How to Pick Influencers That Deliver Results
KOL influencer marketing in China is the best way to promote a brand, service, or destination. But only if done right. Finding the right influencers is not easy.
“75% of our investment now are on the digital social media influencers and they are proved to be highly productive…”
Influencers often buy fake comments and hire people to post questions on online stores to create artificial engagement. This makes it harder than ever to tell what's real from what's fake.
This guide will reveal the tricks commonly used by Chinese online influencers and how to spot when you're being deceived.
Inflated Follower Growth
The number of followers influences the price of the blogger you hire. It's not surprising that influencers often exaggerate this number.
Genuine follower increase.
Inflated Engagement Growth
The total number of likes, comments, and reposts on an influencer's account should align with their overall follower growth.
Fake Reposts
The number of reposts, or how often followers of an influencer share the content, is a common way to measure engagement. Fake reposts do not reach real people and, as a result, are not shared further.
Fake Engagement
Quantitative measures of engagement, such as likes, comments, and reposts, are often faked. A closer examination of their distribution shows unrealistic engagement patterns throughout the day.
A quick review of an influencer's posting history should reveal a consistent number of views, likes, comments, and reposts per post. Any spikes should be traceable to paid promotions, endorsements, or competitions.
Buying fake comments in China is easy, but spotting them is challenging. Influencers often have close friends post a few genuine-looking comments and then boost them with fake views from click farms.
When brands hire influencers, these influencers may even buy fake e-commerce engagement. This usually involves people or bots visiting your online store on platforms like Tmall, Taobao, Jindong, or WeChat Store after the influencer's content is published, and then asking questions to customer service.
Influencers using fake engagement on your e-commerce platforms usually concentrate on the total number of visitors and the number of questions directed to customer support. Most e-commerce platforms today can track the number of page visitors for each product in your store, as well as how often your products are added to a shopping cart or collection (even if not purchased). Authentic influencers will drive traffic to the specific products promoted in the campaign.
Impossible Follower Profile
The illustration below shows two female bloggers who specialize in cosmetics for women. One blogger has an audience that is 82% female, while the other has an audience that is 97% male. It is practically impossible for a channel specifically targeting women to attract a 97% male audience.
Fake followers are single-purpose bots, typically newly created accounts. These profiles lack followers themselves. A healthy audience likely includes individuals with very few followers (0-100, as illustrated), as well as small and larger influencers with hundreds to thousands of followers.
The coastal provinces are the wealthiest, most populated, and economically active regions of China. Unless you've specifically chosen a very localized influencer, most followers are likely concentrated in the east.
How to Find Influencers
Finding the right influencers goes beyond mere payment. When it comes to promoting products with larger influencers, brands need to actively persuade these influencers to promote their products. No agency can simply ‘get you the blogger’. They provide the right content, handle conversations in a friendly manner, and reference past collaborations. Ultimately, the decision rests with the influencer, who will decide based on their preferences.
Direct Contact—Contact the blogger of your choice directly via DM or first-party influencer platforms. This method allows you to target specific individuals and gets you the best results, though it’s time consuming. With larger influencers, the response rate is low.
Third-party Influencer Aggregation Platforms—These platforms list thousands of influencers and attempt to evaluate their authenticity. They are a good starting point, but automated assessments are often inaccurate and can provide a false sense of security.
Agent—Agents often maintain lists of influencers they 'manage,' although this varies by agent. Some agents merely contact bloggers to collaborate, offering no greater chance of success than if the brand approached them directly. Others have a closer relationship with these influencers, which is particularly common with smaller bloggers. Be cautious of the latter type of agency, as they frequently purchase followers for their bloggers to prop up their fees.
Marketing Agency—A reliable marketing partner will use all three methods and provide you with a personalized proposal.
Q&A
What platforms is this guide for?
The Chinese online social media landscape is vast. This guide shows examples from the top 4: WeChat, Weibo, RedNote (Xiaohongshu) and Douyin - but findings apply to all social media.
Where did you get the numbers illustrated in your guide?
While some estimates about the authenticity of an influencer can be done simply by looking at their profile, it is necessary to employ specialized tools tracking social interactions on their channels in a long run to assess the authenticity of the blogger. The illustrations are from such tools, for example 西瓜数据, 数播, 千瓜数据 and other.
Can reputable bloggers have sudden spikes in follower and engagement numbers?
Yes, it is important to look at all the data in aggregate in order to judge the authenticity of an influencer. Abrupt jumps in numbers of followers and engagement can indicate endorsements by other bloggers, competitions organized on the account or paid promotion. These can be easily found in posting history.