Many young people today dream of becoming famous and rich quickly by working as KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) or KOCs (Key Opinion Customers). This job seems very attractive to them. For example, Duc Hai, an 18-year-old boy from Nghe An, decided not to go to university because he wanted to be a KOL.
"Famous KOLs are often sought by brands. These people have a lot of money and free time. They don't have to follow anyone's rules," he says.
Hai's parents think this job is not long-lasting, and say "having an education is still better". In the end, Hai did not submit his university application because he felt it would waste time and money.
He tried to make different types of content. He made controversial videos that people talk a lot about them. He also did strange challenges and shared philosophy about life. He hoped to get 100,000 followers soon. After that, he wanted to do something called affiliate marketing. This meant he would work with companies to show their products in his videos and he wanted to get money from brands to advertise their things.
(Photo: vnexpress)
Minh Hang, a 24-year-old girl from Lang Son, has been working as a full-time KOC (Key Opinion Customer) for more than two years. She left her job as an accountant to do this. Now, she earns 15 million VND every month. This is almost twice as much as she made in her office job before. Minh Hang is happy about this and wants to show off her success.
However, her parents were not happy about her decision. They kept trying to convince her every day to go back to her old job. They thought it was better because it was stable and would give her a pension when she got old. They believed this was important for her future.
KOL, KOC, or influencer are words that describes a type of job that uses "influence on social media platforms". This job is not new, but it is still quite popular among young people in many countries, including Vietnam. In 2021, a survey in England found that more than 50% of young people said ... "want to become influential on social media." A study done by Harris Poll and Lego, a toy company, in 2019 found something interesting. They asked children what job they wanted to do when they grow up. Almost 30% of the kids said they wanted to be YouTubers.
This job is attractive for serveral reasons. People think they can become famous quickly, express themselves, earn good money, and connect with many people. In Vietnam, there are hundreds of online groups sharing tips on how to build a personal brand, increase interaction, and get advertising from brands. The biggest group has nearly 400,000 members. Every day, there are about 100 posts asking for advice on how to do this job.
The growing interest in becoming a KOL or KOC is not limited to social media platforms. Training centers that focus on developing these roles have also noticed a significant increase in young people showing interest in this career path.
What are Key Opinion Leaders? (KOLs)
Ms. Vu Dieu Thuy, who started the Kolin Academy (Học Viện Đào Tạo KOL & Influencer) for training KOLs and Influencers, says that since 2020, many companies have changed to online advertising. This has made new chances for young people. More and more businesses want to use KOCs and KOLs for their marketing.
However, this job is not as easy as many young people think. Ms. Thuy says that this job has many challenges. There is a lot of competition because many people are doing it. KOLs and KOCs always need to create new content to keep their followers interested. They also need to know how to manage their reputation and deal with media problems. They have to be online all the time. Also, the income from this job is often not stable, especially when someone is just starting and not famous yet.
"I will try to explain why more and more young people want to become KOLs and KOCs," Mr. Le Anh Tu, who is a teacher at Van Lang University in Ho Chi Minh City and also runs a company called iGem Agency, thinks there are some reasons for this. He says that "One big reason is because social media and online shopping websites have become very popular. This has made many people want to try something new in this area."
In addition to this, many people believe in the idea of making a lot of money because some individuals share their huge income or do live streams that make billions. Many people dream about getting high pay for easy work, so they try to do this job. However, most of them fail and can't find a good job that fits them. Mr. Tu says that in the long run, these people might lose their motivation to work hard and improve themselves.
After two years of being a KOL, Duc Hai couldn't become famous or rich. So, he had to sell his channel and accept working for others. Every month, he earns about two or three million VND from affiliate marketing. Hai accepted that his parents were right when they said this job is not stable.
A study by HypeAuditor, a platform that helps with influencer marketing, was done in 2022. It showed that many influencers in the UK and USA are making less money because of the bad economy. In the UK, 36.7% of influencers said their income went down a lot. In the USA, 22.2% of social media stars said the same thing. Most of these online famous people, like KOLs, KOCs, are influencers, said they are making more than 30% less money than before.
Even though Minh Hang has a steady income from her job as a KOC, she always feels very tired. The 24-year-old girl needs to come up with new ideas all the time to get more people to interact with her content. She has to post video three times a day at specific times. Because she works so hard, this TikToker only sleeps for 3-4 hours each night. Some days, she is so busy that she eats all three meals of the day at once.
Becoming famous on social media has made Hang get many mean comments about how she looks or the things she advertises. People say bad things about her appearance and the products she promotes. One time, it was so bad that people stopped supporting her. She had to make a video to say sorry because she talked about a product that wasn't very good.
Hang said, "Being a KOC is like being a daughter-in-law to many families. If you do well, they praise you a lot. But if you don't, they criticize you so much that you can't even lift your head up."
Master Le Anh Tu gives advice to young people about the ob of KOL and KOC. "This job is not easy to do or easy to increase income. You need to work hard and spend a lot of time, and not giving up to be successful. Each person should know what they like and what they are good at. It's important to keep learning new skills, have clear goals, and make detailed plan to reach them. Also, it's a good idea to have different ways of making money to be more stable financially. Remember to look after your physical and mental health while working towards your goals."
"The job of KOL and KOC is becoming more professional. Now, there are companies that manage famous people and agencies that handle risks. These days, KOLs and KOCs should learn more about communication and marketing. This will help them improve themselves. As a result, they can increase the value of their job and have a sustainable career," the expert said.
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