User:Bengzhao/sandbox

= KOL = KOL(Key Opinion Leaders) also known as "influencer", they are people or organizations who have more accurate product information and discourse power in their field. They are accepted or trusted by the relevant groups and have a huge influence on the purchase behaviour of the groups. Compared with celebrity, they have a close relationship with their audiences and sharing their thoughts about a product. Nowadays KOL has become a new marketing tool because of the rise of social media.

KOL in Chinese digital marketing
China has 700 million netizens which make it become the largest social media market in the world. In China, KOL are essentially social media influencers. They active on social media like Weibo and WeChat and have a huge number of fans. They are widely distributed in a variety of different fields such as sports, video games, electronic products, fashion, food, travelling, luxury goods, cars, etc. By posting video or article regularly, KOL share and recommend products which they have used to their fans. Their professionalism and influence make fans trust them and buy the product KOL recommend competitively.

According to VS Media CEO, Ivy Wong's analysis, China's online KOL market valuation exceed $8 billion in 2016. Cooperate with KOL become an effective way to promote a product or brand. By using KOL's huge influence in social media, companies can show their products directly and comprehensively to the public. Compared with celebrity branding, cooperate with KOL save cost and easily recognized by consumers. Many famous brands have begun to try to cooperate with them and have achieved success. Mr.Bags (Chinese name is Liang Tao) is a fashion KOL in China, has 2.89 million fans on Weibo and 1.09 million active followers on WeChat. In 2016, Givenchy cooperates with Mr.Bags to promote their handbag line "Horizon", this handbag line incluedes 80 limited edition bags which costing USD 2146 per bag. By Mr.Bags' promotion, all the bags are sold out in 12 minites. In May 2017, Mr.Bags works with Burberry to promote Burberry's limited colour handbag DK88 on WeChat, and these limited colour handbags sold out agian. Papi Jiang, an Internet celebrity who was known for her funny video in China. She has 44 million followers on multiple social media and her video ad auction was won by Lili's Beauty for 3.4 million USD in 2016. In 2017, New Balance chooses Papi Jiang as their new marketing campaign spokesperson in China. Around the topic " a letter to my future", Papi Jiang makes a video about her growth story to resonate with Chinese new generation. Zhang Dayi, a fashion KOL who has 4 million followers on Weibo, earned 48 million USD a year. In 2016, Meitu cooperates with Zhang Dayi launch their MeiPai M6 limited edition mobile phone and 2000 inventory sold out in one second. In 2017 Single's Day, she helps T-Mall sell goods which worth more than 100 million yuan.