The social path of ink: How to build a user's moat

After the red ink The weather is launched, trying to change from a simple tool to a community, but the road to transition is not easy to go.

The new capital Olive branch is coming, investors are still most concerned about the three indicators: the number of users? How's the socializing? Is the business model clear? These problems for a 4-year-old app is not new, ink weather founder Tech already familiar. Ink Weather The first version was launched on May 4, 2009, at the time of Saipan.

Today, the number of users of ink weather has already reached the standard. When most app developers are still struggling with the "how many millions or billions of users", ink weather users have exceeded 200 million, but tech also have their own troubles.

For example, Tech's colleague, the founder of the Yantan evaluation, tools application app software even if the user over billion, but because users and users have no network relationship, still not a moat. And this year, the prospect of utility app is generally seen as an indisputable fact, because the user's current path is too long.

Industry insiders said, now the utility of the source of profit, almost can only rely on user traffic and advertising swaps to obtain income, but because the advertising platform user conversion rate is too low (Android platform is not 0.1% of the domestic is a problem), so this income can not support a large-scale team long-term operation. "Not only ink weather headaches, but other applications are actually headaches." ”

Community, social networking has become one of the most important transformation paths in the application of tool class. This February, ink weather users to break through billion, this part of the benefit of a chance-just over the 30-year-old tech at the beginning of the year on Hunan TV's popular program "Day Up", this public debut on the Ink download volume has been a very large increase. Of course, thanks to the ink weather that started at the end of last year's social experiment, the effect is at first.

In this revision, the ink weather of the level two menu bar increased the "Time view weather" function. The so-called "time-view Weather", is the user in addition to the weather indicators can be viewed, but also UGC the local weather photos, upload, share, reading.

For tool applications such as ink weather, when the user reaches a certain stage, further promotion and socialization attempts have become intertwined. Product Manager Evaluation, tool software is difficult to strong user stickiness, when the weather is a good point of entry. But many users believe that the concept of social based on the weather is a bit far-fetched, this function seems to be a little chicken. Tech also some helpless, he said to "Chinese entrepreneur", ink weather from birth is a weather class tool application, is a weak social products, not like the mo of those purely social and life-like app, has a deep relationship chain.

Despite the constant questioning, tech is still trying to socialize. There's a stack of postcards on Tech's desk, this is ink. An upcoming postcard service, based on the "Weather" feature, provides postcard delivery services to users who upload photos.

Socializing is not good medicine.

"We are doing a very interesting thing, when the user has taken a picture, you can make it into a postcard." Tech excited to show me the completed postcard samples. This can not help but think of a long time ago Sogou CEO Wang Xiaoquan a statement: Tool products to produce value, it is not just tools, but to provide services.

Demand-driven tech so play. The original tourists to a tourist attractions, need to buy postcards in the local, find post Office stickers, fill in the address to post, the process is cumbersome. Ink is expected to provide such services. For example, ink weather users go to a place to see the photos taken by others good-looking, or their own photos upload the scene, ink weather employees can print them out, make postcards, and mail them to the destination address. In order to compensate for the lack of postmark, ink weather will provide some additional services, such as the postcard will print out the location of the shooting, specific street and shooting time.

But an unavoidable question is, "will sending postcards be just needed?" "Tech this service compared to QQ chat in the" Avatar "(virtual dress) ――qq show," Send postcards is not just needed, even when the scene is not just need, ink weather only just need or weather, the other are interesting ancillary functions. ”

Ink weather started in the Saipan period, Tech chose the weather as a product object has been thoughtful, "the world's highest-rated TV program is the weather forecast, this is a just need." "But the tools to look at the weather are hard to keep the user sticky, and there are users who say that using ink weather is just to replace the desktop with nice skin."

For a weather tool, if a full score of 100 points, then the tech team has almost done seventy or eighty points, rising space has been very limited, must find a new dimension of the product. After studying the social product path, micro-credit, pop, sing, Pinterest, Kim has a new inspiration.

Before the weather, tech also thought for a long time. Since the weather forecast cannot be 100% accurate, the scene can be a huge complement, "you can see the real weather in this place." It also gives the photographer a platform to communicate, we have a lot of good photographers on it, and the pictures are very good. Tech said in an interview.

Of course, early ink weather also had UGC (user-generated content). They have developed a skin-making platform that allows users to create a beautifully crafted background on their skin, which can be downloaded by other users. Their highest skin has been downloaded thousands of million.

In the first round of ink weather financing, tech has outlined to investors the idea of doing time, when this app or stand-alone tool application, but investors are interested in this function, hope that this function can be online as soon as possible, of course, investors are also from a realistic perspective, for investment experienced VC, Single tool class application user growth is limited, the value is low.

In order to improve their valuations, ink weather has to socialize. The number of users of ink weather has increased dramatically this year, with the increase in the total user volume of smartphones, as well as the changes brought about by social attempts. "See the user up curve, when the scene function on the line after a sharp, bulge a package, regardless of the increase in users or the frequency of use have appeared a new peak." "Tech said.

In fact, after the 1.0 version of the pure tools, try to change from the tool to social transformation, in addition to the ink weather, there are every day beautiful, aunt, Camera360 and so on. But this transformation is not easy, according to Tech, now ink weather users in the use of time-view function accounted for about 20%. But it also means that 80% of users do not use this social function, for a variety of reasons, such as users think that the use of this function consumes a large amount of traffic, and the user said that the need for the future of the weather forecast rather than the present, more users will come to the point: I see a weather, why to socialize it?

Socializing is a necessary step for ink, but from the user's point of view, the social appeal of weather tools does not seem to be as large as expected. Some strong social apps, for example, a strong social, social relationship is based on the relationship between people divided, and ink social is the tool to socialize, essentially weak social, social relations by geographical division, everyone in a city, each other to take pictures, uploaded to the public platform.

For the tech team, this is a fresh challenge. Even if the ink weather has weak social properties, they must think about how to get through the relationship between people, such as to let users pay attention to each other, forming a network of user relations.

Commercial worries

The comment that the forum has ink weather on the old user evaluation said: "More and more functions, more and more bloated," compared to get the Apple Design award Yahoo weather, to simple win. In fact, the early ink weather has won the user with a concise, novel, flashy UI, why is it getting heavier?

In fact, the trend is not only a heavy ink weather: When users accumulate to a certain extent, the application of tools will inevitably face the problem of user volume. Adding a feature bar that can render ads is indeed a solution.

Ink weather has not yet been profitable, but it has early income. There are roughly two types of profit patterns. One is the CPA (pay by effect) advertising, that is, ink weather app's left side has an application recommended sidebar, for the industry to promote the application, similar to the Evernote (impression notes) of the Treasure box, ink will be in accordance with the effect of other app charges.

The commercialization of ink weather is mostly passive, and other people come to the door. For example, the first app to find ink to promote is the tiger map. Each time the user successfully downloads a tiger map from the ink weather, the other party will pay 6 yuan. The map of the tiger will bring a lot of income to the ink weather every month. Now the boutique recommendation bar generally has 10 applications, more well-known including Jingdong Mall, the public comments, reviews group buying, glutinous Rice Group, group 800.

Another is the implantation of brand-type ads, and initially advertisers through intermediary agencies to find ink weather, hope to cooperate. For example, the iphone user on the home page can see a dress of characters called small ink sister or small Mexican brother, similar to the QQ image show, small ink wearing clothes can visually tell users what kind of clothes, with the number of situational cues. This cartoon image can be implanted into the clothing category of advertising, such as a period of small ink wear clothing is the international sports brand Adidas. Earlier this year, Tech has said that the future will also be combined with electricity, such as users think the small ink clothes good-looking, you can directly click to buy.

In tech's view, content is advertising. Click on the bottom of the Ink "index" Level two menu bar, users can see the air Quality Index, beverage index, clothing index, ultraviolet index, sports index, car Wash index, makeup index, etc., this is also the category of advertising display area. such as the air Quality index, pond, Dior and other cosmetics brands, in addition to the quality of the air, but also to do soft advertising, recommend ink users to use their own brand of a product; in the beverage index, Coca-Cola created a beverage index in combination with different weather conditions, recommending the user for what to drink in different weather conditions.

The earliest ink on the weather on the ads, users have resistance, has led to the loss of users. In advance and retreat, tech feel that commercialization can not affect the user experience, advertising can not be more powerful to launch, to use the form of soft advertising. Tech's standard for advertising is that it must be a first-line brand, with an ad that is 1 months long.

In the new round of financing, tech is no less challenged than before, such as whether the business model is clear enough and imaginative. Tools app The risk of social transformation is that the profit cycle is stretched, and whether the tool transfer is successful or not, and the success of the transition is very uncertain. Tech admits, "business model is not good enough, still thinking, now there is advertising, but the form is relatively single." ”

Tech believes in cash as king and within income. It has something to do with his early years. Tech worked at Accenture and joined Symbian to develop the Symbian operating system. More than a year later, Symbian was bought by Nokia, and he made up more than a year of code in Nokia. The 2011 capital chain nearly break the experience let tech still have a lingering fear. At that time, the financing of the funds will soon come to account, in accordance with the scale of the expansion of capital to expand, the result is too optimistic, the date of the account is later than expected. "One weeks before the pay of the account, was very nervous, pressure is very big, want to mortgage the house first put everyone's salary hair." Tech recalls. In the new office wall of Ink weather there is an English "beginner ' mind." It ' s wonderful to have a beginner ' s mind. , translated into Chinese is probably "do not forget beginner."