Influencer marketing isn’t as simple as choosing an influencer with a hefty following to post an ad for you. There are a multitude of key shifts in 2019 that brands should be factoring into their influencer marketing strategies now.
Here are some effective strategies that can help you stay on top of these key trends:
1. Influencers are people too
Basic advertising and marketing principles dictate that a brand needs to have consistency across all of its messaging, imagery, stunts, and so on. These same principles apply in choosing the right influencers.
For the best chance of success, brands need to stop being purely transactional with influencers and start building genuine relationships with them.
It is important to be mindful that influencer marketing is actually a partnership and that when working together, both reputations are on the line.
2. Video is the new black
Now and then, popular culture gives rise to trends and they stick – so much so – that they are still iconic generations later.
The millennials and Gen Z legacy is their ubiquitous use of social media and an unprecedented amount of user-generated content full of memes, videos, and live streaming of stories.
Considering 90 per cent of Generation Z and 83 per cent of millennials are spending at least two to three hours a day watching videos on their smartphones, for brands to successfully penetrate this market, they need to capitalise on the use of video in their marketing strategies.
3. Authenticity is key
The most successful influencers have a highly captivated audience. Why? Because their followers feel that they are real people sharing insights about real products and experiences and believe their content to be authentic.
As millennials and Gen Z’s are digital natives to social media and advertising across these platforms, they are also more switched on when it comes to recognising when they are being overtly marketed to.
According to a study by Deloitte, 72 per cent of millennials use social media as a good way to stay connected to news and topics that are important to them. While 65 per cent of millennials said that they are happy to receive targeted content if it aligns with their interests.
Therefore, businesses wanting to engage an influencer to market to this demographic need to be mindful about content that’s not consistent with the influencer’s audience and brand.
4. Data is king
Traditional marketers question whether influencer marketing can yield actual commercial results.
The reality is – it can. Take, for example, Hi-Smile. Founders Nik Mirkovic and Alex Tomic’s started Hi-Smile with $20,000 of their own savings and through the use of influencer marketing, grew the company into a $40M business with over 100,000 customers across the globe in three years.
Measuring ROI and using data to track the success of a campaign is important, not just because you can say with authority that investing the marketing budget into the influencer space was a wise move, but so you can optimise your campaigns.
5. Generation Z
Gen Z’s are expected to account for about 40 percent of all consumers by 2020.
In fact, 80 per cent of purchases made by this generation have been influenced by social media. The channels making the biggest impact are: Instagram (44%), Snapchat (21 per cent) and YouTube (32 per cent). Social media influences everything from purchasing decisions and lifestyle choices to political perspectives.
Given Gen Z’s have an attention span of about eight seconds, capturing their attention requires authentic and engaging content that they can contribute to, interact with, or be a part of. They want to feel like they are part of an actual community attached to authentic causes.
Analise Trotter, Head of Advocacy, Hoozu
