Marketing just became more complicated in 2019... BECAUSE OF YOU!

Key Opinion Leaders. They are everywhere in today’s world. From suggested videos to POP songs or even Movies and TV commercials! It is more difficult to find an aspect of our lives that is not affiliated with Key Opinion Leaders. So, who are they? According to https://influencermarketinghub.com/, a Key Opinion Leader is an influencer who has expert knowledge and influence in a respective field. Everyone that you know and love on social media that has expert knowledge about something and has power to influence others to follow his or her suggestions can be considered as a Key Opinion Leader. As we entered social media era with the revolutionary introduction of smartphones around a decade ago, the influencers on the social media platforms have become increasingly important. Think about us! When we want to buy something, we have a tendency to search on the internet, read a few articles about the product and watch a few YouTube videos to decide. On top of that, I can make an estimated assumption that at least half of you reading this post head directly to your favorite influencers’ social media pages to listen to their opinions on the product. (And if you really do that, be honest with yourself and comment down below.)

Questions: So? What about those Key Opinion Leaders? Why are they so important? We’ve had celebrities since the beginning of the universe, why does it matter so much now?

Key Opinion Leaders may seem like a new term developed for the internet era to you. But actually Key Opinion Leaders were the predecessor of celebrities. They were what celebrities were before celebrities ever existed. Key Opinion Leaders matter so much in today’s world because there never have been this many Key Opinion Leaders at the same time and place. Although, some “mega influencers”, the ones who have more than 1 million followers or subscribers can be considered as celebrities, influencers are different from influencers in terms of their ability to carry out conversations with their followers in a more personal level. Influencers are more engaged with their followers than celebrities and become the followers’ opinion leaders, creating highly effective word-of-mouth promotions. Just like some friend of yours that knows a lot about computers and gives you a very concise and informative suggestions whenever you want to buy a new computer or have questions about computers. But it’s not just you that wants help from that friend in this case, it’s countless number of people on the internet. And how many people do you think have that kind of friend around them? COUNTLESS.

Therefore, marketing had to adapt to this new era of Key Opinion Leaders. The good times when all the companies had to think was mass media are gone. But instead, a highly volatile and complex social media has dethroned mass media from its place. As mentioned earlier, Key Opinion Leaders are the ones who can give strong and personal influences on the public by carrying out effective two-way communications with them. Marketing didn’t miss out on the opportunities provided for them in the unpredictable social media era. Social media is run by the public unlike mass media where the news organizations and tycoons have the ultimate control over the messages, spreading propaganda. I am not saying that propaganda does not exist on social media or it is not affiliated with tycoons but at the end of the day, we, as the social media users, are the ones who have the power to follow and unfollow people and filter out the information we want to receive. Which means when it is carried out properly, sayings from Key Opinion Leaders can give highly effective word-of-mouth promotions to a large group of people who are more than happy to receive promotional words from the Key Opinion Leaders.

That’s why YOU are the reason why marketing is becoming more complicated every day. YOU have the power to decide who becomes the influencers and at the same time YOU are the influencers that marketing departments seek out for. KOL marketing can be difficult to understand as social media is flooded with Key Opinion Leaders. But it can be the most effective and relatively inexpensive marketing tool when it is done right. Key Opinion Leaders will have to be chosen carefully to prevent them from harming the company’s brand image and reputation. But again, if it is done right, the Key Opinion Leaders will replace highly costly TV commercials and News advertisements and improve or revive the company’s brand image and reputation.

References: 

• hyprbrands.com. (2017, June 27). What Is KOL In Marketing? - HYPR. Retrieved from https://hyprbrands.com/blog/what-is-kol-in-marketing/

• influencermarketinghub.com. (2019, February 21). Key Opinion Leaders - What are KOL's and Why Should You Care? Retrieved from https://influencermarketinghub.com/key-opinion-leaders-what-are-they-and-why-should-you-care/

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