1. Introduction

This study focuses on the operation of the Internet celebrity economy and how to use the development of the Internet platform to bring goods to make money; This research is of great significance for the future development of the Internet celebrity economy and the protection of the rights and interests of consumers who consume on online platforms; This study mainly takes two Internet celebrities on the TikTok platform as examples. How Internet celebrities of different track use different ways to increase fans according to their advantages and attract consumers through their own marketing methods by using hot topics; Literature analysis is used to search and read relevant materials and literature. The advantage of this method is that it can well analyze the marketing methods of Internet celebrities in the past, and the combination of the current publicity and marketing of Internet celebrities using Internet platforms is conducive to the research [1]. The ultimate goal of this study is to analyze the development and future development trends of the modern Internet celebrity economy.

2. Background

By December 2022, the number of Internet users in China is 1.067 billion, and the number of online shopping users is 845 million, accounting for 79.2% of the total Internet users [1]. This emerging digital ecosystem has changed the rules of traditional advertising and marketing while providing brands and businesses with a unique opportunity to leverage the influence of "Internet celebrities" to promote their products and services to a larger number of potential consumers [2].

Internet celebrity economy refers to the activity of using online social platforms and other media to transform the influence and unique content of Internet celebrities into economic value. Internet celebrities are people with certain talents who spread their appearance, skills, and ideas through Internet platforms and attract users' attention within a certain range [3]. Online celebrities will cooperate with other enterprises to sell products to fans and audiences in a recommended way, so as to earn economic profits.

At present, traditional advertising is no longer the only option, through the establishment of partnerships with Internet celebrities, advertising into the content, to better reach the needs of the target audience. This form of advertising is often more trustworthy because it seems more authentic and more like the suggestion of a friend or acquaintance [2]. Since when people watch the product videos promoted by net celebrities, many net celebrities show the advantages and disadvantages of the product according to their own experience or evaluation, it is easier for people to trust the rhetoric of net celebrities, increase the desire to buy, and think that the product is good after purchase. Live delivery is also a good way of marketing, through the anchor's on-site assessment, Q&A, and a variety of preferential policy marketing means, so that people more quickly understand the product, due to interactive reasons also make people more trust in the carrier's products, and give people a kind of if do not buy later there will be no welfare to buy is not cost-effective. Promote consumption to achieve the marketing goals of influencers and the product companies behind them.

3. Case Study

Internet celebrities have different marketing methods, using the example of a very popular funny blogger on a new media platform to illustrate. One pair of brothers formed a team with their respective families, and they all participated in the creation of online videos. Their videos are in the funny genre. In the beginning, they just filmed what happened at their parents' house every weekend, and the general content was presented as the behavior of the older brother to prank the younger brother. For example, when the younger brother plays games in his room, the older brother puts a funny orange head covering on his head, and quietly walks to the younger brother who is immersed in the game, wanting to scare the younger brother, when the younger brother sees it, he also responds to the shock of being scared with exaggerated expressions, and the funny thing is that the younger brother who wants to fight back will grab the older brother and hit his head. Such reversals always make people laugh, which serves the maker's purpose. This early simple online celebrity team has a lot of exaggerated props, such as the larger-than-human wooden spoon used by the mother to pick up the younger brother, and the huge fake mobile phone used to trick the father. This kind of novel and funny video type is placed in the era of the lack of innovation and creativity in the early days of short video creation, which makes them gain a large wave of fans and traffic. With such high-quality video creation, the team broke through 100 million fans in 22 years, which can rival the number of fans of the national CCTV news, or even more [4].

Once they became famous, they switched gears and started using their Internet celebrity fame for marketing. They began to carry out live broadcasts, inviting the person in charge of the product to the live broadcast room to directly test the product, and the test method also continued the humorous form of humor, such as using some violent methods to test whether the product was easy to be destroyed [5]. The two brothers each pull one end in the opposite direction to see if they can break it, and if they pass the test, they can leave it and hang it on the shopping cart in the studio for consumers to buy. This kind of testing method is deeply loved by consumers because it can intuitively see the product's quality, increase credibility, and make people more willing to consume. Another reason why people are more inclined to buy their products is that the brothers will reduce the original price of the products after negotiation with the brand, or sell the products at the original price but increase the number of products, or even reduce the price and increase the quantity of products at the same time, so as to better meet the needs of consumers and bring benefits to consumers. With this advantage, the number of statistical fans after the daily live broadcast has increased sharply, and it is also the live broadcast with the largest number of goods, and it has a great reputation.

In 2023, the brothers set up their own company with their own brand. Due to its great influence, there are now many other net celebrities with tens of millions of fans and even some stars will come to their broadcast rooms, one is to increase the attention of the broadcast room, and the second is to increase sales. In 2024, the brothers opened a music festival in their own city, inviting many internationally renowned singers to participate and inviting people from all over the country to participate. At that time, there were 30,000 audience in the field, achieving a double harvest of culture and economy, and directly driving the economic development of the city.

In addition to the above-mentioned marketing methods of funny vloggers, there are also ways to use people's psychological state for marketing. Nowadays, many young people suffer from insomnia and other problems due to the pressure of daily life and the noise of the city. Since 2017, ASMR, a treatment called idiopathic sensory meridian response, has been popular with young people because it allows the brain to reach an orgasm that makes the body feel very relaxed. But in order to trigger this intracranial orgasm, you need some kind of tool or stimulation, such as whispering, stroking, or playing with some object to trigger the orgasm. When people hear these sounds, it lowers the listener's heart rate and increases the level of excitement and sadness. Many bloggers who want to make money have found this track, and immersive food, immersive eating, immersive unboxing, and immersive voice control are all hot directions. Bloggers make people feel good by not talking and only using the sounds of objects. Many bloggers will choose to open the live broadcast and provide ASMR services during the time period of 11-2 pm. They can make available sounds on the public screen, such as the sound of rain, the sound of eating, the sound of picking ears, or the sound of washing hair. Consumers only need to pay according to the price given by the blogger, and then they will hear the comfortable sound they want. During this period, they can not only earn traffic and money in this way, female bloggers can also use the ASMR videos they usually shoot to make some makeup, such as false eyelashes. If the audience likes this style very much, they will buy it in the mall where the blogger and false eyelash manufacturers cooperate, so that the blogger will earn profits by receiving advertising fees from the false eyelash manufacturers. At the same time, this also belongs to a kind of beauty video belt. Traditional short beauty videos focus on skincare and makeup teaching, including good product recommendations, knowledge sharing, and makeup practice. Good product recommendation is the main content of beauty short videos. Beauty bloggers introduce products according to product functions, thus arousing users' interest and generating purchasing behaviors [4]. And through the annual survey of TikTok found that most of the audience groups of beauty makeup include teenagers and female consumers. However, the use of immersive makeup to capture the eye of the audience is also a new track, making some consumers who are usually more comfortable with the traditional "talk more" product features of the blogger, these consumers are more willing to quietly watch the makeup video, the blogger will put the basic information of the product on the public screen so that they can analyze the product situation. To make a decision about whether or not to buy the product. Another way is to achieve the effect of ASMR by amplifying the sound effects when the blogger hits the shell of the makeup product and the skin friction when applying makeup, and even use exaggerated expressions to express unexpected admiration for the effect of the product, so as to achieve a silent recommendation.

4. Discussion

The role of social media in the Internet celebrities economy is not only to connect influencers and fans but also to change the way consumers shop and the shopping experience. It has become a new business model that brings together brands, creators, and consumers to shape a digital consumer ecosystem full of opportunity and innovation [2]. The rise of the Internet celebrity economy makes consumers see that the consumption platform is not only a special shopping platform, but also a platform such as Taobao and Jingdong to communicate with merchants to purchase, which makes people feel that the rights and interests of consumers cannot be guaranteed, and they are afraid of the trouble brought by the return of goods and the first consumption [6]. And when consumers see Internet celebrities personally try a product and evaluate it, they bring more security to people. When buying the same item, when consumers are struggling with which one is more suitable for them, they can search for the same product on social media, and many network celebrities will compare similar products and give their respective advantages and disadvantages. For example, when female consumers who experience makeup for the first time do not know which kind of foundation is more suitable for their skin, they can check the videos of some beauty bloggers. The bloggers will recommend what kind of foundation is suitable for different skin and teach consumers how to see what kind of skin they have and even recommend some affordable and user-friendly products considering that there are students who do not have enough budget. Let consumers see the diversity of products as more convenient for their own choice. One can also search and place orders directly on social media platforms.

5. Suggestion

The Internet celebrity's economy on social media has brought convenience to consumers, opportunities to brands, and a platform for creators to create freely and make money. To maintain this mutually beneficial environment, Internet celebrities need to continuously improve their own abilities and services, rather than spreading fake and low-quality products to deceive consumers to make money [7]. Brand manufacturers guarantee the quality after consumers place orders, rather than different quality of goods in different periods, resulting in a poor post-purchase experience for consumers; Consumers should also polish their eyes when buying, and not be deceived by some exaggerated propaganda [8]. Now, because many brands are very strong in terms of publicity, some consumers also buy this product when they do not need it, resulting in no chance to try it in the future, and then waste resources, which is harmful to environmental development but not beneficial. At the same time, the most important component of the Internet celebrity economy is fans, and the way for Internet celebrities to obtain economic benefits is to cash in on the flow and consumption of fans. Live streaming and bringing goods cannot be without the support of fans, so Internet celebrities should establish a friendly relationship with fans, such as carefully listening to the suggestions and needs of fans, to make the relationship more friendly [5]. Social media should also supervise the live broadcast and video quality of Internet celebrities in real time, improve the credibility of Internet celebrities and brands, and build a trusted consumption environment.

6. Conclusion

The research result of this study is that the Internet celebrity economy has created a new consumption mode and promoted People's Daily consumption. The further research conclusion is that people will watch a variety of live broadcasts on network live broadcast platforms more often and come into contact with more new products and marketing means, which makes impulse consumption easier. This study provides a lot of valuable reference significance for future research in this direction, which mainly affects the operation of the Internet celebrity economy. Taking the blogger of the TikTok platform as an example, it points out that the current Internet celebrity economy has problems in protecting the rights and interests of consumers. Future research should focus more on how to solve the problem of better consumption and the rights and interests of consumers on online platforms. How the network platform should supervise the behavior of creators, and play an example role instead of spreading negative information and deceiving consumers should be deeply studied.