On algorithm-driven platforms like Douyin, “traffic” isn’t something you simply buy, it’s something you earn by owning a niche and building an audience that the algorithm can recognize and repeatedly match to your content. As competition intensifies, brands that rely on short-term bursts from top influencers often find themselves spending more while gaining less control. The real winners take a different route: they identify a narrow demand, secure a leading position within that ecosystem, and steadily grow a precise audience base through consistent self-operated content and store-based live streaming.
This approach also demands stronger defenses. As trends spread faster than ever, brands must raise the bar against plagiarism with exclusive footage, distinctive talent, and a creative system that’s hard to replicate. At the same time, a distributed KOC network enables rapid content testing and scalable reach turning experimentation into growth. Ultimately, content strategy is about creation, but platform competition is decided by audience assets: who owns the most accurate, reusable, and defensible community within the algorithm’s attention economy.
1) Identify niche needs and secure the top position within the ecosystem.
2) Focus not only on content but also on building a precise audience base.
3) Solidify self-operated content and store-based live streaming, avoiding the wasteful spending on top influencers.
4) Raise the bar for plagiarism, for example, by using exclusive footage or actors.
5) Use a large number of Key Opinion Consumers (KOCs) for distributed content testing and distribution.
6) Prevent major brands from copying your hit products and firmly defend your established ecosystem position.
The core message is: content strategy ultimately comes down to content creation, while overall competition hinges on audience assets.
find a niche where you can realistically win and aim to be No.1.
On TikTok/Douyin, the algorithm keeps showing similar ads to the same users until they buy. Even after purchase, users still see competing products, which triggers constant comparison and drives higher return rates.
That’s why being “top” matters not just in a product category, but in the ecosystem that solves a specific need (user intent, price range, and competitor strength). When you own that position, you absorb competitors’ ad spend and capture their audience.
In short: the platform rewards winners heavily, first gets the most, second gets less, and everyone else struggles.
From raw materials to user base and assets.
The shift from material-led thinking to user-centric thinking is already clear. Teams that succeed don’t just improve the product, they build user-focused assets alongside it.
“Grass planting” is a misleading term. A better concept is popularity assets: deciding the most cost-effective way to grow attention and trust.
This shift happens through team collaboration (joint operations) or team integration (bringing in external specialists). In a full-channel era, once conversion efficiency stabilizes, monthly sales are largely driven by your audience/population assets.
In the end, teams compete on the total cost of expanding audience assets and on how consistently they find new traffic and value opportunities.
Build on self-operated accounts, and invest in content infrastructure.
The trend is irreversible: top livestreaming platforms are now marketplaces that profit from store-based livestreaming. Instead of burning money chasing “top traffic,” put resources into running and improving your own store lives, the math is obvious.
You either manage a disciplined, scalable “ant army” (distributed operators), or you strengthen your in-house engine: expand content materials, upgrade your team, and build solid infrastructure. This foundation is non-negotiable.
Don’t copy other brands blindly. Each company’s stage is different. If someone says infrastructure doesn’t matter, they’re likely already at the top and simply won’t see big gains from it.
Small wins come from hard work; big wins come from innovation.
Raise the anti-copying barrier, visuals become the moat.
In a market where everyone borrows from everyone, copywriting and structures quickly look the same. What truly differentiates you is how hard you are to copy.
Do that by either:
When things feel chaotic, step back and think at a higher level first—then return to execution with clearer priorities. Small differences in what you treat as “important” can lead to completely different outcomes.
Distributed content is a must – have hurdle.
For most brands, the endgame is distributed content capability scaling content production and testing across many small creators.
Think of it like distributed computing: one big problem is split into many smaller tasks, processed in parallel, then combined into one result. In Douyin, this model is powered by KOCs creators who work mainly on commission (no slot or service fees), regardless of follower count.
KOCs evolve through two stages:
The key is quality KOCs or low-cost small KOLs, plus a reasonable budget for content sourcing. Success comes from content strategy + optimized information placement + strong conversion.
Stop wasting budget on random bets. Solve “distributed content migration” first because every traffic-winning organization eventually builds scalable templates and grows by repeating what works (known certainties).
Finally, “distributed” is not the same as “copying”: distributed means finding what reliably works for your product efficiently, while copying borrows what worked for others and tries to adapt it.
Don’t let big brands hijack your wins.
In the past, white-label sellers benefited from brands that “seeded demand” but didn’t build strong infrastructure. Now the cycle has flipped: big brands upgrade their infrastructure, copy products that white-labels have already proven, improve them, and then win with stronger trust, authority, and brand endorsement.
Once demand is validated, larger players can step in and take the market fast. So you must protect what you’ve earned: defend your niche, especially the one you target with paid ads, and build safeguards against copying and interception.
Bottom line: materials lead to content strategy; full-scale competition is about audience assets.
To reduce internal friction, align the team around one system linking infrastructure, viral templates, user base assets, strategy, algorithm dynamics, and distributed execution.
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MMG Thailand is the first and only Chinese-owned Chinese marketing company in Thailand that aims to connect Sino-Thai cultures and power partners’ success.
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