Digital Marketing with Virtual Influencers!

Virtual influencers are on the rise and are gaining popularity on social media, with some gathering millions of young followers. But what impact on digital marketing will they have? In this LinkedIn article, I want to give a brief overview of what virtual influencers are, who the top influencers are, and how digital marketing will benefit from them in the future.

What's a Virtual Influencer?

A virtual influencer is a digital character that was created using computer graphics software. This character is then given a personality and will at all times act on social media platforms as if he or she is an influencer.?Their content isn’t so different from that of human influencers – holiday snaps, a new outfit or two, a lot of selfies. The authors of the website VirtualHumans.org estimates that there are more than 200 virtual influencers on social media today. [Source] The biggest influencers have millions of followers.??

How Digital Marketing will benefit from Virtual Influencers?

Influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that uses endorsements and product mentions from influencers. So, individuals who have a dedicated social following and often are viewed as experts within their niche. In the meanwhile, influencer marketing is a solid pillar in every digital marketing strategy. So, also virtual influencer marketing will become more and more important in the near future. Here are some benefits why marketers should leverage virtual influencers.

• Brand control: Virtual influencers will give digital marketers more control over their collaborations. The biggest benefit of virtual influencers is that they remove the risk of doing crazy things in real life. Because virtual influencers are just living on social media. There's also no more the risk of influencers spelling the brand's name wrong. Also the risk to publish a post too late will be reduced.
• Cost-savings:?As virtual influencers are entirely digital, they don't have a busy schedule like their human celebrity counterparts. They can take part in photoshoots in multiple locations at the same time.?They also will not expense any travel costs as they can be at the beautiful places around the globe only digitaly.
• High engagement: It looks like virtual influencers have nearly three times the engagement of traditional influencers. [Source] Well, we should consider this information carefully, since virtual influencers are still new and hence there is not that much data out there for now.
• More creativity: Digital marketers can design everything about virtual influencers, from their personality to their appearance, outfit, hobbies, age, gender, content style, and so on. The creativity is limitless when it comes to virtual influencers and their environment.
• Segue to metaverse: As the metaverse opens up, it’s certainly possible that virtual influencers will have increasing appeal. As virtual influencers are totally computer-generated individuals, brands can easily incorporate them into any virtual environment. Users of the metaverse will be able to join their favorite influencers there, which could further strengthen their trust and thus create new opportunities for emotional connections with brands. Maybe in the future, it could be also possible to combine programmatic advertising with virtual influencers in the metaverse.

I'm sure this is not a complete list of all benefits for digital marketers. But the advantages of using virtual influencers over real influencers for brands are seemingly many.

How to choose a Virtual Influencer?

To help marketing professionals navigate the maze of virtual influencers, let’s look at some of the leading virtual profiles.

• Lil Miquela: Miquela Sousa, better known by the name Lil Miquela, is a 19 years old virtual influencer. She is half Brazilian and half Spanish and living in Los Angeles. Lil Miquela has 3 million followers on Instagram to whom she shares her latest fashion looks as well as the new music she has released. This summer has seen the virtual influencer release singles Money and Sleeping In on Spotify. Visit her Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/lilmiquela/
• Shudu: With her really realistic features, it took many months for internet users to realize that she isn’t real despite the fact that the virtual supermodel has an Instagram account that already has racked up 235k followers. Shudu also signed a modeling contract with digital supermodel agency TheDiigitals.com and joined the Balmain family as one of their latest models. Visit her Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/shudu.gram/
• Bermuda: Bermuda Isbae is a Los Angeles it-girl and one of the most controversial virtual influencers on the internet.?She presents herself on Instagram like the typical Insta-baddie: flashy colors, eye-catching make-up, and lots of shiny stuff. But instead of a polished image, Bermuda shows antagonistic traits. She likes controversy and scandal and jumps into them without fear of losing face. Visit her Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/bermudaisbae/
• Imma: Imma Gram is my personal favorite. She is a model and virtual fashion influencer. To her 406k Instagram followers, she is the go-to for unique style inspiration due to her statement haircut and noticeable fashion. She is also curious about certain world's problems like race, environment, and gender, as she finds her voice in the virtual and real world. She boasts brand mentions such as Burberry, Unilever (Magnum ice cream), and IKEA Japan. Visit her Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/imma.gram/
• Blawko: Ronald F. Blawko, popularly known as Blawko, is maybe the most mysterious of all the virtual influencer stars due to the mask that covers half of his face. He spends his free time either fangirling over his virtual friends or venting on YouTube to his subscribers. On Instagram, he has 140k followers. Visit his Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/blawko22/

If you want to get a full list of the most followed virtual influencers in 2022, you should visit the website VirtualHumans.org. Here's the link: https://www.virtualhumans.org/

Before embarking on a?partnership?with a?virtual influencer, however, you should consider: How do you make a?virtual influencer?work for your brand? Is it likely to fit your brand image?

Conclusion

Digital influencers give digital marketers a chance to leverage social media marketing with no physical limitations or controversial risks. You don’t have to worry about sourcing human influencers either. With hundreds of brands worldwide stepping into the virtual influencer scene and as the virtual influencer market size expands, why not start today??What do you think? Please leave your feedback on virtual influencers down in the comments. Thanks!

About the author:

Bj?rn Radde?is Vice President Digital Experience at?T-Systems International?- one of the world's leading vendor-independent providers of digital services. Before he joints T-Systems he was Director Digital Experience at Sabre and Vice President?Digital Marketing at Trust International. In this role, he was worldwide responsible for all digital marketing products?of the company. Previously, Bj?rn was Director of Digital Marketing & E-Commerce at Okanda, an internet startup in the meeting's business, and Head of E-Commerce at the Steigenberger Hotel Group. After studying economics with a focus on online marketing and e-commerce, he initially worked at T-Online International AG and later at Deutsche Telekom AG within the Products & Innovation business unit.