Influencer Marketing update: A shift in customer behaviour
The psychological drivers behind the success of influencer marketing (IM) are highly interesting to study. I see the phenomenon as word-of-mouth at scale, fueled by fear-of-missing-out (FOMO).
Nowadays we follow ‘influencers’ on various digital platforms, so naturally, brands jumped on the possibility of using this as a growth motor.
Reach was high, and prior to the pandemic, many companies were enthusiastic about this strategy and adopting it.
Now, with a mass shift in customer behaviour and budget cuts after the recession hit, marketing professionals question the effectiveness of this marketing strategy.
Specifically, they wonder if ‘influencer marketing is still worth the time and money investment’.
My opinion: Yes it is. But it highly depends on:
- what products you market;
- how much you trust the influencer and their judgement (the quality of the content they put out).
I will touch upon these 2 points below.
The audience is sensitive. Brands must be more careful than ever before.
Products
Digital adoption and social media consumption are increasing by the day. A recent study by Kantar shows that web browsing grew by 70% and social media engagement by 61%. Impressive stats!
However, people became more conscious about what they are buying and many influencers are jumping on this shift in behaviour. Personal care, overall quality products, sustainability or a good cause are now more important than ever.
In times of global distress, consumers are still turning to influencers for shopping advice, reassurance, inspiration or motivation. Kantar points out that the audience wants to see content with a positive social impact: ‘Talk about how the brand is helpful in the new everyday life’ (77%) ‘Inform about their efforts to face the situation’ (75%) and ‘Offer a reassuring tone’ (70%). Additionally, 75% of people said brands ‘Should not exploit the situation to promote the brand’ while 40% said they ‘Should avoid humorous tones’.
Therefore, we see that influencers started to adopt a cross-category strategy.
High-end, “clean” personal-care products are gaining lots of traction, healthy food and sports equipment. In contrast, there is a substantial drop in fashion, fragrance and makeup products (since you cannot smell people from behind a computer or see them so well).
So, an assumption could be that… When the lock-down is over, we’ll experience a switch in shopping behaviour, more towards fashion and beauty but with a sustainability mark.
The authenticity of influencer’s content will be detrimental for the buying decision of their followers
Influencer Trust
Be careful who you work with!
It’s not about quantity and pushing content for the sake of visibility. Digital fatigue will become more apparent following the recent abundance of branded content.
Now more than ever, the authenticity and quality of influencer’s content will be detrimental for the buying decision of followers. Audiences matured and started to easily spot overly-marketed products, low quality or mistakes.
Ursula Ringham, head of global influencer marketing at SAP said for Vogue:
“You can’t just have a talking head hawking your products or services. You want to collaborate with influencers who understand how to engage an audience and create an ‘edutainment’ experience. Influencers’ superpower is their credibility, so brands will need to empower them to tell their stories, but through their unique lenses.”
You cannot look detached! Followers don’t need to see the newest and coolest fashion, or how glam an influencer looks at home. This is not how reality looks now. Ignorance of the current situation is just not an option.
Those manicured images lack authenticity, so brands must be aware of the content they pay for.
Additionally, as the purpose behind each image and message must be genuine, influencers cannot simply accept any proposal coming their way. The market is showing a down-trend for ‘mega’ influencers who worked with so many different brands that they became walking ads. Consequently, we could see ‘lockdown’ micro-influencers gain high traction in the near future because they are honest, talk about what matters now and really use the products they advertise.
I want to ask you to reflect on your behaviour now.
How do you consume branded content currently?
Are you still following the same people as you did before?
Are your interests similar?
From a personal perspective, my guess is that you changed your ways as I did mine.
From a business one, I hope you will change the way you take care of your brand, and you understand and use this change for the better.
