Step 16: Map Your KOLs

Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are the natural evolution away from ‘influencers’ – and are seen as more relevant and trustworthy because they have experience, insights and education to underpin their opinions, reviews and articles.

They’re industry and / or subject matter experts, who have an ability to communicate in more engaging and authentic ways with their audiences, sharing their thoughts on products and services they use.

Research shows that women key opinion leaders who use social media platforms as a marketing channel outperform men’s earnings by 35%.

Additionally, working with female key opinion leaders can drive 16 times more engagement on your social media platform.

However to succeed in KOL marketing for your brand, you needs to consider 2 things:

A. Build long-term programs, to establish trust.

AND

B. Treat key opinion leaders as partners, not just paid for placement. You need a true voice highlighting real value.

Seek KOLs that are in your industry or have the opportunity to influence purchases of your brand, service or products.

They’re bloggers themselves, trendsetters and advocates with a large amount of followers and engagement.

It’s also worthwhile to consider micro-key opinion leaders, with an average of 2,000 fans but with high engagement. They’re also most likely to become really passionate about your brand story.

How should you assess them?

Relevance: Beyond static metrics and unique visitors, what is that KOL’s content; and does it align with the message you want to convey?
Engagement: How often does the KOL engage with their audience? Do they respond to comments? Do real people, i.e. quality followers, engage with them on social media?
Genuineness: Key Opinion Leaders who don’t post sponsored content that often are more authentic as personal stories that incorporate your product instill more trust than conventional product reviews. Engaging stories gather more honest comments and shares.
Content: The key opinion leaders have to be posting on social media about food, lifestyle, health and wellbeing.
Consistency: Do they create content on a regular basis and not just distribute other people's content?

Once you’ve worked out how to assess them, think creatively of how you want to use them:

For reviews and testimonials
In videos
In your advertising
Writing expert articles about your product, brand or service.

How do you engage them?

Since KOLs influence the influencers, figure out who the influencers in your industry look up to.

Who do the influencers in your industry follow on Twitter and Instagram? Who headlines industry events?

You can also:

Search popular industry hashtags on Instagram
Search relevant keywords on YouTube
Read industry news to see who media features as experts in the field.
Use tools like BuzzSumo and Rand Fishkin’s SparkToro designed to help you find digital influencers and opinion leaders in your field.
Search for podcasts and YouTube channels they subscribe to.
Find the blogs and websites they read regularly plus the accounts they follow on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Once you have a comprehensive list, engage them with an email introduction and a detailed brief – a summary of what you’re asking of them including deliverables and budget.

The other option is to use professional influencer and KOL agencies to negotiate a fee and project with relevant KOLs.

Back to Brand Mapping

neva readJanuary 15, 2020

Step 16: Map Your KOLs

Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are the natural evolution away from ‘influencers’ – and are seen as more relevant and trustworthy because they have experience, insights and education to underpin their opinions, reviews and articles.

They’re industry and / or subject matter experts, who have an ability to communicate in more engaging and authentic ways with their audiences, sharing their thoughts on products and services they use.

Research shows that women key opinion leaders who use social media platforms as a marketing channel outperform men’s earnings by 35%.

Additionally, working with female key opinion leaders can drive 16 times more engagement on your social media platform.

However to succeed in KOL marketing for your brand, you needs to consider 2 things:

A. Build long-term programs, to establish trust.

AND

B. Treat key opinion leaders as partners, not just paid for placement. You need a true voice highlighting real value.

Seek KOLs that are in your industry or have the opportunity to influence purchases of your brand, service or products.

They’re bloggers themselves, trendsetters and advocates with a large amount of followers and engagement.

It’s also worthwhile to consider micro-key opinion leaders, with an average of 2,000 fans but with high engagement. They’re also most likely to become really passionate about your brand story.

How should you assess them?

Relevance: Beyond static metrics and unique visitors, what is that KOL’s content; and does it align with the message you want to convey?

Engagement: How often does the KOL engage with their audience? Do they respond to comments? Do real people, i.e. quality followers, engage with them on social media?

Genuineness: Key Opinion Leaders who don’t post sponsored content that often are more authentic as personal stories that incorporate your product instill more trust than conventional product reviews. Engaging stories gather more honest comments and shares.

Content: The key opinion leaders have to be posting on social media about food, lifestyle, health and wellbeing.

Consistency: Do they create content on a regular basis and not just distribute other people's content?

Once you’ve worked out how to assess them, think creatively of how you want to use them:

For reviews and testimonials

In videos

In your advertising

Writing expert articles about your product, brand or service.

How do you engage them?

Since KOLs influence the influencers, figure out who the influencers in your industry look up to.

Who do the influencers in your industry follow on Twitter and Instagram? Who headlines industry events?

You can also:

Search popular industry hashtags on Instagram

Search relevant keywords on YouTube

Read industry news to see who media features as experts in the field.

Use tools like BuzzSumo and Rand Fishkin’s SparkToro designed to help you find digital influencers and opinion leaders in your field.

Search for podcasts and YouTube channels they subscribe to.

Find the blogs and websites they read regularly plus the accounts they follow on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Once you have a comprehensive list, engage them with an email introduction and a detailed brief – a summary of what you’re asking of them including deliverables and budget.

The other option is to use professional influencer and KOL agencies to negotiate a fee and project with relevant KOLs.