How Is Influencer Marketing Changing? What Brands Need to Know
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Social media platforms are introducing new features to attract and retain influencers. Here’s why and how marketers should do it.
With the high interest in social commerce via social media, marketers are drawn to influencers for opportunities to capture the attention of their customers. Influencer comments about products and services have evolved into a key growth factor for many brands on social media.
Today, influencer selection can feel as overwhelming as the platform itself.
Evolution of social media platforms
Influencers were born out of consumers’ high usage of social media. They dominate these platforms. People online have come to see and hear influencers’ suggestions for product and service selection. continues to attract
Take YouTube for example. The eMarketer article cites a Hub Research study in which 43% of US consumers surveyed watch YouTube videos of influencers weekly. In response, YouTube is relying more on creators to increase engagement on the platform. Given the high level of consumer interest in viewing, it makes sense for YouTube to build strong relationships with influencers. Doing so will give him an edge over his TikTok competition, which I covered in a previous post.
TikTok combines the best of video and has a strong presence on Instagram and YouTube, while establishing creative communities around specific topics much like Twitter. This gives TikTok the best of both worlds, facilitating an environment where influencers can build a community. Micro-creators (influencers who devote themselves to creating products) have been particularly successful, carving out the highly dedicated niche for which TikTok is famous.
All of this reflects a significant development of the seed for social commerce capabilities. Social commerce allows followers to perform purchase activities, such as payment auto-fill, without leaving the original platform where the purchase was initiated: the social media feed. This simplifies attribution and extends the customer experience that brands and influencers have built.
Related article: Why brands should care about influencer marketing
The evolution of social influencers
Meanwhile, the influencer ecosystem is being shaped by new sophistication that draws followers to their profiles. Some influencers find success by building followers into an active community rather than an audience of followers. I mean In a community, more threads reflect everyone’s participation.
Your community audience comes from real people who want to engage and build relationships with the profiles you follow. Many influencers are beginning to realize that this effort leads to potential long-term customers. This is a form of building long-term value and reducing customer churn. Additionally, people are aware that follower accounts can be imitated or tampered with, so profiles may not convey what your audience is aiming for. A good influencer choice is someone who wants to talk to their audience more often and naturally.
Additionally, administrators need to be aware that certain types of influencers are proliferating online. A layer of influencers called the creator layer is emerging. Creators are influencers who use the products and services you describe in your videos and posts. We also make things out of the mentioned products and services.
For example, if I’m a hobby or crafts influencer, I might mention a particular brand of store I go to to purchase merchandise, or a particular toy or brand I use to make crafts. This creator class creates different levels of influence among followers.
Influencers are seeing a growing presence online. As a result, they’re starting to throw more weight into the platform. The recent Kardashian criticism of Instagram trying to be more like his TikTok shows that prominent influencers are starting to take more of the platform’s direction.
All of this happens at a time when people’s social media usage is at its peak.
According to Statista, daily social media usage has increased from 145 minutes to 147 minutes over the past two years. This means that platforms will likely optimize the environment so that the influencer will continue to find ways to keep him stuck on one platform. The more opportunities an influencer has to sell on a particular platform, the more likely they are to stay and not shift resources to competitors.
Related Article: Is Influencer Marketing Right for Your B2B Marketing Plan?
Building Customer Experiences with Influencers
Combined changes in social media and influencer trends lead marketers to a golden opportunity to choose influencers who can enhance their customer experience goals. But a marketing her manager should look at many qualities in the influencer she’s considering.
You should pay attention to how influencers manage their audiences online. You should review comments and engagement and examine posts to determine what kind of voice influencers have and how that voice aligns with your brand management plan.
Managers should also consider what types of brand safety keywords to avoid. These choices are not censorship issues. The purpose is to manage algorithms on the platform. You need influencers who use the language the team determines is best for your brand. Usage can be a guardrail rather than a guideline that provides influencers the ability to work with brands while remaining creative and independent.
Managers should look at the influencer’s past posts to see if there was any controversy and how the influencer handled it at the time. Doing so helps brands understand what risks they may be exposed to. Influencers are often criticized for what they have said in the past.
There are many lessons learned from the current influencer issue regarding how associations are handled. For example, CNBC reported that Kim Kardashian is seeking dismissal from his lawsuit against EthereumMax, a crypto token that has caused losses to investors. The lawsuit, which also includes Floyd Mayweather, says the alleged financial failure of the “pump and dump” investment scheme could not have expanded without her endorsement on social media.
Marketers should also be aware of the growing interest in community building and the potential legal issues that are different from gaining followers. Platforms have provided all the creative tools to build communities, but what happens when influencers move to another platform? are you there?
It’s a tough question. The platform is working to offer more experiential shopping to its users, which will attract more followers to influencers who started with them even before they were approached by the platform.
Simply put, that means it can get you into a vicious cycle that brands can get caught in. If so, you should encourage those who believe it is mutually beneficial to create an online community.
Influencers have evolved from online entertainment to proper curators of the customer experience. The choices marketers make should reflect their brand values in order to provide a great customer experience.
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