Author | Cheng Yu
After the short drama became popular, the trend of "copywriting scripts" also spread to the emotional live broadcast room. Jingzhe Research Institute found that searching for "emotional live broadcast script" on Taobao can unlock various scripts. There are everything from "family stories", "mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship" to "husband and wife relationship" copywriting and scripts, with prices ranging from a few yuan to several hundred yuan. Some stores can also provide one-on-one customized script services based on the tone of the live broadcast room. A large number of emotional experts have also emerged on the
live broadcast platform. They chat with fans in the live broadcast room and answer various emotional problems, ranging from conflicts and quarrels in love to property division in marriage and family. While quickly attracting fans, it can also be monetized through one-on-one paid consultations, live streaming rewards, product cooperation, online course sales, etc., and the income behind it is also extremely considerable.
But the stories of bitterness and disputes in the live broadcast room may also be scripts to win public sympathy and defraud traffic. The industry has even formed a complete industrial chain from screenwriters to actors to training.
"Love trap" spawns gray transactions?
Jingzhe Research Institute has seen on the live broadcast platform that there are currently a considerable number of anchors who use the sign of "emotional counseling" to provide services in psychological counseling and love skills, but their professionalism is generally doubtful.
Because usually, if an anchor appears on the Internet in a professional or professional capacity similar to a "consultant", the platform needs to review and certify the anchor's identity and qualifications, and indicate his or her business scope. Currently, many anchors do not display similar platform certification labels on their account homepages.
In fact, there is currently no professional certification similar to "emotional counselor". As early as 2017, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security canceled the professional qualification certification of "psychological counselors" as they are known, which means that the number of counselors who can work with certificates is limited. But this does not prevent some institutions from soliciting business by using the identity of "psychological counselors", and there is even the possibility of "artificially creating" counselors.
Searched with the keyword "emotional counselor" on Boss Direct Recruitment. You can see that the entry threshold for this profession is not very high at present. There are no hard requirements for psychology-related majors and psychological counseling certificates, and most recruitment companies have positions The requirements are also marked with labels such as "no experience required", "no education required", and "telephone sales".
When platforms and industries lack strict control, emotional counselors, as a popular and relatively new profession, will inevitably fish in troubled waters, and institutions that defraud the market under the guise of "emotional counselors" will also Increasingly, over-promises to help seekers and even false propaganda to "cut leeks" are also occurring.
Xiaozi, a 25-year-old nurse in a rural hospital, told Jingzhe Research Institute about her experience of being deceived: "During that time, I broke up and wanted to get back together. I opened the short video platform and pushed an institutional account to me. I clicked in and took a look. It fits my situation very well. I remember it was free consultation at the beginning, and then I spent 2,000 yuan to place an order for a half-month primary consultation. After paying the money, I was recommended a teacher who taught me how to chat and also sent A document asked me to write down my thoughts after reading it."
After Xiaozi sent messages to communicate with the other party according to the method of an emotional counselor, it did not achieve any results. After half a month passed, Xiaozi was informed that the package had expired and needed to be paid. Only then did Xiaozi realize that she had been deceived by the emotional agency. However, this situation is not an isolated case. On the Black Cat Complaint Platform, the number of complaints against emotional consulting companies is close to 2,000. The reasons for the complaints are mostly "refuse to refund", "false service", "cheating consumption" and so on.
Not only is the service effect of the consulting company not guaranteed, but the emotional live broadcast room may also be fabricated. In October 2023, Red Star News reported an incident in which a live broadcast room made up a script to sell cheap handicrafts to retired elderly people at high prices. On the e-commerce platform, there are not only various copywriting scripts suitable for live broadcast rooms, but also professional merchants providing a complete set of services including ghostwriting plots, live broadcast scripts, and delivery skills.
A live broadcast room script seller revealed to Jingzhe Research Institute that before creating a customized script, a quotation will be communicated. On this basis, the buyer will pay half of the deposit in advance, and then clarify the creation requirements, including the number of words, delivery date, and what kind of script is needed. This type of script is used in short plays, micro-movies, and live broadcasts.
The seller further explained in detail that if it is a short play, the appearance, copywriting, scenery and screen content will be marked in the script, as well as what type of BGM needs to be used; if it is a live broadcast script, it will also be divided into spoken words. and story script.
Among them, the story script in the live broadcast room will first determine the core of the story, character settings and outline, and then the creation outline will be sent to the buyer for confirmation and feedback for modification, and then creation will be carried out. During the modification stage, the merchant also promises to make changes according to the buyer's requirements until they are satisfied.
In addition to scripts, there will also be "Mai Shou" hired by the anchor to be actors in the live broadcast room, and there are also mature recruitment channels. Jingzhe Research Institute learned that "Mai Shou" usually takes orders through the "Mai Shou Group" or a specific app. The task is to go online to share their "emotional problems" with the anchors, and the reward for each connection with Mai is between 15 yuan and 200. Yuan does not vary. Sometimes, Mai players also need to sign a confidentiality agreement to prevent the live broadcast script from being exposed. The interactive form of
live broadcast room allows emotional counselors to reach the audience more efficiently, and also makes it easier for ordinary people to access emotional counseling and psychological counseling services. But it is also worth noting that the mismatch between the high efficiency of the Internet and the low threshold of the industry has created potential market traps.
Full of emotions, traffic in place
The "2023 China Mental Health Blue Book" shows that the detection rate of depression risk among adults in my country is 10.6%, and the detection rate of anxiety risk is 15.8%. Only 36% of citizens believe that their mental state is healthy. good. In the context of fast-paced and high-pressure life, people have increasingly urgent needs for emotional and psychological counseling.
According to statistics, the number of views of "mental health" related videos on the Douyin platform has exceeded 10 billion. Driven by potential market demand, emotional short videos and emotional live broadcasts have become a major content direction to attract users' attention.
Jingzhe Research Institute has observed that emotional bloggers who are currently active on social networks publish daily content mainly based on emotional experiences, emotional concepts, emotional observation and analysis, and the live broadcast room is their direct channel for communication with fans. . And on platforms such as Douyin, Xiaohongshu and video accounts, most emotional bloggers who are certified as psychological counselors usually state in their personal profiles that they have academic certificates in related fields, or indicate their main emotional direction, and Practice time and case results.
An interesting phenomenon is that there are far more emotional bloggers on the platform than these "experts". Since the authentication boundaries of emotional accounts are not particularly clear, bloggers in other fields will also cover emotional content, such as knowledge and culture bloggers "Sister Caroline Hanhan", "Shen Yiyi", "Lawyer Long Fei" and "Lao Li" Han" etc. The account style of
"Sister Caroline Hanhan" focuses on "incremental information" and attracts fans through knowledge-based information such as her own experience, entrepreneurship, and growth. The user group of "Shen Yiyi" is relatively young, and the video content under the account is mostly about gender emotional topics. By telling about one's own feelings about feelings, it can resonate with fans emotionally.
Since ordinary people rarely come into contact with lawyers, lawyer bloggers such as "Lawyer Long Fei" and "Lawyer Lao Han" use live broadcasts to popularize the law and solve doubts, so that fans can't help but talk about their encounters. emotional disputes. But in fact, the audiences of the two lawyers are also somewhat different. The live broadcast room of
"Long Fei Lawyer" is mostly filled with women who express their pain. "Should I get divorced?" "How should I protect my property?" are high-frequency topics that often appear in the live broadcast room.In the live broadcast room of "Lawyer Lao Han", you can see more real cases of male consultation. Common consultation cases also include "I am getting married, how can I take advantage of the situation and keep the house as my sole possession and let the woman accompany me to repay the loan?" "I had an argument with my girlfriend and punched her into second-degree minor injuries. How can I avoid going to jail?" "I'm 21 years old, who should raise me?"...
These live broadcast rooms can be described as "exploding" The emotional disputes have attracted the attention of countless netizens. According to new data, "Lawyer Long Fei" has previously gained 2 million followers in a single month, and "Lawyer Han" has also achieved outstanding results of gaining 1 million followers in half a month. Although both of them are professional lawyers, it is not difficult to see that emotional issues are the theme of their content.
In addition, there are also some small bloggers, whose profiles are labeled emotional bloggers, but in fact they play more of a "tree hole" role. Through a continuous dialogue, the "speaking" person can talk about his worries and stress, while the blogger plays the role of a good listener and becomes a vent for emotions. The essentially emotional topics of
satisfy the curiosity of netizens and trigger extensive discussions. Behind the huge traffic, there are more and more ways for emotional bloggers to monetize.
Talking about love is more about money
Like most bloggers, the way of monetization for emotional bloggers is also inseparable from live streaming and selling courses. Among them, live streaming is still the most intuitive way to monetize.
Take the emotional blogger "Shen Yiyi" as an example. Among the 11 live broadcasts in the past 30 days, 10 of them carried merchandise, and the live broadcast sales were about 500,000-750,000 yuan. Jingzhe Research Institute has seen through new Douyin data and Douyin showcases that the categories promoted by "Shen Yiyi" include women's clothing, personal care, food, books and other products, among which the sales of women's down jackets and sanitary napkins account for Reaching 53.24%.
"Long Fei Lawyer" has added 38 live broadcasts with goods in the past 30 days, with total sales reaching about 1 million yuan. What she and "Shen Yiyi" have in common is that they both monetize their knowledge through payment, and use their personal IP to publish books or recommend emotional-related books. For example, "I hope the next time I cry, it's because I'm so happy" by "Shen Yiyi" has sold nearly 10,000 units on Douyin, while "Long Fei Lawyer"'s "Live Life Clearly" has also been sold on Douyin. 102,000 units sold.
As for online training, it is nothing new for emotional counselors to sell courses. The 25-year-old Gege, who works as an accountant, was troubled by emotional problems and bought a book called "Meeting the Unknown Self". The book contained a QR code for an emotional counselor. Camp” community, and then watched several instructors’ live broadcasts.
“I have been following this emotional blogger for almost 9 months. I don’t think it is necessary to go to a psychological counseling agency, so I just watch the live broadcast. It is very convenient. The teacher will ask questions during the live broadcast and let the group members The answer is something like 'recording thoughts' or 'examining oneself'."
However, according to Gege's observation, Lianmai is free, and the main purpose of bloggers is to sell courses. "And they will flood the social circle with information about selling courses. I looked at the price at that time and it was 5,980 yuan. The price was so expensive that I reconciled with myself on the spot."
And for some people with complex emotional problems, live broadcast, Listening to lectures will not satisfy the demand. Therefore, for this group of people, emotional counseling bloggers will launch one-on-one counseling services. By sorting out the content posted on the Internet, Jingzhe Research Institute found that consultation content mainly includes emotional analysis, emotional guidance, emotional healing, advice and Q&A, etc. However, consultants at different levels charge different fees, so the price of consultation is quite different. Prices range from a few hundred to several thousand yuan.
Jingzhe Research Institute consulted three emotional counseling agencies on the grounds of "love troubles". After understanding the basic situation, they began to recommend one-on-one counseling services. The price was within 100-1,000 yuan, and some agencies stated that they only provided single consultations. Guidance, you may need to renew in the future. During the consultation process, only one organization used more words to reflect its professionalism, and the language only explained "analysis and suggestions" without a clear commitment to solving user demands.
It is understood that another charging method is monthly consultation, and the price is about 4,000-6,000 yuan, or even higher. When the consulting party wants to save a relationship or repair a relationship, one or two consultation services obviously cannot guarantee that the problem will be solved, so a 30-day monthly subscription service that can provide answers at any time is more in line with actual needs.
From a market perspective, the demand for solving emotional problems through professional consultation exists objectively. Professional counselors can often help people who are trapped in emotions to see problems from a different perspective and solve them. Even if it doesn't lead to good results in the end, it can at least calm your emotions and relieve stress. Therefore, the pie in the emotional counseling business is huge.
But at the same time, the low threshold of the industry also means that there is a mixture of good and bad, and chaos abounds. If you hope to solve emotional problems with the help of "experts" in the emotional live broadcast room, you may fall into another "emotional trap."
* Xiaozi and Gege in this article are pseudonyms
