60% of Chinese brands make KOLs their social marketing focus

More than 80% of Chinese advertisers plan to increase their social-marketing spending in 2019, and 60% of brands are making KOLs their social-marketing focus, according to China's Social & Content Marketing Trend 2019, a report released by domestic marketing data solution provider AdMaster.

The growth of KOL marketing in retail industries has boomed since 2017, with its use in the food and beverage and beauty sectors soaring 92% and 81%, respectively.

Meanwhile, content-rich short videos are increasingly being recognized by advertisers, as they combine an authentic sensory experience with the ability to go viral, according to the report. Advertisers tend to prefer to work with platforms with standardized and integrated resources, represented by leading platforms such as Kuaishou (Kuai), Douyin (TikTok) and Meipai.

As competition gets fiercer and fiercer, brands are now seeking to boost final purchase via social marketing, and one way to achieve this is by embedding purchase channels on content media platforms. More importantly, online/offline conversion paths are made as short as possible to accelerate sales.

After short videos, vlogging has gained popularity in China since the second half of 2018. Main forms of brand-vlogger partnerships include customized themed narrative, brand exhibitions, product reviews, product launches and immersive experiences.

With growing copyright awareness, more Chinese begin to subscribe online content services. Youku, iQiyi and Tencent Video have a total of over 200 million paid members and each saw strong growth in memberships. Animation/comic IPs in particular make young people willing to purchase from a brand or buy a product.