Understanding Key Opinion Leaders and Their Popularity in Indian Digital Advertisements
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58574/jaa.2024.v4.i1.16Keywords:
Digital Advertising, Key Opinion Leaders, InfluencersAbstract
Advertising in the digital age has witnessed a remarkable shift, which has reshaped the communication pattern of businesses with their prospective consumers. With the prevalence of social networking sites, digital advertising has seen tremendous growth. Development of Influencers and Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), advertising has seen an emerging shift from one-way communication to interactive communication. Influencers are people with a large social media following who can influence the audience’s opinion or behaviour. Meanwhile, a KOL is recognised as an expert in a particular field, who is willing to give information to others. The interactivity feature of social media makes businesses rely more on KOLs to get connected to their potential customers, especially in China, which is prevalent through various research articles and blogs. KOLs are the emerging figures which ushered unprecedented changes in advertising in digital platforms in China. India is also emerging with the flow where the Influencers and celebrities are the opinion leaders in the advertisements. In digital advertising, identifying and collaborating with KOLs is a pivotal strategy for businesses and brands. Partnering with KOLs in digital advertisement can leverage brand image, raise brand awareness, credibility and encourage consumers' purchase intention. Their emergence on social media platforms can boost their presence to a vast and global audience and significantly influence their followers’ opinions.
This paper aims to highlight the characteristics of KOLs, their differences with Influencers and possible areas for research in India, which may be useful for both businesses and individual consumers. The role of KOLs in medical professionals is been a successful one in India. Due to the highest number of Millennials and Gen Z population, celebrities and Influencers are the face of every brand in India to target their potential audiences through digital advertisements. An Adequate number of studies can identify how various categories of businesses can involve KOLs in their advertising campaign through digital platforms in India to enhance their brand.
References
• Amalia, A. R. (2023). The Effect of Key Opinion Leader, Instagram, and Digital Campaign through Brand Image on Brand Awareness in Evoria Products. JMKSP (Jurnal Manajemen, Kepemimpinan, Dan Supervisi Pendidikan), 8(2), 1094–1111.
• Chen, Y.-H., Lin, I.-K., Huang, C.-I., & Chen, H.-S. (2024). How Key Opinion Leaders’ Expertise and Renown Shape Consumer Behaviour in Social Commerce: An Analysis Using a Comprehensive Model. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 19(4), 3370–3385.
• Deeudomwongsa, N. (2021). Consumers’ perceived credibility of beauty key opinion leaders and online engagement with beauty brands on Twitter. https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/chulaetd/7734/
• Gong, Xuandi & Ren, Jinluan & Zeng, Li & Xing, Rubin. (2022). How KOLs Influence Consumer Purchase Intention in Short Video Platforms: Mediating Effects of Emotional Response and Virtual Touch. International Journal of Information Systems in the Service Sector. 14. 1-23. 10.4018/IJISSS.287576.
• He, W., & Jin, C. (2024). A study on the influence of the characteristics of key opinion leaders on consumers’ purchase intention in live streaming commerce: Based on dual-systems theory. Electronic Commerce Research, 24(2), 1235–1265. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-022-09651-8
• Knoll, J. (2016). Advertising in social media: A review of empirical evidence. International Journal of Advertising, 35(2), 266–300. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2015.1021898
• Lu, N. (2023). How Key Opinion Leader Triggers Consumer Response: A New Way to Market Absorption in Digital Marketing Case Study Based on the National Brand Florasis. Highlights in Business, Economics and Management, 19, 368-373.
• Luka, R. (2024). The Effect of Brand Awareness and Key Opinion Leaders in the Smartphone Industry. Journal of Current Research in Business and Economics, 3(1), 3666–3695.
• Lyu, W., Qi, Y., & Liu, J. (2024). Proliferation in live streaming commerce and key opinion leader selection. Electronic Commerce Research, 24(2), 1153–1186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-022-09605-0
• Mitchell, A. A. (1986). The Effect of Verbal and Visual Components of Advertisements on Brand Attitudes and Attitude Toward the Advertisement. Journal of Consumer Research, 13(1), 12. https://doi.org/10.1086/209044
• Ng, W. C., Ong, Y. W., Oan, K. B., Ooi, C. T., Ooi, J., Habibie, M. F., Choudhory, T., Raghav, U., & Kee, D. M. H. (2023). The Impact of Social Media and Key Opinion Leaders on the Purchasing Behaviour in the Food and Beverage Industry in Malaysia. Journal of Community Development in Asia. https://doi.org/10.32535/jcda.v6i3.2499
• Oueslati, W., Mejri, S., Al-Otaibi, S., & Ayouni, S. (2023). Recognition of Opinion Leaders in Social Networks Using Text Posts’ Trajectory Scoring and Users’ Comments Sentiment Analysis. IEEE Access, 11, 123589–123609. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3329049
• Samuel, S., Widjaja, D., & Yovo, V. (2023). Does Co-Branding, Social Media Marketing, and Key Opinion Leaders Influence Purchase Decisions in the Greater Jakarta Area? Proceedings of International Conference on Entrepreneurship (IConEnt), 3, 280–291. https://ojs.uph.edu/index.php/IConEnt/article/view/7840
• Sanjaya, D., Furinto, A., Hamsal, M., & Kartono, R. (2022). Role of user-generated content, key opinion leader, virtual community, and culture in shaping pro-environmental behaviour: Propositions and conceptual framework. Journal of International Conference Proceedings, 5(1), 195–209.
• Satria, H. W., & Ramdhani, F. (2023). Key Opinion Leader (KOL) Approach to Deliver TikTok FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) Campaign Using SSAV Model: A Perspective from the Advertising Industry. The 6th International Conference on Vocational Education, Applied Science and Technology (ICVEAST 2023), 307–321. https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/icveast-23/125993603
• Singh, R. P., & Banerjee, N. (2018). Exploring the Influence of Celebrity Credibility on Brand Attitude, Advertisement Attitude and Purchase Intention. Global Business Review, 19(6), 1622–1639. https://doi.org/10.1177/0972150918794974
• Suratepin, M. S., & Funk, S. (2022). The increasing influence of key opinion leaders (KOLs) on millennial purchases of beauty products-based on social media platforms. Thammasat University. Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication. https://digital.library.tu.ac.th/tu_dc/digital/api/DownloadDigitalFile/dowload/193618
• Tartaraj, A., Avdyli, D., & Trebicka, B. (2024). Accessing the TikTok Influencer Marketing on Consumer Behaviour: An Econometric Examination. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 14(2), 346. https://doi.org/10.36941/jesr-2024-0048
• Tran, K. V., & Uehara, T. (2023). The influence of key opinion leaders on consumers’ purchasing intention regarding green fashion products. Frontiers in Communication, 8, 1296174.
• Wang, Y., Bai, H., Li, J., & Wang, R. (2020). Key opinion leaders: An invisible force in digital home media. 2020 8th International Conference on Digital Home (ICDH), 344-349. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9457306/
• Xiong, L., Cho, V., Law, K. M., & Lam, L. (2021). A study of KOL effectiveness on the brand image of skincare products. Enterprise Information Systems, 15(10), 1483–1500. https://doi.org/10.1080/17517575.2021.1924864
• https://www.forbesindia.com/article/The rise of 'key opinion leaders' in the celebrity vs creator battle, Saumay Tiwari, Forbes India. Retrieved from https://www.forbesindia.com/article/storyboard18/storyboard18-the-rise-of-key-opinion-leaders-in-the-celebrity-vs-creator-battle/72879/1
• Zhang, Rongkai; Ma, Bingni; Li, Yingyan; Chen, Fuping; Yan, Jianan; Lin, Yuxi; and Wu, Yifan, (2023). The Effect of Key Opinion Leader Type on Purchase Intention: Considering the Moderating Effect of Product Type; WHICEB 2023 Proceedings. 50. retrieved from https://aisel.aisnet.org/whiceb2023/50
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Amrita Devi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Research Articles in 'Journal of Academic Advancement' are Open Access articles published under the Creative Commons CC BY License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. This license allows you to share – copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. Adapt – remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
