An official in Dexing, Jiangxi province, livestreams a promotion of local fruit on short video platform Douyin on July 25, 2020. ZHUO ZHONGWEI/FOR CHINA DAILY

As livestreaming industry proliferates, brands can no longer solely rely on key opinion leaders－KOLs or Wang Hong－to market their projects, due to costs and quality control issues. Instead, they employ key opinion consumers－KOCs－who specialize in product reviews for a smaller patch of followers.

"KOCs make eminent sense to retailers due to their higher perceived reliability and trustworthiness," said Jennifer Ye, partner and China consumer markets leader at consultancy PwC.

"To appeal to younger consumers in China, it is critical for brands to find KOCs that embody the right brand values, and who can reliably connect with target audiences through user-generated content," said Ye, citing the example of Chanel partnering with a local media company to establish a network of micro-influencers.

Peng Jingxuan, 26, who is doing her second master's degree in France, unexpectedly developed a cult following after posting her videos playing guzheng, a traditional Chinese musical instrument, on Bilibili, China's top video portal and community for notably the Generation Z population.

During her performance, she dressed up in traditional Chinese costumes and wore makeup in ancient Chinese style. With a fan base of 1.5 million and many of her videos played more than 1 million times each, brands spanning cosmetics to snacking utilize her services.

"Because my videos are essentially promoting the rising China cultural tide, I'd favor brands whose brand-positioning aligns with my online persona, namely an advocate of Chinese culture," Peng said of her rationale in choosing merchants to collaborate with.

For instance, high-flying snacking brand Three Squirrels and Synear Foods are among the labels that insert their commercials into Peng's videos.

"The key learning from the trend of Guo Chao, or the rising Chinese cultural tide, is that to be culturally relevant, brands need to understand and respond to their audience in a way they can relate to," said Ye.

But just as the old Chinese saying goes, "water can carry a boat, but can also overturn it", there could be potential backlash over overreliance on influencers, warned Yu from Kantar Worldpanel.

"If a delicately curated persona collapses, the potential damage that would do to brands is beyond what they can bear."