Group Discussion Week3 #2 Group 5

 

Group 5: Discussion2

Group Member: ZHANG Han; YE Yijia; CHEN Yijie; XIANG Lushan; WANG Andi; LI Yuwei

1、The long tail

As a content-driven platform, Xiaohongshu adopts many operational strategies to achieve the long-tail effect:

Use of keyword optimization (SEO):

The traffic distribution presents a ladder and has a lot of long-tail effects, in which the keywords are the focus of the distribution system. It has less competition because long-tail keywords are more specific, so there are relatively few competitors, and it is easy to get higher rankings. Also, it has a high conversion rate. Users using long-tail keywords tend to have a clearer demand, which makes this part of the traffic conversion rate usually higher.

Accumulated Traffic of Niche Content

The content on Xiaohongshu is highly diverse, covering mainstream fashion and beauty to niche hobbies and lifestyles. Even in less popular niche areas, such as handicrafts, specific dietary habits, or obscure travel destinations, content can gradually accumulate a large amount of user traffic and attention over time. While each niche topic may not generate significant traffic in the short term, the accumulated traffic from these niche contents can eventually make up a considerable portion of overall traffic.

Vertical KOLs

Xiaohongshu features a large number of KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) who may not be top-tier influencers but are focused on specific niche fields. These KOLs may not have celebrity-level traffic, but they possess highly engaged fan bases within their niche areas. The content they produce is often focused on certain vertical domains, and while their follower counts may be smaller, their audience is highly targeted.

Precise Targeting of Topics

Xiaohongshu's algorithm not only recommends popular content but also suggests more specialized content based on user interests. This makes it easier for users to discover niche content they are interested in, while also providing long-tail content with significant exposure opportunities.

Additionally, Xiaohongshu offers various features to enhance the long-tail effect: content editing and updating functions, interactive features like comments, Xiaohongshu groups, cross-platform promotion, analytics, and optimization tools.

Xiaohongshu is now more important to the sustained effect of the content rather than short-term traffic. High-quality content can exist for a long time and continue to be exposed and gain likes and comments.

2、Freemium

Chat-GPT offers 3.5 as a freemium plan for users while providing GPT 4.0 and O1 for paid users, which are significantly improved AI models and grant a huge improvement in productivity. GPT 4.0 and O1, as improved premium plans, unlocked more functions for users, while 3.5 could handle most of the daily issues in ordinary use. The freemium plan of ChatGPT is a successful move, proved by the dominating position of ChatGPT nowadays in terms of AGI.

• Frequent exposure to 4.0 and O1 functions and strong power, serve as the best advertisement which not only lets more people be aware of the existence of upgraded versions but also shows the actual power of them through daily usage.

• During usage of GPT 3.5, there will be frequent reminders to users about the power of 4.0 and O1, luring them to use the upgraded power to boost their efficiency.

• Users will easily encounter 3.5 limitations and be forced to wait for the GPT cooldown unless they pay for an upgraded version.

• Users will sometimes find that 3.5 does not support a specific feature or can not provide an ideal response unless they pay for an upgraded version.

• Users can use GPT 4.0 for free in the first 10 responses per day, giving them a better idea of what can GPT 4.0 do and developing a more vivid contrast with GPT 3.5 as users are forced to return 3.5 once their free amount of 4.0 is reached.

• Allowing more people to try ChatGPT, significantly enlarged the user community of ChatGPT.

• ChatGPT used to be a rather exclusive tool for most people until ChatGPT offered 3.5 as a freemium plan. This move attracted a lot of people to use it or at least take it a try.

• 3.5, as a freemium plan, is good enough and powerful enough to handle most issues, makes many people satisfied with it, and transformed from short-term users to long-term users, therefore has a higher possibility to pay.