[Traveltrends] Influencers are the Key to Attracting Chinese Travelers with Lauren Hallanan

Travelcast

If you are new to the China market, or in the process of creating a digital strategy to reach your Chinese consumers, there is one tactic you just can’t ignore: KOL (key opinion leader) endorsement. I was pleased to received Lauren Hallanan who is an influencer, Chinese social media marketer In this #travelcast episode, we spoke on: Why Influencers are the Key to Attracting Chinese Travelers. Have you ever heard of a social media influencer with 4.5 million followers selling 100 cars (no, not virtual cars) in five minutes in the West? Probably not, but in China this is not an uncommon event in China’s KOL-driven economy. Qumin has created a brief overview of what makes the Chinese influencers' market far more powerful than in the West. China’s internet is mobile first According to the 2018 Abacus report, while China’s internet penetration is just over 50%, it still has 11x times more mobile payment users (527 million) than in the US. Chinese consumers order food through Eleme (饿了么), look up venues through Dianping (大众点评), pay their fees through Alipay (支付宝) , get their news from Toutiao (今日头条), shop in Taobao (淘宝) and find entertainment in Tik Tok (抖音). And of course socialize through the almighty WeChat apps, which also happens to have all the functions listed above. From a practicality perspective, there is literally no reason to browse from a desktop anymore. In 2017 only, Chinese app users spent around 225 billion hours in apps, which is 4.5 times longer than the second highest market - India. Links Website: http://laurenhallanan.com/ Podcast: http://www.chinainfluencermarketing.com/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-hallanan/