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UP is short for upload, and an UP master can also be referred to as an uploader, referring to individuals who upload audio and video content on platforms such as video websites and forums; we can also call them bloggers.

One characteristic of this media industry is that people within the industry feel it is quite easy; even if everything resets today, they can quickly stand up again. In contrast, those outside the industry feel that it is highly "inwardly competitive," wondering how they could possibly succeed as so many people are already doing it. The phenomenon itself is not important; what matters is the significant meaning reflected by this phenomenon, proving that the success of this industry is traceable. The difference between whether a person is inside or outside the industry lies in their understanding of the market and methods.

Before this, I wanted to remind everyone why you want to be an UP master. Is it to find like-minded people, to make money, or to enhance your influence? Regardless of the reason, I hope you can firmly establish your position. Those with passion will go further on this path, earn money, and only in this way will they walk more comfortably.

Generally speaking, the main sources of income for UP masters come from traffic playback, tips (charging), commercial advertisements, e-commerce sales, contracts, etc. These sources account for 90% of most UP masters' income. A key point here is that many UP masters tend to focus solely on one aspect. However, since they have works, why not distribute them across multiple platforms? Platforms such as Xigua Video, Douyin, Jinri Toutiao, Xiaohongshu, Tencent Penguin Account, Video Account, Kuaishou, Baijiahao, Weibo, WeChat Official Account, NetEase Account, YouTube... all of these can bring us income. Therefore, positioning is very important; in the initial planning stage, strive to establish yourself as a solid IP while these platforms are fluid. We will elaborate on this in more detail later.

Everyone should recognize an objective fact: the UP master industry is destined for most people to eventually become cannon fodder, with only a few succeeding. However, the biggest difference between this field and others is that it does not require you to be a top expert or perfect to become outstanding. Just like Ban Fo Xian Ren, Wu Shi Cai Jing, Director Xiao Ce, and Dao Yue She, they are not top experts in their fields, but they have brought something different, meeting the needs of different groups and levels.

You might see on platforms like Douyin, Kuaishou, and Video Account that even a 60-year-old person dancing in a square dance video can attract hundreds of thousands of followers; this is a phenomenon. Due to the platform's algorithm recommendations, we might not even come across these videos, but there is a group of people, perhaps your parents back home, or your grandparents, who enjoy these videos, leading to the emergence of this type of emotional blogger.

Interestingly, before you start, you may not know how to make videos, operate, or understand platform rules. Only by integrating these abilities can you better showcase yourself to everyone. At that time, you will not only gain many followers but also receive corresponding material benefits.

Now, let's address the following questions:

1. For media, workplace operators tend to understand from the perspective of brand clients and are not adept at viewing from the perspective of self-media creators.
2. Even if they know that the self-media industry has a good development prospect, their practical experience is still insufficient; the content style produced in past work does not suit today's self-media market and users.
3. Self-media requires a person to possess comprehensive abilities in content output, operation, editing, data analysis, and business, but as workplace operators, they only need to excel in one aspect to earn a good salary in the company.
4. The successful methodology formed in a corporate context has a prerequisite: it can rely on the company's resources and funds. When individuals do these things, lacking resources and funds in the early stages, past methodologies will lose much of their effectiveness.
5. In a low-threshold, highly competitive environment, there is no extra energy to do additional things.
6. They have thought about doing it but are not particularly clear about what they are suited for, so they have been dragging their feet. From the feedback of some workplace individuals, we believe that those who "understand media" but have not ventured into this field mainly have three reasons: mismatched abilities, unclear direction, and poor execution.

Regarding partner selection standards for what kind of partners to choose, I have a set of standards: complementary abilities in execution, shared value standards, and consistent expected goals, with early decision-making in case of disagreements.

First, complementary abilities in execution. When operating an account, it is best if one person excels at writing copy while another is skilled in shooting and editing; this is complementary. Problems arise when two people's abilities are on par; for example, if you are strong in copywriting and planning, and the other person is equally strong, there may be a situation where neither party is willing to yield. They both see themselves as experts, which may ultimately lead to discord.

Second, shared value standards. Partners' values should be generally consistent. Values are our standards for judging right and wrong. For instance, if a client asks for a kickback, do you give it or not? Our standard is that we absolutely do not allow such things to exist. At the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey, I established six value standards for myself: professionalism, facts, efficiency, honesty, accountability, and mutual achievement.

"Professionalism" means that when we do anything, we must first learn to find professional methods. The summaries of predecessors can help us avoid many unnecessary pitfalls. If it is our first time doing something, we must learn to summarize methods ourselves so that we have a solid theoretical and experiential foundation for future endeavors.

When making videos, we summarize during weekly meetings and daily reviews. For example, when writing scripts, how many forms do we generally have? Do we write narrative pieces or analytical pieces? What are the differences in logic? If it is not a real person on screen, where can we find suitable materials? How can we arrange the editing process to ensure video quality while improving editing efficiency? This is also the original intention of writing this book. "Facts" means that we must start from facts; all published content must be objective, neither exaggerating nor defaming. At the same time, both client and internal reviews must be based on facts, neither overestimating ourselves nor belittling our peers. Good is good, bad is bad; if a mistake is made, we must face the objective facts to move forward better.

Typically, when a secondary company connects with a primary client, they often like to embellish their past achievements, such as exaggerating their follower count, playback volume, etc. However, when we report externally, we provide screenshots directly. When making videos, especially in finance-related content, we need to rely directly on data; good and bad are objective facts, and the economy cannot be improved solely through media exaggeration.

In summary, when we adhere to facts, we find that many things become much simpler, colleagues do not squabble, and fans and clients recognize you more.

"Efficiency" means we should not blindly work overtime but should streamline and standardize complex processes and learn to use existing tools and resources to improve efficiency. In the workplace, we often encounter situations where some people work overtime every day while others leave on time.

Traditional bosses tend to praise those who work overtime and give thumbs up to those who leave late and post on social media. We see this as a terrible trend, as it encourages many colleagues to sit idly even after finishing their tasks, feeling embarrassed to leave. In reality, what the company wants is results; hard work should not be advocated. Only those who deliver results efficiently in a short time deserve more rewards and praise. This way, employees are relaxed, and the company is relaxed.

"Honesty, accountability, and mutual achievement" are also our values. Speak when there is something to say, be straightforward, do not shift blame, and dare to take responsibility; this is also a basic quality that allows soldiers to become generals. Every partner, whether a partner, employee, client, or peer, is essentially on the same boat, mutually achieving success. Maintaining an altruistic mindset will make your future path wider.

Using the 4W1H method to find your direction, the highest success rate in account positioning is to seek possibilities from existing resources. If you are a white-collar worker, your existing resources are your workplace, your knowledge, and your industry; if you are a stay-at-home mom, your existing resources are...

Creators' works actually convey emotions, and these emotions are transmitted to the audience through the works. For the audience, watching a video involves visual, auditory, and cognitive engagement. Therefore, in terms of video rhythm, we need to work on aspects such as copywriting, voiceover, BGM, and video visuals, and these aspects will have different weights in different fields (also determining the creator's ideology and social class).

Different content has different key points that determine its quality. When viewers watch knowledge-based videos, they engage more with their thoughts.

Triangular market analysis method: First, look at the field and choose a blue ocean market; second, look at market content and create differentiated content; third, choose channels and engage in imitative innovation. First, look at the field to apply the triangular market analysis method.

The historical analysis method and data analysis method are commonly used, while copywriting mostly employs logical reasoning analysis. Lawyers have judicial thinking, operators have operational thinking, product managers have product thinking, and risk control personnel have risk control thinking. Therefore, sometimes analysis methods are not fixed. Compared to analytical writing, narrative writing is favored by more knowledge-type authors because storytelling is more universal, and users are more receptive to story-based videos.

When writing narrative video scripts, there are generally two structures: chronological narrative and spatial narrative. The simplest timeline writing method is like this: 20 years ago... at the age of 10... now at 20... when I turn 30... When writing narrative scripts, the most important thing is to clarify the structure of time or space, that is, to list what was done in which year, and then continuously refine it. Let's take a look at Li Dabing's "The 50-Year Rise and Fall of Domestic Instant Noodles" story timeline structure.

The conclusion of the script must meet user expectations; the beginning should let users know why they are watching, the middle should answer users' questions, and the conclusion should fulfill users' expectations. For a video of about 10 minutes, if it carries too much information, users will not be able to remember it all, so I will summarize better at the end of my script to help users organize their thoughts. What kind of conclusion counts as a good conclusion? We can evaluate it using the following three points:

• Users achieve the results they want and express recognition and satisfaction with the entire content.
• It elevates the entire content, leaving users wanting more.
• Users have expectations for your future content (sense of anticipation).

Avoid bureaucratic language in scripts. I specifically want to highlight this point because I find that many people easily resort to official language when writing articles. This involves categorizing and listing while comparing to oneself. Therefore, speaking plainly can be summarized in the following six points:

• Use colloquial language; keep the narrative simple and direct.
• Maintain a sense of audience in tone.
• Use storytelling language in a process-oriented manner.
• Summarize and highlight key points.
• Categorize and list during the summary.
• Ensure data is compared to oneself.

Speaking plainly makes it more comfortable for users to watch videos. It should feel like someone is sitting in front of them telling a story, making the video more engaging. Audio and video must also be standardized; auditory reception is an important aspect of how users receive creator information, so voiceovers need to be standardized. When I recorded my first video, I used the original Apple earphones for hardware and Adobe Audition for software. Since my videos are mixed editing, I only needed to use noise processing and progress editing for the voiceover.

The mainstream platforms currently available on the market can be categorized as follows:

• Xigua Video (Jinri Toutiao): Users are older, more experienced, mainly seeking information.
• Douyin: A large and diverse user base, mainly seeking quick "fast food" information.
• Bilibili: Younger users, new to the field, focusing on entertainment and popular knowledge, as well as structured knowledge.
• Video Account: Older users, more down-to-earth, leaning towards emotional content.
• Xiaohongshu: More fashion influencers, predominantly female.
• YouTube: Overseas users.
• Others: Penguin Account, Baijiahao, NetEase Account, Kuaishou, Zhihu, Weibo, WeChat Official Account, Pipi Shrimp, Douyu, Huya, iQIYI Video, Tencent Classroom, Huxiu, Dou Xiao Shi (formerly known as Quanmin Xiaovideo), A Station (acquired by Kuaishou), Youku.

The strategy for most of our accounts is to focus primarily on Xigua Video and supplement with other platforms. Understanding the logic of platform rules is aimed at helping us achieve better results during operations. Next, let's talk about how to operate each traffic entry.

How to gain visibility on the platform's homepage: Users will see our content from many entry points after entering the app. If it's Douyin, users are more likely to directly scroll to us or find our homepage; however, on other platforms, there are many entry points. We need to ensure that each entry point is operated relatively well.

Taking Bilibili as an example, some of the main traffic entry points include homepage recommendations, keyword search pages, similar video recommendations, personal homepages, user friend circle sharing pages, popular recommendations, channel and section recommendation pages, joint submissions, and topic activity entries.

• Content should be systematic and complete.
• The angle of approach should be differentiated.
• Video styles should be varied.

Time is money. Video production requires collaboration among multiple people; when working solo, the production cycle is usually longer, making it unsuitable for frequently chasing trends. Content should be systematic and complete. When an event just emerges, many people comment on it, but the specifics of the event's causes and consequences can be thoroughly explained in one video, extending the video's lifecycle.

Such videos essentially convey information to the audience. The angle of approach should be differentiated. When the same event is exposed, you can observe it from many perspectives, such as the event's background perspective, historical perspective, perspective of involved individuals, god's eye view analysis, logical inventory perspective, and personal spectator perspective; all of these can be utilized. The historical perspective and god's eye view analysis are the two methods I use most frequently. Video styles should be varied. Video styles can be serious commentary or humorous satire, but this varies from person to person. Usually, one person has one style, and changing it is difficult. We tend to choose topics that can blend with our own style.

Occupying high-frequency keywords means using quality content to capture users' search terms. For example, if users search for "aging" on many platforms, they can find my video "20..." which thoroughly explains the matter, thus effectively addressing 80% of the topic. I use such quality content to capture topics one by one, so my video conversion efficiency is relatively high. There is also a rule that for the same topic, even if you have made a video, its weight will gradually decline. Basically, after a year or two, it becomes quite difficult to be seen at the top of search results for corresponding keywords. Therefore, even for demographic topics, I will revisit and discuss them every year or so.

There are three methods for keyword positioning:

1. Occupy basic vocabulary. For example, common terms like funds, stocks, and new energy vehicles have already been discussed by many people, so unless you can provide deeper insights, it’s best not to touch on them.
2. Imitate current popular videos. For example, you can mimic Li Dabing. This is market competition; as long as you can provide better and higher-quality products, it is worth pursuing.
3. Anticipate future keywords. This is relatively difficult; for example, redefine good topics from a competitive perspective. Every topic has many people discussing it, so when grasping the competitive strategy for topics, you should avoid the spotlight, either by going deep on shallow topics or by being quick on slow topics.

Cover and title are the main factors that attract users. In homepage recommendations, the most significant factors that draw users in are the cover and title. I have seen some people's titles and covers with the same text; this indicates a lack of operational skill. Regarding cover operation, there are six major rules:

1. Differentiate background colors. In the layout shown in Figure 4-2, which cover do you see first? Most people's answers are Xigua and the sun because their background colors are darker than others, creating a strong first impression visually. Since video recommendations on various platforms are primarily algorithm-driven, we cannot know what the surrounding environment of the video will be when it is recommended on the homepage, so we mainly need to differentiate the cover colors from our peers.
2. The background pattern should relate to the article's theme and have an impact, creating a sense of familiarity for users.
3. Cover text should complement the pattern and hit the user's pain points directly.
4. Cover text should be centered as much as possible, and the word count should be kept within 12 characters. This is a small detail; our tests show that if the number of words on the cover exceeds 12, it will either not fit on the cover or the font size will be too small, severely affecting user experience. If a user is browsing on the homepage...
5. Subsequent scripts and images should be updated in a timely manner. A video’s user attention varies during hot and quiet periods. During hot periods, users mostly come from homepage recommendations, while after that heat period, users may come more from search boxes or personal homepages. During hot periods, users will store...
6. Cover styles should be unified. We see that Lin Chao, Pear Core Finance, and others have relatively unified cover styles. The benefit of unity is that it is refreshing, especially when entering the homepage; over time, users will recognize the cover style as belonging to a particular UP master. However, sometimes, a unified style may limit one's creativity; when your recognition is not that high, it may be better to change to a cover style exclusive to that topic. Simply put, in the early stages, we do not need to consider the issue of style unity; rather, having each video with its own exclusive cover and temperament is more beneficial. As the number of followers increases later, a unified cover overhaul can be conducted.

The title and cover should complement each other. To enhance the display and playback rate of a video, both the cover and title should work together; the cover should impact the user, while the title should clarify for the user. How to write a good title? The most important points are:

• It should work with the cover to spark user interest.
• It should occupy important keywords. The writing of the title should be distinct from the cover text; the main difference is that cover copy aims to attract user interest and is more marketing-oriented, while title copy aims to clarify the main point of the article.

The search results in the keyword box also require a certain degree of operation, but it is relatively less emphasized. For example, when users search for "thinking," many videos about thinking will appear; some have black covers, while others have white covers. If we want users to click on our video after watching others, we need to create some differentiation. For example, cover differences, topic differences, but we all use the same search keywords. This is a very detailed operational item, and few people will do it this meticulously. While it does not need to be done perfectly, you should know and understand that these small details can be addressed in video operations.

Similar video recommendations appear below each video. For this method, we can find some popular topics and videos, then follow these topics and explain them from different angles.

Other sources of traffic entry that can bring traffic to videos include:

1. Official activities. Actively participate in official activities, such as knowledge sharing officials, Bilibili newcomer plans, Xigua newcomer plans, etc. Each platform has activities for newcomers at different times; attaching topics when sending videos will lead to recommended traffic from activities, which can greatly assist in continuous recommendations for videos, allowing the platform to thrive.

Different platforms have different recommendation logics. Jinri Toutiao (Xigua Video) and Xigua Video are heavily algorithm-driven platforms, so understanding algorithm logic becomes particularly important. The expansion of a content recommendation volume is a process of continuous iteration. The algorithm will first find a group of people and recommend it to them; based on their feedback, the system will then decide whether to recommend it to the next group, and so on.

The specific data the system recommends looks at first is the click-through rate, referred to as CTR in the industry, where the numerator is the click volume of a single chapter, and the denominator is the recommendation volume. The videos users see mainly rely on Jinri Toutiao's recommendation mechanism displayed on the "recommended" page.

Bilibili and Zhihu are community-based, suitable for later sedimentation.

Zhihu is another key platform among existing platforms. Since Zhihu's content format is primarily Q&A, its account initiation logic differs from that of platforms like Toutiao. Let's first look at Zhihu's algorithm mechanism.

Zhihu ranking factors:
The ranking of Zhihu answers is mainly composed of the following factors:

• The number of approvals, collections, and likes accumulated by the account in a certain field, with approvals and collections being core indicators.
• The number of answers and articles produced by the account in a certain field.
• The number of professional badges obtained by the account in a certain field.
• The number of official editor recommendations and daily inclusions received by the account in a certain field.
• The creator level of the account (level 1-10).
• The account's salt value (0-1000 salt value).
• The quality of the content, meaning how well it is written.
• The number of likes, comments, collections, and likes received after answering.
• The number of downvotes received after answering. The first six are objective factors based on algorithms, with the first four being local weights and the last two being global weights. Local means the weight accumulated in a certain field; for example, if I have accumulated a lot of the first four points in the finance and business field, then when I answer a question about entrepreneurship, if there are a total of 100 answers and I have zero likes, my answer can still rank in the top 10 for that question.

Global means the weight in the entire ecosystem, which can only be accumulated slowly. For example, if A is a level 10 creator with 1000 salt value and B is 0, then regardless of what question is answered or in what field, A's ranking will definitely be higher than B's.

The last three are a dynamic evaluation process based on content quality, which is also a more subjective factor for the platform regarding quality content. Therefore, regardless of the platform, "watering down" is unlikely to yield long-term benefits.

• Reporting low-quality content is the fastest way to increase salt value, but do not report too much daily, around 10 per day.
• Content creation, meaning persistently writing articles, answering questions, sharing thoughts, and asking questions daily, and ideally also posting videos.
• Complete personal information.
• Engage in more comments, likes, and follows to enhance Zhihu's system's goodwill towards you, showing that you are not a bot, which will also increase the account's weight.
• Strengthen interactions, not just with people, but also by exploring circles, communities, live lectures, etc.
• Never violate rules; new accounts should not engage in marketing. Engaging in marketing when the account weight is low can easily lead to account bans.
• It is advisable to activate membership, which can enhance resistance to reports and provide dedicated customer service for timely responses to your messages, which can also help improve account weight.
• You can open a column in your area of expertise.
• Try to earn as many badges as possible and increase the badge levels.
• Content is king; strive for each answer to exceed 300 words and include an image, which can enhance creator level and increase weight.
• Become an arbitrator. After becoming an arbitrator, daily arbitration will significantly increase salt value.

Since it is a content platform, content is king; only those who continuously produce quality content will gain more traffic. Therefore, Zhihu has established a creator level system. So how can one enhance their creator level?

• Write 1-3 answers daily, with each answer being over 300 words, ideally with images.
• In addition to quality answers, also post an article or some thoughts.

Douyin platform's recommendation mechanism:
After a new video is published, the system will first check for violations. If there are violations, the video will be deleted or the account will be banned. Whether the account is banned mainly depends on the degree of violation; generally, only the video is deleted. If there are no violations, the work will be successfully uploaded and simultaneously recommended to 200-500 online users. So the initial traffic pool is about 300 people. After these 300 people achieve the required number of likes, comments, and completions (watching the video to the end), the video will enter the pending recommendation list and move to the next traffic pool.

The overall traffic pool mechanism is as follows:

• Level 1: 200-500;
• Level 2: 1000-5000;
• Level 3: 10,000-20,000;
• Level 4: 100,000-120,000;
• Level 5: 400,000-600,000 (beginning manual review for recommendations);
• Level 6: 2 million-5 million;
• Level 7: 7 million-11 million.

Zombie accounts: If a person continuously publishes works for a week and their playback volume remains below 100, it can be determined that this account is a zombie account. Zombie accounts are very difficult to gain traction. Generally, a person only has one real-name Douyin account; if such a situation occurs, you should prepare to re-establish the account.

Lowest weight accounts: If the works in your account have a playback volume of 100-200 for a week, it belongs to the lowest weight account. The lowest weight accounts will only be recommended to D-level traffic pools. If your works do not break through this playback volume for half a month, your account will be downgraded to a zombie account, effectively becoming useless.

Downgraded accounts: If an account is downgraded, it will receive a clear notification from the Douyin platform. For example, if an account that previously had tens of thousands of views suddenly posts an advertisement, or your...

What is user operation? One definition is that it is a behavior aimed at product users' activity, retention, and payment, based on user needs, to formulate operational plans.

In the content field, the goal of user operation is singular: to become friends with users. This user operation is not entirely on the level of "technique," but more about resonating with users' emotions and reaching consensus with their understanding (opinion leaders of social classes).

The emergence of these phenomenally excellent UP masters seems simple but actually captures the core pain points of users—sense of belonging and recognition. Here, I want to ask the first question: Do you understand your fans? To understand your fans, we mainly examine two aspects: user attributes and user behavior (also determining the uploader's ideology).

The role of user attributes is to help us understand users. Before we look at user attributes, we sometimes imagine what users look like, which can easily lead to content deviations. Over time, we will improve ourselves, and user attributes will also change continuously.

The purpose of understanding user attributes and behaviors is to achieve refined operations. When followers are fewer than 100, we can cater to everyone; but when followers reach 10,000, you will find that the fan group will clearly show differentiation. Only a few in the group will continuously interact with you, while the majority will become spectators, with their most common action being to simply like the screen or nod in front of the screen. Therefore, it is essential to categorize and grade fan operations.

Categorization and grading are not new concepts; Moutai's management of distributors, Alibaba, Didi, Alipay, Weibo, Meituan, etc., all use categorization and grading for member management. When applied to video user operations, users are divided into three categories:

• Core users: They watch almost every video and frequently interact with you.
• General users: They often watch your videos but do not interact much.
• Casual fans: They are part of the onlookers, only watching content they are interested in and not paying attention otherwise.

Doing refined management and forming a fan energy magnetic field is crucial; having user cognition too low or too high is undesirable. If your work today is significantly above or below user cognition, it is a terrible situation. This phenomenon has been validated in many fields; for example, Van Gogh's works were not appreciated by the public during his lifetime, but after his death, they became timeless masterpieces; Stephen Chow's "A Chinese Odyssey" performed poorly at the box office upon release but later became a classic film with high ratings.

The reason for this phenomenon is that the creator's ability and cognition are too advanced, making it difficult for users to understand, and they may even be rejected. However, it is highly likely to become a "masterpiece" later.

I say this is terrible in business but successful in art. Most creators I encounter have some degree of passion and want to create "artworks" rather than just "products." Good content, good knowledge, and good artworks can withstand the test of time. Even many years later, looking back, they will still be regarded as good content and not seen as nonsense from the author.

Whether positive or negative reviews, I believe they will bring some positive effects. Negative reviews may bring you "haters," but "haters" usually observe you more closely; they are willing to find loopholes in everything you say to refute you. Over time, if "haters" turn into "normal fans," they may become even more loyal.

Using content to express and maintain users deepens user cognition. Every internet celebrity has its lifecycle, just like artists in the entertainment industry. When we look back at many artists who became famous after starring in one or two dramas, they seem to disappear for many years afterward. The reason for this phenomenon is that artists do not continuously output better works.

Therefore, user operation must be direct and honest with users; it is a major taboo for public figures to deceive fans. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses; exposing them honestly is not a problem. We are all ordinary people, and having flaws can make us appear more relatable and down-to-earth. However, if serious deception occurs, your influence will plummet, and there will be no hope of recovery.

Before becoming an UP master, you must be an upright person. After becoming an UP master, do not take yourself too seriously, nor should you belittle yourself; arrogance and inferiority will drive people away. The reason people like you is that you have shining points; if all content deviates from the essence and relies solely on acting, it will not last long.

Planning, executing, monitoring, and reviewing operational activities: On public platforms, the simplest and most direct way to activate users is through activities, directly using the most basic monetary incentives to stimulate users.

This could be a repost, a dynamic post, or a poster, but in reality, these are just forms of activities. If you have not established a complete understanding of activity operations, it will be difficult to replicate others' experiences, and the effectiveness will be hard to evaluate.

However, the path of activities has its thresholds for UP masters. For example, to have the dynamic lottery permission on platforms like Bilibili, you need an electromagnetic level of ≥LV7, but this does not mean that activity operations are unimportant. There are many other ways to conduct activities. Although the forms of activities available on various platforms today are still limited, they will definitely diversify in the future.

A basic activity operation mindset allows you to respond freely regardless of how platform rules change. The simplest activity requires four steps: planning, execution, monitoring, and review.

Planning: Regardless of the scale of the activity, two crucial factors must be considered during planning: activity goals and activity budget. Each activity must have clear goals, whether it is to attract new users or enhance activity levels; both should be specified with concrete indicators while considering long-term results. If you say you just want to give some gifts to fans without any other plans, that should not be considered a complete activity. Activities are commercial behaviors and come with certain commercial purposes; giving gifts is merely a personal act.

When planning an activity, the first choice is the activity form. Different activity forms will have different impacts on the goals. For example, a Weibo repost lottery is a very simple activity form; those who hold such activities usually hope to expand their influence.

Activity goals (the core of the activity): All actions revolve around the goals. It is best to set an expected goal before starting, as this provides a reference point for executing and reviewing the activity. Activity themes: Themes need to be formulated to fit the current environment, such as "Double Eleven Shopping Festival," "New Year Goods Festival," "Home Appliance Month," etc.

Target audience: Either existing fans or new fans, usually aimed at attracting new users or activating existing ones. However, before conducting activities, it is necessary to understand user attributes and have a thorough understanding of fan profiles to more easily formulate activity themes and forms.

Activity timing: Usually includes preheating time, start time, end time, and reward distribution time. Activity forms and rules: These are based on the activity theme and goals. For example, we can refer to Alipay's New Year collection of five blessings activity, which has a mainline.

Promotion channels: Choose different channels and prepare different activity materials based on different activities. For example, if a UP master wants others to help repost something, they will prepare videos or articles; if they plan to promote their products, they will prepare online posters and offline roll-up banners.

Indicator monitoring: The purpose of indicator monitoring is to control potential risks that may arise during the activity or adjust parameters based on the environment, such as cost indicators and target indicators. For example, if conducting a community traffic diversion activity, after the posters and videos are released, if everyone only claims rewards but is unwilling to join the community, the reason needs to be identified. The reason may be that the value of the community was not clearly communicated, so adjustments to the promotional materials are necessary.

Common questions and answers: Many large activities will have a common questions and answers section, which is given to operational personnel or customer service to answer user questions. However, for many small activities held by UP masters, since the rules are not that complex, this section is generally not included.

Activity review: I believe the activity review is the most important part of the entire activity. Many people treat the review as a celebration or performance statistics meeting. However, the purpose of the review is singular: to improve future activities.

Execution and monitoring: During execution, adhere to unified standards and execute rigorously; during monitoring, adapt to headwinds and take advantage of tailwinds.

Review: During the review, it is necessary to have a sufficient understanding of the overall situation. If it is a company review, each participant must be involved; if it is a personal review, one should develop the habit of recording indicators at each time point. This way, during the review process, it will be easier to restore the changes in various indicators during the activity and summarize experiences better.

Data operation: Use data to speak during the review. Data is the only standard for testing video market quality. A film may win awards but not necessarily have high box office; it may also have average reviews but high box office. For a commercial act, the second scenario is successful; for art, the first scenario is successful.

Statistical key video data to avoid disconnecting from the market.

The biggest benefit of data statistics and reviews is that they can lead to unexpected conclusions. Let's walk through the review process together.

When collecting data, two tables are most important: one is the daily data table, and the other is the individual work data table. Daily data table: The daily data table mainly collects the following data: video exposure, playback volume, likes, comments, net follower growth, playback growth efficiency, playback like efficiency, total follower count, and these data are compiled according to each platform's statistics.

It is important to note that the statistical rules differ across platforms. The main platforms are Xigua Video, Douyin, and Bilibili, so we primarily collect data from these three platforms. If your main focus is on other platforms, you can emphasize collecting data from those platforms. For example, the backend of Xigua Video and Bilibili shows daily corresponding data, which can be found in the "Creator Backend - Work Data." Douyin's data is also available in the Douyin backend, but Douyin only retains one month's data. If your review cycle is long, you should develop the habit of regularly updating data.

Individual work data table: The second table is the statistical data for individual works, with specific indicators including sending time, cover title, video type, total duration, average completion duration, completion rate, playback like rate, follower growth stagnation point, playback stagnation point, like stagnation point, comment stagnation point, playback to follower conversion rate, and like to follower conversion rate.

Like rate (coin rate), comment rate, collection rate, and forwarding rate are four evaluation indicators for video quality. If it is a normal video, the like rate (coin rate) is usually high; if it is a hardcore knowledge video, the collection rate will be high; if it is a humorous or absurd video, the comment rate and forwarding rate will be high.

Therefore, these four indicators have different standards for measuring quality depending on the type of video. Since my videos are all hardcore knowledge content, the indicators I mainly focus on are the like rate (coin rate) and collection rate.

The data for a single video cannot reflect its quality; only by comparing it with other works can its strengths and weaknesses be identified. Next, let's discuss how to conduct regular data reviews and which aspects to focus on during data reviews.

Regarding work conversion rates and total playback conversion rates, there are formulas for calculation:
Work conversion rate = number of followers / number of works
Total playback conversion rate = total playback volume / total number of followers

For UP masters, if you start with the sole purpose of making money, you may not be able to sustain it; without the support of interest and passion, coupled with a long period without income, many people will retreat. If you start by generating content out of love, it can make the subsequent journey easier.

On the other extreme, some people generate content purely out of love without considering anything else, which is also overly radical; after all, understanding more information is generally a good thing (cognitive bias and cognitive anchoring).

For some small UP masters with follower counts between 10,000 and 50,000, it is relatively difficult for them to secure many commercial contracts, especially on platforms like Douyin (it is relatively easier on Bilibili). Therefore, entering a vertical field, accurately attracting followers, and using high conversion rates to strengthen monetization paths is also a viable approach.

So, should we plan our monetization path from day one? The answer is not to force it, but also not to completely ignore it. If you are entering a vertical field, you should investigate the monetization situations of others in the same field in advance and focus on conversion rates in subsequent content creation. If you belong to a narrative or aesthetic field that is not vertical, then initially aim for a larger volume; at this point, finding ways to produce super viral videos that can trend is more important.

Monetization method one: Traffic monetization.

The advantage of traffic monetization is that it is direct and simple, but the downside is that the scale is small. A few thousand yuan in traffic income is like a drop in the bucket for many people living in first- and second-tier cities. What is truly valuable is other income, such as commercial advertising, which is also a key source of income for other UP masters.

Monetization method two: Commercial advertising. Commercial advertising is the simplest and fastest way for most UP masters to monetize. Because the value of fans varies across different fields on each platform, the quotes given by clients also differ. However, there is a general principle: "Small accounts do not underquote, large accounts do not overquote." Taking Bilibili as an example, in the early stages, a video from a UP master with 10,000 followers may have a similar impact and exposure to a video from a UP master with 50,000 followers, but many small UP masters with 10,000 followers are hesitant to quote.

For top UP masters, the general ratio of followers to commercial contract prices is between 4-8 (for 1 million followers, the quote is 150,000-250,000 yuan). Of course, there are exceptions, mainly depending on the UP master's influence. Overall, fields like knowledge, technology, and automotive have relatively high value, while food and beauty fields have lower fan stickiness and less verticality, leading to significant price reductions.

Bilibili's Huohuo commercial contracts, Douyin, and Xigua Video's Star Map platform all provide a place for creators to connect with clients. Typically, the guiding prices given by Huohuo commercial contracts tend to be low. If it is a vertical field account, you can quote higher and consult your peers. To avoid price competition, the platform has established a price protection mechanism, allowing you to quote directly according to the guiding price. Generally, the main sources of commercial contracts are private messages sent to you by various platforms, so everyone should develop the habit of responding to private messages.

Since the threshold for starting an MCN is not that high, many media representatives come to inquire about prices, with a significant proportion being "just asking, not buying." At this point, it is advisable to clarify their needs: which company is the client? What are the specific requirements? What is the advertising time? Which platforms are primarily used for advertising? Can you see the specific task prompts? Once you have asked all these questions, you will have a good idea of whether the media or client is sincere.

Commercial advertising resources require long-term accumulation. Even if you do not have any in the early stages, it is okay. When your works go viral, many people will come to you on their own.

When negotiating commercial contracts, many media representatives will request a rebate, which is an unwritten rule, but whether to give it or not depends on the UP master. From a purely profit perspective, if you have very few advertisers and mainly rely on a few people's resources, giving a rebate is necessary. If you have many advertisers, you can choose to refuse to give a rebate.

A UP master's commercial contract template includes several important pieces of information: account name, platform, follower count, cooperation form, contract price, and notes.

When media representatives or clients request a template, they usually come from a single platform, so if you feel that this client is promising, you can recommend more platforms to them. This way, the client's return on investment will be higher, and the UP master can earn more.

On many platforms, the content forms of the template are not limited to videos; there are also images, text, dynamics, and Q&A. Videos, images, and dynamics can be further divided into customized and direct posting. Customization means the client provides requirements, and the UP master writes and produces corresponding content based on those requirements; direct posting means the client has ready-made content and only hopes the UP master can publish it on their account.

Monetization method three: Signing contracts.

Signing contracts involves a trade-off between stability and risk. After signing, you can have a stable cash flow supply, providing security during operations; however, signing with a single platform also means losing some other possibilities.

Basically, it is viewed from today's time point to consider the future. Many people may encounter such issues in the future. Here, I want to say that if you want to sign a contract, you must clarify several things: What are the details of the contract? Is it just for video or the entire IP? What can you gain after signing? What will you lose? How will the remuneration be provided to you? What are the certain and uncertain remuneration structures? How long is the contract duration? Under what circumstances would it constitute a breach of contract? How will compensation be handled? Are the breach clauses mutually equitable?

All these questions cannot be decided by others; you must strive to see the environment clearly before making a decision.

Monetization method four: E-commerce and paid knowledge.

E-commerce monetization is the method that contributes the most to revenue on each platform. When we scroll through Douyin, we see many UP masters recommending toothbrushes, towels, or courses; when browsing Bilibili, we can also see people selling snacks or tech products.

The most common monetization method for knowledge-based UP masters. In addition to the monetization methods mentioned above, user tips, platform activity rewards, and paid consultations can also generate income. However, from an overall platform perspective, these account for a relatively small proportion, so I will not elaborate further.

Understanding the Various Forms of MCN#

The MCN model originates from the mature influencer economy operations abroad. The existing MCN institutions in China mainly unite creators, packaging content influence and commercial value to sell to advertisers, thus achieving a connection between both ends. Many domestic MCNs primarily act as media advertising intermediaries, while a few MCNs also provide full-chain services such as content output, supply chain provision, and IP operations.

What are the values of signing with an MCN? The common forms of cooperation with MCNs in the market are as follows:

• Providing UP masters with script writing, video editing, and other content production services. Since this method increases costs, MCNs usually choose to cooperate with UP masters in this way only in the early stages to bind resources with UP masters or to secure cooperation with larger UP masters.
• Providing basic operational work such as account video publishing, comment replies, and promotional follower acquisition.

Since these services can vary greatly in size, they are often difficult to quantify in contracts, which is also why many MCN institutions love to mention these conditions when signing contracts with UP masters. Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, it is not advisable to cooperate with an MCN institution solely for this reason. If cooperation is necessary, it can be quantified in a graded manner in the contract. For example, if followers are below 10,000, the MCN institution does not participate in any profit sharing; if followers reach 50,000, the profit-sharing method for commercial contracts is ××; if followers reach 200,000, the profit-sharing method for commercial contracts is ××. These regulations will increase the motivation of the MCN.

Providing business cooperation services with profit sharing. The essence of this behavior is that anyone can sign, but no one is responsible. When a UP master becomes successful, they can benefit from it.

The second form is IP selling. If the contract states that IP ownership and usage rights belong to the MCN, such a contract is a "rogue contract." If the MCN's capabilities are strong enough, there is no need for such monopolization; if monopolization occurs, it indicates the possibility of the other party wanting to gain without effort.

The MCN industry faces significant monetization pressure, and the dividends from various platforms are gradually weakening; these dividends will eventually disappear. Moreover, since the gross profit margins of MCN institutions are usually fixed, with increasing competition, this makes it difficult for many MCNs to operate effectively. When signing with an MCN institution, small UP masters should conduct thorough investigations; otherwise, they may not even realize when the MCN goes bankrupt. Some content-heavy MCNs have long monetization cycles, and finding paths is slow. For MCNs that act as agents, while the monetization speed may be faster, the gross profit margin is not high; for e-commerce supply chain MCNs, the model is too heavy and requires relatively large capital; for IP licensing MCNs, the initial investment is too high, but the future certainty is very low; for MCNs focusing on operational marketing, there are high demands for resource integration capabilities, and if advertising partnerships are not stable, operational risks may arise at any time; for other knowledge payment and community payment MCNs, the current scale is too small to form a climate.

Currently, the most common types of MCN institutions we see in the market are: one type is to independently incubate influencers, holding absolute control over the influencers' IP; the other type is to sign existing well-known influencers, primarily expanding business through providing commercial contracts. IP and business are the two most valuable links in the entire industry chain, and whoever holds the high ground will dominate. Gaining the high ground requires either strong capabilities or significant capital investment. If neither is available, it is nearly impossible to make a name for oneself in this field under the current environment.

For platforms, it is best to have a solid platform to deal with the fluidity of UP masters. However, for most small and medium UP masters, it is also acceptable to first hold onto a decent "big leg" and become a mainstay on that platform before branching out.

IP and content are the evergreen cores of platform works. Whether it is platform traffic recommendations or operational rules, the resources obtained are merely icing on the cake and should not be blindly followed.

Being an UP master requires continuous production of quality content, and one will always face the issue of content updates. The first major problem for most UP masters is how to continuously produce quality content.

Every profession has its distinctions between professionals and amateurs. Professionals need good work ethics, solid knowledge and skills, and unique insights, but the accumulation of inexperienced college students and those who have just worked for one or two years is far from sufficient. When market conditions change, how do we determine whether our content is problematic, whether platform rules have changed, or whether the macro environment of the entire industry has shrunk? These judgments require information support. Since newcomers find it challenging to receive this information, biases may arise during decision-making, leading to complaints about the platform or believing their content is inadequate, resulting in discontinuation or significant delays in updates, ultimately affecting the account's weight.

The dividing line between full-time and part-time is essentially whether one's cash flow is positive. If stable income equals rigid expenses, it means the UP master has more choices and a more diversified path.

Future opportunities for UP masters:

Where are the future opportunities for being an UP master? In summary: "Make short videos longer, refine medium and long videos, do what big UP masters have not done well, and do what small UP masters cannot do."

Make short videos longer. This point is based on user demand. Whether it is a dance video featuring handsome men and beautiful women, a singing video from a music blogger, or a cooking and eating broadcast, to provide a satisfying user experience, a minimum length of 5 minutes is required, with some even needing 30 minutes.

Do what big UP masters have not done well. Every UP master has their style and characteristics, so someone skilled in A is unlikely to excel in B. Those who have done A do not have the time or energy to do B. Seeking market gaps where big UP masters have not performed well is the best entry opportunity for us as newcomers. We can read comments in their video comment sections and find that some users expect certain content that these top creators have not adequately fulfilled.

Do what small UP masters cannot do. This is a form of dimensionality reduction attack; more accurately, it means doing what you are good at and producing content within your expertise. Since we are professionals, the works we present will be of higher quality than most others. We can see that many successful narrative accounts are run by actors or screenwriters, and quality UP masters in the knowledge sector are also professionals in their respective fields.

The cooperation process is also a mutual selection process; it is normal for some to stay and some to leave.

How can UP masters continue to thrive?
Every industry and profession has its lifecycle, with periods of prosperity and decline; this is an objectively existing rule. Here, I want to mention the following two points:

• The times are changing; platform demands and internal management are also changing, as are aesthetics.
• Very few people can remain popular for long. Good content is a product of the times and can reflect economic and market changes. Many films are called classics precisely because they reflect the mindset of people during that era (hindsight effect), addressing the inner needs of people at that time. The way people watch art...

In a market economy, there is competition between individuals; while you earn 10 yuan, others earn 20 yuan, which means you have effectively lost 10 yuan. Because when others earn 20 yuan, prices will inevitably rise, and when you earn 10 yuan, your purchasing power will significantly decrease, resulting in a loss.

If making money is a game, it is definitely a race. Based on this, there is a rule that business profits, entry thresholds, and the number of practitioners cannot coexist simultaneously. Businesses with high profits may be because few people know about them, allowing those who do to reap the benefits of information discrepancies (information within circles is not very transparent).

Profits, thresholds, and the number of practitioners can only take two out of three. If a business has a low entry threshold and high profits, it is likely that few people know about it. If many people know about it and profits are still high, the entry threshold must be high, such as in real estate, AI, and smart hardware. Everyone knows that these industries have good profits, but the entry thresholds are too high; without capital or core technology, it is challenging to succeed.

What is business? Business is about finding demand prices; customers are actually paying for their needs, not for your product costs.

For example, the same glass of water can be sold for 10,000 yuan in an endless desert, and thirsty people will buy it. However, if it is sold at a supermarket near your home for 10 yuan, it will affect sales. This is because the environment is different, resulting in varying degrees of demand rigidity.

Let’s look at consulting companies; they rarely take on business from small and medium enterprises. Is it because there is no demand? No, it is because when providing consulting to large enterprises in the same industry, the workload does not increase much. For consulting companies, the costs are roughly the same. When consulting information is provided to enterprises, if a small enterprise's performance increases from 500,000 to 2 million, they may only pay you 200,000; however, if a large enterprise's profit increases from 100 million to 200 million, they may pay you 20 million for consulting.

Viewing UP masters from an investment perspective#

Investment is a lifelong endeavor; perhaps when I grow old, my body and time will not allow me to start a business again, but I will definitely continue to invest.

In fact, entrepreneurship is also an investment, and the investment is not just money but also people. Whether to choose the path of being an UP master is itself a significant investment choice.

Understand the macro market environment, recognize your own needs and inner self; being an UP master is not easy, with low thresholds and intense competition, and navigating the platform's dynamics is essential for survival.