In the past few years, "product managers" were very popular. They had nice names and strong personalities. Unlike those of us who operate new media, we all call ourselves "I" and chat with others first.

But now, both traditional enterprises and Internet companies are increasingly recognizing the position of "new media operation". If you are also considering switching to "new media operation", I have some experience and feelings, Share with you.

1. Is it too late to start a WeChat official account now?

First of all, a basic understanding in the industry is:

The traffic bonus period for WeChat official accounts has passed, but the bonus period for professional content is happening. (The end of the traffic bonus period means that new media represented by WeChat official accounts has entered a mature period. This period will test the absolute strength of operators, not just their "network sense" and "smartness".

First of all, both C-side readers and B-side business owners are no longer unfamiliar with "new media represented by official accounts". This means The cost of user education is greatly reduced.

Secondly, those who can seize new professional dividends are often those who have deep accumulation in a certain field. They are at the forefront of the entire industry, where can they make money. , I can see very clearly where there are risks, and I have both accumulation and vision. It is very difficult for ordinary newcomers to get a share of this pie.

Thirdly, new media is mainly an innovation on the tool side, and other innovations. The core is knowledge, insight, observation, or user service. The popularity of new media tools has enabled veterans and experts from other industries to work and harvest in the land of new media at a lower cost.

So, if you have a deep accumulation in a certain field (for example, you are an experienced English speaking teacher or an experienced housekeeping practitioner) and currently want to transition to new media, there are still many opportunities Opportunities.

Don’t think that you can’t do new media just because you are not good at writing or have a non-journalism background. The most important thing about new media is to provide users with continuous services based on a certain segment.

2. Do you really like it, or do you think the threshold is low?

It is important to be honest with yourself.

If you like to do new media operations, I hope you know:

Behind the likes, reposts, and 100,00 things that practitioners are keen to discuss are often staying up late for a long time, working overtime at irregular intervals, and revising drafts repeatedly. . Among them, the focus is not on staying up late, working overtime, and revising drafts, but on long-term, irregular and repetitive work...

In the final analysis, new media is directly facing users. This job is a great test of one's user understanding and ability. Product experience ability. Therefore, this is a delicate job that a rough person cannot do.

I have met several passionate peers who have created their own WeChat public accounts and are full of hope for the future. (to become famous), but the somewhat hurtful fact is:

Early liking is often an underestimation of other people’s success and blind faith in one’s own enthusiasm.

If it is because of " "The threshold is low - after all, anyone can register a WeChat official account", then I advise you to be cautious.

As the saying goes, laymen only see the excitement, and insiders know the truth. Almost all laymen say new media. The threshold is low, but in reality? Its "entry threshold" is indeed low.

For example: I know some students who can support themselves by relying on public praise; my cousin's aunt is Zhang Luo. I opened a public account to sell tea; the front desk of our company upstairs where we send and receive express delivery also has its own WeChat public account.

And this phenomenon of everyone making a public account naturally creates the illusion that "there is no threshold for doing new media."

But in fact, the “competition threshold” of new media is very high. There are currently 20 million WeChat public accounts opened, but how many of them do you read every day?

A little advice, no matter how much you like it or how much you want to do it, I hope you can manage your expectations.

3. Have you considered clearly how high the cost of changing careers is?

If I am currently a salesperson at an offline clothing store, would it be difficult for me to switch to new media in the financial industry?

Difficult.

Switching to new media is a general term, and the new media position that will pay me a salary must be set up in a specific field, or even only rely on the operation and sales of a certain product.

At this time, if you can't move forward in your career, then take three days to think about how much time, energy, and financial resources it takes to be qualified for this job. It’s good to think about it clearly in a day. It’s even better if you can list it out and write it down on paper.

In addition to the above-mentioned people with work experience, there is another type like me. The first job after graduation was a new media editor - starting with a blank slate. It sounds great, with endless possibilities and no career change costs.

But in fact, this is destined to be a weakness. No matter how much time and energy you invest in polishing your practical skills, at best, you are only proficient in using the tool of new media, which is at the "technical" level;

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What the company wants is your understanding of corporate culture, familiarity with product value, and perception of user needs. These are all aspects of "Tao" and require a lot of time to accumulate.

Compared with the position of new media operation, choosing which industry to enter is more critical. Clothing or finance? Choose carefully and act according to your ability; once you decide, don't repeat it and take root in the industry.

4. After switching to new media, did you deviate from your career plan?

Three months ago, a college classmate came to me for help: teach me how to operate new media.

I asked her why she wanted to learn this, and her answer was very straightforward: learn new media operations, then find a job in a company, practice writing and operational thinking through work, and then open a coffee shop of her own. It’s also convenient to make it yourself.

It sounds unreliable, although it is very true. It also expresses her own career plan, and even this career change plan is to prepare for her future career.

From this point of view alone, I am not as good as her. When I first entered the industry, no matter what career plan I had, I just took it one step at a time and felt that what I was doing was meaningful. It would be good if I could run quickly in small steps.

Usually there are two directions for working hard in a profession:

1. Professional position. Becoming an expert in your field is essentially living by your craft.

2. Management post. On the basis of professional positions, we will continue to strengthen leadership and eventually become management.

What about you? What do you want to do in the future? What do you want to gain from this job? Whether you want to master a certain skill or aim to become a manager, the former requires high professional abilities, while the latter requires more comprehensive abilities.

5. Think clearly about what your core competitiveness is?

When I was working for half a year, a company offered me a monthly salary of 10K. I refused without hesitation, even though my salary at the time was 4K.

Why? Guilty.

What can I do after I go? Where is my awesomeness? Is it because my copywriting is good, or is the layout beautiful, or is the topic chosen to suit the user’s taste? Can I stand alone?

When I thought about it, I felt very scared. Because I suddenly found that I did not have an irreplaceable ability. It seems that I can do a little bit of everything and know a little bit, but my accumulation in any area is not enough to reach the top level in the industry.

Generally speaking, there are too many showpieces but no real foundation.

A few days ago, a user left a message in the background, saying that he was very distressed. He had just joined a company to work in new media, and he didn’t know whether to be a generalist or a specialist.

I think maybe he is troubled by the "barrel effect", which makes him unsteady unless he makes up for his shortcomings. But the reality is that in a group, we are not the barrel, we are the board. Only by making yourself longer can we have the opportunity to let the "barrel" hold more water. This is also the value of each of us in the company.

Therefore, we must think clearly about what our core competitiveness is and what we are best at. We must devote all our attention to our own growth. Even if we change the "barrel", We are also the longest board.

6. Can you enter work mode anytime and anywhere?

Why is it called "new media operation"? The key is that you must maintain a heart that is sensitive to users at all times, or enter work mode anytime and anywhere. I once heard the boss say:

He had dinner with Deng Wei, the founder of Business Style, on several occasions. While eating, Deng Wei took out his computer and logged in to the backend to revise the manuscript.

A top creator is like this, let alone us novices.

Therefore, an unavoidable topic is overtime. This overtime is not required by the company, but you must spend a lot of time and energy to accumulate professional abilities.

Frankly speaking, after working for a year, engineers smiled and said goodbye to me almost every day.

One of the biggest feelings I have had since taking charge of the company’s official account is that there is not enough time. This runs through the entire process of topic selection, layout, title creation, picture matching, saving and sending.

The fundamental reason is insufficient accumulation.

There is no other way to change. You can only rely on time to fill in the gaps in experience and knowledge.

Others work 8 hours a day, but you may need an extra 4 hours to choose topics, answer user questions, and comment on readers’ messages. This does not include reading time to recharge oneself privately.

Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of the WeChat public account. A colleague said this in the circle of friends:

A small boss who works on a public account can save 10 years of hard work and become a public account. As a writer, I will live 10 years shorter.

Although this complaint is a bit helpless, this guy still writes it happily.

By the way, he switched from a salesperson in a shopping mall to a new media editor last year. He published more than 100 articles a year with an average of 100,00 articles. Regardless of the platform he is on, his personal growth and The dedication makes me ashamed.

For example, a few nights ago he asked me in a private message if I had any erotic GIFs. It seemed that he was either flirting with girls or masturbating. But I am so pure, where can I find this?

7. Do I need to be good at writing to do this?

Those who are really good at writing and especially love writing should become writers.

For new media operations, it is enough to write the words correctly, make the sentences smooth, and be understandable by users. The more you write, the better your writing skills will become.

But you have to show that you won an award for your new concept essay that year and swear to HR that you are qualified for the company's new media position. The ending is likely to be OUT in an instant.

In fact, what really supports the success of new media in front of millions of users is not the cute words and funny animations, but the content behind it. user needs and business logic.

This requires that you know what the company you want to join next sells, whether it sells light bulbs or insurance, whether it sells products or services.

You have to understand the needs of your boss and the pressures of other departments, and seize the time to find out where the new media department is in the entire company process and what role it plays.

At the end of the day, this is business understanding. Therefore, there is a point of view in the class of Jiazao Academy:

Running a WeChat public account is essentially running a company.

8. Accept user assessments every day

When I was about to work for a year, I wrote a 7500-word article about my experience. The opening sentence was: I think the new Media is a very bright industry...

This "brightness" is not only full of confidence in the entire new media industry, but also a realistic depiction of the job itself.

The data behind each pushed article is immediately visible, including reading volume, forwarding volume, collection volume, and conversion rate (number of buyers/number of readers).

After each push, all the data and content itself will be laid out naked, open to users’ evaluations, bosses’ pickiness, colleagues’ suggestions, and peer comparisons.

The point of this sentence is every time.

Especially those who work daily, they suffer from reading volume almost every day. It’s not that the boss measures KPI by reading volume, but if you are lazy, the quality of the content will drop very obviously. , this cannot be hidden.

Some people may think of increasing the number of readers and users, but users and bosses are not stupid. How can they not read the quality of the content?

Don’t foolishly think that you are smarter than your users. I am very restrained in outputting content because I am afraid of this. I am worried that I have accumulated too little and my so-called knowledge may be very shallow.

Furthermore, your competitors can see this cheating thing most clearly, and they are eager to catch you. Your competitors care more about your data than you do.

Why does my boss often emphasize to me: The new media industry is very training.

Because you have to lose face, you carry the pressure every step of the way and move forward honestly.

9. New media is a big concept. Which category do you want to do?

It’s not about which industry to work in, but which type to work in. I’ll briefly sort it out and roughly divide it into two categories for reference:

1) Enterprise new media still has to be Emphasis on image

Corporate new media is essentially about shaping the company's brand image, thereby enhancing user reputation or promoting sales conversion. The former is a mandatory requirement, while the latter is the icing on the cake.

My own personal experience: Real enterprise new media should not passively bear too much sales pressure. I hope the bosses can think about this clearly.

2) For self-media, you need to think about ways to monetize it

A small part of self-media is sentimental, but most of it needs to survive. Therefore, commercial monetization is understandable.

There are two common ways to monetize:

One is to monetize relatively popular content, such as "Three Tables Longmen Zhen" that sells advertising space, and "Gu Ye" that sells advertising copy ", "list" that attracts traffic through content to sell goods, and "get" that directly pays for reading.

Second, go directly to e-commerce, such as "Little Black Dress" which sells clothes, and "Lechun Partners" which sells yogurt.

The former is more of a scholar, while the latter is more of a businessman. There is a slight difference between direct and indirect.

Just think clearly about which one you like more, and they will all be sold in the end.

10. How much money can you make by doing new media?

The sentence mentioned above, "A small boss with a public account can save 10 years of hard work." This sentence is not unreasonable.

In fact, just like Taobao, it is normal for sellers who persisted for two or three years in the early days to earn tens of millions of dollars a year. If you are a self-employed new media e-commerce company, there is no salary data worthy of reference.

By the way, don’t be distracted by the news that the industry is easily valued at over 100 million. That’s just an estimate, and you can’t tell how high it is.

If you are preparing to join the new media operation of an enterprise, here are some salary data provided by Lagou.com in early August:

Salary data for operation positions

The current industry average salary for operating positions is around 8K

I believe everyone who sees this number will be worried. Is it so high? In fact, when I look back and think about the time when I entered the industry, I feel relieved.

Observation on salary prospects

For fresh graduates, it is 4.69K; for 1-3 years, it is 7.32K; for 3-5 years, it is 12.33K

Normally speaking, the probation period They are all 4K, and there will be a clearer salary plan after becoming a full-time employee. The following are the suggestions given by He Chuan, the founder of Jiazu Academy:

New Media Assistant 5-8K

New Media Editor 10-15K

New media editor 20-25K

New media director 30-50K

Are you thinking, oh, how high can it be?

Most of those who may have this idea are like me, they are in the assistant or editor stage and have been working for no more than 2 years. But in fact, if you have been working in this industry for more than 3 years, the boss will naturally see your value.