Never before, on social networks or in real life, have people talking about the terms KOLs, Influencers, or KOCs so much! It has become familiar in the communication strategies of brands, but have you ever wondered what KOLs actually do? Is this considered a real career? What factors are needed to become a professional KOL? How do KOLs make money?,…
If you also have the above questions, let’s answer them through this article with Ecomobi!
What is KOL?
KOLs are individuals with the ability to shape public opinion and create a strong spread. Thanks to their influence, KOLs often cooperated with brands in communication campaigns to increase brand awareness, expand reach, and create lively discussions around products/services.
Recently, people have considered KOL as a profession and often use terms such as “KOL profession” or “content creation profession”. So how does KOL make money to be considered a profession? Find out with Ecomobi now!
How do KOLs make money?
Based on their influence on the community, KOLs can own a huge source of income thanks to:
Advertising cooperation with brands:
This traditional form of cooperation between KOLs and brands brings many benefits to both parties. KOLs will participate in the process of creating diverse content such as taking photos, writing articles, and filming videos to introduce, review, and promote the brand’s products/services. In addition, KOLs can become the representative face, participate in advertising TVCs, or accompany brands in long-term communication campaigns.
Affiliate Marketing
Recently emerging, Affiliate Marketing has become a popular form of MMO (Make Money Online) in the KOLs community. This form allows KOLs to make unlimited money based on their influence.
When participating in Affiliate Marketing platforms, KOLs will act as publishers, attaching product links in posts on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc. When someone clicks on the link and makes a successful purchase, KOLs will receive a corresponding commission.
With Affiliate Marketing, KOLs can make money anytime, anywhere, regardless of any requirements from the brand. KOLs can also choose products they have experienced to introduce to followers, without having to “care” about following the brand’s script like traditional booking forms. Therefore, KOLs will not worry about being turned away by their followers or losing channel interaction.
The advantages of Affiliate marketing:
- Unlimited income potential: Commissions can increase with the number of products sold, so KOLs can earn significant income if they have a large following and a high conversion rate.
- Flexible and proactive: KOLs can choose products, time, and promotion methods that suit their style and audience.
- No investment required: KOLs do not need to spend capital to purchase or store products, just focus on promoting and creating attractive content.
- Build relationships with brands: KOLs can cooperate with many different brands, expand their relationship network, and have the opportunity to access many new products.
Disadvantages of Affiliate Marketing:
- High competition: The number of KOLs participating in Affiliate Marketing is increasing, so it is necessary to have an effective promotion strategy and quality content to attract customers.
- Required knowledge and skills: KOLs need to clearly understand the product, target market, and marketing techniques to optimize promotional effectiveness.
- Reputation risk: If KOLs promote poor quality or dishonest products, it can affect the reputation and trust of followers.
In short, Affiliate Marketing is a potential form of making money online for KOLs, however, it requires an investment of time, effort, and knowledge to achieve success.
Earn money from views
Besides the above two forms, KOLs can also make money based on views (Display Advertising) exploited on platforms (YouTube Adsense) and Facebook (Facebook Ads Breaks). However, to make money from this channel, KOLs are required to meet the following minimum conditions:
YouTube Adsense: The channel has more than 1,000 subscribers and more than 4,000 valid public watch hours in 12 months. Once you join the YouTube Partner Program, you’ll be able to start earning money through advertising. This is done in two ways, cost per thousand views (CPM) or cost per click (CPC). With CPM, you can earn money based on every 1,000 views you accumulate, while with CPC, you can earn money based on the number of people who click on the ads placed on your page or video.
Facebook Ads Break: Fanpage has 10,000 followers, with a total of 600,000 minutes viewed in the past 60 days. This number can include on-demand video, live video, or streamed video. Cross-posted, advertised, or paid video watch time is not included in this number.
Revealing the secret to becoming a professional KOL
With the fame and huge income that the KOL profession brings, many young people have decided to “commit” to the path of becoming professional KOLs. Technology and social networks have contributed to making the “KOL profession” easier, but to stand out among hundreds of thousands of KOLs, you must have a “trick”.
Identify your strengths
Before deciding to engage in the KOL career, determine your strengths and passions. Doing anything based on personal interests and talents is also motivating and easier to succeed. Furthermore, when you are a KOL, all your words and reviews affect the community. That requires KOLs to equip themselves with a certain foundation and knowledge about a certain field, and from there they can get closer to becoming professional KOLs.
Identify the target audience group
After choosing the field you want to pursue as a KOL, determine the audience you want to target. The content you create and the products you review will depend on your target audience. To have a proper channel-building plan is a step that cannot be overlooked.
A person who wants to become a professional KOL will always determine a content strategy, thereby being able to produce content effectively attract new followers, and retain current followers.
Choose the right channel and way to make money
A lot of research shows that each KOL should only develop and make money focusing on one channel. Gen Z KOLs often focus on exploiting the TikTok channel, while more “senior” KOLs will focus on YouTube or Instagram.
Do you want to make money from advertising bookings, YouTube views, and Facebook views, or want to receive commissions from Affiliate Marketing? Or want to combine all 3 methods? Each choice will affect how you develop your personal brand, so choose the most suitable direction from the beginning!
Invest in building quality content
The community will follow and support you when you can help and answer the problems they are facing. Therefore, invest in creating truly useful content to create trust and interest from followers. Don’t forget to incorporate new, “hot trends” on social networking sites to attract more interaction!
Hopefully, this article will help you have a deeper understanding and insight into the KOL profession, understand how KOLs make money, and how you become a professional KOL. Register to join Ecomobi right here!
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