KOL Marketing Strategy: How to successfully get KOLs to actively forward an article?

Every brand wants to use social media for promotion and invests heavily in various channels. However, for most brands, it seems that they just spend money and produce soft articles, and that's it. With the same budget, why do some brands become an instant hit while others just fail? How to improve the input-output ratio is an issue that every brand needs to consider.

Every brand hopes that KOLs can spontaneously and proactively mention their brand or products for free publicity and promotion. Brands can frequently send new products to KOLs, or invite them to participate in offline events. If the format is innovative enough, KOLs will be happy to post on their social media. After all, every KOL needs to continuously produce good content. If a brand publishes creative content, or the soft copy is attractive enough, some KOLs are willing to share it on their own social media accounts and repost the content of the relevant brand.

Strategy 1: Mention KOLs in related fields

Imagine that you post a question on Zhihu and invite others to answer it. If your content is in their professional field, a large number of people will comment on your content. The same is true for KOLs on social media platforms. When you mention KOLs in related fields in the content published by your own brand, if your brand is not familiar to them, don’t have too high expectations at the beginning, but you may have attracted the attention of the KOL.

▲ @fun is an independent illustrator who often uses KOLs’ photos to unleash her creative inspiration. After drawing for the KOLs, she posts on her Weibo and @ the KOL so that she can send the original picture to the other party.

Of course, mentioning KOLs too often can be annoying, so you need to specifically attract the KOLs’ attention in valuable content, perhaps by @ing them in comments. If you are a maternal and infant brand, you can find maternal and infant bloggers and mention them while sharing brand knowledge. To maximize the effect, you can also ask questions in your content to prompt them to respond. Of course, you must remember not to mention KOLs in commercial advertisements, as this will make KOLs feel disgusted.

Even if they don't forward the content, simply commenting, liking, and other interactions under your post can bring enough influence to the post. At the same time, the recommendation algorithms of social platforms are often closely related to interaction. Even a like from a KOL can make your post appear on their personal homepage.

Strategy 2: Quote KOL’s opinions in brand posts

If you quote KOLs’ opinions in your brand’s posts and then @ them, the possibility of being forwarded by the KOLs will become greater. Why do you say that? Because by quoting, the KOL will feel that you are promoting him and placing him in the position of an opinion leader and authority.

If your brand mainly publishes visual content, you can share KOL pictures or videos on your own social media platform. Many brands, especially travel brands, often plan some special content and share the content of KOLs on their self-media platforms. Of course, make sure you mention the KOL in your post and give them enough trust, otherwise you may get into some unnecessary trouble.

Strategy 3: Integrate KOL products into your own brand content

More and more influential people have begun to launch their own brands and products. What should you do with this type of KOL?

If you integrate the KOL’s branded products into your branded content and post it, they will feel flattered and will likely repost your content on their accounts. While it may sound a little strange to include their products in your branded content, it’s actually very easy to do. Imagine if you were a bag brand and you put KOLs’ sunglasses in the same frame, or had models wear their clothes when taking photos…

Once again, be sure to @the KOL and include their brand, otherwise they may never know about your post. This method will make the success rate of KOL reposting very high, because you are actually creating high-quality content for them and promoting them among your own brand users, while also increasing the exposure and credibility of their brand and products.

Ultimately, these strategies all require you to put aside your pride as a brand and start from the perspective of the KOL, providing them with something valuable. This is an opportunity to create a win-win situation, rather than just thinking about how to use KOLs for free publicity.

Source: scioalbeta