Many people from the media should have this experience: others write articles once a week with good topics, all of which are 10w+ explosive articles; And your five articles every day, without exception, are complacent, adding up to less than 1000. Why look at Mi Meng and xu teacher, but only envy? 80% of the reason lies in the topic selection.

For self-media, topic selection is an important prerequisite for producing excellent content. If you don't choose a topic, you won't be able to complete the daily work indicators. In the long run, the quality of your work will only stay at a mediocre level. Therefore, whether you can choose a topic is an absolute prerequisite for whether you can produce excellent content.

First, solve the three major difficulties in selecting the topic.

Difficulty 1: The topic is not to users' taste.

Many operators often face a big dilemma: obviously there are a certain number of fans, but the reading volume of articles is difficult to match the fan base. In fact, this is the problem that the topic is not to the user's taste. Below I will introduce some methods to help you solve this problem.

1. 1 Clear positioning

To do self-media, that is, to do content operation, we need to define the positioning first, and then carry out content production. "Positioning" refers to defining one's writing direction or operational goal. Some self-media exist to serve the products or brands of enterprises, so the content produced cannot be separated from the products and brands of enterprises themselves. For example, official website Weibo of Durex sends advertisements related to its products. Other self-media that are not subordinate to enterprise products or brands also need to have their own positioning and determine the direction of content output. For example, Mi Meng is an emotional official WeChat account, so she will not seriously discuss the impact of Trump's appointment on China and the United States.

Before choosing a topic, we must first understand the products, first understand the products we serve, and don't be divorced from the products and brands; Self-media operators who do not serve enterprises are products themselves, and they need to be clear about their own advantages and expertise to ensure the output of valuable content. Secondly, it is necessary to clarify the functional orientation, that is, to clarify whether your operation is to show the corporate and brand image or to create a personal brand. Thirdly, it is necessary to define the content orientation, that is, the field of writing, such as emotion, health, fashion, entertainment and so on. Finally, be clear about your role, that is, in what capacity do you want to write, such as an old driver, an intimate sister or a cute virtual character.

1.2 Understanding users

"Knowing users" means knowing what kind of users you are targeting and digging deep into users' pain points, needs and preferences. Some operators have asked this question: Do you want to create content first and find the right fans through good content? Or define your own fans first, and then output content that suits your appetite? I think it is the latter. Only by knowing what kind of people you want to attract from the media can you "tailor-made" appropriate content around these people. Although it can't be "broken one by one", it can at least "prescribe the right medicine".

Understand the importance of "understanding users", so how can we really understand users? There are several ways:

user portrait

"Portrait of users", that is, tagging of user information, refers to abstracting a user's business panorama by collecting and analyzing the data of main information such as social attributes, living habits and consumption behaviors of users. Collect user's age, gender, region, preferences and other information, label it, and then draw a three-dimensional portrait of the user by combining all the labels of the user. According to the "portrait", the content is "tailor-made", and the content made can hit the user's pain point and cause * * *.

Draw a user growth path

With the extension of the subscription period, users will want to get the information of the next stage while getting the information of one stage. If the growth path of users is recorded, then different nodes on this path can become good topics for users at different stages. For example, to be an official WeChat account for job hunting, you can make content according to the needs of users at different stages of job hunting. At the beginning of job hunting, users can push resume production skills, interview skills and other content; When users reach the entry stage, they can push the handbook of newcomers in the workplace, career development and other content.

Grasp the focus of users' attention

Use Baidu to search websites such as Billboard, Baidu Index, Sina Micro Index, etc. to understand the keywords frequently searched by users and what users are most concerned about. In this way, we can not only know the users' concerns, but also know the hot spots, and the obtained data can help us screen keywords and become excellent topics.

Difficulty 2: I can't find a good topic.

Being unable to find a topic and not knowing what to write is often a big problem that puzzles media people. Below I will share some experiences to help solve the problem of lack of topics.

2. 1 Get inspiration from user feedback

What kind of user feedback do we need? The first thing we need is users' spit or appreciation of the content, so as to correct or continue the current direction in time. Secondly, we also need users' suggestions to choose the most interesting ones according to the data. For example, in Weibo funny charts, questions suggested by fans are often selected from Weibo's comments, and some topics that can trigger * * * are often selected. So how do you get user feedback? The following two methods are recommended:

User survey: use questionnaires to directly obtain intuitive user data;

Direct communication: direct communication with users, such as comment interaction.

2.2 Establish your own content library

When browsing the web, watching videos and even daily life, it will be very helpful to collect what you think will be used and build your own content library. Not only websites, but also popular words, pictures, audio, video and visual design products can be put into the content library. The significance of establishing a content library is to ensure that you always know the latest news in your field and always stay one step ahead. So how do you build your own content library? Here are some ways to help you enrich your content library:

Organize topic selection meetings: If the media is operated as a team, you can hold topic selection meetings regularly to accumulate daily topics and materials;

Daily accumulation: you can accumulate interesting words and pictures in daily life as writing materials;

Pay attention to hot spots: pay attention to news clients, friends circle, Baidu search list and other lists to maintain sensitivity to hot spots;

Pay attention to industry information: pay attention to KOL of peers and industries and keep abreast of the latest information of the industry;

Pay attention to time nodes: pay attention to the forefront of the industry, especially the fixed activities such as influential competitions, as well as some marketing nodes and festivals, which can all become time nodes;

Pay attention to competitors: pay attention to more successful accounts in the same field and learn their topics, module organization, fan interaction, writing skills and so on;

Use Q&A platform: Use Zhihu, answering questions and other Q&A platforms to search for high-profile questions related to your own content, and you can also step on hot spots and get many good topics.

Difficulty 3: I don't know how to write a good topic.

What is a good topic?

Before writing a topic, you must first understand what a good topic is. A good topic often has the following factors:

Readability: Readability refers to whether this topic can attract people to read and whether it has the potential of widespread dissemination;

Value: value is the importance of content, that is, how many people, who and to what extent the content affects;

Information increment: refers to providing readers with the content of articles on the same topic published by other media;

Values: Values can be reflected in the structure of the title and content.

A good topic should be able to arouse users' * * and urge users to forward it. For example, Mi Meng's article "Don't believe in tears in the workplace, go home and cry" is a typical good topic: at the same time, it pokes the pain points of bosses and employees and causes fierce controversy. No matter whether Mi Meng conveys the correct values, there is no doubt that her articles have aroused many people's voices and formed a screen.

3.2 How to write a good topic

Before writing, we must first determine the angle of writing. You can learn from the perspective of explosive articles, refer to the writing ideas of explosive articles, and summarize the writing routines of the same type of topics; You can also adapt to the user's psychology, analyze the user's needs, and step on the emotional pain points of users; The most maverick way is to deliberately do the opposite, because the topics of explosive articles have often been verified and you can choose with confidence, so you can deliberately pursue novelty when writing, which may have good results. After determining the writing angle, it is necessary to determine the writing keywords according to the user's portrait and search data, and then relate the relevant keywords as much as possible, and finally select the keywords to determine the writing theme. The last thing to do is to spread the content according to the identified keywords. In the process of content divergence, the following two methods can be used:

Jiugongge method: the central square of Jiugongge is the core theme, which diverges outward. The contents of the other eight squares are closely related to the core, but not necessarily related to each other;

Mind mapping: Mind mapping can help to sort out ideas and dig deep into specific topics.

Second, case sharing

The best way to learn is to combine theory with practice. Here, I share some famous media person Mi Meng's experience in topic selection, all of which are taken from an article published by her in 14, "How to find news topics in eating, drinking and having fun":

There is always a folder on my computer desktop. I always throw in creative and valuable sentences, pictures, visual designs and other things I see, sort them out every once in a while, and classify them into my question bank, question bank, picture library and layout library.

I like reading the collection of British tasteless jokes on the omelet. It's all clever yellow jokes. I will choose those with special IQ and save them. I have nothing to do with studying their logic and analyzing the generation principle of humor. I find there are many rules to follow. Just like Woody Allen's humor, it is an analyzable and imitative mixture of abstract principles and daily life. For example, I don't believe in an afterlife, but I will bring a change of underwear. For example, what if everything doesn't exist and everything is an illusion? My 300-pound carpet is definitely a loss.

Watch American TV dramas, Japanese TV dramas and Korean TV dramas, and write down good lines when you hear them. I wandered around Tianya Forum and read some dog blood posts without nutrition. By the way, I can find particularly imaginative sentences. I will also copy down the funny sentences I saw in Weibo to encourage myself to be more creative when choosing the title. Ye San, for example, said that after reading the analysis of real estate and the trend of housing prices, he felt that the so-called Issey Miyake basically became an extravagant hope. If you don't mix well, you may have three lives and one room-what a good title of the property market edition. Issey Miyake? Dream! Maybe it will be three lives and one house!

For example, I read faster and insist on reading two serious books every week. I don't just flip through it, but read it from beginning to end, take notes and recite beautiful sentences by the way.

For example, when I watch Kangxi Comes, I can't help but analyze how Cai Kangyong throws an embarrassing question to the interviewee, and subtly makes the interviewee jump into a question trap-I think I can write a professional analysis of at least 10,000 words on this topic alone. I read Cai Kangyong's The Way of Speaking and found that many skills can be used in the interview. I can write a book, The Way Journalists Speak. For example, in order to make the other person more cooperative with the interview, I often praise him first. How to praise him? You have to use Sherlock Holmes' reasoning thinking, observe him and every clue around him, and guess what kind of praise he prefers. For example, if there is a family photo on the other party's desk, then praise her mother, an absolute beauty, and fall in love with her son at first sight, which is simply a lean future. If an entrepreneur suddenly does charity recently, it shows that he hates being regarded as a profiteer, wants to pretend to be forced, and likes others to praise his enterprise for its social responsibility and humanistic care.

Where is the good topic? The topic is lurking around you. Wherever detective Conan goes, there is murder. The awesome thing about journalists is that wherever I go, there is news. The awesome thing about editing is that wherever I go, there are topics. In fact, the opportunity to get exclusive news is limited. There is a saying in the American press: there are no new stories, only new reporters-you are highly hungry and sensitive to the topic. For example, I asked, how many girls are there with big breasts? It is estimated that most people don't know, but goats must know that they are sensitive and hungry enough for breasts above D cups.

We must turn on the switch in the brain and perceive the topic 24 hours a day, just like a goat perceives big breasts.

Of course, we often look for topics in professional fields and industry fields, but I want to say, don't let your thinking be limited. As long as you are alive, you are moving, you are receiving counseling, you are eating, drinking and having fun, and you may find a good topic in every move.

(data collation)