What kind of effect does viral marketing combined with trending topics produce?
The answer is that the programmers at Chenzi Technology who monitor real-time data during night shifts are almost crazy, pounding their desks with agitated thuds.
They are not inexperienced, but this growth rate is simply too fast, so fast they can't react.
Gu Qingqing and Gu Yanning were attracted by the commotion outside.
"What's wrong?"
Gu Yanning, who walked out first, shouted to the bouncing crowd outside.
"Boss, we're going to be rich! Guess how many total users we have as of 12 o'clock today?"
Gu Qingqing, who had calmed down, smiled indifferently,
"Looking at you, the data must be very good. Tell me, how much exactly?"
"We're just 3 users short of reaching 500,000 official registered users! Oh, no, it's already over 500,000 now."
"How much? 500,000?"
Gu Yanning asked first, before Gu Qingqing could speak.
"Yes, 500,000! From 40,000 yesterday to 500,000 today!"
"Holy crap! That's intense?"
Gu Yanning was so excited that she blurted out an expletive.
Gu Qingqing also looked excited.
What does 500,000 registered users mean?
In the era of mobile internet explosion, 500,000 users were nothing.
But in 2006, the total number of internet users nationwide was 132 million.
The most popular blog, launched in April last year and operating for 15 months with numerous celebrity endorsements, only had over ten million registered users.
Kaixinwang gained 500,000 registered users in just one week.
This data was even more impressive than when blogs first launched, aside from the viral marketing set by Boss Tan and today's live text and image broadcast of the celebrity event, there was no substantial large-scale promotion.
"Hahaha, 500,000! Old Cheng's pressure is much less now. When he comes back, we'll make him treat us; we helped him draw fire."
"Exactly, exactly! He absolutely must treat us. With these 500,000 users, even without MSN, we can slowly develop and operate."
"Awesome, too awesome! So internet operations can be played this way. Old Cheng said Boss Tan is an excellent product manager, but I think he should be called an excellent operations manager."
Gu Qingqing was also very excited.
Of course, she knew the significance of 500,000 users in one week after launch.
"This is really good, everyone worked hard. However, a large portion of today's new users probably registered just to vote for their idols. How to retain these users will depend on our product quality."
"Don't worry, Boss, we will find a way to retain these users,"
Zhang Yunyang nodded.
Unlike users invited via email, users who came to vote for idols are independent individuals.
Independent individuals have no weaknesses, so how to retain them is key.
Fortunately, there's another live text and image broadcast of an event coming up, which can give Kaixinwang some buffer time.
"Alright, everyone except those on duty, go back and rest. Everyone worked hard late into the night."
With that, Gu Qingqing took 2,000 yuan from her shoulder bag and handed it to Zhang Yunyang:
"Take everyone for a late-night snack, we're heading back now."
Zhang Yunyang took the money from Gu Qingqing, smiling as he said,
"Thank you, Boss, but people in Beicang don't have nightlife. We really can't spend this much on a late-night snack in the middle of the night."
"Then save it for your next late-night snack event fund."
People in Yongcheng truly have no nightlife.
In this kind of weather, the street excitement usually lasts until about 10:30 PM at most, and in winter, it's even worse, with hardly anyone on the streets after 9 PM.
Zhang Yunyang and his group of night owls were really unaccustomed to it when they first arrived.
Gu Qingqing, of course, knew this:
"Whether there can be nightlife depends on whether we can grow bigger and stronger. If we grow bigger and stronger, the area around Financial Building will naturally become lively."
Internet companies have many night owls, with many working overtime and leaving late.
Plus, some night shift staff, if Chenzi Technology develops into a major internet company, countless small vendors will naturally come to do business nearby.
Knowing the specific data, and with the data being very good, Gu Qingqing felt much more relaxed, and drowsiness followed.
She was just a student, with no management experience or technical skills.
What she could do, besides trying to be meticulous in daily company management, was to wait for data with the employees and occasionally win them over with small favors.
These were actually all things she learned from observing Tan Jincheng.
There are no secrets in the internet.
A social website that officially launched for only a week and broke 500,000 registered users spread to every corner the very next morning.
Kaixinwang did not deliberately promote itself nor did it make any responses.
Not deliberately publicizing how many users it had in the early stages was a strategy set by Tan Jincheng: first, lie low and slowly develop; as for you finding out, that's not my fault.
Yesterday, Kaixinwang's Alexa ranking broke into the top 200 for the first time, ranking 193.
A social website that was obscure a week ago underwent a tremendous change in one week.
Meanwhile, Cheng Hao, who had been negotiating with MSN for two weeks, also received attention from MSN due to the website's sudden performance.
Two weeks ago, what was Kaixinwang?
MSN, with the second-largest share in domestic instant messaging software and a large number of white-collar client resources, looking down on Kaixinwang was very normal.
Cheng Hao was also prepared for a long battle, resolved not to return if negotiations failed.
Unexpectedly, the situation changed after only a week of the website's launch.
Although MSN's relevant departments couldn't figure out how Kaixinwang would generate profit, 500,000 registered users in a week was an undeniable fact.
Users are king; this is the unchanging principle of internet companies.
MSN saw Kaixinwang's potential and also expressed interest in cooperation.
Compared to two weeks ago, Cheng Hao had much more autonomy in negotiations.
If it had been two weeks ago, or even a week ago, if MSN had agreed to cooperate with Kaixinwang, Kaixinwang would have lost much more.
Now, Cheng Hao could confidently reject some terms he disapproved of.
At worst, his stock option exercise could be postponed a step.
With the website launched for a week, Cheng Hao, though out of town, kept real-time track of the specific data.
The more he looked, the more he admired Boss Tan's marketing strategy.
After careful thought, he realized that this user acquisition method was actually similar to the "Xiaoneiwang" (Campus Network) method of Wang Xin, who used a lottery for Tsinghua Electronics Department student festival tickets.
Both methods utilized acquaintances to obtain real user data.
Xiaoneiwang initially gained 800 real user data with 100 tickets, all of whom were Tsinghua top students.
This greatly boosted the confidence of Wang Xin, who had previously failed several SNS projects and was almost disheartened.
That's right, the now popular Xiaoneiwang was founded by the food delivery magnate who is now worth hundreds of billions in his previous life.
Before founding Xiaoneiwang, he developed several SNS website projects independently, and after finding them useless, he began to copy Facebook.
This copying actually worked, and having already learned certain marketing strategies, Xiaoneiwang quickly established itself in China.
Xiaoneiwang was a pure copy, while Kaixinwang was a semi-copy.
Their positioning was different: Xiaoneiwang focused on schools, while Kaixinwang targeted white-collar workers, but they were definitely competitors.
Therefore, Kaixinwang's ultimate target was Xiaoneiwang.
With 500,000 registered users in a week, Cheng Hao was confident he could surpass Xiaoneiwang within a year.
Cheng Hao left the hotel full of confidence to negotiate at MSN headquarters.
Meanwhile, Tan Jincheng, far away in Xiangcheng, also left his hotel for Tianyu's Xiangcheng office to discuss Chun Ge's contract renewal with Long Danni.
Yesterday's event was lively, and vehicle sales were good.
Long Danni even bought 50 electric vehicles in Tianyu's name for a donation event, which was a show of support for Shanchi.
This attitude was so good that Tan Jincheng could hardly believe it.
When did these entertainment industry people, who only know how to make money, become so agreeable?
——
"Do you think I wanted to buy them? Even though we're in the entertainment industry, we need to understand policy trends. Tan Jincheng probably hasn't realized how much local governments welcome entrepreneurs like him, so it's always good to build some goodwill before he realizes it."
Shanchi's success, after extensive publicity during this period, entered the视 (sight) of some local governments.
Achieving profitability in just one year, maintaining large-scale expansion, and having excellent corporate financial health, the Tianjin base's phase one project only needed 50 million yuan in low-interest loans—a true wealthy landlord.
Not only a major magnate but also able to solve employment and tax issues, investing without causing trouble for local governments.
The most important point is that Shanchi's own operating model is very effective and can produce results in a short time!
For a project that can't produce results within three to five years or even longer, some local government officials might lose interest.
No other reason than it doesn't help their political achievements much.
After three to five years, whether I'm still in this position is a question, but Shanchi Technology is different.
Factories can be built this year, and results can be seen next year, increasing employment and taxes.
In some small places, this is a definite political achievement project.
Although Tan Jincheng had already realized that his current status was not what it used to be, due to the limitations of his previous life's perspective, he had not yet thought this far ahead.
Long Danni was different.
When the news came out that Tan Jincheng was coming to Xiangcheng for an event and discussing Chun Ge's contract renewal with her, some local governments in Xiang Province sought connections with her.
The main camp wanted Tan Jincheng to record an episode for this reason.
And Long Danni connecting them was also a test.
After Tan Jincheng clearly refused, she dared not casually connect them again.
As the head of an entertainment company, she wouldn't dare dictate a patron's schedule.
If discovered, the contract renewal might fall through, and future cooperation would be difficult.
But these requests from local governments couldn't be ignored, which was quite a headache.
"Chun Ge's poll on Kaixinwang got first place. I wonder if we can use this opportunity. Also, what is the relationship between Kaixinwang and Shanchi Technology? Why did they get the exclusive live text and image broadcasting rights for Shanchi Technology's event?"
Long Danni couldn't help but ponder, but at this moment, she had no time to think further.
"Let's go, let's go down and greet them. Mr. Tan should be arriving soon."
(End of Chapter)