leaned back and stretched out his body, waiting for the conversation to unfold.

Chen Xiu glanced at him, then looked at Su Xiao: "After the premiere of 'Love O2O', has our user growth slowed down?"

"The growth has slowed down compared to when TV dramas were popular, but it is still better than the first quarter of this year. The number of users increased by 12 million in August, and September should be similar."

"The long tail effect after the TV series airs."

Chen Xiu muttered to herself, then continued, "In the past two months, Douyin has experienced an explosion in user data. The surge in users has made big data-driven recommendations increasingly accurate, but it has also created some problems."

"You mean the content is vulgar?"

"It's not a matter of whether it's vulgar or not, it's just that Kuaishou has already done short videos that pursue gimmicks, such as pushing people into fields, internet celebrity iron pot stewed goose, and 'Old Iron 666'. If we also make these kinds of content, the effect will definitely not be as good as Kuaishou."

The most popular and most liked content on Kuaishou is what Chen Xiu said. There is also a lot of similar content on Douyin, but the data is not as good as Kuaishou.

Upon hearing his words, Zhang Yiming immediately understood and said, "So you want to differentiate your content?"

"Yes! We need to create high-quality content and discuss how to continuously produce high-quality content."

Chen Xiu said firmly, and then went on to explain her considerations.

"The explosive growth in user numbers has given us the foundation to develop a differentiated track. If we don't make changes now and let new and old users realize the difference between Douyin and Kuaishou, once these new users get used to watching 'Old Iron 666', they might just switch back to Kuaishou."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yiming and Su Xiao both nodded in agreement.

Su Xiao understood Chen Xiu's personality and knew that since he could come to the meeting without warning, he must already have a general idea.

How can we ensure a continuous production of high-quality content?

Chen Xiu glanced at Su Xiao with a smile in her eyes, knowing that Su Xiao was playing the straight man for her.

"I've been thinking about this question for a long time, but I couldn't figure it out until I met someone who gave me the answer."

"what is the answer?"

Zhang Yiming asked urgently, his mind not on the person Chen Xiu was talking about at all.

"She's my junior from university. I attended an event for outstanding graduates today, and I briefly mentioned that ordinary people can attract followers on social media platforms and thus enter the film and television industry..."

"Xiu, could we make our explanation a little shorter?"

"Be patient!"

Chen Xiu retorted to Zhang Yiming and continued, "After the speech, that junior student suddenly approached me and asked me about some directions for operating a self-media platform. I didn't pay much attention at first, until she mentioned that she had just started using Douyin and had accumulated 30 followers in three months..."

"30?"

"Yes! I checked her account, and it's all organic traffic growth, with no trace of paid traffic."

"3 months, 30."

Zhang Yiming muttered the two units to himself, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Su Xiao quickly came up with the answer: "30 yuan, in Douyin's current scale, is equivalent to the level of a low-tier streamer. She only spent 3 months, so it must be a content issue."

"Yes! The surge in users over the past two months has given her the opportunity to quickly gain followers, but what keeps these followers and ensures that the push mechanism continues to drive traffic to her is her content."

What is the style of her content?

"Open Douyin and search for it yourself."

Chen Xiu gave Zhang Yiming Zhou Ye's Douyin ID, and then he watched as Zhang Yiming went and played through the videos one by one.

The short videos posted by Zhou Ye also have a fresh and clean theme, accompanied by instrumental background music. The addition of her as a beautiful woman on screen makes the difference quite obvious.

After watching too many short videos of people being pushed into fields, internet celebrities cooking goose in iron pots, and "666" (a Chinese internet slang for "awesome"), I suddenly saw a pretty girl with a clean and healing smile.

This feeling is like eating too much spicy hot pot and then suddenly having a sip of ice-cold plum juice.

The stark yet comforting contrast will hold a normal person captive for a while before the system detects it and measures the retention rate.

Based on retention rate and viewing time, Douyin's push mechanism will push Zhou Ye's videos to more users, thus creating a positive cycle...

"The filming wasn't too difficult, it's just that the blogger is alright looking..."

"After all, she's from Beijing Film Academy, so her looks are definitely not an issue."

Zhang Yiming looked up at Chen Xiu and, for some reason, felt that Chen Xiu's words were a self-praise.

Seeing the meaning on Zhang Yiming's face, Chen Xiu chuckled and said, "I showed you her content, not asked you to evaluate this account. Do you think we can gradually improve the quality of Douyin's content from this aspect?"

"You mean, we'll produce our own content and sign bloggers?"

"Why not?"

"This……"

Zhang Yiming couldn't quite put his finger on why it was impossible, but he just felt something was off, as it was a field he had never been exposed to before. "I, on the other hand, think it's possible."

Su Xiao picked up the thread and explained, "Pony Ma personally chatted with netizens back then! Xiao Xiu also posts short videos on her personal account to attract traffic, so of course we can too."

"I didn't tell you to distribute them!"

Chen Xiu waved his hand and quickly clarified what he meant.

"I just want the company to find some art school students, sign a few cooperation agreements with them, and then produce some high-quality content to drive traffic and push it out."

"As long as this high-quality content is seen by users and continues to receive high likes and high exposure, other independent bloggers will actively move towards this style."

"What we need to do is just get started in the early stages and build up the content ecosystem. If we were to use a metaphor, it would be like a blooming dandelion, with the wind of data push spreading the seeds all over the world!"

Chen Xiu shared her newly conceived dandelion plan.

Art schools like Beijing Film Academy, Central Academy of Drama, and Beijing Dance Academy graduate thousands of students every year.

However, among these people, only one in 1000 can successfully enter the film and television industry and be remembered by name.

The other 999 people either continued to pursue their dreams and try for minor roles, or went into the modeling industry, or engaged in film and television-related industries, while many others simply changed careers altogether.

Since they were going to change careers anyway, signing them to become the first generation of internet celebrities was a way to give them a chance to ride the wave of opportunity.

"I have a question."

Zhang Yiming looked at Chen Xiu and said, "If we sign contracts with these art school students and promote their videos, how can we guarantee they won't terminate their contracts once they have a large following?"

"It doesn't matter whether the contract is terminated or not."

Chen Xiu shook her head dismissively: "We just want to build a content ecosystem, not start an influencer company."

"Although these first-generation internet celebrities received some benefits in the early stages, netizens' preferences are constantly changing. If they cannot maintain a consistent output of high-quality content, they will naturally be overtaken by newcomers."

“Every five years, a new batch of people become popular in the entertainment industry, but the industry itself always exists. What we do is actually quite similar. When Douyin becomes big enough, we can step back and just be good referees. At that time, it won’t matter if this batch of internet celebrities doesn’t exist.”

Even though she worked part-time as a celebrity, Chen Xiu had a very clear understanding of the ever-changing world of fame and fortune.

During this period, there was still a dimensional barrier between internet celebrities and stars.

With over 800 million followers, Chen Xiu is already the number one influencer on Douyin.

Two years from now, when Douyin's user base surpasses that of Kuaishou, giving rise to internet celebrities with tens of millions of followers, the dimensional barrier between the two will no longer exist.

After explaining her entire idea, Chen Xiu discussed the specific details with Zhang Yiming and Su Xiao, and the final solution was feasible!

Signing Douyin influencers and producing high-quality content became the work theme for September.

The three of them discussed the details until 10 p.m. before finally concluding.

Just as Chen Xiu got up to take Su Xiao home, Zhang Yiming suddenly called out to him.

"Xiu, ByteDance's Series D funding round has begun. Remember to schedule a time to attend the meeting."

"OK, just send me a message with the specific time! I've got a lot going on lately, I need to arrange things one by one."

What are you busy with?

"Didi merged with Uber China, so I need to liquidate my small stake; Douyin's Series A funding is simple, we just sign a contract and I pay the money; and then there's Mobike, which I invested in last year. Shen Nanpeng recently asked to meet with me, wanting to invest more in the project and hoping I can give up some shares..."

Chen Xiu listed her tasks to be done, and even after finishing, she felt a bit overwhelmed.

This only covers investment and Douyin (TikTok) related work; work in the film and television industry hasn't been calculated yet.

Seeing that Su Xiao had finished packing and was coming over, Zhang Yiming said briefly, "I'll send you the specific time for the financing. Do you want to come with me to this year's Internet Conference?"

"With our size, we've only ever been able to stand on the periphery. Let's focus on growing the company bigger first, and then we can go back next year!"

"Oh, then I won't go either."

Given the current scale of ByteDance and Douyin, Zhang Yiming could only stand on the outer circle in the past.

He was naturally shy, and if Chen Xiu were willing to go with him, he would be happy to join in the fun on the outer circle, but since Chen Xiu was unwilling to go, Zhang Yiming reluctantly gave up.

After they finished talking, Chen Xiu picked up Su Xiao, went down to the underground parking lot, and found the car she had come from.

He had just sat down in the car when he received a notification sound from a message.

Chen Xiu took out her phone to check, her expression stiffened for a moment, and a complex emotion appeared between her brows.

Seeing this, Su Xiao asked, "Did you receive a message that's hard to reply to?"

"There's nothing wrong with replying... I need to make a phone call, is that alright?"

"It's your car, why would I mind?"

"Oh, then don't take offense."

(End of this chapter)