Do Key opinion leaders contribute to your return on investment (ROI)?  The number of leaders has grown in China over the last 5 years and continues to grow as long as it is used extensively by SMEs. Each key opinion leader has behind him a good handful of people, he represents to himself a media source. There is no doubt about the effectiveness of these leaders who have value, remains to negotiate the costs that are very variable depending on supply and demand.

 What is a Key Opinion Leader?

Several definitions exist for a thought leader. But what is certain is that opinion leaders are people who create content and who make the buzz or are Chinese stars, bloggers, fashionistas of the worldly chroniclers who have a lot of hearing.

Let’s not doubt the expertise of its opinion leaders who manage to evoke a multitude of topics through posts, namely video games, travel, sports, fashion, luxury goods, gastronomy, cars … Anything.

Key Opinion leaders have millions of people who follow them constantly by referring to their advice and engaging in the content created. When working in this way the influence is strong the information becomes viral for the company and for the products it offers.

Many people to whom the definition of a leader applies exist on Youtube, one can quote the example of Jenna Marbles or Piewdipie who have millions of followers, they are people who use their celebrity to make of advertising to brands around the world, and it works very well!

An ‘influencer’ as it is commonly called in the West, is, therefore, a KOL in Asia.  

There is a lot of Chinese web star like:

Papi Jiang

Papi Jiang (Jiang Yilei) is a Chinese celebrity for example. She worked with small brands like Lilly & Beauty who paid $ 3.5 million / USD to be the first brand to advertise in one of her videos. But also big brands like New Balance. She had problems with the government but she is still the most popular on the Chinese web exceeding 40 million followers, leaving behind the influencers of the oxidant. She received the nomination of the first celebrity of the year 2016 by several Chinese in the media.

Ma Jianguo 

Ma Jianguo discovers the world of celebrity just by sharing with her a few followers, the daily life of her two pets.Her dog and her cat. He had the great idea of sharing funny pictures and the ritual of his two loves, and he managed to reach 10 million RMB a year just with ads on Weibo. He has written articles in which he compliments his animals but also in which he evokes brands and companies!

KOL in marketing

We know it now; the conventional media are not so good that the KOL have been effective on a lot of prestigious brands, so this is the new marketing trend!  Marketers and brand managers must collaborate with the KOLs to develop excellent strategies for their brands, by promoting them of course. This is an opportunity to seize to attract Chinese tourists

What about the cost of a KOL?

There is no fixed price for a KOL because it depends mainly on what he masters in terms of subjects.But there are techniques to reduce the cost of commitment, such as gift giving, this is called the boxing technique.But for your information, the best-known KOL will cost you about $ 2,500 USD, and $ 250 US for the least known, but these costs vary again depending on supply and demand in the market.

The choice of your KOL depends mainly on your basic strategy, engaging the most known KOL is not always effective!

While the commitment of a KOL requires money from creativity and strategy, they also remain effective for generating profits and creating value.

What will a KOL do for your business? 

KOLs have a lot of influence on the Chinese since they contribute to a large part of the advertising of companies as well as the products they offer. The Chinese have become very skeptical about the mainstream media; they trust more these leaders who are for the consumers as a kind of knowledge in the matter, so they consider that if this leader has chosen this brand, it is because it’s the best on the market.

The classic channels of advertising are to forget, they are expensive and not very effective in terms of segmentation or targeting. The best will be to opt for KOL who have a lot of influence but above all know how to point the right consumers at the right time and in the right place! Care must be taken to choose the leader who represents you as much as a company and that is how it will mark the minds of consumers and have more confidence in you through this leader.

The strategy of influence: The leader that you need!

The choice of the ideal KOL is not an easy task, it is already necessary to know to which audience the KOL, the psychography, the demography, the lifestyle and the preferences are addressed. These are all variables to consider before choosing your KOL.

Before following a KOL the consumer feels that he is nice, he has the same interests as him, he shares good content. And so when this KOL starts talking about a brand, the consumer believes that it is an opinion that inspires confidence, a subjective opinion, they prefer to hear it from the KOL than from the company itself. KOL is constantly working with the company, closely following these strategies and the goals it hopes to achieve.

What’s better than having a KOL that has a large number of followers and who promotes you in these articles or in the RS. But beware, because there are several ways to inflate the number of subscribers, do not fall into this trap and have the intelligence to check first to whom you were dealing. WeChat moderators continually strive to combat these falsifications.

 How can GMA help you find your ideal KOL?

GMA understands that it is not so easy to find the right KOL for your business. Access to a new market requires vigilance and especially analysis in order to understand the different mechanisms and be able to define the best strategy while choosing the KOL that suits you the most!

GMA is used to dealing with even more complicated cases, so we are experts in the field and especially true understanding of the Chinese market!We are always ready to serve you and help you make the most of what you have invested!

For more information visit our website

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2 Comments

  1. Whatdo you guys think of The KOL bubble in China ? how brands can still make money with the trust of Chinese KOLs ?

  2. Marketers also shouldn t forget the importance of user reviews for their product either—these not only relay valuable feedback to the brand, but they create “ micro-influencers ” out of customers. Countless potential customers find out about a product or brand through their friends, family, or community, so the more people encouraged to talk about their experience with a product, the better chance that the brand will reach their target customer. KOLs can encourage or incentivise their followers to share their own opinions and experiences with the product either within the KOL s forum or on the brand s own page.

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