KOL endorsement, KOC promotion

Many people cannot tell the difference between KOL and KOC, and even think that KOC is a miniature version of KOL. Actually, that's not true. There is a huge difference between the two. Let's first look at the difference in the selection criteria between the two:

• Four factors to consider when choosing a KOL: influence, love of trying new things, love of sharing, and professionalism. Influence is the first factor.
• There are four criteria for selecting KOC: strong relationships, love of sharing, self-consumption, and professionalism, with strong relationships being the preferred factor.

The value of KOL and KOC is first to connect users and second to convey knowledge.

When the influence of mass media declines, KOLs and KOCs, which have a hub position in the information network, will take their place and help brands achieve rapid coverage of their communications.

Throughout human history, every important technological revolution has been accompanied by a media revolution.

Before the advent of the Internet age, people's social relationships developed in only two modes: "one-to-one" and "one-to-many". Dunbar's number law reveals that each person cannot usually maintain more than 148 stable social relationships.

Nowadays, online social networking has greatly expanded this value. In addition to the increase in the number of "one-to-many" connections, the number of "many-to-many" connections has grown exponentially, such as 500 people on WeChat, 2,000 people on QQ, hundreds of thousands of topics on Zhihu, and hundreds of millions of hot topics on Weibo.

Technological tools have effectively changed the way people socialize and amplified the connection model centered on "people", so that everyone can become an amplified node in the network.

1. KOLs are from the brand’s perspective, while KOCs are from the consumer’s perspective

From the perspective of standpoint, the difference between KOL and KOC depends on who they stand on the same front with: KOL, or key opinion leader, is a spokesperson and naturally stands on the same front with brand owners; KOC, or key opinion consumer, is a consumer and naturally stands on the same front with consumers.

In response to the phenomenon of internet celebrities selling massive amounts of goods in live broadcasts and celebrity live broadcasts frequently “crashing”, I once proposed that “only by standing on a united front with consumers can we sell massive amounts of goods”, which addressed the different positions of internet celebrities and celebrity live broadcasts.

Today's anchors are mainly divided into four major positions:

1. Shopping guide position;
2. Star stance;
3. Expert stance;
4. Brand's position.

The butt determines the head, and the position determines the battle line. Shopping guides are KOCs, and celebrities, experts, and entrepreneurs are KOLs, because shopping guides are responsible for channel promotion, while celebrities, experts, and brand spokespersons mostly play the role of media publicity.

KOLs need to be close to brands to survive, and when facing consumers they need to create a sense of distance in order to increase their purchasing expectations. KOLs can endorse products and provide professional endorsements for products, but it is very difficult for them to bring goods to the market.

KOCs are naturally close to consumers. Their consumer standpoints and life experience of long-term contact with users allow them to understand users' emotions, needs and pain points. Creating emotional resonance with users is the core of their sales pitch that enables them to capture users.

KOCs will even unite consumers to fight against brands, which is also determined by their stance.

2. KOL endorsement and KOC promotion

Top live streaming influencers such as Viya, Li Jiaqi, and Simba have tens of millions of fans, and each of their live broadcasts has tens of millions of views. Are they KOLs or KOCs?

Many people think they are KOLs, but in fact they are super KOCs.

KOLs make money from brand endorsements, but they do not sell products. It is enough for them to have traffic and topics. Moreover, by endorsing a company, they can differentiate it from its competitors. KOCs make money mainly from consumers' money from selling products. Traffic determines sales volume, and they basically sell all brands and categories in turn.

Although top live-streaming anchors such as Viya, Li Jiaqi, and Simba also earn slot fees, they mainly rely on sales to maintain their top status. Celebrities may fail in selling products occasionally, but in fact, the communication value brought by such failures is no less than the effect of endorsements.

KOL endorsement, traffic comes from outside the platform.

Celebrities rely on fans accumulated through acting, singing, and variety shows; experts rely on trust accumulated through continuous output of works or opinions; and entrepreneur endorsements rely on loyal consumers accumulated through high-quality products, services, and marketing strategies. KOLs accumulate traffic outside the platform and monetize it through endorsements. This is the logic behind KOL endorsements.

KOC promotes products, and the traffic comes from the platform.

KOC is extremely dependent on the platform's channels because his traffic is provided by the platform and his network is established on the platform. No matter whether he is a small WeChat group owner or a top anchor on a live broadcast platform, if he leaves the platform, he will lose the prerequisite for becoming a KOC.

KOC accumulates traffic within the platform and monetizes it by selling goods. This is the logic behind KOC selling goods.

The anchor who sells goods is a KOC, who borrows the traffic from the live streaming platform; the micro-business is a KOC, who uses the private traffic accumulated on WeChat; the KA shopping guide is a KOC, who borrows the traffic from the store; the store owner is a KOC, who relies on the business traffic of his own store; the leader of the community group purchase is also a KOC, who relies on interpersonal communication in the community.

For KOC, continuous accumulation of traffic requires the empowerment of the platform.

3. KOL Weak Relationship, KOC Strong Relationship

In the era of mass media, word of mouth has become the key to marketing communication, and word of mouth formed by relationships has a decisive influence on purchases.

Chen Liangtu said: "There are a lot of trust agents in social media. Most people will trust the people they follow, believe the information they spread, and spread it."

The connections between people can be divided into three types of relationships: strong ties, weak ties, and absent ties.

KOL is a media with strong social influence, and weak relationships in interpersonal relationships far outweigh strong relationships.

In 1973, American sociologist Mark Granovetter proposed the concept of "weak ties". The value of weak tie connections lies in their number, which facilitates the flow of information between different groups.

Its research shows that seeing content shared by a weak tie increases a person's likelihood of sharing that information by nearly 10 times.

KOC is a channel, and its influence is limited to its personal circle. The number of strong and weak interpersonal relationships among them is greater than that of ordinary people.

Each of us can usually not maintain more than 148 stable social relationships, which is the Dunbar number law proposed by British anthropologist Robin Dunbar. This number includes people who are very familiar with each other, such as relatives, friends, colleagues and partners, all of which are strong ties.

KOLs have great influence and can have tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of fans, but the relationship between KOLs and their fans is a weak one-way link. KOC may not have fans, but they have strong relationships. Strong relationships rely on intensive interactions and emotional resonance, and have a huge impact on transactions.

4. KOLs have shallow cognition, while KOCs have strong cognition

Marketing is about changing consumer perception and thus influencing consumer behavior. The important role of KOL and KOC in marketing is to assist brands in completing consumer cognitive education through their own influence and relationships.

There are several cognitive modes in life:

1. Mass media: shallow cognition, needs continuous reinforcement (loudspeakers shouting loudly);
2. Content fission: shallow cognition, high efficiency;
3. Regional chain (data, such as e-commerce): shallow cognition (photo + data);
4. 4. Word of mouth: medium cognition, personal endorsement, low efficiency;
5. Experience: strong cognition, low efficiency.

Strong cognition is determined by strong relationships, which are stable but extremely inefficient. Shallow cognition transmitted through weak relationships is efficient, but if there is no density, it will not achieve the effect of strengthening cognition, and any effort will be in vain.

• KOLs transmit knowledge through mass media, content fission and blockchain (such as e-commerce data). Their communication efficiency is high but their knowledge is shallow, and they need to be continuously strengthened to achieve the communication effect. Just like companies always lament that "half of the advertising budget is wasted, but they don't know which half is wasted".
• It is difficult for KOLs to achieve “precise communication”, so they need to quickly complete user cognition within a certain density. It can also be likened to how to “boil water” within limited resources. Only by “boiling” can shallow cognition be strengthened, otherwise it will soon be forgotten by consumers.
• KOC transmits knowledge through word of mouth and experience, with low communication efficiency but high cognitive intensity. Stable relationships accumulated over a long period of time increase trust endorsement, and offline interactions can further increase the communication experience. Among all communication modes, they can form the strongest cognition and are difficult to be covered by shallow cognition.

5. KOL is explicit, KOC is implicit

The decentralization of media has led to multi-centralization. Multiple centers are often formed around IP or KOL.

KOLs are mostly public figures with specific personalities. Some are figures in niche circles, or regional public figures, and even if they are not well-known, they can still be found.

KOC is a member of the general public. They may be enthusiastic aunties in the community, some are people who like to organize things in the circle of colleagues, and some are mothers. They have a group of acquaintances around them who are ready to come at any time and act together.

What determines the commercial power of KOLs is their influence. What determines the commercial power of KOC is the strong relationships within the small circle.

KOL as a public figure is explicit, while KOC as the general public is implicit. Because of its visibility, the commercial value of KOLs has been overexploited. Similarly, due to its hidden nature, the commercial value of KOC has not been fully recognized.

Professor Shi Wei divides the business process into cognition, transaction, and relationship. Among them, strong relationships can form strong cognition and complete transactions quickly.

In traditional deep distribution, store owners have strong relationships with community users, and acquaintances are familiar customers. In three-dimensional connection, in addition to the strong relationship of the store owner, KOC can also be used to amplify the first-level relationship.

6. KOL+KOC: Activate every node

KOL is the hub node in the network, and KOC is the hub node in the relationship.

KOL+KOC means media communication + channel communication, activating every communication node. The most effective way for traditional marketing to reach consumers is "advertising + deep distribution".

After 2010, the effectiveness of advertising communication began to decline; after 2014, the effectiveness of deep distribution began to decline. At the same time, KOLs and KOCs in social networks are growing rapidly, and consumers' time and cognition are divided up among "fragmented" KOLs and KOCs.

“Advertising + deep distribution” has failed, and KOL+KOC has emerged, and they actually perform the same functions. KOL replaces advertising to assume the function of media communication, and KOC replaces deep distribution to assume the function of channel sales. The purpose is to reach every consumer as much as possible.

Activating every communication node and detonating the communication potential must achieve cross-coverage of information.

The nodes of KOL+KOC in the entire network and relationship must overlap and intersect. The cross-coverage of information is the reinforcement of cognition. The more it is strengthened, the more it can activate the propagation nodes, allowing the activated nodes to continue to influence more nodes.

7. KOC is the core

The Internet dividend has shifted from online to the combination of online and offline, connecting the three dimensions of offline, social and network.

How to go online from offline?

——If you are just doing e-commerce, then online and offline are still isolated. Offline → community → network, this is the inevitable path to connect the three-dimensional space from offline.

Of course, enterprises cannot form connections with 1.4 billion users. They can only enter cyberspace through limited KOCs and KOC communities. This process is a divergent process.

For example: From March 3 to 4, 2020, De Rucci Mattress conducted an 8-hour live broadcast, with more than 4,000 stores participating, resulting in 128 million information reaches and more than 100 million sales. Among them, 1.5 million KOCs play a key role.

Without the amplification effect of 1.5 million KOCs, there wouldn’t be such a large amount of dissemination on WeChat and live broadcasts. Even a super KOL wouldn’t have such a large amount of dissemination. KOL is a relatively centralized communication, while KOC is a truly decentralized connection.

In Tencent’s live broadcasts, you can even clearly see the number of C-end customers attracted by KOC.

Connect the three dimensions and realize sales in cloud stores (or WeChat scenarios). If you want to expand sales, there must be at least one level of amplification, otherwise it is just the monetization of the store’s existing customers in the cloud store. With the first-level amplification of KOC, the number of C-end users can be multiplied.

Author: Liu Xinyi

Source: Liu Laoshi's New Marketing