Text/Wu Lingwei
Douyin, which started with in-feed recommendations, is seeing search as a strategic opportunity for commercial advertising. Unlike all other platforms, Douyin has created a new form of search: content-fueled, ubiquitous passive search.
In the past two years, with Douyin e-commerce hoping to build a "two-wheel resonance" of shelf and content fields, its business methodology has also been upgraded from FACT to FACT+, and then to FACT+S, and the importance of search has gradually increased. It seems that search is only one-third of the S, which stands for Search (search operation), Store (mall recommendation/channel activity) and Shop (store/influencer window) in the FACT+S methodology.
In addition, the huge cloud map data shows that Douyin users use 2.5 order entrances per capita, and the top 3 are Douyin Mall, brand live broadcast room and talent live broadcast room. The search ranked only fifth.
But the status of search in Douyin cannot be ignored:
First, as an important part of the shelf field, it can bring incremental growth to merchants through the interaction with the content field. If the content field is done well, users will go to the shelf field to search and place orders, and merchants can not only obtain more natural search traffic by undertaking and converting search, but also seize the category mentality and feed back the content field transaction again. Data shows that on Douyin, an average of 60 transactions can be brought for every 1,000 searches.
Second, "Plant A3 if you plant grass, and A3 if you plant search crowds". Douyin emphasizes that "planting grass will plant A3 people", because they are closer to conversion than A1 and A2 people. The data shows that 50% of A3 people will directly convert to A4 people (buying people) in the next four weeks.
Douyin e-commerce search operation ideas
Douyin's search ranking is mainly based on two points: (1) keyword matching, and (2) content quality (interactive data such as retweets/likes/comments/favorites).
However, unlike the relatively single search results of shelf e-commerce, Douyin's content is complex: from the perspective of form, it includes short videos, live broadcasts, graphics and texts, Q&A, mini programs, encyclopedias, commodity cards, etc., and from the perspective of business, there are e-commerce, local life, clues, downloads and pure content. Douyin will identify whether the user needs a product or content based on the directivity of the keyword, whether they want to shop or want to check in at a nearby online celebrity restaurant.
Focusing on the e-commerce business, after the search test of Yicai Business School, it was found that when searching for keywords with product directions, such as category words and brand words, the front row position is dominated by the live broadcast room and product card, while when searching for more general scene words or interest words, the search results will give priority to displaying content.
The appeal chart can shed some light for merchants. We divide the search operation of Douyin e-commerce into three levels:
1. Basic operation actions: optimize the title and optimize the product
For any merchant trying to get organic search traffic from Douyin's e-commerce shelf, optimizing titles and products is a basic action to increase exposure and improve product conversion rates.
Optimize the title: cover hot words, improve the basic information of the product, and describe the product truthfully, and put the key points in front
Optimize products: meet the specifications, no violations, eye-catching first pictures, put 5 first pictures, optimize promotional prices, participate in mall activities, and pay attention to cumulative sales
2. Increase direct conversion: Cast live broadcast rooms and product cards to seize the front row of searches
Users have a strong conversion potential when they conduct a more specific e-commerce search through brand/product words or category words. Douyin's search results will also be more inclined to recommend products. Therefore, start-up merchants can use search ads to place live broadcast rooms and product card ads to increase the direct purchase rate.
3. Let the brand occupy the category mind: buy the brand area + attack the front row of the category words
Keep the brand word: brand area. Brand words are a must-hold position for every merchant when searching for layouts, especially big brands, which will pay to buy brand areas. When users search for brand/product terms such as "L'Oreal" and "L'Oreal Small Financial Tube", the L'Oreal brand zone will appear at the first place in the search: during the non-live broadcast period of the brand, the fixed store product card will undertake the search demand, and the header image of the live broadcast form will be directly displayed during the brand live broadcast period.
Attack category: advertising streaming. When users search for category terms, they are often vague about brand selection. At this time, if the merchant needs to focus on outputting high-quality content, build a category mentality by pushing short videos or live broadcast content through streaming.
Douyin originality: search after watching and creating search traffic
The linkage path between Douyin content field and shelf field can be roughly divided into three categories: short video-store, short video-search, and live room/short video-mall.
Among them, post-viewing search, as Douyin's original search form, creates the shortest distance from content to search.
Post-watch search means that after the user sees the short video they are interested in, the system will predict the keywords they want to search for according to the user's behavior, and appear in the search box on the homepage, guess what you want to search, the hashtag of the short video title, the small blue word in the comment area or the top word in the comment area, and other scenarios.
There are three major differences between the post-search and the traditional search mode: first, the traditional search is an active behavior, while the post-search is stimulated by the short video content, which is a passive search; second, the traditional search form is mostly just a box at the top of the page, but the post-search can be seen everywhere; third, the traditional search is mainly to obtain or convert traffic, while the post-search is to create traffic for the search through the content.
The operation needs to go through the process of "making words, raising words, and undertaking", so it is more suitable for brands with large budgets, or for promoting new products. The basic operation mode is as follows:
1. Video buzz. After determining the main products, selling points and keywords, you can build momentum by posting short videos by a large number of influencers to increase the popularity of keywords. For example, in 2022, the outdoor sports brand Camel has released a large number of videos related to the main product "jacket" for autumn and winter through its official account and KOC in May.
2. Guided Search. In the short video content, consumers are guided to search by means of oral broadcasts, titles and topics, or relevant copywriting at the top of the comment area, and the search volume of keywords will be increased again.
3. Search for undertaking. After the user clicks on the little blue word to jump with one click, the user needs can be undertaken through the live broadcast room and commodity card to form a conversion.
When searching for words for post-viewing, there are a few things to keep in mind:
First, the search term should be relevant to the content to attract users to click after watching the video.
Second, it can handle the traffic, preferably the brand/product word. If you choose a more general category word, you need to ensure that the merchant has occupied the front row, otherwise it is easy to be cut off by competing products with higher bids - after the user clicks on the small blue word, he sees the competing content or product, and loses the meaning of looking after searching.
Third, the search term has a certain amount of popularity. Merchants can combine Douyin e-commerce compass to find hot search words with industry trends.
(This article is from Yicai)