Author | Hu Zhanjia, Huang Qingchun
Title map | Tiger Sniff Design Department
As the birthplace of social originators, from early Facebook to Twitter to blogs and even short video content, to make a world-class social product, it must first be based in the United States that has become an industry consensus. The United States has therefore become a fascinating place for Chinese Internet practitioners.
TikTok ’s overseas version that entered the US market in 2018-TikTok is a well-deserved winner. At present, TikTok ’s global downloads are nearly 2 billion, and it has become a powerful US social giant such as Facebook and Instagram while becoming a mainstream market Challenger, this may only be the beginning when American teenagers are enjoying the changes brought about by TikTok.
More and more Chinese entrepreneurs began to follow the figure of TikTok, trying to replicate its development miracle. Perhaps for all companies going overseas, they should deeply study and understand the layout and play of TikTok.
The HOLLA Group, which specializes in video socializing with strangers, is one of them.
“The development path of TikTok is difficult to be copied.” Allen, co-founder of HOLLA Group, said. With TikTok beating against the bytes, it can be said to be a lot of money when it is promoted globally. Media Radar data shows that from 2018 to 2019, TikTok’s advertising expenditure in the US market has quadrupled. For small companies with limited capital and resources, the development channel for spending heavily on buying traffic and advertising is clearly closed.
Beyond TikTok, enter the US CityPlayers on the field need to find new battlefields and explore new social opportunities. Since its establishment in 2016, HOLLA Group has found a new way-video socializing with strangers, grabbing 90% of the market share in North America, and using this as the origin, it has radiated more than 100 countries and regions around the world; In the round of tens of millions of rounds of financing, the capital includes star organizations such as Wuyue and GGV Jiyuan Capital; after acquiring the competing Monkey, the total number of users exceeds 100 million.
HOLLA Group spent three years to gain a foothold in the United States and attracted the attention of giants. How can a small company stand out in the US market where giants and latecomers flock?
Find blank spots outside the giant
Unlike TikTok and local giants directly fighting, HOLLA Group chose to avoid giants and look for empty spots outside.
In the existing social platforms in the United States, whether it is Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat, it focuses more on the maintenance of the relationship of acquaintances in reality. HOLLA Group turns its attention to the battlefield of strangers socializing. In the social field of strangers, the local American Tinder and Bumble have already become the first echelon.
“But their product form almost stays in the graphic card mode, and it has not changed much, and this mode has long been unable to meet the generation Z of the United States that grew up under the camera “Remarks”> (born after 1996) . “Allen said.
Years of living and studying in the United States have told Allen that local young people are very confident in their image, knowing themselves through the front camera is more than looking in the mirror, and they are happy to show themselves; the way they communicate with each other is more FaceTime , Not graphic mode.
“The growing demand for dating among young people is an irreversible historytrend. “Tao Sha, founder of HOLLA Group, said.
Tao Sha, who was born in Nanjing in 1991, studied computer science in the United States. In 2014, at the age of 22, he resolutely gave up his studies and returned to China to set up a “blue whale live broadcast”. Although he has completed two rounds of financing of nearly ten million yuan, But in the Thousand Broadcasting War, the Taosha project did not become a survivor.
Occasionally, Tao Sha came into contact with Allen, an entrepreneur with the same American background and great enthusiasm for social products. The common label allowed the two to see the same thing and finally decided to start a business together. China moved to the United States, and they hope to provide a new connection for Gen Z to socialize with strangers through video chat. Therefore, combined with the mainstream trend, the product is focused on the peer-to-peer stranger video social field.
“Strangers’ social interaction requires technical support from the PC side to the mobile side. At that time, the iPhone penetration rate in the United States could reach more than 80%, and the hardware devices were getting better and better. This provided natural advantages for the product. ” >
U.S. acquaintances ’social product usage (picture: CGK)
According to the “Generation Z 2018” report released by CGK, smart phones are very important to the United States in Gen Z, and 95% of Gen Z currently own a smartphone. More than half of Gen Z spend more than 5 hours a day using smartphones, and 26% of them spend more than 10 hours a day.
Besides, the decentralized nature of American cities prevents them from knowing the outside world. “For this group of young people, they need to provide them with a new stimulus to meet their immediate enjoyment needs. “Now looking back, seizing generation Z and the post-95 young group is a key choice on the road to development.” Tao Sha said to Hu Sniff.
The first batch of users is too important
During the interview, Tusa said frankly that