Key Opinion Consumer (KOC), the newest form of influencers, is a group of experts who test and review products. Their content is reliable and they are an integral part of the decision-making process for their readers, despite the small size of their audience.
The concept of Key Opinion Consumers
Marketers are driven to adapt their social media strategies to reflect the growing influence of KOC China.
China’s dominant practice is to consolidate all of your daily needs into one app. WeChat, a popular all-in-one messaging app that offers many functions beyond just daily communication, is well-known. You can order goods, pay for a taxi or attend an online class.
Apps that integrate social media and e-commerce are becoming more popular. These apps encourage users to share their thoughts and reviews with others. Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) is a good example. LRB is the app that Chinese netizens turn to when they want to find out more about a product or learn more about new products. LRB’s KOCs are considered credible because they are regular people who want to test products, even though they have a small number of followers. LRB’s algorithm is also helpful as it ranks posts based on their quality and displays them first on the main feed. LRB users are also encouraged to share their reviews.
This practice is not common outside China. However, Instagram’s new Checkout functionality, which essentially combines social networking and e-commerce, suggests that western social media is moving towards the Chinese approach. Key Opinion Consumers may eventually emerge in the West.
3 main differences between KOC and KOL
Level of Initiative
For promoting their products or services, brands approach KOLs proactively and offer them cash incentives or product incentives.
KOC is the first consumer and therefore they start to try out and review products that are of interest to them.
Audience size
KOLs can be classified by their number of followers. Examples include Micro-influencers (5,000-1K) or Celebrities (millions).
However, KOCs are not judged on audience size. They most likely have fewer followers that KOLs.
Authenticity
KOC is more trusted by readers because they are experts in product testing and reviewing. KOL followers are more aware of paid collaborations between influencers and brands, so KOC’s authenticity is less strong than KOC.
Examples outside of China that are similar to the KOC model
Amazon Vine
Amazon created this system to allow trusted reviewers to give their opinions on new and pre-released products. Potential customers find this very helpful as it allows them to make informed purchases.
Customers can rate the quality and helpfulness of each review they leave. This contributes to the reviewer’s ranking. Amazon will invite high-ranking reviewers to join Vine Voices and give them free products (submitted from participating vendors) for review. Vine Voices will place a badge at the end of a review to indicate that it has been reviewed.
Amazon’s Vine Program was launched in 2007, but KOC is still relatively new to China.
@cosme
It is Japan’s largest platform for reviewing cosmetics and beauty products. Based on how often and quality of their reviews, users can raise their reviewer level. The platform will display the top-ranked products in each category. Other brands can also use @cosme’s ranking to promote their products. Attaching the “No.1 Facewash from @cosme” sticker to the products.
OnePlus Community
OnePlus, a mobile device company, aims to create a community rather than produce high-quality phones. This goal was made clear by OnePlus and the company later launched their app OncePlus Community. Global fans can share their opinions, reviews, and concerns about their phones and software on this app.
2 Main Reasons for adopting KOC marketing
- KOC is the ideal combination of KOL marketing, CRM.
Every company should use CRM as it can help maintain and improve customer relationships and drive sales. Collaboration with KOLs can have a positive effect on brand image due to their relationship and followers.
A Key Opinion Consumer is someone who has the combined benefits CRM and KOL. Therefore, it is important to identify influencers, authenticators, and creative profiles from your customer pool and turn them into KOCs.
- Customer reviews have a significant impact on potential customers
Over 70% of consumers believe that online reviews are a major factor in their decision-making process. KOCs are a great addition to your marketing strategy. Their voices can have a powerful influence on customers and boost your credibility.
Recommended steps to initiate KOC marketing campaigns
1. Capture
To integrate social media, we recommend linking your social networks profiles to your site. This will allow you to collect social media information such as what type of content website visitors publish. This will allow you to turn these users into future KOCs.
Your audience will feel connected if they have the opportunity to leave reviews. This will allow you to build relationships with your audience as well as a brand community.
2. Qualify
You will likely have enough reviews from your audience to be able identify potential KOCs. Be aware that the KOC might not be trustworthy and leave a negative but constructive comment in the review.
KOC = Active Client + Relevant Audience Size + Creative Social media Content
3. Invite and listen
Once you have identified the top-quality products, organize a group to share information about them. This will help you grow your business. Invite the KOCs to your company and listen to their feedback. This will help you improve your products.
4. Activate
We recommend shortlisting the most valuable comments from KOCs to your brand. Activating new KOCs for product reviews will further optimize your marketing plan.
Among the feedback collected from the KOCs, we suggest shortlisting the most valuable comments for your brand. Thus, further optimizing your marketing plan by activating new KOCs to review the latest products.
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