Review of research design and execution
Research object: Platform major users of Red, Douyin, Zhihu and Bilibili in the past 6 months; CMO/ Brand Manager, general manager of advertising agency, senior media practitioner.
Data source
Methods: consumer forum + expert in-depth interview;
Sample size: 4 groups of consumer forum, 4 expert interviews
Research area: Beijing, Shanghai
Methods: online survey
Sample size: 1500
Sample traits: 18-40 years old, have used Zhihu, Douyin, Red, Bilibili, and have been affected by these platform to make shopping decisions.
Research area: 1st tier, emerging new 1st tier and 2nd tier cities
2021-2022 New New Trends in Content Marketing
Trend 1: Fluid Cross-platform Consumer Groups
China's content marketing platform is always in a fluid state. Economic growth, demographic changes, urbanization, and innovations in content formats have all made users wiser and more discerning when making a purchase. They will skillfully switch across platforms for different needs. According to Kantar’s survey, 22% of consumers only use one platform; 37% of consumers use two content platforms; over 41% of users often use three or more content platforms to help them make decisions.
Trend 2: Put Consumer Need in Real-life Scenarios
There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand minds, the same as product demands. Even for the same product category, different users, in different scenarios, will generate different needs. Take beer consumers as an example, their choice for beer will be complete different depending on whether they are drinking alone, in a business banquet, with friends, or having meals at home. The selection of the brand, function, and price of beer is different. The pursuit of life quality lead to different consumer demands in various scenarios.
When carrying out a marketing promotion, companies can create a specific scenario and narrative based from product key functions, conveying personalized content. Meeting different needs by using the marketing content to create a "one product, thousand scenes" effect, brands can increase the exposure of products in different scenarios and activate users more effectively.
For the purpose of serving clients, I went on Zhihu to search for information about red wine. I learned Business dressing etiquette, and at the same time became interested in several brands of suits and bow ties...
Trend 3: Content is the King
The increasingly fragmented media touchpoints are the external incentives. While the continuous development of consumers' self-awareness has formed internal forces. Altogether stimulated changes in consumer behaviors.
The only certainty that enterprises can grasp is to return to consumers’ natural needs, connect fragmented micro-moments, and target users with high-quality marketing content and stories.
Content marketing have the ability to represent rich brand value and product information. It has gradually become the core strategy for business growth. Only when marketing content is authentic, interesting, and differentiated can it touch consumer deep desire and drive business growth.
Trend 4: Authenticity is Everything
With the rise of all kinds of professional live streaming events hosted by celebrities, KOLs, and KOCs, the quality of content is getting higher and higher. Consequently, "beauty", can be easily achieved through technology. Thus, as consumers become more mature and smarter, they not only need idealized contents, but also hope for reality and authenticity.
According to Kantar’s research, authentic content such as “product reviews or comparisons” and “demystifying educational contents” are the most popular content forms among consumers.