2022 New Consumer Brand KOL Marketing Secrets

In recent years, new consumer brands have risen collectively. In terms of KOL marketing strategies, they have combined the three effects of product promotion, grass-roots promotion, and product sales into one, and have cooperated deeply with multi-dimensional and multi-type KOLs to reach the target consumer groups widely and accurately.

In the "2022 China New Consumer Brand Development Trend Report" (hereinafter referred to as the Report) recently released by Weibo, Weibo focused on six popular new consumer industries, using data performance and content quality as two-way indicators, and comprehensively considering KOL's experience and potential in new consumer brand marketing , and selected the "New Consumer Brand Annual Hot Investment Commercial Value KOL List" (hereinafter referred to as the List).

Through the list, what common characteristics and trends are worth paying attention to in KOL selection and content marketing among new consumer brands?

01 Millions of KOLs, only these numbers matter when it comes to new consumer investment

According to AdMaster data, the number of active KOLs on China's mainstream social media platforms has reached tens of millions. As latecomers, new consumer brands not only use the quality of KOL works and the fit of the content tone as selection criteria in their KOL placement strategies, but also use multiple data dimensions such as CPM and CPE as the basis for screening alternative KOL resource pools.

After a comprehensive analysis of the KOLs in the six major categories and three major platforms on the list, Weibo found that new consumer brands have the following three data-based investment trends in KOL selection.

Trend 1: 2:7:1 ratio of head, waist and tail, waist KOLs compete for the top spot, and Weibo KOLs have the strongest comprehensive influence.

The correlation distribution of KOLs in the comprehensive list in terms of fan size and SNBT index (Weiboyi's patented social media behavior targeted precision delivery technology) is 2:7:1 for the top, middle and bottom. Mid-level KOLs occupy more than half of the seats on each platform. Thanks to their powerful ability to create hits, the number of top KOLs on Douyin's list is significantly higher than that on the other two platforms. The tail KOLs of Tik Tok and Xiaohongshu also followed closely, vying for a place.

By looking into the comprehensive social media influence of KOLs through the SNBT index, we found that Weibo KOLs performed the best, with 88.3% of KOLs scoring ≥90 on the index. The KOLs of Douyin and Xiaohongshu are mainly concentrated in the 70s and 80s.

Trend 2: Cost-effectiveness is king. 69% of the KOLs on the list have a CPM < 50 and a CPE < 5

New consumer brands generally use CPM (cost per thousand people) and CPE (cost of engagement) values ​​as important data dimensions for initial evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of KOLs. Among the KOLs on the list, 69% of them have data performance in the above two items within the range of CPM<50 and CPE<5.

According to Weibo's big data monitoring, the estimated median CPM of Douyin KOL is ≈405.29, and the estimated median CPE is about ≈14.43; the estimated median CPM of Xiaohongshu KOL is ≈531.35, and the estimated median CPE is ≈12.40; the KOLs on the list are in the upper circle in terms of both values.

Trend three: Vertical category: Pan-entertainment = 7:3 or 6:4. The more vertical the category, the smaller the audience difference, the more subdivided the type of cooperating KOL, and the more obvious the vertical tendency.

In terms of content attribute distribution, the KOLs on the list of each category are composed of highly relevant vertical categories + general entertainment types. In the beauty, maternal and child care, food and beverage, and footwear industries, the verticality of segmented products is relatively high, the differences in the target audiences are relatively small, and the hot investment KOLs are more segmented. The hot investment ratio basically meets the requirements of 50% direct vertical categories + 20% category extension vertical categories + 30% general entertainment.

As for the daily chemical and small household appliance industries, due to the large differences in product segments and a wider and more complex target audience, the KOL layout generally consists of 60% highly relevant vertical categories + 40% general entertainment.

Definition of KOL types shown:

Direct vertical KOL: refers to the KOL that is directly related to the industry content. For example, the direct vertical KOL in the cosmetics and skin care industry is the beauty KOL.

Pan-entertainment KOL: refers to KOLs with general content attributes such as drama comedy, daily life, etc.

Category-extended vertical KOL: refers to other types of vertical KOLs that are not directly related to the category.

Highly relevant vertical KOL: refers to vertical KOLs with a high degree of fit with the industry's products

As rising stars in the industry, new consumer brands have demonstrated their common demands for differentiation, strategy and cost-effectiveness in KOL marketing through the data indicator trends of their hot KOL investments.

However, new consumer brands that can become industry leaders at an unstoppable speed today must not only choose the right KOLs, but also make good use of them. The data-based hot investment trends help new consumer brands quickly select the axe, and content marketing is the "defense-breaking" force that wields this axe vigorously, striking directly at the hearts of consumers.

02 Three content marketing formulas for new consumer brands to help consumers “break through their defenses”

The KOLs in the list are divided into three categories from strong to weak based on their relevance to the category: direct vertical category, extended vertical category, and general entertainment. In KOL content marketing, new consumer brands use pan-entertainment to promote emotional appeal; direct vertical categories accurately awaken new selves and new needs; extended vertical categories empower with scenarios, give full play to the respective advantages of the three types of KOLs, and jointly create three major content marketing strategy formulas:

With the help of the commercial cases of cooperation between hot investment KOLs and new consumer brands in the list, let us further interpret the three major content formulas.

Interpretation of the weakly implanted emotional formula

Top pan-entertainment + weak implantation = warm planting

Emotional value plays a vital role in content marketing. It warms up consumers' brand perception

KOLs attract a large number of followers and establish emotional connections with fans by virtue of their unique content and personal charm. For followers, KOLs are like-minded and trustworthy cloud friends. The trust economy formed between KOLs and their fans is what new consumer brands value. For brands, KOLs have vivid personalities, creative expressions, and close affinity with consumers. They can give products real, fresh, and warm content value.

The KOLs’ warm recommendations warm up consumers’ perception of the brand and further serve as brand shelves, using the fans’ trust economy to directly heat up product conversions.

Take Xiaolan Sparkling Water, a new consumer brand in the food and beverage industry, as an example. The Xiaolan brand was launched on the market not long ago and, like Yuanqi Forest, it focuses on 0 sugar, 0 calories, and 0 fat. As a latecomer in the red ocean market of the new consumer beverage industry, Xiaolan has positioned its brand as a "mood-regulating" healthy drink to establish a differentiated competitive advantage.

Xiaolan Sparkling Water targets the emotional issues of contemporary young people and empowers the brand with emotional value.

In order to further enhance consumers' perception of its brand's differentiated characteristics, Xiaolan has focused on KOL marketing, taking Xiaohongshu and Douyin as its core positions, highlighting the health features of its products on Xiaohongshu and integrating them with product drinking scenarios. On Douyin, the topic #StopEmoBeLazy# was used, and we collaborated with a number of KOLs who were good at comedy and plot-telling. We took the weak implantation of creative plot ideas as the core of the content, used warmth to resonate with consumers, and endowed the product with emotional value.

Xiaolan Sparkling Water has a differentiated layout in KOL marketing on Xiaohongshu, Douyin and others.

Take the Douyin drama KOL @加菲菡z, who is on the list of food and beverage track, and the brand cooperation content as an example:

@加菲菡z has created many popular works with tens of millions of views. She is good at using youth campus stories as the setting and interpreting love stories of youth, focusing on reaching female people under the age of 23 in first- and second-tier cities. This is basically consistent with the consumer positioning of the Xiaolan brand.

In this creative content creation, @加菲菡z uses secret love as the main emotional line to interpret a love story that goes both ways. In terms of content, Lazy Sparkling Water runs through the entire film as a prop that connects the emotions of the male and female protagonists, and is exposed in close-ups three times. In order to ensure content continuity and audience immersion, the product name is only mentioned once by the heroine, and the highlights of the formula are reflected in text in the close-up.

Interpretation of the weak content marketing link of pan-entertainment KOL

This weakly implanted warmth-seeking work contributed 9.3 million views to the brand topic event and also received more than 500,000 likes. The differentiated emotional value of Xiaolan Sparkling Water, "relieving tension and anxiety and bringing a sense of relaxation", has also been subtly implanted in the hearts of the audience.

Interpretation of the strong grass awakening formula

Waist-level vertical category + strong seeding = new needs x new self

New consumer brands launch "rebellious market" marketing, consumers "use objects to represent themselves" to open up new expressions

This generation of consumers' consumption is not only to meet the basic needs of life, but also to use objects to express self-satisfaction and self-expression. They are self-satisfied and self-disciplined, diverse and changeable; they pay attention to oriental beauty and open up a new Chinese style; they pursue new technology and focus on small and exquisite. There is no doubt that the explosive development of new consumer brands today is inseparable from brand social media marketing, which uses the power of KOLs to inspire consumers' new selves and new consumption demands.

Taking Ubras, a new consumer brand of women's clothing, as an example, the promotional focus of traditional underwear brands is on "pleasing him", focusing on how to show the beauty of women's curves. However, a new generation of underwear brands, led by Ubras, have gone against the trend and boldly launched a "rebellious market" revolution. With self-satisfaction and self-confidence as the core brand values, the company has launched "counter-market" products that focus on comfort, such as size-free underwear. It has successively invited Ouyang Nana and Liu Wen as brand spokespersons, and through the two spokespersons' fame and eclectic temperament, it has conveyed the concept of self-pleasing avant-garde to consumers.

In the TVCs that Ubras collaborates with its spokespersons, the main concepts promoted are always women's power, self-satisfaction and confidence, and comfort.

In terms of KOL marketing strategy, Ubras focuses on beauty and fashion KOLs, and focuses on Weibo, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin platforms. It cooperates with waist-level vertical KOLs and a large number of KOCs, and inspires potential female consumers in a bottom-up manner, breaking free from the shackles of traditional aesthetics, shaping a more relaxed and confident new self, and creating new demands for highly comfortable, non-restrained underwear.

Take the content of cooperation with brands by @是西西吖, a fashion KOL in the category of shoes, clothing and accessories on Xiaohongshu, as an example:

In the latest strong grass-roots content of @是西西吖 and Ubras, she accurately targeted small-breasted women from the title, and in the oral broadcast, she first stated her core demand for comfort. Underwear is divided into two categories: comfortable type and push-up type, and the pain points of each type of product are explained.

The cooperative products not only have the characteristics of comfort and gathering, but are also very suitable for the body shape of people with small breasts. By explaining them one by one, we can stimulate consumer purchasing demand. The visual effect of wearing the product directly as outerwear is used at the end to inspire potential consumers to follow KOLs and bravely try out new ways of dressing that reflect their new selves.

Interpretation of the content marketing chain of direct vertical KOL

Interpretation of scenario-based substitution formula

Extending vertical KOL + scenario = immersive substitution

It is better to talk about experience than to hype concepts. It is better to talk about life scenarios than to sell products. Let consumers' yearning be concrete.

In recent years, major brands have been competing to use new technologies to give their brands and products a sense of concept and advancement in order to attract consumers' attention. For experienced consumers in a product category, professional vertical KOL content that includes data parameters and technical terms can make them more aware of the technical nature of the product. However, for ordinary consumers, the interpretation of professional technology is a bit obscure and is not as real as the phrase "easy to use, convenient, fool-proof operation, practical, and frequently used" when integrated into real life scenarios.

If a brand wants to impress consumers with its sense of technology, on the one hand, it must focus on the layout of professional vertical KOL content to reach knowledgeable and experienced consumers. It must also layout "hard life, soft technology" content to reach ordinary consumers with a more friendly and down-to-earth attitude, coupled with scenario-based marketing with a sense of life.

Allowing ordinary consumers to visualize product usage scenarios and create a sense of immersion is the important role played by extending vertical KOLs.

Take the new consumer brand Dreame in the smart small appliance industry as an example. As a cutting-edge smart appliance brand established in 2017, Dreame focuses on home cleaning categories. Whether it is KOL marketing on social media or official product promotion, the content of pursuit is inseparable from one scene - home.

In early 2022, Dreamie invited Su Bingtian to shoot a promotional video for the brand's two cordless cleaning products. The film uses "At home, speed allows me to embrace slow life" as the core promotional point, and uses content such as parent-child interaction and home cleaning scenes to give smart technology products a sense of life and intimacy.

The use of products in daily life scenarios in the TVC of Dreame and Su Bingtian

In terms of KOL investment, Dreame has comprehensively deployed on social media platforms such as Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Bilibili. On each platform, it has adopted a dual-line marketing content layout of in-depth evaluation of vertical KOLs + scene promotion, giving consumers a sense of immersion and involvement. On Douyin, we have increased the number of drama-related KOLs to further shape the sense of scene with the plot and reach target consumers.

KOL content marketing layout of life scenario promotion + in-depth evaluation.

Take the content of cooperation with brands by @不说, a KOL on Xiaohongshu Home Furnishings, which is on the small home appliance track, as an example:

@不说 is good at using his own home as a scene, integrating smart home appliances into it, and creating scene-based recommendations. Weaken the technical interpretation of the product and instead use usage scenarios to stimulate a sense of immersion. In terms of content, he uses words that express needs and evoke resonance in readers, inspiring a new attitude towards self-satisfaction and at the same time generating a yearning for a better life.

At the same time, 9 pictures of living space scenes are used to enhance the presence of the actual product. Let the "yearning" and needs inspired by the text become concrete. Let consumers experience firsthand how the products add comfort and convenience to their lives. The reading volume of this scenario-based cooperation note is nearly 360,000, and the number of likes is as high as 16,000.

Interpretation of the extended vertical KOL scenario content marketing chain

New consumption is developing in a strong momentum. From 2020 to 2021, many new consumption brands have completed the development process from emerging to becoming the leaders of the industry in just two years. The KOL marketing strategy, which uses social media as the core medium, KOL marketing as the soil, new concepts, new technologies, new demands and new groups as nourishment, and grass-roots promotion, product promotion and product promotion as catalysts, has become the only way for leading new consumer brands to quickly rise to compete with mature, group-based international brands in the industry.

Author: Weiboyi

Source: Weibo