As mentioned above, the future trend of influencers will gradually shift from hot key opinion leaders (KOLs) to micro-influencers. But it is undeniable that KOLs are still sought after and looked forward to.
Earlier, a survey interviewed hundreds of children, and nearly forty percent of the respondents expressed their desire to become KOLs, hoping that more people would know themselves and show their talents in front of others, just like Ben Sir and Da Ge. Or many people will think that the benefit of becoming an KOL is that it is easy to get the sponsorship of the brand, including money and products, forming the effect of fame and fortune.
However, the price behind the KOL scene is often the need to be more careful with their personal words and deeds and moral behavior, and they are always like half public figures, and the slightest carelessness is enough to create a public disaster in this new era of online lockdown. Because after the popularity of social media, all the various niches on the Internet can quickly unite and focus on a hot topic, which can become a huge force.
For example, a well-known local KOL couple recently announced their divorce, ending a ten-year long-distance run, and when everyone was still talking about it, many “Liandeng” netizens quickly doxxed and found that a third party was involved behind the original story, which made things even more out of control, and the cheating party was forced to delete her Facebook account and temporarily end her KOL status.
Another example is the faux pas of a Hong Kong KOL of a “Japan expert” in a Japanese izakaya a few years ago, which was put on the Internet by the boss for public trial, and then quickly fermented, and was bombarded by Hong Kong netizens as a “shame of Hong Kong people”.
In fact, in order to become a convincing KOL, it is necessary to pay attention to the three aspects of morality, legal principles and human feelings at the same time, and strike a balance between the three, after all, in today’s seller-led market environment, netizens’ media interaction often plays a key role. Success is also a network, defeat is also a network.
KOLs must respond to their usual words and deeds with higher standards of censorship, and if a disaster is triggered, they must not be lazy and hard-hitting, but must explain the incident in a timely manner and show a “human” side to turn the crisis into an opportunity. Of course, it is more important to learn from mistakes and avoid the arrival of “Guan Gong” next time, so that you can shine as a KOL in a solid manner.
