KOC has never been a slogan, but a real one!

Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “Xia program observation“, Author HENG.

In the end, KOC is still working for KOL

I don’t remember the last online shopping, it was time to find something through search. At that time, to buy a dress, enter a keyword, it seems that there are countless clothes waiting for you.

It’s not too tired, sometimes even willing to spend the entire weekend and “hang out”.

When the work is getting busy, the subway is busy with the customer, the time becomes more expensive than the money, I found that I have not bought online in this way for a long time. In fact, there are only a hundred pages of products that are searched for by only one keyword, and there is no time to look at them. Moreover, the top ones are mostly advertisements.

So, I prefer to “buy things” in the circle of friends. When a friend is recommending a product, I will ask her to buy the link and then buy it directly. After getting used to this method, I almost always buy things from friends.

At that time, I still don’t know the unusual form of “friend recommendation”, but now it has become a strong trend of business attributes, and even a unique business model, the so-called KOC.

When KOC was first used as a noun “debut”, the first thing that everyone thought of was KOL. Yes, if you want to talk about KOC, you must be inseparable from KOL.

Someone said that KOC is KOL around friends, but what is the difference between the two?

KOL to the left, KOC to the right

First look at how KOL and KOC are defined separately.

  • KOL, a key opinion leader, usually an authority in a certain field, is trusted by the relevant groups, thus affecting their buying behavior;

  • KOC, a key consumer, also affects the buying behavior of a group, but mainly by friends and relatives or fans on social platforms.

Although the argument is different, KOL and KOC are essentially the same, and they all use the trust of a certain group to bring the goods. However, their purpose and appeal are different, and the specific business models are different.

1, different attributes: KOL is expert marketing, KOC is recommended by friends

The arrival of the social age, the marketing of enterprises and brands has a new position, and between the brand and consumers, there is also a new “speaker”, namely KOL. Brands connect with consumers through KOL, and for consumers, KOL has become an important conduit for them to understand the brand.

However, when the brand puts the demand of “cargo” on KOL, for KOL, the familiarity of the goods is no longer their only consideration, and the ability to bring goods becomes more important. index of.

At the end of the day, KOC is still working for KOL

KOL’s output means that it is no longer a simple “good thing recommendation.” Therefore, when the good goods in the KOL mouth do not match the actual situation, it is the time when the trust mechanism brings goods into a crisis of trust.

At this time, the value of acquaintances bringing goods is reflected.

In the eyes of friends, a consumer who is very familiar with a certain field is actually the “KOL” in their hearts. Although KOC’s influence is far less than KOL, in a small circle, they are key consumers.

Therefore, unlike KOL, KOC comes from friends, and their sharing is more of a personal experience. There is not too much pressure on the back.

2, different appeals: KOL is “full time” and KOC is “part time”

From the point of view, KOC is more of a release of “surplus value.” In the vast majority of cases, KOCs will have normal full-time jobs, and the phenomenon of “selling goods” is like a part-time job.

They are familiar with a certain field, and there will be corresponding content accumulation and creation, such as public number, short video, live broadcast, etc. Now, through this “skill”, they bring goods for the brand, so they get a certain income, this is KOC.

Compared with KOL, their interests will be much lower and they will not make a living, so they will not consider the cost of bringing goods.

Reversely, KOL, they are more like a profession, the demand is sales, the cargo link is more complicated. Not only must we maintain and operate fans, but there will be more considerations in the supply chain. From the beltOn the goods, most of them do not recommend products according to personal preferences, and price has become the main decisive factor. Even in order to rush to performance, there will be a practice of brushing.

3. Different people affected: KOL is the “public number” and KOC is the “personal number”

As mentioned above, KOC is more likely to bring goods with its own preferences and interests. The decision is in its own hands. Brand and commodity prices are difficult to move, but it is not excluded that it has future upgrades. The potential of KOL.

So, KOC affects their family, friends, colleagues, classmates, etc. Even if there are a certain number of fans on the social platform, it is limited to a small number of users on the platform.

KOL naturally needless to say, they affect the public, users of a certain commodity, a certain group, and even the media. From this point of view, there is no “equality” relationship between KOL and users.

Therefore, for the average person, becoming a KOC is relatively easier. KOC is reproducible, as long as you are familiar with a certain field, then creatively create content to share, interact with friends, until friends recognize you, you are a KOC.

When everyone is more and more spoiled by the so-called KOL only to make money with the goods, it is better to say that everyone is KOL, it is better to say that everyone is a KOC era.

So, how do you deal with this “change” for companies and brands?

KOC: We are real and bring goods!

Although there are many differences between KOL and KOC, for enterprises and brands, the difference between KOL and KOC is still more about its “capacity”.

However, “capable ability” does not compare from a single perspective, but includes multiple different dimensions, such as conversion rate, sales volume, return rate, and so on.

Although from a single sales point of view, KOC’s ability to bring goods is far less than KOL, but the number of KOL is much lower than that of KOC. Therefore, the sum of KOC’s goods is actually no less than KOL.

In the end, KOC is still working for KOL

“In our opinion, the biggest KOL is the platform, it is to bring together countless KOCs, and then give the supply chain and other aspects to these KOCs”, a special KOC support and incubation The person in charge of the agency told us so.

For companies and brands, whether it is KOL or KOC, their role is oneAll of them are used to help them bring their own goods, but the needs are different. Of course, KOL, in addition to the goods, brand promotion is also a purpose.

Of course, for companies, it is not easy to create a KOL. The advantage of KOC’s ability to copy quickly is even more prominent. In addition, because KOC has the feature of “friend recommendation”, it has higher trust and higher conversion rate in the “fans” group. In fact, the “micro-business” in our circle of friends is the prototype of KOC.

In the end, KOC is still working for KOL

At present, companies and brands are increasingly inclined to promote on social platforms. In the future, KOC will surely reach a point of explosion. Although they are not as good as KOL, KOC still has certain advantages.

  • Resolve inventory. In general, the inventory of goods is limited. In the case that the remaining stocks are rarely and eager to deal with, KOC can solve them just because their “fans” are limited, so the volume of goods is very small, just in time. match.

  • Price advantage. For enterprise launch, the main difference between KOL and KOC is the price. If the sales demand of the company is not high, and there is no brand promotion purpose, KOC is actually a more cost-effective choice.

  • True and bring goods. Although KOL is big, but from the overall sales of a product, it is still a small number, the main channel is still KOC. Even some KOLs will convert their sales pressure to a group of KOCs, which means that the volume of KOL is actually done by a group of KOCs.

  • Private domain traffic advantage. From the perspective of private domain traffic, KOC is closer to users, and some users are even their own friends and relatives, so it is easier to win their trust, which is more conducive to building private domain traffic.

With the increasing emphasis on “users bringing goods” and the increasingly perfect ecosystem of each platform, KOC will naturally become more and more popular with brands. In fact, KOC thinking is user thinkingThis is also the advantage that KOC can become a trend.