"Jin Yuliang's Wise Words" Issue 3: The Three Major Opportunities of the Weibo Entrepreneurship Era

Founder of the Open Applications Alliance, Wang Yuquan; well-known technology commentator, Jin Cuodao

Introduction: Sina Technology invited Wang Yuquan, founder of the Open Applications Alliance, and well-known technology commentator Jin Cuodao to launch a series of interviews on mobile internet titled "Jin Yu Liangyan". The theme of the third episode is "The Three Major Opportunities in the Era of Weibo Entrepreneurship." The two guests pointed out in the program that marketing on Weibo is currently still at the 1.0 stage. They deeply discussed the opportunities Weibo offers to entrepreneurs and the qualities and prerequisites Weibo entrepreneurs need to possess to seize these opportunities.

"Jin Yu Liangyan" Episode Three: The Three Major Opportunities in the Era of Weibo Entrepreneurship Media Source: Sina Technology

Below is the interview transcript:

Jin Cuodao: Hello everyone, this is "Jin Yu Liangyan" talking about the mobile internet era, I am Jin Cuodao.

Wang Yuquan: I am Wang Yuquan.

Currently, marketing on Weibo is still at the 1.0 stage.

Jin Cuodao: Some people say that entrepreneurship on Weibo is a big opportunity, even an opportunity to become a sub-platform, while others say it's all talk and no action, or that pioneers die first. Today, we will explore what the early opportunities are for Weibo entrepreneurship.

When it comes to Weibo entrepreneurship, many people first think of Weibo marketing. Almost everyone and every company sees Weibo as a marketing platform. From the perspective of ZTE CEO Deng Zhonghan, the next ten years will be about integrated innovation. Currently, most Weibo marketing is at the 1.0 stage, which is relatively simple and one-way. Let’s talk about the opportunities in Weibo marketing. Do you think there is an opportunity for Weibo marketing 2.0?

Wang Yuquan: There should be. From our point of view, the opportunities for Weibo entrepreneurship are enormous. Of course, some people say that often those who don't become pioneers end up as martyrs. But from the success rate perspective, the possibility of failure at the beginning is high, but so is the possibility of doing something big. It’s just a process; we have a process of deepening our understanding of Weibo. Now, the so-called Weibo entrepreneurship we see mostly involves Weibo marketing without much technical content, such as posting threads, using water armies, and internet marketing experts moving from Tianya to Weibo.

Jin Cuodao: Marketing on Weibo is similar to traditional enterprises and forum hype.

Weibo Marketing 2.0 Core is Based on Social Customer Relationship Management

Wang Yuquan: Yes. Only Weibo has more popularity. However, we believe this cannot last long. Weibo marketing 1.0 cannot last. What is 2.0? Our understanding is that Weibo is indeed a very good platform to help merchants stabilize their users and promote their products. First, it must truly be about the relationship between merchants and users, not other relationships unrelated to the users, which would be considered harassment.

Secondly, maintaining these relationships can be achieved through technical means. For example, Sina Weibo already provides LBS services, and soon independent LBS APIs will be opened to third parties, allowing them to call upon these services. This means that in the future, when helping merchants with Weibo marketing, once the user enters a certain range, the merchant can send them a message saying, "Come to us, and we'll offer you a discount." We consider technically advanced services that provide better quality service to merchants, integrating more technical capabilities, as Weibo marketing 2.0.

Jin Cuodao: To summarize your words, the core of Weibo marketing 2.0 is based on social customer relationship management.

Wang Yuquan: Yes. Yesterday, when I was chatting with Lu Yi from Sina, he mentioned a trendy new term, Social CRM, and believed it could be a future direction. I fully agree. There are quite a few people within Sina seriously studying entrepreneurial opportunities related to Weibo. This also gives entrepreneurs a hint: if you want to start a business on Weibo, you need to do your research. Just doing traditional things won't work. For example, wireless internet startups simply move internet applications over, only to find that most don't succeed. Now, Weibo startups are moving internet applications over again, and they still don't work. Only by thoroughly studying the characteristics of Weibo and using technical means to make these characteristics useful for your startup application, making the application better for everyone, will there be a promising future.

Jin Cuodao: If you really want to do Weibo marketing 2.0, you not only need marketing skills, but most importantly, you need to address two shortcomings: one is socialization, based on the competitive advantage of socialization on Weibo. The second is technology.

Social is the First Keyword for Weibo Application Development

Let’s delve deeper into this issue. Cao Guowei recently coined a new term, SOLOMO, which stands for social, local, and mobile. I think social is the first keyword for Weibo applications. How can social applications or social opportunities be amplified?

Wang Yuquan: Our understanding is that this represents the second wave of significant opportunities for Weibo entrepreneurship. The first wave we talked about earlier was Weibo marketing 2.0. The second wave is about exploring social relationships in depth, offering many entrepreneurial opportunities. From a human nature perspective, we are all social animals. Often, to understand someone, asking them directly is less effective than asking their friends. Once you're familiar with their friends, due to the principle of like attracts like, your understanding of the person increases significantly.

From a merchant's perspective, if I know the group you belong to and the characteristics of that group, the relevance of the services and products I offer you will greatly increase. Whether providing services to individuals or receiving services from individuals, utilizing social networks has immense value. In foreign countries, there is an emerging science called Social Network Analysis, which holds great significance. Social network analysis enables us to achieve today what was previously impossible in terms of technology. If a person's behavior isn't widespread, it's hard to accurately judge them. By analyzing their friends, our analysis becomes more precise. Everyone has friends, and usually quite a few.

Content Itself Becomes a Means of Maintaining Relationships

Jin Cuodao: Many people say that in China, relationships are highly valued, and relationships can ignite tremendous energy. Weibo is interesting; many people discuss how in the past, we maintained relationships through work or chat. Now with Weibo, content has become an excellent medium for maintaining relationships. In the past, relationships were version 1.0; they were useful or triggered when needed. Now with Weibo, content itself becomes a continuous trigger for relationships. Do you think applications like content that continuously ignite relationships will gradually become a significant possibility for Weibo gold mining?

Wang Yuquan: Yes. This is a huge opportunity. Let me give some examples. Mr. Xue Manzi, many people know him through Sina Weibo. He has achieved remarkable accomplishments, but he never promoted himself before. After joining Sina Weibo, his fame spread without any promotion. There is a unique phenomenon about him; he has excellent living habits - waking up early, starting to post around 5 in the morning, and most of the time, he forwards posts from yesterday that he finds interesting. Every fan of his will find 20 Weibos waiting for them each day, akin to the daily news Lu Yu used to present. This makes you feel closer to him, which is the effect of socialization. He doesn't just broadcast news; unlike the news anchors on TV, he is a friend on Weibo who shares what he finds particularly interesting with you, making it more intimate. Including stronger interactions, the popular activities on Kaixin001 like parking spaces, farms, planting crops, and stealing vegetables are all based on relationships. If the person is a stranger, stealing their vegetables feels meaningless.

Jin Cuodao: It redefines another way of playing games. Combining games with social elements opens up another world and another space for imagination.

Wang Yuquan: The room for innovation here is enormous. At lunch, I discussed this possibility of innovation with another friend. Sina Weibo has an inherent flaw: its information retention time is very short. When information reaches you, if you're not near your Weibo screen, subsequent posts quickly pile up, and within ten minutes, the original post will be pushed down, reducing the likelihood of being seen. Weibo increases the amount of information we receive, and each individual's fragmented information reception also increases significantly. Eliminating this fragmentation is crucial because no one wants this kind of fragmentation. One method is what Mr. Xue Manzi does now. Essentially, Mr. Xue has become a magazine editor, collecting information he finds and sharing it early in the morning, ensuring no other fragmented information interferes, thus making the twenty to thirty pieces of information during this time complete. This forms Mr. Xue's personal magazine, known as the "Xue Manzi Review."

Another way to eliminate information fragmentation is through technical means. We believe that when something is being followed, Sina Weibo should allow opening a separate window to record the progress of that event. When the event begins, everything inside scrolls and is related to that event. After the event ends, the function of the window concludes, and it can be closed.

Jin Cuodao: Similar to keywords.

Wang Yuquan: For example, during the IT Leaders Summit held in Shenzhen the other day, Sina Weibo provided live streaming. When I clicked in, it was chaotic, with fragmented information crossing and interfering with each other. Hearing one person speak clearly is manageable, but hearing ten different people speaking at different times and overlapping creates confusion. Not to mention thousands or tens of thousands of people saying different things, leading to chaos.

Weibo's Imperfections Bring Big Opportunities for Weibo Entrepreneurs

Jin Cuodao: Precisely because of the imperfections on Weibo now, it brings significant opportunities for Weibo entrepreneurs in the future.