Rise of Influencer Marketing in 2015
Michael Spencer
A.I. Writer, researcher and curator - full-time Newsletter publication manager.
Is Influencer Marketing for Real?
I was reading an article by the story-teller and brand content marketer, Julia Tan, and it got me thinking how different 2015 was compared to previous years with regards to influencer marketing, visual marketing and how 2015 was the year News went to social media. It's an important transition to recognize, in Julia's own words:
Gone are days where celebrities are made on television. Bloggers, Youtube and Instagram stars now have tens of thousands in their followings, sometimes superseding traditional media outlets. - Julia Tan.
#BigIdeas2016 noticed that a lot changed in social media this year.
As we discovered Millennials care more about their peers and word of mouth marketing than advertising, we also learned branded testimonials and case studies do not persuade as well as user generated content (not the same as branded customer success stories), that has the potential to go viral. Factor in the involvement of influencers, like YouTube stars, is an important new variety of marketing.
iGen Teaches us with the Snapchat Generation
- That real-time offers are important to Gen Z, with Snapchat stories in video form are doing quite well.
- That YouTube influencers can generate traffic for mobile audiences.
- That visual marketing on Pinterest and Instagram can convert via social commerce (ecommerce with less taps on Mobile devices via social media).
Why is this important?
It's a transition phase from Email marketing to SMS marketing to video micro marketing offers that's personalized, triggered, automated and authentic.
- Video content is on the rise
- Engaging story-telling is short (keeping attention for the first 7 seconds is crucial).
- Consider the following:
Vine videos are less than 6 seconds <
Snapchat videos are less than 10 seconds <
Instagram videos are less than 15 seconds <
Twitter videos are less than 20 seconds <
So this means these on average you have, 12.75 seconds to make a positive brand impression.
When the story needs a hero and it is you, this means User Generated Content is the ultimate in influencer marketing, for when the consumer invests in content, their brand identification goes through the roof!
So Why is Influencer Marketing Contemporary and Relevant?
- It actually converts because it uses marketing-induced consumer-to-consumer word of mouth (MI-C2C-WOM).
- It gamifies brand trust and loyalty right from the start since word-of-mouth acquisition not only reduces cost of acquisition but has 37 percent higher retention rate.
- It taps into real social networks, where Sales force found that 70 percent of brands are increasing in 2016.
- Connecting as a Brand that's separate from the consumer is no longer advisable, with the rise of UGC, it's the consumer who does the marketing for you due to their appreciation of your brand and with CSR campaigns that tap into Influencers and current trends.
- Brands now talk with consumers, instead of at them. (Sales mentality to a customer experience mobile responsive streamlined agile perspective).
- Sparking organic conversations and viral content that is seductive to higher motives and values of consumers.
- It connects with trending channels like Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Pinterest and Millennials and iGen themselves.
- It's contemporary, trending and peaking:
- People relate best to people like them, who mirror their demographic, preferences and cultural differences. If I'm a Millennial SaaS startup, it's doubtful I'm going to be impressed with a marketing automation company that was founded 15 years ago and didn't update their software to be in touch with current trends in social media, for example.
In 2015 we Learned
- Millennials are blocking paid mobile ads.
- Millennials are fundamentally immune to advertising and so it's not decent ROI anymore.
- Content marketing is on the rise.
- Millennials seek out brands that can offer a unique niche experience and that stand for corporate socially responsible themes (sustainability, giving back, profiting the community) and campaigns.
- Consumers are generally tired of paid Ads: Typically, only 14 percent of their respondents could remember the last ad they saw and identify what was being promoted..
- Native advertising is inclusive, organic, streamlined and agile without interrupting the consumer's digital experience.
- Content is more engaging that influences consumers to engage via engagement interest where purchase intent is 53 percent higher for native ads.
- Influencer marketing that revolves around UGC, means user generated social posts account for 25 percent of search results for the world’s top 20 brands. So it's golden for SEO.
- No more shooting in the dark, it's targetable, trackable and builds analytics and Big Data.
Influencer Marketing is just one Trend of Millennial Marketing
What Millennials and iGen are bringing into digital marketing, is an on-going and dynamic occurrence. As wearable devices, IoT, better customer analytics, cloud services, more powerful apps and SaaS products arrive, this will change in real-time, at a pace someone over 45 cannot hope to keep up with.
Don't just keep up, be an early adopter, innovate and experiment! I hope you enjoyed this article.
Michael, I loved your point about how little time brands have to make an impression.
Strategic Design, Research & Innovation
8 年Great work, You managed to bring together many concepts around millenials and their influencers. I think there is still much to learn about this, but it will be even more social.
Digital Marketing | Customer Journey | Communications strategy
8 年Hi Michael, thanks for the mention. I have read some of the comments that this is hardly revolutionary - yes, influencer marketing has been around for a long time. However, when I mentioned that point in my former presentation, I was referring to how influencers have become like "Media" themselves. This is important to note, because: In the past - influencers communicated through 3rd-party media or in public spaces. Now - Influencers have become their own media, taking control of what they want to say, and when they want to say it, and how they want to say it. and this is something for businesses to think about, because the opportunities now lie in real-time & zero moments of truth.
Actuary - Risk, Capital, Inflation and Volatility Modelling
8 年https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/01/gender.women "gossip magazines, women's bodies are pored over - a pound gained provoking headlines that they're fat, a pound lost leading to headlines that they're too thin. Circles are drawn around a spot on their ankle where they've failed to apply fake tan, around a bitten nail or a tiny, incipient wrinkle beside their eye - which could just be a stray lash. What is implicit but unsaid is that there is no objective standard of beauty, no level of perfection that a woman could reach at which her body would be perceived as acceptable and in control. In the eyes of these magazines, a healthy body mass index could be considered seriously plump. A woman deemed too fat in one magazine could, on the basis of exactly the same picture, be deemed too thin by another magazine. The constant message is that women's bodies are not our own. They belong to everyone but us, and are there to be picked apart. Women can try to curry favour, come up to snuff, spend hours like, say, Madonna, working out, perfecting themselves. But there's then every chance that they will be derided for the veins on their hands. " Influencers? No way
Actuary - Risk, Capital, Inflation and Volatility Modelling
8 年https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/jun/24/television.gayrights "Much of what we thought we "knew" about Singleton was guess work, but in the 70s and 80s we could not do as we do today, and rely on magazines such as Heat and OK to confirm or deny our suspicions" So adults dont follow slebs like robots. They know what they are doing. They do it sometimes to feel good, sometimes to let go. But if say Jennifer Aniston starts trying to lead them like a pied piper they will turn off.