Key Opinion Leaders and Bloggers become major marketing driver for companies to be successful in China

DIA China Boot Camp The explosion of social media in China is putting pressure on marketers to increase their spending, learn to navigate key platforms like Tencent and Sina, and forge alliances online with local key opinion leaders, known in China as KOLs. One fascinating aspect of China's digital landscape is how openly netizens take to the cyber-streets to offer thoughts, opinions and guidance. Of China's 500 million online users, half claim to be active bloggers. China now has 580 million people active on that country's top social network, Tencent's QZone, out of 712 million registered users. QZone is followed in popularity by Twitter-like Tencent Weibo, with 507 million registered users, and Sina Weibo, with 400 million. Next are PengYou, also owned by Tencent, with 259 million users, and Facebook-like RenRen at 172 million. Brands are looking to develop their own brand fans at a more practical level rather than just purely looking at weibo queens like [Chinese actress] Yao Chen. China has four main types of key opinion leaders: Celebrities, commercial accounts, grassroots folks [who] are building a name for themselves, and industry experts in a particular field." Microblogs called weibo are one of the fast-growing activities, along with e-commerce. Fashion and luxury brands are among the most active industries using social media. The leading players on Sina Weibo today include brands like Cadillac, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Coach, Dior, Burberry, Audi, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Ferrari, but most Western brands are eager to expand their social media presence and align with opinion leaders who act as brand ambassadors. One challenge for advertisers is the rise of fake fans sold by vendors exploiting a quick business opportunity–selling virtual "followers" that artificially inflate the fan base of bloggers and brands. Market pressure pushes bloggers to drive more followers if that is the key indicator as to whether or not they are influential. It is important for brands to look at the context of what KOLs are talking about, the level of engagement, re-tweets, comments, and then the amount of interaction they have with their fans. While travel and tourism organizations are starting to look more at s ocial media to enter the Chinese market, the focus is still on traditional marketing channels, mainly trade, road-shows, offline advertising, and events.  The Canadian Tourism Commission for example has executed various social media campaigns in China via its partner Dragon Trail Interactive, leveraging its Tripshow.com platform. The latest phase of the campaign leverages KOLs in ways to drive buzz in organic ways which drives visits to Canada by Chinese tourists. Here is a link to the campaign site: http://cn-keepexploring.canada.travel/campaign/index/hot The China Boot Camp, part of Digital Innovation Asia, on June 10-12 in Bangkok will focus specifically on Chinese bloggers and KOLs, and the Chinese social media landscape. The Blogger Match-Up will bring in bloggers and influencers from all over the world, including China, for a unique opportunity for travel and tourism organization in Asia to connect with these KOLs via speed-dating scheme. To register for the event, visit http://diasiatourism.eventbrite.com. For more information on the Digital Innovation Asia events, please download the brochure, and view photos of the past China Boot Camp with top Chinese KOLs last April.   Partly sourced: AdAge (March 1, 2013) from China Travel Trends http://chinatraveltrends.com

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