Hot Chinese blogger playbook? Winning over more fans
SHANGHAI: Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Neither was the empire of Chinese fashion bloggers. Many bloggers have garnered the trust of million fans over the years, and those fans have become the secret ingredient to their success.
Headlines like “100 cars (RM189,000 each) sold out within five minutes of the launch” or “sold out of 80 handbags within 12 minutes” highlight the astonishing power of these bloggers to drive flash sales.
At the latest influencer conference at FINS (the Fashion influencer New Media summit) in Shanghai, 1,000 KOLs (Key Opinion Influencers) from the fashion industry gathered to share their insights.
Many of them touched on just how important these super-fans are. The Business Director of the Becky Li (a.k.a. WeChat goddess), Rui Wang, revealed although they only have one per cent of fans registered as members of her “Fantasy Club,” 20 per cent of sales come from that group. It was reported that last year, Becky reached an annual revenue of US$7 million (RM29.4 million), which is almost two per cent of Burberry’s annual revenue from 2016.
So what’s their playbook for building these fan groups?
For China’s handbag guru Mr. Bags (a.k.a. Tao Liang), being frank with both the brands he covers and his fans are important to his business. He sees himself as essentially a mediator between the two. “If the style doesn’t look good or it doesn’t really work for Chinese (consumers), I won’t recommend it to Bao Fans (nickname for his fans),” Mr. Bags disclosed. “I will also give direct feedback to brands, like ‘this bag is too big’ or ‘too heavy’ or ‘not as functional.’”
It’s all part of his homework— to listen to fans, understand their pain, and then offer that feedback back to brands. For example, in a collaboration piece with Longchamp last year, he made a mini-size bag with an adjusted shoulder strap designed to fit Asian women better.
Both Mr. Bags and Becky Li also use their WeChat accounts as platforms for giving their fans the spotlight. For example, some of the most popular posts on Becky Li are “fan transformation” posts which show how they look so much better after changing hairstyles or before losing weight. Meanwhile, Mr. Bags focuses more on bags than lifestyle, and so, for example, he has created a section dedicated to Bao Fans who want to showcase their bags, particularly ones associated with an early memory like a first wedding bag, a favourite Valentine gift bag, or someone’s very first Birkin bag.