KOL is the acronym for Key Opinion Leader. KOL is also the name of a company which takes on the task of classifying all the people of the world for all concepts of human knowledge.
KOL: Uses in marketing
The applications may seem self-explanatory, but there are a variety of approaches you can take. Some, however, can present serious problems, others can mean opportunities for your brand or business.
The idea of employing a KOL for marketing has been around since the 1940s. Paul Lazarsfeld and Elihu Katz have proposed the two-stage flow of communication and the notion of opinion leadership in that moment, following a presidential election. Nowadays, it is a form of marketing that focuses on spreading a message by working with one or more influencers with sizable followings on various social media platforms or experts in academic circles.
A key opinion leader, therefore, influences a certain number of people who can also convince others, which results in a multiplicative effect. As a platform, KOL incorporates these factors and ranks people based on influence and experience.
KOL is a search engine where users can locate and rank opinion leaders and key influencers in academia and social media. According to the company’s website, data science quantifies and compares the influence certain individuals have on various concepts to produce figures for each topic. Within KOL’s search engine, you can also find people by name.
KOL: Uses in healthcare
Another feature of WITH THE (the company) is that they appear to be working on high quality/curated content branded “Health Guides” on their website keyopinionleaders.com. These health guides are reviewed by doctors and link various health issues to leading authorities in different nations.
The difference between this strategy and other companies is that the ranking of these opinion leaders is not determined by patient reviews, but rather by the level of support they get from other doctors, researchers and other medical experts. The principle of that trust matters more if it comes from a leading expert (in that matter).
The site features several health experts covering topics such as encephalopathy, hemiparesis, acne keloidalis nuchae, mild strokes, and spinal cord tumors, among hundreds of other conditions.
The KOL app
KOL can also be accessed via mobile platforms for both iPhone and Android. We tested the app and found it very convenient, especially for checking on people “on the go”. Whether you’re on your way to a job interview or meeting someone professionally, you can always check out the app to figure out what concepts they have real-world influence for.
According to sources close to the technology, like any other platform that deals with information search and retrieval, KOL has gone through an evolutionary period to arrive at producing accurate, correct and objective information for its millions of users.
The company’s CTO stressed in an interview with Forbes, the value of starting small: “It’s worth building a sample version of what you want to create if it’s feasible in your problem area.” The technologist also advised small startups to create a foundation on which their business can function and grow with a small staff. For example, during their R&D cycles, they came across many ideas or projects that, while mind-boggling, would be difficult for the team to manage or maintain at scale, making them impractical. They learned to resist the urge to adopt ideas simply because they were aesthetically pleasing. Instead, they focused on operational and financial efficiency.
Ana Codallo, CTO of KOL, also said that their goal is to build a Google of key opinion leaders/influencers and create a platform where you can find out what issues a person, be they a social media influencer or an academic, influences in the real world.
McClatchy’s editorial team and editorial staff were not involved in the creation of this content.
