Glossary of Chinese influencer marketing terms
MVP (Mega Volume Production, 十方众声) explains Chinese influencer marketing terms and the vocabulary of talent management, from KOL and MCN to what Chinese marketers mean by “IP”. Each entry opens with a one-sentence definition you can quote, gives the Chinese term, compares it with the closest English concept, and cites the source of every law and figure.
Which Chinese influencer marketing terms does the glossary explain?
Audience quality
Audience quality is how much of an account’s following and engagement comes from real, active people, and is used to spot bought followers and faked engagement.
Brand IP
Brand IP, also called corporate IP, is a personified company asset, such as a founder, a character or a content series, that audiences follow over time.
Chuhai (going global)
Chuhai (出海, literally “going out to sea”) is the Chinese business term for a Chinese company expanding into markets outside China; brand chuhai (品牌出海) means doing so under its own brand, building recognition abroad and selling directly to overseas customers.
Creator marketplace
A creator marketplace is a brand-deal platform run by a content platform itself, where brands find creators, place orders, pay and see the results.
Creator monetization
Creator monetization is converting the attention and trust a creator or public figure has built into income: brand deals, endorsements, livestream selling, licensing and owned products.
Digital replica
A digital replica is a computer-generated, highly realistic voice or likeness that people would readily identify as a particular person’s.
Electronic evidence preservation
Electronic evidence preservation fixes digital material, by blockchain, trusted timestamp or notarization, to show that it existed at a given moment and has not changed since.
Founder brand
A founder brand is the public recognition and trust the founder or controlling executive of a company builds as an individual to support the business.
Head influencer
A head influencer is a creator or public figure whose influence and commercial value rank at the head of their field or platform, in the Chinese industry’s head, waist and tail tiers.
In-feed ads
In-feed ads are advertisements placed inside the content feed of a social media, news or short-video app, designed to look like the posts around them and seen as people scroll.
Influencer
An influencer is a person who has gained a large online audience through content, livestreams or online events and can sway its views or purchases.
IP
IP is short for intellectual property; in Chinese marketing and entertainment it also means any story, character, brand or person that can be developed across media and commercialized over time.
KOL
A KOL (key opinion leader) is a person whose expertise or reach in a field shapes the opinions and purchase decisions of others.
Likeness detection
Likeness detection is a YouTube feature that finds videos matching a person’s face, including AI-generated deepfakes, so that the person can request removal.
Material connection
A material connection is the FTC’s term for a relationship between an endorser and a brand that could affect how the audience weighs the endorsement, such as payment, employment, free products or a personal or family tie.
MCN
An MCN (multi-channel network) is a company that works with many creators or channels, providing content, operations and monetization services for a share of revenue.
Notice and takedown
Notice and takedown is the rule under which a rights holder notifies a platform of infringing content and the platform acts on it.
Personal brand
A personal brand is the recognition and trust the public attaches to a real person in a field, managed and commercialized over time.
Reliable electronic signature
A reliable electronic signature meets the four conditions of Article 13 of China’s Electronic Signature Law and has the same legal force as a handwritten signature or seal.
Social listening
Social listening is the ongoing collection and analysis of public online discussion about a person, brand or event, to catch negative stories early, see how they spread and give the response something to stand on.
Sponsored-deal registration
Sponsored-deal registration is the industry’s term for placing a sponsored post through a platform’s official brand-deal platform, or flagging it with the platform’s own tool, so the platform knows it is commercial content.
Talent management agreement
A talent management agreement is a contract under which a manager or agency represents an artist, creator or streamer for a share of their income.
Third-party creator analytics
Third-party creator analytics tools are run by companies other than the content platforms and supply account and content data by scraping and estimation.
Zhongcao (seeding)
Zhongcao (种草, literally “planting grass”) is Chinese internet and marketing slang for content that makes people want to buy something by sharing first-hand experience or recommending a product; zhongcao marketing is a brand promoting products through such posts by creators or users.