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  • How do you think collaborations with KOLs, does it really boost your product's success?

    Yvik Ye
    41 replies
    I’m curious to hear your thoughts on collaborating with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs). Have you found these partnerships to be effective in boosting your product's visibility and success? Some points to consider: 1. How do you select the right KOLs for your brand? 2. What kind of impact have these collaborations had on your user growth and engagement? 3. Are there specific strategies you’ve found particularly effective or ineffective?

    Replies

    Kehui Guo
    I recently started to learn more about KOL marketing. I think it's a great start to spread out words, and increase the visibility of your products while keeping them within the budget. It's really important to research well, find the compatible KOLs so you can reach the desired audience.
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    Thomas Turner
    KOLs are a piece of the puzzle, not a magic bullet. Effective influencer marketing is part of a larger strategy. A great product with a clear value proposition is essential. KOLs can amplify your message, but they can't fix a flawed product
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    Yvik Ye
    @thomas_turner3 Yes, I agree with you. Now we also running campaigns with KOLs, what we expected is to broad our audiences.
    David Walker
    KOLs can be a double-edged sword. Done right, collaborations with KOLs can generate buzz, build trust, and drive sales. But choosing the wrong influencer or inauthentic partnerships can backfire. Authenticity and audience alignment are key!
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    Naomi | Beeyond AI
    Figure out the niche(s) you want to target. And then try to collaborate with smaller influencers in the niches you are targeting. They have a closer connection to their followers, driving better engagement and results, and they are usually budget friendly too. Also, usually better response and less drama. 😅
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    Yvik Ye
    @naomigarcia Thanks for your sharing. Is there any tools/website that could help with the influencer picking?
    Naomi | Beeyond AI
    @xspiral I think you need to mostly do the digging yourself there. You can find some influencers by simply searching for them with keywords related to your niche. And see who are the ones posting on those topics and have decent engagement. Then you can try to work. It sometimes can also be a series of trials and errors, before you get a good match. All the best!
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    Deborah Moore
    From my experience, micro-influencers often have more engaged followers, leading to better results.
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    Yvik Ye
    @deborahmoore Yes, these influencers show their real data, and most of their followers are hightly active too.
    Business Marketing with Nika
    minimalist phone: creating folders
    minimalist phone: creating folders
    Some people (if they know the persona) can be highly influenced but it depends on the recipients. Some are more prone to be "manipulated" than others. I had experience with YouTubers that have 800k subscribers – people liked the content but purchases from links weren't significant. On the other hand, we had a collaboration with a small YT account (at that time about 4 – 5k subscribers) and people purchased from the link more often.
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    April-li
    Cooperating with Kol is indeed an effective marketing tool, but before that, we must first do our own products well, otherwise even if more traffic is introduced, the product will not be able to accommodate it, and it will eventually be a joke...
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    Yvik Ye
    @aprilll Yes, that’s true. We must ensure our product is attractive; otherwise, even with increased traffic, people will be disappointed and won't use it any further. This will definitely cause negative feedback and those bad reviews will also spread from one to another.
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    Abhra Ch.
    Hey @xspiral! 😄 I've definitely seen collaborations with KOLs make a huge difference in product success. Selecting the right KOLs is crucial—it's about matching their audience demographics and interests with your brand values. For us, focusing on authentic relationships rather than purely transactional ones has boosted user growth and engagement significantly. One key strategy that worked well was co-creating content with KOLs, making it feel more genuine. On the flip side, partnering with KOLs who don't truly align with your brand can backfire. What have your experiences been like? 😊
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    Yvik Ye
    @abhra_ch Hi Abhra. Thanks for your reply. We are currently in touch with some KOLs and focusing on building authentic relationship. Hope this will help us reach a broader audience for Xspiral.
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    GuillaumeDSM
    Also very interested by the answers to this question, thanks for asking it @xspiral! When studying our users (from https://www.producthunt.com/post...), we realized that a large part of them are following crypto Youtube channels on a regular basis If someone knows a great tool to find Youtube KOLs, I'm very interested!
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    Yvik Ye
    @guillaumemdsm I usually search for keywords related to our product's core functionality and check the creator's channels. If their videos align with our interests, I reach out via email, twitter or LinkedIn.
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    GuillaumeDSM
    @xspiral I see, so you don't use any external tool/website to find KOL, you prefer doing it yourself, interesting! Thank you!
    Yvik Ye
    @guillaumemdsm Yes. We are currently exploring ways to find KOLs. If you know of any effective tools for this, please share them. Thank you.
    Cedric Mathias
    Hi Yvik, Great questions! Here’s my take on KOL collaborations: 1. Selecting KOLs: We choose KOLs whose audience aligns with our target demographic and shares our brand values. Engagement and relevance matter more than follower count. 2. Impact: KOL collaborations have boosted our visibility and user engagement significantly. Their authentic connection with their audience helps us reach potential users effectively. 3. Strategies: Involving KOLs early in product development has been very effective, creating a sense of ownership. Purely transactional relationships, however, tend to be less impactful. Looking forward to hearing others' experiences!
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    Yvik Ye
    @cedric_mathias Thanks for sharing your experiences! I'll share some feedback here after our campaign ends.
    Lorenz Sell
    I've had good experience partnering with micro influencers. They tend to be more receptive and if you really build a relationship with them, super supportive. With bigger name people you ofter have to deal with middle people and that always complicates things and makes the relationship less personal. I do find that partnering with the right influencer who has an interest aligned audience goes a long way.
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    Liu Alex
    Yes, it did work. I got an ROI >2 for my last product in 1 month. But it still depends on how you calculate it. If you include the human resources you put into it, it's almost impossible to get pure income in the first 2 months, as you still need to build your own KOL library. Also, it depends on social media trends. As a YouTuber, I know what really attracts traffic and drives conversions. So, I don't let the KOLs choose video topics themselves. I let them to copy mine. This way, the data is much better. If you're interested in more details and tips, we can talk more on Twitter.
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    Andreas Sohns
    KOL collaborations can help your product by expanding its reach and credibility.
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    Narmina Balabayli
    I think one thing should be considered is their audience's trust and engagement with their content. Numbers don't matter is there's no readership/no one actually follow their content to get value.
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    Jayesh Gohel
    Absolutely! Collaborating with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) can significantly boost your product's success. Here’s why: Reaching New Audiences: KOLs have established communities of engaged followers who trust their recommendations. Partnering with the right KOL allows you to tap into this audience, introducing your product to a whole new group of potential customers. Enhanced Credibility: When a respected KOL endorses your product, it adds a layer of social proof and authenticity. Their positive experience builds trust with their audience, making them more likely to consider trying your product. Increased Brand Awareness: KOL collaborations can greatly amplify your brand's visibility. Their promotions can reach a wider audience and generate significant buzz around your product. Richer Content and Engagement: KOLs are creative storytellers who can develop engaging content featuring your product. This can range from reviews and tutorials to user-generated content campaigns, all of which can lead to higher engagement and brand recall. For a truly successful KOL campaign, it’s crucial to carefully select partners who align with your brand values and target audience. By building genuine connections and fostering long-term collaborations, you can leverage the power of KOLs to achieve significant growth and product success.
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    Yvik Ye
    @jpgohil93 Yes. We hope to continue leveraging these partnerships to drive even more success. BTW, did you have any examples that you have done before and can be shared for us? Thank you.
    My3 Murthy
    I agree with the people in the comments. Its not the size of their following but the engagement levels & the brand values they demonstrate that are important. We, at my previous company, tried influencer marketing for the first time (without prior experience) & were ripped off. We worked with 3 Youtube creators (All had more than 500k followers) but realized that all their followers were essentially fake. We didn't get anything out of it
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    Yvik Ye
    @my3_murthy Yes, before deciding on KOLs, it's crucial to check their recent videos and engagement metrics, not just followers count.
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    uouo
    Kol has a certain promotion effect, but the number of customers may not be large, and there are zombie fans in social media. If you want to promote, you can try tg. Our mini APP has reached one million users in two weeks, and the daily sales rate is very high. If you need it, you can contact
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    Yvik Ye
    @uouu Thanks bro, TG, you mean Telegram?
    Masaki Nakata
    I released my app yesterday. Before the release, I interviewed about 100 people and had about 50 people use the product and give feedback. As a result, when we launched, these initial users started using and sharing the app, which quickly led to 500 users. Although the scale is still small, I feel that the strategy of creating the product together from the beta stage and experiencing the growth story together is effective. (I took inspiration from Figma's growth story.)
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    Yvik Ye
    @masaki_nakata Nice approach! I got inspired from your story here now. :) May I know how did you do the interview? Is it through email or video call?
    Gurkaran Singh
    Oh, navigating the world of KOL collaborations is like finding the perfect emoji – it can make all the difference! Selecting KOLs with the right vibe, impact, and audience engagement can truly skyrocket your product's success like a rocket powered by social media stardom!
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    Yvik Ye
    @thestarkster Yep. We're doing that now, and hope it truly propels our success as you've described. 😁