In the field of Internet products, we often talk about Zhang Xiaolong, who created WeChat, and call him the product god. We also often talk about Yu Jun, who gave birth to Tieba, and Ma Huateng, who created QQ. We also talk about Lei Jun, Zhou Hongyi, Fu Sheng and other excellent products. The CEO relishes in some product insights.
But when we look back at the operation field, we find that there are few well-known gods generally recognized in the industry. Why is this?
Yesterday, after the notice was posted, a user replied that I was an operation god, which is really flattering me. I’m definitely not, but occasionally being called an operation expert and an operation expert are all walking on thin ice, because the so-called “operation god” is still a long way off. Quite a distance away. I'm just lucky, there are a little more pits to go first.
Now there are some very impetuous institutions and authors, and even conferred gods themselves, such as "Operation God teaches you to be proficient in operation in 1 hour", "Three methods from Xiaobai to Operation God". At least I'm talking about industry leaders who can be widely recognized as gods in this article.
Why theistic?
▎What is God?
When human beings cannot explain some phenomena, they imagine the existence of God, and believe that God has some unknown power and ability far beyond human beings, and influences and controls the world, so they fear, fear, and rely on him.
▎Why do we call some people the god of XX?
It just feels that this person has achieved a degree that is impossible for ordinary people to achieve. When it is impossible to measure it with existing knowledge, and when he is full of admiration and admiration, he will be called God.
For example, Satoshi Nakamoto designed a virtual currency such as Bitcoin that is not controlled by the central bank and financial institutions. The clever design of the settlement method, encryption method, and mining method behind it is really amazing. Such a character is like a god characters.
▎Why do we call Zhang Xiaolong a god?
As the founder of WeChat, WeChat's style and iterations reveal Xiaolong's product philosophy everywhere.
Nowadays, WeChat has changed from a text chat tool at the beginning to now have core functions such as group chat, circle of friends, official account, WeChat payment, game center, etc., as well as small programs that are being tested, etc. WeChat has become everyone's use now. The longest-running App has also become the most important ticket for Tencent to enter the mobile Internet.
Such an important platform-based product has been restrained in adding functions. The product experience is still quite easy to use and concise. The iteration of each important version function is very forward-looking, such as voice intercom, shake one Shake, QR code, circle of friends, official account, etc., have almost all become the killer weapon of the product.
The operation design of some product functions is also very accurate and effective. For example, WeChat red envelopes drive WeChat payment, shake to promote users to attract new users, and fighter jets drive WeChat game center, all of which have become classic cases of low-cost detonation.
In the details of WeChat, it can be seen that Zhang Xiaolong has a very extreme understanding of user needs. At the same time, it can also resist the pressure of commercialization from inside and outside, and ensure the balanced development of commercialization and product experience, such as the gradual opening of advertisements in the circle of friends, and the resolute blow to induce sharing.
Xiaolong's 8-hour sharing of "The Product Logic Behind WeChat" in Tencent is also widely circulated in the circle. Many principles can be seen from his deep understanding of products and users. Here is a story he told himself to see :
"At that time, I remember that Pony sent an email saying that it looks very good when shaken, but do you want to refine it, and then refine it and think of all the refinements and expansions that you can think of, so as to avoid competitors Will do the same function, and then add a refinement point, and innovate. I replied to an email at that time, very confident, saying that we have done the most simplified, anything he adds is a minus point, and we also We have achieved the most natural experience and the most natural experience, so it is impossible to surpass us. I say that competitors cannot surpass us, because as soon as we change, we must add things, and adding things is wrong.”
Indeed, awesome Product managers are not good at adding, but subtracting.
He deserves to be called a god.
However, in the field of operations, there are few people who are recognized as gods like Zhang Xiaolong and Jobs. Is it difficult to operate well?
No, there are actually a lot of people who do well.
Why are there few gods of operation?
▎Reason 1: The success is more attributed to the product manager.
We often attribute the main honor of a company's success to the CEO or product manager. After all, they are the original initiator and designer of the product, which largely determines product trend and development.
The part of operation participation is to promote existing products to users, and to continue to create user value through content, activities, etc., there is a lot of operation work behind it that users cannot feel, or feel that they are not surprised. of.
Some copywriting operations have been revised hundreds of times, and finally they can be concise, vivid and full of tension, but the copywriting points to the product. The fundamental purpose of well-written copywriting is to make users feel that the product is good. If the copywriting is only written to make users feel that the copywriting is good and forget about the product, this type of copywriting will also fail.
A user who feels the convenience of offline WeChat payment will sigh at the convenience brought by the simplicity of WeChat payment design to life, but cannot see the blood and rain of WeChat and Alipay in the operation of offline merchants.
▎Reason 2: There are many factors to be relied on for successful operation. To
operate a product successfully, there are many factors that need to be possessed, including product characteristics, timing, environment, capital, luck, etc.
That is to say, even an experienced operation boss has great success in operation, and other factors need to be satisfied.
Denny, CEO of Lepure Milk, a popular yogurt brand, has transformed Lepure yogurt from a small start-up brand into a hit. Those who pay attention to its operation will find that his operational strength is really strong, and there are many things worth learning.
If he was sent to do the marketing of Sanlu milk powder, he might have achieved success, but it would never have been as big as it is now. Without some unique features and operational space of the product, many operations would not be possible.
It is also a high-level person, and the possibility of success in changing a product is much lower, so it is not easy to form a general agreement in the industry. It's good in itself, so it's easy to do."
Of course, we must also admit that a good product is indeed a necessary but not sufficient condition for a good operation. I also often say that a good operation cannot save a bad product. If the product itself is very bad, the operation will not be successful.
▎Reason 3: The operation history is not long, and
the position of operation of Internet products has not been created for a long time in the rapid change. There was no operation in the current sense before.
To be enough to be called God, you must have your own values and methodology, and you will need to go through a long test.
Although the product manager has not been around for a long time, some systematic implementation standards and knowledge frameworks have gradually come out, and the summary of the operation field has not kept up with the practice of rapid change.
With the rapid changes in the Internet environment, the operation itself is also constantly changing: forum blog marketing 8 years ago, Weibo marketing 5 years ago, H5 marketing 2 years ago, and now they are not so popular. It doesn't work now. Liu Keya, Wang Zijie, etc., who were very well-known for their blog marketing at the time, are rarely heard of by new operators now, and their own WeChat accounts are also pitiful.
In addition to the regular official account, other content distribution channels that are on the rise, such as Toutiao, Yidian News, Zhihu column, etc., the gameplay is very different from the official account. If you don't keep learning, you'll fall behind very quickly.
The history of operation is still too short, and the great god still needs to go through more tests.
▎Reason 4:
Different fields of operation have very different capability requirements. Products in different fields have very different capability requirements on how to do a good job in operation.
An operation that is very powerful in social products, if you switch to an O2O product to operate, it will definitely take a long time to explore.
Even for the same type of product, under different product atmospheres and temperaments, the operation methods will be very different. For example, Baidu Tieba and Zhihu, which also have a large number of users, have many differences in the operation methods and core capabilities behind them.
In addition, operating in some companies includes the responsibilities of marketing, public relations, customer service, and business. If you include P diagrams, materials preparation and other chores, the capability model required for operation is even more inconsistent.
In this case, we are more willing to call TA doing a good job in a certain aspect, such as copywriting master, ground push master, activity king, community expert, rather than calling him an operation master easily.
We-media expert Luo Zhenyu announced today that his WeChat official account has reached 9 million followers, and he planned a 22 million auction of Papi sauce advertisements to swipe the circle of friends, but would you call him the god of operation?
Implications for Operators
Since there are few great gods in operation, what is the enlightenment for operation practitioners?
▎Revelation 1: It is very important to choose the right company and team. The performance
of operational talents is so related to the product. It is very important to choose a good team. This choice is even more important than hard work.
▎Revelation 2: You must learn more about products
in operation. Future operations must be user-centered operations. If you don’t understand products and don’t understand user operations, there is no future. Understanding the operation of products and products that understand operation are the most sought-after professions in the next era.
▎Inspiration 3: Master the underlying methodology and core skills
, think more about the deep rules and essence, and find the underlying methodology, instead of just chasing individual fan-increasing skills. Cultivation ability also chooses some abilities that are still popular after the platform changes, such as writing copywriting, understanding needs, planning activities, etc.
▎It seems that product managers are more important, do I still continue to do operations?
In an era of increasingly fierce competition for product homogeneity, the importance of operations will only increase.
For example, in the O2O field of accumulated competition, the product experience of buying a group coupon with Meituan and Nuomi is not much different. The core competition is actually the operational strength of the two teams. At this time, the life and death of the two companies are determined by the operation. You and I.
Some people may think that operating salary is not high, it is just not doing well enough operation. Most of the departments in a company that are willing to invest money are the operations or marketing department, because user growth and revenue realization are mainly driven by this department, which is why search advertising companies like Baidu can earn daily income billions of reasons.
So please rest assured that excellent operations can have very good material returns.
Epilogue
This article is only a personal point of view. If you have different opinions, you are welcome to discuss. I hope that the discussion in this article will allow you to see some ways for the career development of operators, and have better development in the future.
Although Zhang Xiaolong and Jobs were regarded as the gods of products, they were not directly linked at the beginning, but were tempered little by little. Their products after middle age began to be more widely recognized and then they were named gods.
Although we may not all become gods, there are still ways to grow. If you devote yourself to cultivation, you can also gradually get better.
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original link: http://www.jianshu.com/p/3fe6a425fc38
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