Phạm TúIn Influencer Marketing, content for KOLs plays a very important role. It has the task of conveying the brand’s message while also having to “transform” to suit the KOL and their community.
The ideal case is that the KOL understands the brand message and can create content that meets both of the above conditions because no one understands fans better than KOLs. In the non-ideal case (most of the time), then… ok, it’s your turn, content creator, write content for KOLs!
Content for KOLs: Making Every Word Count
Even when KOLs can create their own content, it’s rare that it perfectly aligns with the brand’s message. It can be tricky when a KOL refuses to allow edits to their writing. To be safe, content creators should provide polished content that suits the KOL, allowing them to adapt it to their style. It’s easier to let them adjust your words than the other way around.
Imagine a brand spending millions on a single KOL post. Every word is valuable. Understandably, brands want to maximize product features in that post. Agencies need strong client management skills to advise on the best content direction for the brand.
In short, KOL content, even if just a few lines, is expensive. The effort put into those lines must generate results that justify the cost.
Yet, there’s little discussion on writing effective KOL content. Based on 4 years of experience and hundreds of KOL posts, here are some tips for creating impactful content.
Insight and Insight
Good content isn’t just about writing skills; it’s about capturing insights. Insight is key. Poor writing can be improved, but a lack of insight hinders content creation.
For KOL content, two types of insight are crucial:
- KOL Insight: Every KOL is unique. A Gen X mom like Minh Hà differs from a millennial mom like Trang Lou. A mom with a modest parenting style differs from one with a luxurious approach. Understanding these nuances requires experience and time in influencer marketing.
- Product and Industry Insight: Understanding consumer pain points and characteristics within the industry is essential.
Finally, combine KOL insights with industry pain points to find the right content angle for the KOL and the product.
How to Gain Insights
To understand a KOL, thoroughly research their social media, press coverage, and appearances. For a pregnancy product, study the KOL’s Facebook profile during their pregnancy, reading all posts and comments from that period.
The more you research, the more valuable details you can uncover for your content. Content becomes more vivid and relevant when built around a specific personality, rather than assumptions about how a KOL might speak.
While extracting details for KOL content might take a day, understanding consumer and industry insights requires continuous observation and accumulation.
Connect with diverse groups of people, observe their conversations, and pay attention to their stories and opinions. Absorb these insights; they’ll come in handy when you least expect it. Cultivate a habit of accumulating diverse life experiences and immerse yourself in social media conversations.
Insights Aren’t Always Readily Available
You won’t always have sufficient knowledge about a particular field or industry, especially niche ones. As a woman, grasping male insights on a shaving product might be challenging.
To gain insights when time is limited or the industry is unfamiliar, try “stealing insights”:
- Dive into comments: Explore discussions in Facebook groups, KOL pages, forums, and article comments. (Avoid groups with excessive seeding, as discussions there lack authority.)
- Repurpose and adapt: Gather, combine, and adapt comments, capturing their mood and tone. This allows you to borrow insights quickly to meet social media content deadlines.
When creating PR and social content for an acne skincare brand, I read all comments under acne articles on Kênh14. I “stole” a reader’s story for a PR piece, “borrowed” comment insights for KOL social content, and “copied” various comments for the seeding plan’s content direction.
As a content creator, you must know how to steal intelligently.
By now, you have a good insight. But that’s only half the battle. You need to translate it into language that resonates with the KOL’s audience. That’s where social content writing skills come in. KOL content is a subset of social content; mastering social content writing is crucial for writing effective KOL content.
Social content itself is rapidly evolving. What are these changes, and how can content creators adapt? We’ll explore these questions in the next article on social content writing skills.
