Exclusively talk about the 16th photo editing software PicsArt in the App Store global downloads, discussing the opportunities and challenges of the social media era.
In today’s information age, the development of information technology is changing with each passing day, and the speed of response to the development of technology-driven markets is accelerating. At the World Information Technology Conference (WCIT) held on October 6-9, experts and scholars discussed the “decentralization” of the media brought about by the transformation of information technology, that is, “openness in media communication.” , flat, and equal systemic phenomena or structures.”
From the perspective of TMT practitioners, “media decentralization” brings the market turn.: The prevalence of social media has reshaped market communication, further affecting business management and operations. The shape also constitutes countless emerging markets. The new trend provides a new runway for startups. Tracking successful startups in the industry, we are trying to dismantle the secrets of startup success under the big waves.
PicsArt, photo editing creative platform and social editing application, the 16th mobile app in the App Store global download volume in the first half of 2019. The monthly active creators on its platform exceed 130 million, and global downloads exceed 600 million times. The near 1 billion images created, mixed and shared in the PicsArt community each month make it one of the world’s largest open source content collection platforms. In the past year, PicsArt’s user base in China is growing at a rate of 10%-30% per month, and China has become the fastest growing market for PicsArt.
In the World Information Technology Conference (WCIT) held in October, he talked with Picsart COO Tammy Nam to discuss the entrepreneurial experience of PicsArt since its founding seven years and the industry observation and thinking in the digital media era. The contents are organized as follows: /p>
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User targeting: “Media decentralization”, led by Generation Z
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Marketing Strategy: Maximizing Celebrity Effects
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Trend Insight: Short video and mobile tooling trends
Under the media decentralization: led by the Z generation
The trend of “media decentralization”, PicsArt’s market insight is: Today’s user market is dominated and architected by Generation Z. It is this part of the user that shapes the product form and market trends in the new environment.
The Pew Research Center in the United States says that Millennials (those who were born between 1981 and 1996) and Generation Z will form the largest consumer group in 2019. Generation Z, usually refers to people born between the mid-1990s and 2010. This part of the number of users is considerable, strong consumption, and a wide range of acceptance. In China, the Z generation is about 260 million people, accounting for 19% of the total population in 2018.
The importance of Generation Z on social media comes from the way they use mobile devices and the time they spend immersive: Mobile devices are the primary way of connecting and connecting with each other in the Z generation, spend an average of 3 hours and 38 minutes a day on your smartphone , 50 minutes longer than ordinary Internet users.
At present, nearly 80% of users at PicsArt are under the age of 35, with female users accounting for 55%. In the process of reaching out to the younger generation, PicsArt found that this group has outstanding features: they have a wide range of interests and energies; they prefer simple and convenient operations, but enjoy spending enough time on a simple basis. Compared to older consumers, Generation Z is more than happy to showcase themselves and their work on social media.
The Z-generation pays for its hobbies and preferences, making it a more market-driven user.
Z Generation in the mass media prefers to label their own “minority”, which identifies and displays their own personality and hobbies. PicsArt’s various themes, including Korean pop music, celebrities, animation, science fiction, and space science, have been loved by young people with diverse hobbies, and have driven the construction of social groups for photo sharing. At PicsArt, 600-800 images per second were uploaded to the community by younger users, and some were directly shared on social media, bringing PicsArt a “collection of water” from a strong community.
Subculture is also an important part of Generation Z youth. “We noticed that young people are communicating through emojis, short videos, pictures and stickers, and they rarely use text,” says PicsArt COO Tammy Nam. Unlike the same kind of photo editing software VSCO and Snapseed, in addition to a variety of filters, editing materials such as effects, stickers and GIF files also appear in the PicsArt content library, encouraging users to “create” the image instead of simply editing.
Fan culture is also an important keyword to discuss “Z-era” consumption can not be ignored: “We have noticed that the fan community is our important user, and now young users like idols very much.” In PicsArt’s office, there are pictures of countless fans making and designing for idols, including the Korean idol group BTS and the American idol, Shawn Mendes, who also put the butterfly totems made by fans using PicsArt on the left arm. PicsArt brings a huge marketing effect. In the Chinese market, most of PicsArt’s use strategies come from fans. They write a lot of strategies, and how to use software to make posters and wallpapers for idols, and directly help the product’s self-traffic promotion.
Meng De’s conversation with fans
“Required” business under the celebrity effect
As Kim Kardashian West said at the World Information Technology Conference, on social media, “image is everything.” The general illusion brought by social media is: “Everyone can become Kardashian.”
In the view of PicsArt’s CEO and founder Hovhannes Avoyan, social media is now in the “post-production” era, with larger scale and lower thresholds, while celebrities are The effects in social media are obvious.
PicsArt is handy about the use of celebrity effects, they are social media namesThe best beneficiary of the human effect. The company has established connections with many music artists and celebrities. Kim Kardashian West, Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, Will Smith and other celebrities have collaborated with PicsArt to use their software, Fox, Facebook, Disney and other companies to promote the brand. A huge traffic promotion. Fans and fellow groups around celebrities and strong IPs have become the most loyal users of software.
In the digital media era, PicsArt notes that ordinary people also have the opportunity to gain influence in the mass media. This means that the meaning of the “celebrity effect” in the current era is further “deducted”: consumers not only follow, blindly follow celebrities, believe in and follow the propaganda and market effects brought by celebrities, “becoming a celebrity” has also become One of the consumer’s needs, consumers began to think – “How can I make myself a celebrity?”
“In order to be more influential on social media, users must edit their own content.” In the context of the simplification of image editing operations, PicsArt’s background data shows that users are still repeatedly importing images again and again. Edited images, then uploaded and published on different social platforms. In the eyes of PicsArt, photo editing is a “essential consumer product” born under social media.
In the era of social media, such “essential consumer goods” are born and updated all the time: in the social media era, behind the demand for “release a perfect photo”, hidden Mito mobile phones, photo editors and even beauty bodies The rise of new consumption in consumption. Under the call of KOL and “everyone can become Kardashian”, the herd effect of “Celebrities have, I have to have” is further magnified, and the “necessities” will continue to expand. Numerous startups are discovering, tapping and even creating “essential consumer goods” in the Wang Yang information flow of social media.
Kim Kardashian West and Picsart Management Photo
Trend: Short video and instrumental trends that no one can escape
“We found that in our user researchIn addition to PicsArt in many users’ mobile phones, another software that will be installed is Tik Tok.
Photo editing companies, including PicsArt, have found that more and more users are increasingly interested in short videos.
The rapid advancement of social media provides a variety of market opportunities for the market. Under the “3-second rule” of social media, users’ concerns are constantly changing, market competition is fierce, and companies must respond to the trend. .
When asked what is the current trend of most concern? PicsArt believes that it is the popularity of short video and the iteration of advanced technology.
“We have included video editing capabilities in our plans to introduce sophisticated video editing capabilities this year, allowing users to edit videos just like editing images,” said COO Tammy Nam. At a time when images are no longer enough to attract users’ attention, visual story ragardless of types will become a new trend. All companies in the industry are following the trend of users, worrying about being forgotten by the “onlookers” on social media.
In the development and iteration of product features, the introduction of AI technology seems inevitable. “Currently, 70% of PicsArt’s employees are technical and product teams, and this number is still rising. PicsArt’s AI labs in Moscow and Yerevan are stepping up their research into the in-depth application of AI technology in photo editing and community management. According to COO Tammy Nam, PicsArt’s technical team will work with the development of a picture recognition and review mechanism to further enhance the PicsArt user experience.
Another noteworthy insight is PicsArt’s mobile tool development direction.
“We have noticed that many of our users use our software to design commercial documents such as logos and posters, not just photo editing.” According to COO Tammy Nam, this drives PicsArt towards a mobile-side tool provider as a social media, driving “unique combination of creative tools, contents, and community” .
The vision of “tooling” reduces the sociality of Picsart and emphasizes its instrumentality. This makes PicsArt avoid the embarrassment of competing with social software users, and highlights the professional distinction between filters with simple filters or simple editing capabilities.. PicsArt, which is more than just a filter, has gradually extended its market positioning to photographers, designers and other design practitioners who use social software to publish images, and the depth of image media inspired by social software to develop image creation interests and preferences. Users, this will be a group of users with a broader group, willingness to pay and more ability.
“Adobe on the mobile side”, Tammy Nam is positioned to position PicsArt. For the six-year increase in the standard of six times, the market value of more than 120 billion picture software giant Adobe, PicsArt is convinced of the instrumental market potential of mobile software.
Summary
In the era of social media, the “central decentralization” of the market has both opportunities and risks.
By the social media critique in the academic world, the development of social media actually lowered the entry barrier of TMT track, created more market opportunities, and made countless “single-starting” business legends possible.
When the TMT industry slows down and the market returns to calm, we believe that to achieve sustainable development, product development for user needs, absolute respect for social media influence, and precision for technology trends Control will greatly affect the development of startups.
Getting started, how to get back to life, will also become a problem that plagues entrepreneurs in the next stage. In the early days of the rise of the track, the company integrated the team and followed the market. “Winning the wind” is often brilliant. In the mid-term of market development, the market began to experience a recession or stagflation. “How to re-confirm the company’s market positioning, and even the strong man’s broken wrist, in order to survive and stand under market integration and head effect” is becoming a thinking question for many racers entering the mature stage. While you want to take the lead, even overtaking the curve, it is more dependent on seeking a new driving force for development, requiring companies to carry out market integration under the circumstance of the situation, and even the strong man breaks the wrist.
Emergency hardship, the market will always be the slogan laughing to the last warrior cheers.
Special note: This image is from PicsArt and the web.