Nielsen: Interpretation of social network influence and commercial value

Current situation: The rapidly changing social network landscape

Social networks are fully integrated into daily life, and there is a clear trend of application segmentation. Among the top 1,000 mobile social applications, community (28%), instant messaging (21%), entertainment (20%) and anonymous (19%) applications account for 88%, with both new and old players performing on the same stage.

The number of WeChat users has increased dramatically, accelerating the layout

According to Tencent's third quarter 2015 financial report, the combined monthly active account numbers of WeChat and Wechat have reached 650 million, up 39% from the same period last year; more than 200 million times a day are shared with friends, and more than 180 million times a day are shared to Moments; 80% of users who have received WeChat red envelopes have become active WeChat payment users, and more than 150,000 offline stores have connected to WeChat payment; there are more than 10 million public accounts, and the number of national government WeChat public accounts has exceeded 50,000, covering more than 150 million people and providing more than 500 services in total.

Post-90s generation becomes the main user group of QQ Space, while post-95s generation takes the lead

According to Tencent's third quarter financial report in 2015, the number of monthly active accounts on QQ Space reached 653 million, up 4% year-on-year; the number of monthly active accounts on smart terminals including mobile phones and tablets reached 577 million, up 14% year-on-year. In terms of age distribution, users born between 1990 and 1994 accounted for 19%, and those born after 1995 accounted for 32%. The combined share of the two reached 51%, showing the continued user appeal of QQ Space.

Weibo's active users have achieved continuous growth, and the number of highly sticky users has increased significantly. The 17-33 age group is the main group of Weibo users.

According to Weibo's third quarter 2015 financial report, the average daily active users in September 2015 were 100 million, a year-on-year increase of 30%. The monthly active users in September reached 222 million, a year-on-year increase of nearly 33%. According to the "2015 Weibo User Development Report", in terms of login frequency, 40% of Weibo users logged in 15 days or more per month, far ahead of the 32% in the same period last year. In terms of user age, 17-33 years old is the main group of Weibo users, and 24 years old is the watershed, showing that most of the users are female before 24 years old and most of the users are male after 24 years old. This resonates with the fact that vertical interest fields such as Weibo travel, video, music, and e-commerce are more attractive to young women, and the public topic discussion function of Weibo Square is more attractive to older men.

Several major players in the short video market are gradually differentiating

"Meipai" will be de-beautified and may be transformed into a short video playback platform; the deep integration of "Miaopai" and Weibo, taking entertainment and celebrities as the entry point, will create a high-quality live broadcast community that integrates high-quality PGC content and extensive UGC content; "GIF Kuaishou" relies on the power of "Shamatte" to capture a large number of users in fourth- and fifth-tier cities.

Image applications: resonance and art are the main starting points for image applications to attract young users born after 1990

"Hao Zan Nice" is a social software based on pictures and tags, connecting people and things, allowing users to share their lifestyles and emotions, and find those who share the same ideals or resonances with themselves; Zuji's "picture + subtitle" blockbuster model is determined to carry the literary and artistic style all the way.

Attitude: Brand marketing or research managers are generally optimistic about the growth of investment in social networks

What is the feedback from brand customers on social networks? Nielsen sent out online questionnaires to nearly 400 corporate brand marketing or research managers, and collected more than 100 questionnaires, of which 47 were valid. The survey found that social networks have almost become a "required action" for brand marketing.

76% of corporate brand marketing or research managers said they increased their social network marketing budgets in 2015, more than 60% of companies or brands have set up special teams for social network marketing, and more than 80% of brand managers said they have assigned special personnel for social network marketing. And using multiple means to "attack" social network marketing has become the norm.

In terms of the functions of social networks, brand managers believe that Weibo and WeChat have unique advantages in information transmission, which can effectively enhance brand awareness and reach target consumers to a considerable extent.

Weibo and WeChat are the two major social networks in China today. 66% of brand managers said they have purchased the advertising products launched by them, and nearly 40% of them are buyers.

Brand managers believe that Weibo client startup ads and display ads have obvious advantages in increasing brand awareness, while hot topic and information flow ads are mainly helpful in conveying brand information. WeChat ads are still in the trial stage and have not really taken off, so there is still a lot of room for development in the future.

How to play: Brand practical demonstration of how to play Weibo/WeChat

Among the many Chinese social applications, Weibo and WeChat are the two largest platforms, and they are the battlegrounds and testing grounds for brand marketing. Due to differences in platform functions and user needs, marketing methods and purposes are also different.

Weibo makes the brand BIG DAY

Different from the newly born WeChat marketing, Weibo marketing has benefited from years of experimentation and has formed various forms and accumulated many mature operation methods. The marketing needs it solves cover the dissemination of events at important time points such as new product launches, major promotions, limited-time sales, major joint promotions, celebrity endorsements, etc. For example, Weibo marketing forms such as micro-first launches have a complete set of operation methods from topic creation, multi-channel dissemination, customized exclusive products to conversion of sales.

WeChat marketing will continue to release value around traffic

WeChat strives to explore the value of its traffic, with WeChat official accounts and Moments ads as the main marketing forms. WeChat official accounts are a new channel for brands to reach consumers, which can provide unified services and shopping functions as a small e-commerce platform to directly connect with consumers for interaction. Moments ads can most directly meet the needs of brand advertisers for exposure and reach.