Abstract
This chapter focuses on the development of social media advertising in China, especially influencer marketing through social media posts. More specifically, this study examines how the personal traits of social media influencers, the characteristics of the content posted by them, the form of advertising, and the users' personal preferences influence the effectiveness of these influencers' advertising. Through this research study, the authors conclude that social media influencers in China act as great assets to advertising and in recent times have gained the attention from many brands. During COVID-19, social media usage increased dramatically and helped influencers increase their followership. In an ever-accelerated pace of this digital and social era, it is worthy for brands to rethink how to collaborate and partner with these influencers. It is also significant for influencers to think about how to maintain long-term relationships and garner meaningful interactions with their fans and fellow influencers.
TopIntroduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has bought in many changes in the way humans interact, it has increased the social distance and isolation, it has reduced the social interaction. While the physical world was undergoing drastic changes, so did the digital world. Now people spend more time online. This has provided opportunities for many online businesses and made traditional businesses reimagine the way they take their offering to the customer and promote their products and services. Online shopping and online commodity recommendation has attracted the attention of businesses. According to the report released by China Internet Network Information Center in April 2020, due to the impact of COVID-19, the time spent on the Internet by Chinese individuals has significantly increased. According to the survey of online consumers in 19 countries done by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2020), over 3000 consumers form nine countries were asked if they were shopping more often online than before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amongst 227 respondents from China 31% strongly agreed that their online shopping has increased and 47% of them agreed. That is nearly 8 out of 10 people agree that their online buying behavior has changed or increased after the pandemic. It was stated by Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report (2021) that despite all the uncertainties caused by COVID-19 in 2020, influencer marketing is still a highly popular and effective form of marketing.
Nowadays, most mobile phone users shop online and can be targeted with different formats of online advertisements. According to the 49th Statistical Report on Internet Development in China (2022), by December 2021, China's online shopping users had reached 842 million, accounting for 81.6 percent of the total number of Internet users in China. There is no doubt that, brands are fighting to capture consumers' attention through online advertising.
According to the Forecast of China's Media Industry released by GroupM (2021), in the last five years, when it comes to expenditure for media in China, Internet ranks over all other media formats including TV and radio. Also, the share of Internet advertising spending has reached nearly 90%. 2021 KOL Marketing White Paper proposed that short videos and promotions by key opinion leader (KOL) are the “double focus” of advertisers' social marketing in 2021. Therefore, when we focus on the advertising industry in China, we cannot ignore the marketing role of KOLs and social media influencers.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Echo Chamber: An echo chamber comes into being where a group participants choose to preferentially connect with each other, to the exclusion of outsiders. The more fully formed this network is, the more isolated from the introduction of the outside views is the group, while the views of its members are able to circulate widely within it.
Filter Bubble: A filter bubble emerges when a group of participants, dependent of the underlying networks structures of their connections with others, choose to preferentially communicate with each other, to the exclusion of outsiders. The more consistently they exercise their choice, the more likely it is that participants own views and information will circulate amongst group members, rather than information introduce from the outside.
Information Cocoon: An information cocoon occurs due to a user’s active choices and an algorithm passive choice. It is what the platforms chooses to expose you to user to based on expressed interests, tastes, and preferences. It is related to the idea that people see, hear, and seek what they like, pleases and comforts them and are closed to the idea of newness that challenges it. However, the downside of this phenomenon is non-exposure to opposing point of views, and non-awareness towards the things that exist outside our areas of interests.