Back to the Past to Become a Fishing King

Chapter 831 - 561: Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket (2)

Developing on someone else’s platform and having them privately approach the main figure to discuss contracts naturally makes sense.

Chen Xiu replied, "It’s the Deputy Minister of Platform Recruitment Division, Qiu Bing! From what he says, there isn’t much room to move. If you want to continue developing on the platform, you have to sign!"

"Have to sign? That’s a bit tyrannical, isn’t it?" Zhang Yang felt a sinking feeling.

Unlike regular content-producing influencers who grow their follower base, someone like Chen Xiu, with a significant impact on sales, has been diminishing the platform’s overall commercial potential with ever-increasing commercial strategies ever since the introduction of the platform’s Xiao Huang Car.

"What do you think I should reply? Maybe you can ask President Liu indirectly?"

"Okay, I’ll ask around and get back to you!"

After hanging up Chen Xiu’s call, Zhang Yang didn’t feel up to continuing fishing from his tackle box. He quickly found Liu Xingyun’s contact and dialed directly.

The relationship between Liu Xingyun and Zhang Yang was established early when they both worked at Yingke. Later, Old Liu followed Zhang Yang’s advice to transfer to Kuaishou, where Zhang Yang helped with strategies like the Xiao Huang Car and other commercial monetization paths, enabling Liu Xingyun to secure a solid position among top executives.

Eventually, Zhang Yang and Old Liu partnered to establish an MCN company and signed a host of influencer anglers, earning a substantial private income annually.

Now, Liu Xingyun is practically second-in-command within the top corporate hierarchy, while Zhang Yang is certainly considered his benefactor.

After a few rings, the call was answered.

"Hello? Need something from me?"

"Haha, Brother Liu, there’s indeed a matter. I heard from Little Chen that Qiu Bing from the company talked to him, requesting Chen Xiu’s sales team to sign with the platform? What’s going on?"

Zhang Yang went straight to the point without any small talk.

"That’s right, this situation has indeed arisen. Recently, sales teams have developed explosively, somewhat beyond the platform’s control.

Moreover, some have been selling counterfeit goods and causing trouble with certain absurd acts, creating a bad impression, so the boss decided to incorporate these sales influencers into a unified platform management system.

Did Chen Xiu approach you? What’s your take?"

"Incorporate them – is that signing individuals or the company? Wouldn’t it be easier to sign the company for unified platform management? According to Chen Xiu, Qiu Bing’s list involves signing individuals, and only the key figures!"

"Well... haha, you’re not an outsider; the platform certainly has to consider all influences and effects.

By signing the individuals, these influencers become tied to the platform, preventing those who’ve gained fame from harboring ideas of transferring or starting their own venture. Signing a contract essentially eradicates this risk in its infancy!"

Liu Xingyun didn’t talk bureaucratically but rather shared the platform’s executive insights candidly, aligning closely with Zhang Yang’s own analysis.

Such concerns on the platform’s part are very normal, and if Zhang Yang were in that position, he would contemplate the issue similarly.

In a previous life, Kuaishou E-commerce didn’t use contract-signing measures, leading to e-commerce giant Simba achieving sales revenue of several tens of billion in a single livestream during his peak, thus nearly having the leverage to rival the platform.

In this life, thanks to Zhang Yang’s proposal, Kuaishou E-commerce’s development avoided many detours and made the executives recognize the powerful prowess of those leading sales influencers.

Under such circumstances, knowing that nurturing a potential threat is inevitable, it’s naturally wise to act preemptively.

"Brother Liu, you know I don’t like being constrained! Chen Xiu is my guy, and he’s been thriving for the past year. Can’t you show some flexibility and avoid those pressing methods that require signing contracts? With our relationship, we shouldn’t need contracts for restraint!"

Although Zhang Yang knew it was hard, he still braved the issue.

"Sigh... your request puts me in a tough spot! This decision came straight from the boss; how do you expect me to negotiate for you?

Moreover, signing the contract is merely a constraint; there aren’t any additional deductions, and the platform provides extra traffic exposure, leading to a win-win cooperation!"

Liu Xingyun knew Zhang Yang’s temperament but was positioned here, trying to persuade gently to keep the conversation light.

"Is there no room for negotiation?" Zhang Yang inquired further.

"There’s essentially no negotiation possible. If those large e-commerce firms continue growing unchecked by the platform, it will spell trouble!

Chen Xiu is your buddy, and you’re my partner; I wouldn’t deceive you! It’s not that I’m not helping; it’s just no space for maneuvering!"

"Alright, I understand. I’ll talk to Little Chen later and reach out once there’s a result!"

Zhang Yang didn’t push further, accepting the platform executive’s stance and ceased to pursue the matter incessantly.

"Zhang Yang, don’t blame me for this, brother. I’m constrained here!"

"I know! Let’s leave it at this for now, talk later!"

After hanging up, Zhang Yang took two deep breaths to suppress his anger before calming down.

Over the years at Kuaishou, Zhang Yang felt his development was quite smooth, both in his personal account and the company’s account matrix, seeing favorable outcomes.

With Liu Xingyun in place, any influencer-related minor issues or violations were generally overlooked.

But when faced with critical issues, after all, the platform is still the platform, and differences in stance dictate that strategies will not change for any individual.

Though the growth momentum of Kuaishou is vigorous now, its core essence is essentially no different from Yingke.

In a previous life, starting from 2020, Kuaishou was increasingly caught up and surpassed by Douyin, resulting in noticeable traffic decline, a mass exodus of influencers transitioning to Douyin. Although Kuaishou wasn’t entirely crushed, it certainly suffered a substantial blow to its vitality.

Initially, Zhang Yang thought, with his rebirth memories and having Liu Xingyun’s support in the executive chair, he could somewhat reshape Kuaishou’s operational approach.

Yet, unexpectedly, upon achieving a certain development stage, signing contracts, suppressing influencers, and forcibly balancing platform traffic still couldn’t be avoided.

Exaggeratedly speaking, Zhang Yang felt somewhat disheartened. Although his insights helped Liu Xingyun secure his position among the top executives, they couldn’t impact the companywide executive decisions.

Given this situation, the further development direction of the platform is still destined to follow the same path as in the previous life, inevitably getting caught up and overtaken by Douyin.

Because of Chen Xiu’s matter, having discerned the underlying logic, Zhang Yang made a new decision.

Don’t put all eggs in one basket; instead of hoping this basket remains problem-free forever, it’s better to allocate part of the effort to multi-platform deployments.

After calming down, Zhang Yang called back Chen Xiu and promptly drove to the company headquarters.

After a brief exchange with Old Zhao, the company executives convened an emergency meeting to proactively arrange new strategies for ongoing development.

Some might complain, saying, Kuaishou and Douyin are almost similar platforms, aren’t they?

Traditionally, Kuaishou dominates the North and Douyin the South, with at least a 50% overlap in users. In outdoor vertical categories like fishing, Kuaishou’s development is evidently better, while currently on Douyin, it’s not a mainstream category.

At this 2018 time point, Kuaishou’s growth momentum appears stronger.

Whereas Douyin? It’s still filled with various transformations, antics, and petite bourgeoisie sentiments.

That’s indeed the case, but rather than waiting for the tree to grow and then picking the fruit, it’s better to establish a relationship with the orchard owner while it’s still a sapling.

Currently, Douyin’s outdoor traffic is indeed lacking, yet the competition is sufficiently small. Early planning by setting up accounts can still enjoy the abundance of top influencers’ benefits.

To take a step back, even if Kuaishou applies pressure on unsigning influencers, there is still the fallback of Douyin.

Moreover, from a future development perspective, Douyin’s potential is greater. The previous life’s viral success of Deng Gang’s account with over 20 million followers is still fresh in memory.