In addition to this, there was also the new column from Fei Huang Studio.
After establishing the rule of “bonuses based on reputation,” both the gaming department and Fei Huang Studio’s short video department would need to make some business adjustments.
However, shortly, Fei Huang Studio was still very likely to continue making money from sponsored content.
So, Pei Qian felt that he could consider “helping” Fei Huang Studio realize the drawbacks of sponsored content, make them see the voice of the masses, and thus naturally complete the transition from profit-seeking to reputation-building.
As the saying goes, without experiencing storms, how can one see the rainbow? Flowers in a greenhouse cannot succeed so easily…
Ahem, well, actually, Pei Qian simply wanted them to take on fewer sponsored content. After all, there were only two months left until settlement, and for the sake of the system’s special reward, nothing could go wrong!
As for how to do this specifically…
Pei Qian silently logged into AiLiDao and sent a private message to an uploader called “Xiaohui Reviews.”
After the previous incident, Pei Qian had already roughly guessed that this Xiaohui Reviews was probably not an easy character.
Whether it was taking sponsorships or annoying people, they had a whole system for it.
For this type of uploader, if you said they didn’t know water armies, Pei Qian would never believe it.
He had noted this down in his little notebook earlier, just so he could use it now.
Pei Qian sent the message using the “Hardcore Reviews” AiLiDao account, and at the same time, he had also set up a burner account on the chat software. This matter had to be done secretly, without anyone knowing.
Soon, Xiaohui Reviews replied to the private message, and the two added each other as contacts.
On the other side, Hu Xiao hadn’t expected that this “Hardcore Reviews” uploader would reach out to him.
Although Hu Xiao had been badly affected by “Hardcore Reviews” in the previous incident, he also knew that it was mostly a coincidence, and that “Hardcore Reviews” releasing their third video wasn’t deliberately targeting him.
So Hu Xiao didn’t hold a grudge, but rather added Pei Qian’s fake account with the mindset of making friends.
As the saying goes, people in the same industry are rivals. Hu Xiao didn’t get along with other professional review organizations; sometimes, they would separately take sponsorships from different manufacturers and inevitably end up attacking each other, creating a very tense atmosphere.
But in Hu Xiao’s view, “Hardcore Reviews” was, after all, a new uploader. Although their followers had been growing quite quickly recently, in terms of overall size, they were still very small fry.
Moreover, the style of “Hardcore Reviews” programs didn’t constitute any competition with “Xiaohui Reviews,” and there might even be some possibility for complementary collaboration.
Judging from the program style of “Hardcore Reviews,” this uploader not only didn’t seem like they were taking sponsorships, but rather seemed like they weren’t short of money, smashing a four or five-thousand-yuan phone for a single review. How could normal review organizations afford to do that?
In short, they couldn’t be ignored!
Besides that, Hu Xiao didn’t rule out the possibility that the other party was coming to buy water army services.
He had a large number of water army contacts and often connected other AiLiDao uploaders with water armies. This wasn’t much of a secret in the circle, so this “Hardcore Reviews” uploader might have also been referred to him by someone.
Soon, the friend request was accepted.
Pei Qian thought for a moment and asked, “I want to target a competitor. Can you help?”
Hu Xiao didn’t say much, but immediately sent over a price list.
Pei Qian quickly scanned the prices.
Wow, what a variety!
Basic Followers: 10 yuan for 1000, 40 yuan for 5000, 70 yuan for 10000, filler followers, no drop-offs.
Advanced Followers: 12 yuan for 1000… a small number with avatars and information.
Top-tier Real Person Followers: 10 yuan for 400… permanent quality, real active people.
Premium Active Followers: 10 yuan for 300… come with double-digit followers themselves, no blocking.
Forwards, Comments, Likes:
Bulk forwards 2 yuan for 100.
Premium forwards 13 yuan for 100… 100 yuan for 1000.
And there were bulk comments, premium comments, bulk likes, premium likes, and so on.
In short, there were many different tiers, and the more you bought, the better the price.
In addition, there were packages, such as follower packages, which would help mix different levels of followers and offer a discount, making the fake followers look more authentic.
This was all the price list for Weibo, and below was the one for AiLiDao.
Including clicks, bullet comments, regular comments, follower counts, etc., all with clear pricing.
However, the prices on AiLiDao were higher than on Weibo, perhaps because the review mechanism was stricter here, or because the water army business on this new website wasn’t yet mature.
Looking at this price list, Pei Qian realized that buying a water army seemed to be much cheaper than he had imagined.
Now it seemed that spending just a few hundred or a thousand yuan on a package could get you several hundred comments, and it would even include likes for those comments.
Of course, Pei Qian didn’t plan to buy water armies to do unethical things, like smearing other brands, insulting or personally attacking others, or misleading consumers by reversing right and wrong…
He didn’t plan to do any of these things.
“I want to buy some comments and likes, get a package deal.”
Pei Qian didn’t show off as being wealthy like before, because… the system wouldn’t reimburse him.
Without a legitimate reason, Pei Qian couldn’t use the company account to pay Hu Xiao, so he could only pay out of his pocket.
Fortunately, Pei Qian wasn’t that poor anymore, and spending about a thousand yuan to buy some comments and likes wasn’t completely unacceptable.
If this thousand yuan could make Fei Huang Studio take fewer sponsorships and reduce their income by one or two million, that would be worth it!
Of course, Pei Qian also knew that the chances of success weren’t very high, but spending a thousand yuan to give it a try wouldn’t hurt.
Hu Xiao looked at this—it was a business opportunity!
“No problem, our water armies are well-trained and will complete the task perfectly! Are you planning to get comments for your account?”
Pei Qian: “No, I want to add comments to other accounts. Search for the ‘Fei Huang Studio’ account. They’re going to release a review video soon. When that happens, go to the comments section below the video and post a few comments, all with the same content: ‘I’ve used it, this product works well, highly recommended.'”
Hu Xiao sent a “subway, old man, mobile phone” emoji.
Then he sent a “black man question mark” emoji.
What did that mean?
This was the first time he’d seen someone buy water armies like this!
All the comments having the same content—wasn’t that signaling to other viewers that these were water army comments? Even a fool could see through that!
But Hu Xiao was clever and instantly understood.
Oh! This was reverse water army purchasing, suppressing the competition!
It looked like this “Hardcore Reviews” was not some novice, but a master!
As the internet environment evolved, the skill level of water armies had continuously improved.
In the past, internet users were easily fooled, but not anymore. Everyone now knew that water armies existed, so when using water armies to post comments, the key was concealment and authenticity. The comments had to be disguised to look like real people’s comments, not exposing themselves.
Of course, this was all for boosting oneself.
Beyond this, water armies also had a high-end usage method: reverse deployment!
Deploying for competitors, deliberately making stupid comments, creating the impression for the casual viewers that the competitor had hired low-quality water armies.
Brilliant!
And Hu Xiao looked at this message again, catching a new key piece of information.
Fei Huang Studio was going to do reviews as well?
He knew about Fei Huang Studio, after all, when “Mr. Pei’s Daily Life” had joined AiLiDao, it had been featured on the homepage recommendations for a while.
However, later on, Fei Huang Studio hadn’t updated “Mr. Pei’s Daily Life” anymore. After releasing one documentary episode, they disappeared for a while.
Were they planning to make a comeback now?
And they were planning to do review shows?
Hu Xiao was a bit worried too.
Because Fei Huang Studio was a regular force, it looked like they weren’t short on money. If they came to do reviews, they would likely take “Xiaohui Reviews'” business.
Although he didn’t know where this “Hardcore Reviews” uploader got their information from, it now seemed that this was very likely true.
Someone else is paying to hire water armies to suppress his competitors for him—what more could he ask for?
Hu Xiao even thought about contributing his own money to buy more water armies.
But on second thought, there was no need. After all, Fei Huang Studio’s review program hadn’t even come out yet, so it hadn’t posed a threat to his business. No rush.
When arranging tasks for the water army, he could use his influence to get them to post a few more comments, which would also help suppress a potential competitor.
“No problem!”
Hu Xiao readily agreed.