In the era of “everyone can be a star for 15 minutes”, whether relying on likes and followers alone can promote business, and whether popularity is equivalent to actual business benefits are questions that should be considered when formulating marketing directions. The following analyzes some real cases of KOL success and failure for business owners’ reference.
The true power of KOL
Internet celebrities, also known as KOLs and influencers, have been popular for a while, but they seem not sustainable. Recently, many brands have reduced their influencer marketing expenditures because it has little effect on actual business. Influencer is one of the new generation’s jobs. It is an industry with almost no threshold. Everyone can be an influencer. They pass the brand message to the target group with a real and down-to-earth side, and derive the uniqueness of the product.
American GEN Z influencer Arii had more than 2.7 million followers on IG. Arii launched her own brand Era and her first batch of 36 tees, but in the end, she couldn’t sell any of them. It is pointed out that the design of tee is way too simple and featureless, and the publicity strategy in the early stage of launch had not been done well. It’s proof that neither likes nor followers are able to generate business, and consumers are still pragmatically pursuing product quality.
Diversified income model
In 2009, Chiara Ferragni, a 22-year-old college student, launched the fashion blog The Blonde Salad. Now Chiara Ferragni leads her business team, she has tens of millions of Instagram followers, as well as super high attention and stable high traffic. Her business not only brings her a steady stream of advertising revenue, she also selected as “Forbes 30 Under 30” (Forbes 30 Business Leaders Under 30).
In 2015, Harvard Business School listed Chiara Ferragni’s successful transformation from KOL to entrepreneur as an MBA teaching case, and invited her to Harvard to reveal her successful story.
I believe one of the success factors of Chiara Ferragni is to keep pace with the times. Since its launch in 2013, Instagram has become popular all over the world, and it has become the most commonly used social media platform in the fashion industry. Chiara Ferragni was able to change her strategy in time and shift her focus to Instagram to build a fan base and further increase her personal popularity.
In addition, Chiara Ferragni diversifies the income model. The current main income comes from website advertising, brand cooperation, event hosting, and the shoe series under her brand. Chiara Ferragni’s footwear collection, the Chiara Ferragni Collection, is entirely designed by her and has an estimated annual sales revenue of 10 million euros.
Its ready-to-wear and accessories brand has also won praise from designers and fashion lovers, and currently has more than 11 stores around the world.
Be true
Chiara Ferragni once said that social networks and reality must be related. If false appearances are made on social networks, they will soon be discovered in reality and will be trampled on. She also shared that most of her pictures are processed in the simplest way, shot in the most original way, and use natural light appropriately. The reason why social networks are attractive is that audiences want to participate in the real birth process of starting from scratch, so as to build relationships, become a part of the brand, and let the sense of belonging become the driving force for consumption.
To succeed in business, you need both product/service quality and popularity. Keeping pace with the times, diversifying income models, and presenting a realistic and human side in marketing – the above are all successful strategies worthy of reference by business owners.