{"id":49474,"date":"2020-10-21T01:23:56","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T17:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daxueconsulting.com\/?p=49474"},"modified":"2023-02-22T17:52:15","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T09:52:15","slug":"koc-marketing-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daxueconsulting.com\/koc-marketing-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"KOC marketing in China often gets more bang for the buck than KOL marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KOC marketing in China is gaining popularity due to the rise of big data platforms and new demands from young consumers. Chinese KOCs (Key Opinion Consumers), are regular consumers who love to share their true product reviews on popular social media. Although most KOCs don\u2019t have a large fan base, they are the key for consumers to make a buying decision. One of the main differences from KOLs is KOCs typically have no more than a few hundred fans on social media. However, as everyday shoppers themselves, they are more relatable to their followers. Hence, they are generally seen as more trustworthy due to their authentic and reliable content<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The KOC loop<\/span><\/i><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Parklu,<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Source: Parklu, <\/em>daxue consulting design, the <\/em>KOC loop<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The KOC loop includes three stages. First of all, as an \u201cinput\u201d, a customer purchases a product based on a KOC\u2019s recommendations. Secondly, a customer makes an \u201caction\u201d to promotes product due to satisfaction, brand reward mechanism or other reinforcements. Then, as an \u201coutput\u201d, a customer becomes a KOC after advocating the brand to potential customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOC vs KOL marketing: what to choose?<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Infographic
Infographic by daxue consulting, comparing KOC and KOL marketing in China<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned, the main difference between KOLs and KOCs is in the number of their followers. KOLs in China<\/a> have huge fan bases which, however, could mean they do not always have total trust from their audience. Chinese consumers have become more sophisticated and they know brands pay KOLs to do reviews. Moreover, due to a few cases of influencer scandals, Chinese consumers crave more content that is not commercially influenced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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KOCs are a part of word-of-mouth, they help brands to build up their credibility. The fact of using KOCs – together with KOLs – is part of the basic communication strategies in China nowadays, especially for industries that are customer-centric, such as beauty.<\/p>\nYuwan Hu, COO at daxue consulting <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

On the contrary, Chinese KOCs are primarilyconsumers who decide for themselves which product they want to try and review. Even though they don\u2019t have a huge fan base, their voices are more credible and followers refer to their reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"impact<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Source: Azoya,<\/em> daxue consulting design,<\/em> i<\/em>mpact of different influencer groups<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advantages of KOC marketing<\/span><\/i> over KOL marketing<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/i>Authenticity<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

KOC marketing in China has some obvious advantages. For example, KOCs are more authentic, they simply share what interests them. In addition to sharing products, they share their daily life more often to fully demonstrate their sense of reality. It helps to build trust for a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of users, KOCs themselves are ordinary users, and have a very close relationship with followers. In contrast, KOLs often releases information that users do not trust because of business collaborations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact us to learn more about KOL and KOC marketing in China<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In terms of behavior, KOCs are usually an active member in the community, and are willing to share brand information. A KOC has a certain cross-layer communication power. They may also join the user community in each brand at the same time to broaden their boundaries. For example, a KOC who loves to travel may also love fitness and fashion, so she shares content across multiple fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOCs are cheaper and life-oriented<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

From the content point of view, the content released by KOCs is more abundant and life-oriented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for pricing, KOCs are much cheaper than KOLs. On average, a KOC costs around 50 to 1500 CNY per<\/a> social media post. But not all of the available influencer platforms give the brand right to use the content thereafter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOL\u2019s pricing depends on the size of the community and the number of fans they can reach. For example, on Weibo, an influencer with a reach of 1-2 million people will cost around 30,000 CNY for one post. On WeChat, for a reach of 50,000 people, the cost can rise up to 40,000 CNY. Making good use of several KOCs can produce a higher return on investment than one KOL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"daxue<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Data source: Chons, daxue consulting analysis, prices of KOCs\u2019 post on Xiaohongshu<\/em> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOCs\u2019 disadvantages: how to control KOCs base<\/span><\/i><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

However, KOCs in China also have some disadvantages. For instance, it is not easy to control the brand’s advertising effect. It may end up with great efforts, but the marketing effect will not be satisfactory. To solve this problem, the brand should find some agencies to cooperate and then carry out the training and construction of KOCs base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organic vs. contrived KOC marketing in China: how to reward KOCs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Organic KOC<\/strong> posts<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Not all Chinese KOCs need to get a reward by the brand or will want to join an official KOC program. Motivation for organic KOC can be past satisfaction, post-purchase rationalization, and other emotional and psychological reinforcements. However, there are things a brand can do to increase organic advocacy. For example, actively showing that brand values each customer builds trust and affinity. It\u2019s the tangible human-to-human interactions that make a brand real and increase the chances of customers recommending a brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contrived KOC<\/strong> posts<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Some customers will only be motivated by tangible goals and rewards. That\u2019s when brands use incentives to persuade these customers to post. Brands can add advocacy incentives to existing loyalty programs or develop an advocacy program to create a KOC cohort. Launching advocacy focused campaigns like rewarding referrals or group buying can also help to create KOC base. It\u2019s essential to have a range of rewards that can appeal to each potential KOC\u2019s motivation<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is that like to work with KOCs in China?<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Five steps to attract Chinese KOCs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tong Digital presented a five-step process of \u201cproduct seeding<\/a>\u201d to attract Chinese KOCs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n