KOLs or Influencers, which one should brands choose to spread their message?

Nowadays, digital marketing is having a big impact on the market. It is one of the ways to bring success for brands and enhance their products a step closer to consumers. A survey of Schwab’s 2019 Modern Wealth survey found that nearly half of Millennial aged 23 to 38 said that they got influence to spend money from social media, and most of them are through Influencers and KOLs.

With a flood of big brands in the market, there are many challenges for brands to reach the Millennial and Gen Z. It is very important for brands to choose the right Influencers or KOLs that match the brands voice to maximize their reach. This post will be discussing the difference between KOLs and Influencers and how they bring effectives for brands to spread the message.

What is the difference between KOLs and Influencers?

A lot of people mistakenly thought KOLs and Influencers are the same but unfortunately they are not. KOLs are a key leader opinion which they are authentic, a clear position, unique identity and the image conveyed. KOLs are more focused on their relevant fields while influencers are the one who got influence from KOLs and they are more personal, where content normally base on viral trends.

Why should brands choose KOLs to spread their message?

As discussed above on the difference between KOLs versus Influencers, the greatest thing about KOLs is a real role prescriber which can build a lot of trust. In fact, KOL’s followers recognise them by their knowledge and a reliable source of information, that fact helps them build confidence and credibility in the audiences when it comes to influence the decision making. This would help brands spread out the message when they can easily engage their products to the right target audiences.

How are Influencers effective for the brands?

While KOLs have a credibility and tie fan base, there are characteristics that Influencer seem more appealing then KOLs. One of KOL’s biggest disadvantages is most KOLs having a side job and don’t have much engagement as online specialist influencers. Some of the KOLs are also too mainstream and have too much information that people get over while most of the Influencers have a broader fan base and expected to be an expert in communication which they spend most of their time engaging with people on the internet. Marketers believe that return on investment of Influencers marketing is 11 times higher than traditional marketing including TV, print, desktop ads.

Moreover, consumers trust influencers more than brands and especially marketers nowadays because they are real, they can relate, and they can reflect to themselves. When they come to Influencers, it is not just all about the products but more about the personalities, the implement, tips and tricks where they are hard to find elsewhere. In addition, Influencers can also be entertaining which is the trigger that affects sharing and spreading the message online. Another appealing characteristic of Influencers is that a brand can help turn Influencers into key opinion leaders when they work together overtime and become an expert in the industry.

In conclusion, both KOLs and Influencers have their own advantages that can help brands spread out the message to the audience. A common mistake that a lot of brands have is choosing someone that has a large subscriber but they have no idea about how deep does KOLs or Influencers are familiar about the products that they are going to spread the message out. There are campaigns that brand hired Nano- Influencer or Micro- Influencer but still success because of their passionate fans. So either of KOLs or Influencers, brands should have a deep research on who matching their brand to choose to reflect their brands, voices and images.