Knowledge Paid Content Subscription Summit: You Shufan talks about five insights into engaging in paid knowledge services
This afternoon, I went to C.Cwork Zhaoji Business Center to participate in the “Knowledge Paid Content Subscription Summit (opens in a new tab)” hosted by M-Viewpoint Business School. The three speakers, You Shufan (opens in a new tab), Zhang Zhiqi (opens in a new tab) and Lin Yusheng (opens in a new tab), are all acquaintances. Friends, it can be said that they are the first choice in this field; in addition, I also saw some familiar faces at the venue, and it is obvious that everyone is concerned about issues such as payment for knowledge or content subscription.
You Shufan (Gipi), who is currently busy running “Business Thinking Academy (opens in a new tab)”, was the first to appear. I will also briefly record some of the insights and observations he shared here.
The slideshow that Gipi showed at the beginning attracted the attention of many people, and I saw everyone snapping pictures of it, and I totally agreed with it. I always believe that input is important, but the output after extraction, filtering and sorting is even more critical. It’s good to absorb a lot of knowledge, but it’s also important to know how to integrate it and know how to choose?
Next, he also talked about the usage profile of learners who pay for knowledge. According to the “82 rule”, it is not difficult to imagine that 80% of consumers are beginners, while the other 20% are advanced learners. Beginners have a large market share, but have less solid foundations, and their willingness to learn and budget are relatively low. On the other hand, senior scholars have a small market share, but their willingness to learn and budget are relatively high.
But here comes the problem. Although senior learners have relatively strong learning motivation and high willingness to pay, they also have relatively high requirements for service quality, so entering this market is not as easy as imagined.
Well, if you want to engage in knowledge payment industry, which market should you enter? There is obviously no standard answer to this, and Gipi itself is targeting learners in the middle. This is also the main positioning of the current “Business Thinking Academy (opens in a new tab)”.
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He also mentioned the current problems encountered by online courses. At the end of the fundraising, 90% of the proceeds have been received, and another 9% can be included when the course is launched. But where should we go after the course goes online? Has the originally expected long tail disappeared?
When Gipi talked about this, I couldn’t help but think of my experience in doing online courses (opens in a new tab) last year. Indeed, online courses have many limitations. As a teacher, you need to care deeply about your students, and you must continue to polish the courses and ensure high quality.
Hearing this sharing today gave me a new way of thinking about the planning and production of online courses. I also agree with Gipi that a better approach would be to combine online and offline teaching to create a set of learning courses and methods suitable for different students.
Of course, when it comes to paid knowledge services, the key is not just to make a good product, but also to take into account business development, marketing, sales and customer service. In other words, we need to consider different aspects including traffic, content, customers and user experience at the same time.
Next, Gipi also shared with you five insights he gained from engaging in paid knowledge services in the past few years, which are:
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Treat content as a product.
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Manage your customers in a formal way.
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Don’t sacrifice quality for scale.
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Select partners from a business perspective.
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Build your team and product portfolio.
Well, these five insights are quite precious and very pragmatic. They are indeed the key points that friends who are engaged in paid knowledge services need to think carefully. I have been thinking about related issues recently. Not only am I studying the issues of course design and content production, I am also deeply interested in attracting new students and retaining them. If you are also interested in research, please feel free to communicate with me!
Especially the slideshow above, which really talks about the key points and features of the knowledge payment platform. Recently, I also had the opportunity to interact with some domestic platform operators to understand the current development of the domestic knowledge payment industry. If you want to pursue the common interests of lecturers, platforms and learners, then you should indeed approach it from the perspective of cooperation and mutual benefit, which is the right choice.
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To achieve an ideal paid-for-knowledge service, sometimes it is difficult to accomplish it by just one person. At this time, the value of the team will be demonstrated! Although the concept of “one-person company” has become popular in recent years, if you can find like-minded partners or have a platform to assist you in the process of designing courses and services, it will complement each other.
Are you also interested in paid knowledge services? Come and discuss with me!
★ Want to use content marketing to grow your business? Come and take a look at “Content-inspired marketing (opens in a new tab)”.
★ Do you want your copywriting to be liked by more people? Come and watch “Slow Reading and Understanding in Seconds (opens in a new tab)”.
★ Welcome to purchase the audio course “Create Content Marketing from 0 to 1 (opens in a new tab)”.
★ To improve your content power, please don’t miss the online course “Content Power: The Super Power of Building Brands (opens in a new tab)”
★ Photo Credit: Pj Accetturo (opens in a new tab)
Further reading
- Exclusive interview with Zhou Qinhua, founder of “Science and Technology Island Reading”: Insights and experience sharing in operating subscription-based content
- How is a subscription service with a monthly amount exceeding 120,000 yuan created?
- PressPlay’s Attack: From a learning platform in the era of fragmentation to a brand promoter in the fan economy
Next step
Bring this topic to your team
Vista Cheng speaks and runs workshops on AI workflows, writing and content systems for companies, schools and public agencies.
