Will Meta's AI Features Impact the Future of Influencer Marketing?
In the last few years, Meta AI has introduced different features, disrupting influencer marketing and engagement between creators and fans on Instagram. Between the introduction of virtual humans and the Creator AI studio where creators can train AI bots to respond back to fans, the line between reality and virtual reality becomes blurred.
AI has transformed our lives, for the better and for worse. Tasks are completed quicker and more efficiently, questions are answered by the speed of light (well, kind of) so no more rummaging through papers to find an answer, and transcriptions of meetings helps us remember what was said in the meeting at 9am on a Monday morning.
The creation of AI has helped us more quicker and faster than generations before but are we taking it a step too far by creating virtual humans and training AI bots to be like us?
In our blog, we’ll talk about how influencer marketing is changing for both brands and influencers and how the new features introduced by Meta AI are changing social media forever.
Traditional Advertising is out, Influencer Marketing is in
When we think of the word influencer, we think of the modern day person who has amassed a large following on social media platforms through niche-specific content that targets a specific audience.
But if we think of the word “influence”, it can be used for anyone that’s able to influence a large amount of people and get them to do something.
The influencers in our life before social media were the Church, the government, even our parents but fast forward to the present day, creators on the internet now have a bigger influence on us than institutions and governments.
The mid-2000’s was when Facebook and Twitter were born and the term “influencers” started to gain traction.
As people started to grow their followings and see quick engagement, brands noticed a trend appearing that led to them partnering with influencers to expand their reach and increase sales.
Influencer marketing has become more popular than traditional marketing because of the deeper connection made through social media, compared to billboards and AD’s on TV.
People trust other people’s opinions before buying. How many times have you checked reviews before you bought something?
Some influencers have come under fire for collaborating with brands that don’t fit their niche, giving the impression that they’ve partnered for the money.
The importance of choosing the right influencer for the right campaign can make or break the trust between the influencer and their fans.
In the last year, money transparency around how much influencers are making has been exposed with some influencers that have 10 million followers are asking for 10,000 USD for just one video. Although it comes with recognition and visibility, this doesn’t guarantee sales.
The introduction of AI-Generated Influencers have risen in the past few years making it more lucrative for businesses to cut down on costs and logistics but there are ethical concerns to consider.
The Rise of AI-Generated Influencers
If you search “Top 15 AI influencers” on Google, a list of AI-Generated influencers will pop up on your screen.
If you check out those influencers, they aren’t real people but a virtual human that has built a large following.
Brands like Chanel, Red Bull and Calvin Klein have used these AI-Generated influencers for online promotions.
One popular influencer is Zara Shatavari who has 19.7k followers on instagram and is India’s first AI generated brand ambassador.
Zara was created to spread awareness for those living with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and runs a health-related blog, posts about travel and fitness.
Rahul Choudry, who created Zara, wanted to partner with a specific celebrity with a hormonal imbalance but chose to create an AI-version that was much cheaper, always available, and gives him the ability to adapt it when needed.
Another AI influencer goes by Reembot on Instagram focusing on fashion and lifestyle content.
Influencers post their day in their lives, their workout routine, their lifestyle and fans get invested because of the relatedness of it but how can an AI influencer that doesn’t live in the real world create that same relatedness when we know it’s not real?
Backlash from people online have called out brands for choosing to invest in virtual humans, rather than real influencers.
As more brands continue to choose AI-versions to cut down on costs and logistics, is REAL influencer marketing dead?
The Future of Engagement
Along with AI Influencers, Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, rolled out creator AI for select creators in the US where they can create AI bots of themselves.
He’s testing the feature out to see how people interact with it first before he rolls it out to other countries.
The feature will allow creators to train an AI version of themselves to respond back to comments and direct messages that are sent from fans.
Creators will train the AI bot to replicate their personality and personalize their messages to maintain authenticity.
Creators receive a huge amount of messages every day, sometimes asking for something simple like a link or a frequently asked question.
Meta is committed to enhancing engagement while also being open about the fact that the fan will be interacting with an AI bot.
This is extremely important that the fan KNOWS it’s not the creator himself responding but that the responses are personable and are scripted out to respond in this way.
However, the complication comes when a fan is asking for a more complex question that requires a deeper answer that’s subjective to the influencer.
This feature is still in BETA so it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out and how creators can maintain the level of authenticity and engagement needed.
GoViral Conclusion
AI has integrated itself into our lives where reality and virtual reality are becoming nearly indistinguishable. Meta AI continues to advance and new features are emerging quicker than before.
Social media has changed drastically since 2007 at a quick speed and doesn’t seem to be slowing down as Mark Zuckerberg has big plans for the Metaverse with talks about holographic glasses projecting real people in virtual reality (VR).
The opportunities and possibilities that come with this new technology is immense and it feels like it’s just the tip of an iceberg.
However, the question still stands. How far is too far?
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An Introduction to Creator Marketing
You already know that creating engaging content and a well-thought-out marketing strategy helps you grow your business. But one idea that might be new to you is creator marketing, a concept that is shifting how marketers collaborate and create content. When introducing a product or promoting your business, one post with a creator simply no longer suffices. Instead, a larger strategy needs to be set in place.
This article will introduce the concept of the creator economy and creator marketing. You’ll also learn more about the difference between working with a content creator and an influencer.
What is the Creator Economy?
Before we get into creator marketing, let’s look at the background on this topic. The countless social media platforms and content creators active today make up a new landscape on the Internet, which is called the creator economy.
According to the marketing software company HubSpot, the creator economy is the online economy made up of content creators, which includes social media influencers, videographers, bloggers, and other digital creatives. Tools and software that help these creators grow profit from the content are also part of the creator economy.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when many people were at home and had more time to spend time online, the number of active content creators increased. Many soon discovered this content could also generate money. It was estimated there were over 50 million content creators just two years ago. It’s likely this number is even higher today.
Creators use social platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Twitch, just to name a few. If you’re not yet using TikTok to promote your brand, take a look at our blog article Using TikTok for Your Business.
What is Creator Marketing?
Sprout Social defines creator marketing as “when brands partner with content creators to drive awareness and engagement for specific campaigns or initiatives.” By incorporating creator marketing into your strategy, you can greatly improve your audience engagement and reach.
Choosing to work with a content creator can help you strengthen your community or reach new followers, but not all creators are the same:
- Content Creators: produce entertaining or educational content for digital distribution, including audio content (podcasts), written content (blogs), photos/images, and videos (YouTube videos). Content creators know how important it is to build a relationship with their audience, which is important to note when you are looking for someone to collaborate with a creator.
- Social Media Content Creators: similar to content creators, this creator subcategory prioritizes building a relationship with audience members across all social platforms. If you are interested in marketing on various social platforms, it may be beneficial to work with a social media content creator.
One popular content creator is Yoga with Adriene. She creates yoga-workout videos and has brought yoga to many peoples’ homes, especially during the pandemic. She connects well with her following and it is apparent that she has built a strong community behind her brand.
What is the difference between a content creator and an influencer?
It’s important to note that content creators create content, blogs, photos, etc. to make money, while influencers “inspire” followers to buy or to do something. The big difference is the intention behind the content being posted.
Content creators produce high-quality content to engage with their audience through photos and videos, which can include tutorials, how-to guides, etc. Influencers share their lives and promote products, which, if purchased by their following, often bring them a percentage of sales.
Here are some example marketing goals that can help you decide if you should work with a content creator or an influencer.
- Working with a content creator: you want high-quality content and/or want to create a unique project. You’d like to use the creator’s style to present your brand. Digital content creators are usually paid per project and they often offer you a quote based on your request. They can help you create engaging content for marketing purposes or for sale strategies.
- Working with an influencer: you want to reach new audiences and increase brand awareness. You’d also like to promote a new product or service to a special niche group that the influencer targets. Influencers often create packages based on the promotion that you want and the reach that they have.
It’s important to note that choosing to work with a content creator vs. an influencer is not necessarily an either-or situation. It really depends on your marketing strategy and your overall goals.
As always, make sure to stay on top of trends and learn about content creators in your industry. You can find content creators or influencers that interest you by using social listening. Want to learn how? Read our How You Can Use Social Listening to Improve Your Business blog to find out.
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Using TikTok for Your Business
Think TikTok is just another Gen Z app? Not anymore. TikTok has over 1 billion monthly users, and the platform’s popularity is rising fast.
TikTok may have started as a fun place to stream silly videos, but it has quickly changed the way we share content.
Why should your business consider TikTok?
TikTok seems synonymous with dance videos, fun challenges, and crazy pranks. And that’s not wrong! But once you learn the language of the platform, you can leverage this fun and casual atmosphere to share engaging content and connect with your audience on a human level.
Did you know that 47.4% of TikTok users are under the age of 30, and of these more than half are teenagers? So especially if your business targets a younger audience, you should get on this train.
Let’s discuss some benefits of TikTok for businesses.
Boost Brand Awareness
Want to go viral? You can create entertaining content on TikTok. The platform offers various ways to spotlight your brand: collaborating with influencers, running ads, and using features like hashtags or stickers.
Product Promotion
What sets TikTok marketing apart is that it doesn’t feel like marketing. The content created on the platform doesn’t feel as aggressive or sales-y as traditional marketing. Brands partner with creators who users trust, creating meaningful content with the intent of informing and entertaining their audience.
Expand Your Target Base
One of the easiest ways to attract more customers is to jump on the right trend at the right time on TikTok. Trending or not, authentic content that feels human builds strong relationships and brand trust with users. Plus, with millions of active users around the world, TikTok is a great place to reach a wider audience base.
We hope the above points have convinced you of the positives of having a presence on TikTok. Now that you’ve decided to join the platform, let’s talk about some ways to get the most out of it.
Create Original Content
Scrolling endlessly through videos on TikTok is a lot of fun, but the sheer number of videos means marketers need to create original, attention grabbing content to stand out from the crowd. Easier said than done!
Here are some tips to remember:
- No formal or scripted videos. Authenticity is the key for success on TikTok.
- No need for a high-tech video production setup. With a quality phone camera and adequate lighting, you are good to go.
- Share behind-the-scenes content or office culture to show the human side of your business.
- Jump on the bandwagon with TikTok trends and challenges. There is no scarcity of new ideas for videos on the platform. Look up trending topics and join in on what’s most relevant to your audience.
Create a New TikTok Challenge
Challenges are the soul of TikTok. Not only do challenges have the potential to go viral, but they are also highly entertaining, building buzz on and off the platform.
For example, Colgate started a challenge called #MakeMomSmile for Mother’s Day, encouraging people to share videos of how they celebrated the holiday. The hashtag received around 5.4B views on TikTok. Even other brands like New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys participated in the challenge.
Before you create a new challenge, have a clear goal in mind. Do you want to promote an event, increase brand awareness or push sales? Once you set a goal, you can prepare a plan to achieve it.
Partnering with popular influencers will push their followers to jump on the bandwagon. Keep in mind influencer marketing can be costly, but it is highly rewarding as well. Learn all about Influencer Marketing in our Influencer Marketing guide.
Promote User-Generated Content
Brands love user-generated content (UGC). For many, sharing popular content is the easiest and most cost-effective way to grab attention. On TikTok, UGC often looks like an unboxing video or a testimonial about a product they love. With the user’s permission, brands share these videos on their accounts.
Take a look at how Chipotle leverages UGC to keep their audience engaged.
There are many advantages of sharing UGC. Marketers don’t have to worry about constantly creating original content for their brands. Plus, users feel appreciated and recognised when you share their content, helping you delight existing customers and acquire new customers through social proof.
One thing’s for sure: TikTok ain’t going anywhere. If you aren’t using it for your business, you are missing out on potential customer base and engagement.
In the ever-changing world of social media, video is having a moment, and you don’t want to fall behind the times. So get ready to explore the world of TikTok, have fun with video content and connect with your audience on a whole new level.
Want to build a TikTok Marketing Strategy for your business? Request a proposal by contacting us.
An Introduction to Influencer Marketing Guide
With so many social media platforms, one surefire way to expand your online presence is influencer marketing.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to influencer marketing, but you could make it work for your business with proper research and planning.
What is Influencer Marketing?
When an influential person known as an influencer collaborates with a business to promote their products or services, it is known as influencer marketing.
In the past, brands only had celebrity endorsements. But in the digital age we live in, online content creators with dedicated and engaged groups of followers have changed the game of influencer marketing.
It is common to find yourself asking, “Does influencer marketing bring any positive results?”. Well, Civic Science reported that 14% of 18 to 24-year-olds and 11% of millennials in the U.S had bought some products or services in the last six months because an influencer recommended it.
When it comes to influencer marketing campaigns on social media platforms, Instagram currently tops the list, but it seems like TikTok is catching up. With 68% of U.S marketers planning to use TikTok for influencer campaigns, it is becoming as popular as Facebook to be the preferred platform.
Types of Social Media Influencers
When we say social media influencers, usually celebrities come to your mind. As we said earlier, while celebrities are the top influencers, not all influencers are celebrities.
On the contrary, influencers with a niche follower base could be more effective for brands as they have a higher engagement rate than celebrities. Plus, it won’t burn a hole in your pockets.
Usually, influencers are grouped based on their audience size. Let’s look at different types of influencers.
Nano-influencers
These are the ones who have just started out and have less than 10,000 followers.
While their reach is low, their influence on their small, tight-knit community is enormous. Nano-influencers may know most of their followers on some level.
It could be beneficial for a brand because we are more likely to buy a product on family or friends’ recommendation than some celebrity. Nano-influencers bring a sense of relatability and trust that is rarely seen with celebrity influencers.
Micro-influencers
The most common influencers you will find are micro-influencers who have between 10,000 and 100,000 followers.
Micro-influencers are more specialised and have a more engaged audience than their bigger counterparts, thus bringing in more qualified leads for your business.
Macro-influencers
With followers between 100,000 to 1 million, macro-influencers have a celebrity status of their own.
Since macro-influencers have grown their follower base from scratch, they know their audience well. The strong connection with the audience makes macro-influencers a preferred choice for brands with more major marketing campaigns.
Mega-influencers
With more than 1 million followers, mega-influencers have a following outside the social media world. They are usually celebrities, actors, singers or internet personalities who have risen to fame recently.
However, mega-influencers don’t have a personal connection to their followers, so they could be considered less trustworthy.
Tips for Creating an Influencer Marketing Strategy
Know Your Audience
The first step is to define who your audience is for your campaign. To make your strategy effective, you need to target the right people.
So how do you know who the right people are? Through buyer personas.
Developing your buyer personas is a great way to know your audience. Defining your audience helps you understand the kind of influencers you should collaborate with.
Establish Your Goals
For marketers, the number one goal of influencer marketing is to reach a new audience. Your brand visibility increases when your products or services reach the influencers’ followers.
Usually, the top goal for brands is to reach potential customers, while bringing an actual sale is lower on the list. It is essential to create measurable goals that you can track.
Shortlist Influencers
Trust is the most significant factor when it comes to choosing influencers. If your audience doesn’t trust or respect this person’s opinions, you will find yourself scrambling to get tangible results.
One way of finding out if your potential influencer is trusted is through their engagement. You should check if their posts have plenty of views, comments, likes and shares.
When an influencer has a reasonable engagement rate, they have a loyal following. So check if their follower count is inflated through bots or fake accounts.
Do Your Research
Now that you’ve compiled a list of influencers you would like to work with, the next step is to find out how often they share sponsored content.
Check how they are keeping their audiences engaged – do they post a lot of organic, non-sponsored content, or is there a ton of paid posts on their page? Posting paid content often affects the engagement rate.
Before you approach an influencer, make sure you do your homework. Know what channels they post, their audience, the frequency of sponsored content.
Track Results
It is pretty normal to get impressed by the sheer number of likes and comments on the influencers’ posts. But to measure the campaign results, you must figure out its return on investment.
One of the most effective ways to measure results is UTM parameters. Prepare unique links with UTM codes for each influencer. This way, you can know how many sales you made through an influencer and get a clear idea of how your campaign is performing.
Don’t forget to request your influencers to send you insights and detailed reports on their posts’ reach and engagement levels.
So there you go, a starter guide to help you start working on your influencer marketing strategy. If you find the right approach, you will soon be inundated with many new customers and sales.
Do you want marketing services? GoViral Digital has a whole decade of experience specialising in inbound marketing, and we are taking clients for 2022. Request a proposal to help you improve your business.