Digital China: Working with Bloggers, Influencers and KOLs

Ashley Galina Dudarenok, Lauren Hallanan

• Publisher: Alarice International
• ISBN:
  9780692041901
• Topic: Betriebswirtschaft
• Subtopic: Digitales Marketing

Want to know more about influencer marketing in the world's largest and fastest growing online market? This is the second book in our series guiding you through China's digital space. China is one of the most attractive markets in the world and collaborating with bloggers, KOLs and influencers is essential if you want to find a place in the consumer's heart. Don't know where to start? This book will help newcomers and experienced marketers alike gain insight and take action.
You'll learn about:

The Most Influential KOL Platforms and How They Work

How to Find and Select the Right Influencer for You

The Ins and Outs of Effective KOL Campaigns

KOLs in action: Revealing Case Studies

If you need a clearer understanding of one of the most dynamic marketing areas in China, this book is for you.

CHAPTER 1

What Are KOLs and Why Do You Need Them?

A KOL is a key opinion leader. In the West, they’re called influencers or thought leaders. They can be bloggers, online personalities or internet celebrities. Working with KOLs on Chinese social media is not just a necessity for businesses entering the market but also a key component in the marketing strategy of some of the world’s most famous brands.

Influencers have a stronger influence in China than they do in the West. They have follower bases who see their opinions and suggestions as credible and influential but they don’t just spread information. They also promote attitudes and approaches that affect the buying decisions of their followers and readers. Many also excel in driving online sales and unlike bloggers in some other regions, it’s not unusual for them to engage in direct sales.

With the expansion of official WeChat* accounts and with the growth of new platforms, their followers continue to grow, increasing their influence and value.

Who are these KOLs? How do they operate? And why do Chinese consumers look to them so consistently? Let’s find out.

*Note that WeChat has 2 versions - one for China and one for international markets. Access and functions are different for each. WeChat in this book refers to the Chinese version of the app which is called Weixin in China.

1.1 Who are KOLs?

To start off, it’s important to clearly define what it means to be an influencer. A large following doesn’t necessarily make someone a thought leader. A true influencer is someone who provides value related to their area of expertise and builds a relationship with their audience over time. People trust them and turn to them for advice. For someone who has a large audience, but is more of a general entertainer, a more accurate title would be internet celebrity, or wanghong in Chinese.

Some Background

Chinese social media began in the late 90s with Tianya Club and Netease Blog. The bloggers on these platforms slowly evolved into the influencer scene that China has today.

Tianya Club (天涯社区) and Netease Blog (网易博客)

Tianya Club, founded on February 14^th, 1999, was one of the most popular internet forums in China. It was a bulletin board system (BBS), an online forum that was used before the internet as we know it today, offering blog, microblog and photo album services. NetEase Blog came online in 2006. It was one of the best blog service providers and had 90 million users in 2010. People could write articles, blog or publish photos there.

Most Tianya users were highly educated and it was famous for its high-quality, user-written articles. It had influential channels, such as Tianya Zatan (天涯杂谈), which was an important source in journalistic and academic circles. It also provided a platform for first generation KOLs such as screenwriter Cai Shen Ning (宁财神).

However, Tianya also provided a platform for people like Shi Hengxia, known as Sister Furong (芙蓉姐姐), a self-promotional, self-involved and self-delusional young woman who was in many ways a prototype for online personalities to come, both inside and outside China. She posted videos and photos of herself in her signature S-shaped pose wearing tight-fitting, low-cut clothing that often left little to the imagination. Her arrogant, titillating and controversial statements triggered thousands of discussions.

In 2013, Tianya Club still had 85 million users, but after Weibo came out, people gradually abandoned it and NetEase’s blog closes on November 30th, 2018.

After these two early examples, others achieved followings online for various reasons. Actress and director Xu Jinglei (徐静蕾) started a blog on sina.com in October 2005. Instead of dealing out juicy gossip from the film world, she concentrated mostly on day-to-day happenings, her TV watching habits and updates on her cats. By July, 2007, her blog had the most incoming links of any blog on the internet and had more than 100 million page views. She also published a book of her blogged articles. Writer Han Han, a best-selling author who blogged about current affairs, politics and car racing was also very popular around this time. He hit a nerve with his controversial positions on touchy topics and took Xu’s crown about a year later with around 210 million hits on his blog to her 209 million.

With the birth of Weibo came new ways to reach mass internet audiences and a new crop of influencers. Yao Chen, an actress who came to fame on a popular TV series in 2005, quickly gained an audience on Weibo and now has more than 80 million followers. She’s known for shining a light on issues related to refugees, pollution and censorship and in 2013, was the UNHCR’s first goodwill ambassador in China.

Papi Jiang started posting original short videos on Miaopai in 2015 and went viral on Weibo in 2016 when her videos got more than 290 million views on major media platforms in just four months. Her trademark jump edits and accelerated video speed allowed her to deliver social commentary and comedy in a high-pitched voice and won over viewers. After gaining fame, she engaged in some high profile ad campaigns and has received funding from investors. Her use of swear words also earned her the attention of regulators who temporarily took her videos offline until required edits were made. She currently has more than 28 million followers on Weibo.

Other platforms also began to create their own stars. Douban, a site for book, music, movie and television reviews produced Nan Sheng. From the post-90s generation, she gained fame for posting beautiful photos of herself in traditional costumes and stylings from different eras. She eventually became a working actress in 2012 and a published author in 2013.

Douyu (a live streaming site that, is different from Douyin) is similar to Twitch and features live-streamers playing video games or performing for their online audience. Douyu personalities are referred to as hosts or anchors. Feng Timo, another young woman from the post-90s generation, became an anchor in 2014 and gained a following based on her live singing broadcasts. Although she started out singing cover versions of famous songs, she now records and releases her own songs and has appeared on TV variety shows. She has 13.8 million fans on Douyu and 8.4 million on Weibo.

Li Ge, known as Kelly in English, is a young woman who was one of the first to go viral on Douyin, known as Tik Tok outside of China,* one of the most recent entries to China’s online mobile landscape. Li is known for doing cute, entertaining dances to popular songs and for her singing videos. Known as the leading lady of Douyin, she has over 43 million fans there and just over 1 million on Weibo.

*See the Appendix for a list of platforms and some prominent bloggers discussed in this book.

The Situation Today

So while influencers have existed in China for some time, the idea that someone could make money by growing a following on the internet didn’t become mainstream until the emergence of stars like Papi Jiang (Weibo: papi酱) and WeChat and Weibo influencers like Gogoboi (Weibo: gogoboi) and Becky Li (WeChat: Miss_shopping_li). As a growing number of brands started working with influencers, Chinese consumers started understanding the earning power of social media.

The tipping point occurred when live streaming exploded in China in late 2015. What was different about live streaming was that anyone could do it and live streamers could monetize their fan base right away through virtual gifting. The internet was filled with stories of streamers earning hundreds of thousands of yuan* a month.

*yuan = RMB, renminbi, “the people’s currency”, China’s currency

And there are cultural and economic factors at play as well. The average entry level salary for college graduates is very low and competition is fierce. It can take years to slowly rise through the ranks and earn a decent wage. On top of that, the best jobs are in major cities, leaving fewer career options for those in lower tier cities and rural areas. There’s always been a lot of family pressure to get a stable, high paying job and, as consumerism has grown, this pressure has increased.

Now, being an internet celebrity is an aspiration among China’s youth just as young people elsewhere want to become famous Youtubers or Instagram influencers. For many, becoming “internet famous” seems like a good get-rich-quick plan, as well as a way to avoid the boredom of a traditional job. However, unlike true opinion leaders, these internet entrepreneurs are typically focused on growing large audiences as fast as possible by any means. Their strategy is self-focused and motivated by desires for money and fame rather than a genuine desire to serve their audience.

One of the consequences of this explosion in popularity of both online platforms and KOLs in general has been increased scrutiny from China’s internet regulators. As a result, they implemented China’s New Advertising Law in September 2015. It restricts the use of celebrity endorsements and regulates the marketing of pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and health food. Promoting products and services commercially, without clearly stating it’s an advertisement, can now potentially get you into trouble, and forwarding content deemed false or harmful can result in liability. Because of this, and greater demands for transparency and authenticity from online fans, brands and KOLs are identifying sponsored content more clearly than in the past.

The Five Main Types of Internet Personalities

1 Wanghong

These are a type of internet celebrity that brands should generally avoid. They’re usually defined by the following characteristics:

• They often become famous because of their good looks and charming personalities, not because of any particular knowledge or skill.
• Wanghong may have large followings and be very popular, but their audience is usually very broad.
• They aren’t seen as a trusted resource on any particular topic and typically hold little influence over their audience in this regard.
• They often grow rapidly due to viral content so their audience hasn’t known them long enough to trust them.
• Wanghong have little staying power. Their fame can be fleeting as their followers get bored of them quickly and move on to the newest flavor of the week.

Collaborating with wanghong may seem successful as their posts and live streams may get very high view numbers, but because they aren’t true opinion leaders, it’s unlikely to generate meaningful results for your brand. There’s nothing to be gained by partnering with an online personality who has a large audience but little actual influence.

2 Next-generation Content Creators

A step up from wanghong, these are talented creatives who love to produce high-quality, entertaining content, but still have no particular area of expertise. They often have loads of loyal fans, but their fans aren’t following them to learn about new products or watch tutorials. They want to be entertained, not learn, get advice or shop.

This type of content creator is especially prevalent on short video platforms such as Douyin. Working with them may be helpful for generating broadly aimed brand awareness but isn’t a great way to reach a niche target audience or generate sales.

3 Key Opinion Leaders

Unlike wanghong, who see the growth of the influencer economy as a way to get rich, key opinion leaders see social media as a platform to share their expertise and develop a personal brand. They’re more strategic with their choice of platforms and content style and are focused on serving their audience, sharing their knowledge and building a community.

4 Celebrities

This includes famous actors, singers and TV personalities. They have large fan bases and unprecedented name recognition. They’ve also got well-established images. People are keen to imitate them and many are experienced in terms o...