Influencer Marketing is a key and ever-evolving strategy. To maximize its effectiveness, brands need to understand the strategic differences between the three main groups of influencers: KOL (Key Opinion Leader), KOC (Key Opinion Consumer), and KOS (Key Opinion Seeder).
Each of these groups offers distinct benefits, appeals to different audience segments, and plays a specific role in the marketing funnel. By combining them flexibly and effectively:
- KOL – Thanks to their influence and high professional reputation.
- KOC – Like a real consumer, thereby promoting purchasing decisions.
- KOS – Expand your reach to smaller community groups.
Properly coordinating these three groups helps brands not only raise awareness, but also drive sales and build genuine and lasting relationships with consumers.
What are KOL, KOC and KOS?
Before exploring their differences, it is important to understand each term individually:
Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs)
KOL (Key Opinion Leader) are key opinion leaders, including celebrities, industry experts, bloggers, online content creators, or popular live streamers.
They are seen as trusted public figures or authoritative experts in a particular industry, such as “Doctor Dinh Thi Thu Huong” in the medical field or “Diep Le livestream” in direct sales. KOLs have large followings (usually from 100,000 to millions of people).
With such a wide range of influence, the main role of KOLs is to shape public opinion, raise brand awareness and directly influence the behavior of a large number of consumers.
Advantages of working with KOL:
KOLs offer many important advantages, making them ideal for large-scale campaigns. In terms of cost, brands have the flexibility to control their budgets thanks to KOL pricing being clearly tiered across multiple platforms (high, medium, low).
In terms of effectiveness, KOLs have a wide reach, making them ideal for raising brand awareness across multiple sectors. At the same time, they create credibility and authority, which is especially effective in specialized industries such as technology, beauty, and finance.
Notably, KOLs drive high conversion rates because consumers tend to trust unbiased reviews, making them feel that the product is genuine and trustworthy. This trust drives purchasing behavior, making KOL marketing effective in many industries, from beauty, food to electronics.
Key Opinions of Consumers (KOC)
KOC (Key Opinion Consumer) are ordinary consumers who share authentic reviews and experiences. They engage in product experience sharing in a trusted role: as real customers.
Their close relationship with potential customers is built on empathy and a deep understanding of users’ emotions, needs and pain points. This in turn significantly increases consumers’ trust in the product being presented.
While KOCs typically have smaller followings (typically 10,000 to 50,000) than KOLs, their influence is huge within their communities and niches. They create authenticity and drive purchases based on genuine, personal experiences.
Advantages of working with KOC:
KOC (Key Opinion Consumer) delivers unique value through authenticity and cost optimization. Their biggest advantage is more authentic content that feels like it is shared by a friend. They use a personalized approach through unboxing and product testing videos, helping consumers make informed purchasing decisions. Thanks to this authenticity, KOC achieves higher engagement and conversion rates because authentic recommendations are always trusted.
In terms of cost, cooperating with KOC helps brands significantly reduce advertising costs, as cooperation often only requires product gifts or much lower fees than KOLs.
In addition, the number of KOCs is diverse and rich in many niche fields (home, pets, home improvement), allowing brands to choose many specialized influencers, thereby increasing coverage and building word-of-mouth effects more effectively.
Key Opinion Distribution System (KOS)
KOS (Key Opinion Sales) are influencers who typically work closely with brands, specializing in sales-oriented roles within a specific industry. They typically have a significant following, between 50,000 and 500,000, and are an effective bridge between marketing and sales.
KOS differentiate themselves through a powerful combination of engaging content creation and direct sales expertise. Not only do they have a deep understanding of their categories and brands, but they also have the ability to convert brand awareness into real sales immediately. KOS are uniquely positioned to drive transactions directly, often through conversion-focused activities like livestreaming and other social commerce channels.
Advantages of working with KOL:
KOS (Key Opinion Sales) is an effective bridge between professional knowledge and sales conversion.
They possess high professionalism and a solid brand foundation, are more trusted than KOLs and KOCs, and help target users accurately thanks to their deep understanding of customer needs and preferences.
KOS includes both Brand Ambassadors (who regularly promote) and Sales Representatives (who actively participate in direct sales on platforms like Douyin), allowing brands to save significant content and advertising costs by leveraging their own employees or sales-oriented influencers.
In particular, KOS strongly supports multi-channel conversion (e.g., on Mega Live) through notes, private messages, and live shopping, providing customized, professional services, thereby maximizing sales performance.
The Key Difference Between KOL, KOC and KOS
| Category | Role | Type | Features | Advantages |
| KOL | Brand promotion and image building | • Professional content creation • Collaboration with brands • Use of mainstream media | • Wide reach • Large following • Focus on brand awareness | • Increase brand awareness • Precisely target core audiences |
| KOC | Drive word of mouth through authenticity | • Organic social sharing • Authentic and relatable content | • Smaller, highly engaged audience • Strong loyalty and resonance • Longer conversion cycles | • Highly reliable and cost-effective • Ideal for product testing and promotional campaigns |
| KOS | Focus on sales conversion and brand awareness | • Focus on short-term sales • Performance-based incentives/bonuses | • Regular product content • Emphasize conversions and ROI (Return on Investment) • Establish trust quickly | • Drive sales effectively • Target consumers who are ready to buy |
How to Choose the Right Type of Influencer for Your Brand
Choosing an influencer must be a perfect fit for your brand goals:
To increase Brand Awareness
Invest heavily in KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders). KOLs are ideal for product launches or new market penetration, leveraging their wide reach for global impact.
For example, Gucci partners with KOLs like Jared Leto to increase awareness.
To build Authenticity and Trust
KOC (Key Opinion Consumer) is the best choice. KOC is most effective when promoting belief-based products (like skin care, health), because they share genuine reviews as a customer.
For example, The Ordinary uses KOCs to drive sales growth through authenticity.
To maximize Sales Conversions
KOS (Key Opinion Sales) can drive immediate results. KOS is the top choice for sales events, promotions, leveraging direct sales skills to close deals.
For example, L’Oréal leverages KOS through direct sales in China to achieve large sales during shopping festivals.
How to evaluate the effectiveness of a KOS?
To evaluate the effectiveness of a KOS (Key Opinion Sales), businesses need to closely monitor indicators directly related to sales and conversion activities.
Conversion Rate is the most basic indicator, tracking the number of viewers who decide to buy products after being consulted by KOS, especially in livestream sessions or sales posts. Along with that is the direct sales revenue that KOS generates in a specific period of time, this is the clearest evidence of their sales ability and actual influence.
Although KOS focuses on closing deals, Engagement like comments, shares and questions are still important, as it demonstrates communication, creates intimacy and drives purchase decisions.
In addition, monitoring the Sales Growth Rate brought by KOS will determine the effectiveness of the direct sales strategy in the short term. Finally, Customer Feedback (positive and genuine reviews) plays a key role in establishing the credibility and effectiveness of KOS’s consulting to consumers.
Factors and skills needed to become a KOS
To be an effective KOS (Key Opinion Sales), an individual must be a combination of expert, salesperson, and content creator.
First of all, Professional Knowledge and Credibility are the foundation. KOS must have a deep understanding of the product/industry to provide superior and more trustworthy information than the average consumer. If it is a brand KOS, a firm grasp of the company philosophy is a must. It is important to be able to quickly establish trust to drive immediate transactions, as opposed to building long-term KOL credibility.Trước hết, Kiến thức Chuyên môn và Uy tín là nền tảng. KOS phải am hiểu sâu sắc về sản phẩm/ngành để cung cấp thông tin vượt trội và đáng tin cậy hơn người tiêu dùng thông thường. Nếu là KOS thuộc thương hiệu, việc nắm vững triết lý công ty là bắt buộc. Điều quan trọng là phải có khả năng thiết lập lòng tin nhanh chóng để thúc đẩy các giao dịch tức thì, khác với việc xây dựng uy tín dài hạn của KOL.
Second, Direct Selling Skills are key. KOS must be able to persuade and close deals using compelling language and offers during sales sessions. They need to be good at interacting, communicating fluently and maintaining high energy to keep the audience engaged, while also mastering time management, scripting and handling rejection professionally.
Finally, Digital and Content Creation Skills are essential. KOS content must have a clear conversion goal (emphasize the benefits of buying now), not just stop at entertainment. They need to be proficient in the sales features of the platform (livestream, live shopping cart) and have good live broadcasting skills (lighting, sound). The ability to analyze performance (conversion rate, revenue) is necessary to continuously optimize the sales strategy.
FAQ:
KOS (Key Opinion Sales) does not need the same popularity or wide reach as KOL. Successful KOS Marketing is based on the ability to generate conversions and direct sales, not the absolute number of followers.
KOS may only need to have influence within a small group (niche) or target community, as long as their sharing builds trust and convinces followers to make a purchase.
Students are the ideal group to become KOCs, sharing authentic consumer experiences. This is often a part-time job that helps them earn extra income and opens up job opportunities in the field of communications/marketing.
If KOLs directly experience the product and share objectively, without being influenced by the brand, they will also create a lot of prestige. Currently, many KOLs use Bio Link through Tiktok or do affiliate marketing for Shopee, Lazada, etc.
– KOL Booking Platform/Agency: Professional, easy to filter by criteria, support strategy and measurement (e.g. Revu, 7SAT, Agency Marketing).
– Live Search on Social Media: Search automatically through hashtags and trends on platforms (TikTok, YouTube, Facebook).
– Multi-Channel Networks (MCNs) and Entertainment Companies: Manage major KOLs and celebrities (e.g. Schannel, artist management companies).
Conclude
KOS (Key Opinion Sales) is emerging as a new and powerful trend in the digital marketing industry, bringing outstanding efficiency, especially in promoting direct sales. With the ability to smoothly combine engaging content creation, direct interaction and quick closing, KOS has become the priority choice of many brands.
To maximize this potential, businesses need to understand the strategic differences between KOS, KOL (Key Opinion Leader) and KOC (Key Opinion Consumer). Understanding this difference is key to success, allowing you to choose the right type of influencer for your goals: KOL for broad visibility and brand recognition, KOC for customer trust and authenticity, and KOS for direct sales and conversion results.
Therefore, brands need to choose the right platform and cooperation strategy to maximize KOS sales performance.
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