Shanghai, China, October 20, 2016 /Xinwengao.com/ - Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) on Weibo and Wechat are the 21st century’s new celebrities in China. With millions of followers, a young man living in Kunming can have more social media influence over the buying habits of consumers in Beijing than a high-powered traditional advertising campaign plastering billboards on the city streets. And smart marketers and public relations professionals are engaging KOLs to both decrease costs and maximize online visibility. This all equals more product sales.
But KOLs are often everyday citizens, so finding and maintaining a relationship with a KOL in China is different than working with a professional public relations agency. Xinwengao’s latest White Paper titled “Grabbing More Sales With Key Opinion Leader Outreach In China” explores tips and tricks for retention of KOLs. The White Paper examines ways to work with KOL social media channels to enlarge exposure for a product, brand, or service.
The White Paper also explains how marketers need to think how a nationwide marketing message impacts users at the local level. One message on Weibo can go to readers in Dalian, Wuhan, Shanghai, and even to Chinese-language readers in Nairobi, Sao Paolo, and Seattle. So how does a marketing push position itself for a wide array of geographically disperse users?
And a good KOL may actually provide a marketer with creative ways to target a specific consumer segment. The KOL often hears unfiltered feedback from consumers, so meeting the KOL in a non-virtual setting can build a bond between the marketer and the KOL, and between the KOL and the brand or product.
One hotel and travel marketer quoted in the White Paper gives some valuable advice: “Our hotel company is global, but in China we want to have our brand viewed with Chinese characteristics. My hospitality marketing team spent a few months finding the right journalists, media, and KOLs who could help expand our outreach to travelers in China who could become our guests. We now hold an annual gathering where we invite 50 of our top influencers for a few days to visit one of our resorts. This builds rapport and brand strength. Most importantly, it allows us to maintain our friendships with our important online brand ambassadors.”
The Chinese-language White Paper from Xinwengao is available for free download at https://www.xinwengao.com/cn/whitepaper-koloutreach