And with
good reason. Influencers can add value for brands in ways that traditional
advertisers can’t touch. They’re more relatable, less annoying, and their work
(and in many cases, their livelihood) is dependent upon their commitment to
putting the interests of their audiences first. As blogger Toni Dash shared at a
State of Influence conference last week: “The worst thing as an influencer is
for someone to try your suggestion and have it not work. They’d never trust you
again”. It’s promotion with a personal touch, that benefits brands, consumers,
and the influencers who connect them.
Over the
last 15 years, give or take a few months, no one can deny that influencer
marketing has grown in leaps and bounds. But, as with many areas of the digital
space, the last two years has seen it become an even more critical component of
the marketing landscape.
Along with
organic growth, the industry has seen new sub-categories emerge, which have
either enhance the ecosystem or addressed marketer concerns. The two critical
issues for this group have been measurement and brand partnerships.
Influencer-driven
commerce to address measurement and conversion concerns
As with
most disciplines within marketing and advertising, measurement has been a
contentious issue with the fact that different platforms utilise different
algorithms and metrics adding to the confusion. The savvy players have looked
to address the concerns, not through refining the awareness aspect of
measurement, but rather looking to the conversion metrics.
Instead of
simply focusing on educating their audiences around their passion points such
as fashion, beauty or food, they’re linking to an e-commerce platform that
allows their followers to purchase the product within their social feeds – and
taking a cut. Essentially, influencers are becoming the store, or at the very
least a combination between the store and the store assistant.
Live
commerce, with influencers selling products while live streaming, has exploded
in China and is already taking off in the US. The top influencers are earning
millions. And brands are happy because those millions mean that they’re selling
more products and, instead of utilising amplification metrics to measure the
success of the campaign, measure the success of their campaigns using sales
revenue.
A key point
to make is that this is not a phenomenon only liked to e-commerce, as an
agency, in the more developed markets we work in, such as Europe, we have the
ability to measure an influencer’s ability to drive real-world consumers into
real-world stores. This is a space that continues to evolve and one which will
bring even more value to influencer marketing as it spreads across markets.
Authenticity
in partnerships
Influence
has often been confused with traditional brand ambassadorship as many marketers
have taken the approach of extending their traditional celebrity-driven
ambassador campaigns onto social media, or utilising influencers and extending
their influence into traditional channels.
The problem
with this is consumers seldom associate the link between the person and the
brand as authentic, often regarding such campaigns as advertising as opposed to
influencing. In fact, this exact approach has led to 54% of millennial
consumers around the world stating that they no longer trust influencers.
(shareable)
To address
this, influencers have started to focus on their authenticity, finding their
niche within the content landscape and ensuring that they commercialise their
influence without compromising it. This has seen the growth of subcategories
including but not limited to:
Skin-fluencers
to whom Gen Z and millennials are turning to for advice and education around
beauty and skincare with an authentic voice. Skin-fluencers such as Hyram
Yarbro are equally known for recommending their favourite products and sharing
blunt opinions on what they don’t like. This honesty gives them authority in a
highly pay-to-play influencer landscape, especially as Gen Z has a strong radar
for sponsored content.
Fin-fluencers
who are making finance cool for younger generations. Utilising their content
creation skills, they offer advice on credit, taxes and budgeting, and field
questions such as how to invest as a young person and whether it’s smarter to
buy or rent a car.
Gaming
influencers who speak to a community of billions who are emersed in the world
of esports and gaming. These influencers span from product reviewers to content
creators. Some of the biggest influencers in the world include gaming
influencers such as Ninja and PewDiePie.
By staying
true to their expertise and neutral in their recommendations, these influencers
yield significantly more influence and provide higher conversion value for
branded partners than traditional celebrities and lifestyle influencers who may
have a larger audience but have lost that authenticity.
As
influencer marketing continues to grow in importance within the marketing mix,
influencers become more aware of protecting their influence and using
technological advances to enable greater impact. And, as brands work with
agencies who are evolving at the forefront of the industry, they’ll see the
impact of influence done well.
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