Your 🆕 Weekly Creator Marketing Update 🚀
14/04/2024
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📖 Why the Influencer Industry Needs Guardrails
TL;DR
This Harvard Business Review article provides a quick history of the influencer marketing industry as well as an overview of its current state. The author provides her take on guardrails that may support in professionalising the industry as a whole.
HEADLINE QUOTE
“The three primary challenges facing the influencer industry all revolve around the lack of guardrails and regulation in what is still a nascent marketplace. What happens when influencers lie? Who gets in trouble when companies take advantage of influencers who endorse their products? And how can we make the industry sustainable and productive for everyone involved?”
OUR TAKE
We’ll focus on the main challenges and solutions that the author outlines in this article, and provide our take on each accordingly
Challenge 1: Don’t: Let bad behavior go unpunished.
Solution 1: Build a team of trustworthy professionals
Last week, we shared an article subtitled “what if influencer marketing wasn’t an add-on dumped on the intern?” and this piece builds on that premise. Using a very black-and-white lens, I think it’s quite clear that overall, the creator industry over-indexes on senior decision makers without creator experience, and over-indexes on more junior, non-decision makers with relevant experience. There is enough expertise and know-how to build professional teams, it’s up to us as an industry to do so.
“Indeed, in-house influencer-marketing teams sometimes experience condescension from colleagues who dismiss influencer work as superficial or transactional. But internal teams have the potential to be a brand’s best tool, because they understand the brand and relevant stakeholders best”
Even in 2024 - most brands that have dedicated in-house departments still lack a unified and across the board understanding of how creator marketing should be utilised, and who is ultimately responsible for it. Most companies only offer relatively junior positions within the discipline, but often lack a clear direction and long-term idea of success that often shifts according to leadership. I could have not worded the below paragraph any better myself, and would urge people to consider it when building out their influencer strategy.
“Influencer strategy can and should be connected to companywide strategy and given the forethought and scaffolding that any organizational effort needs to be successful. As the influencer industry becomes larger, more expensive, more visible, and more socially consequential, you must plan for the long term and educate your teams accordingly.”
Challenge 2: Don’t: Be vague about your intentions or the influencer’s credibility.
Solution 2: Create a clear, mutual set of expectations.
This challenge focuses on honesty, transparency & disclosure. There are still too many instances of high-value creator partnerships that go live without proper disclosure; even in 2024. While it’s impossible for a governing body to go after every instance of non-disclosure; there is a moral responsibility on both creator and brand. Below quote to close.
“More broadly, the industry needs formal gatherings and internal communications to share best practices, set standards for dealmaking and disclosure, and hear about participants’ pain points”
Challenge 3: Don’t: Chase clicks.
Solution 3: Selectively commission work that aligns with your values.
We’re going to start this one off with a home truth.
The influencer industry doesn’t work if platforms and brands do not incentivize quality content.
If we go the opposite route, I fear that we will be actively pushing the creator industry into the direction of a messy race to the click-bait filled, short-term results based bottom that will burn out audiences and creators simultaneously.
Counter however this take, but bear in mind it does come from PepsiCo - a company -which in my opinion - does not need to rely on creators to drive any form of sales to the business. However, the message still stands.
“If the Dig In campaign goes viral, great. But the goal of the initiative is to tell honest, compelling stories that align PepsiCo with positive community outreach. Providing influencers with campaign briefs and goals is still a necessary part of the process, but brands should look for influencers they can trust to tell a story in their own honest way, backed up by expertise and community connections. A large following or a viral TikTok does not an influencer make. Get to know the person behind the account as you would any other work colleague. Influencers can become a core part of your social strategy, used across the organization.”
This was a wonderful read, and it’s extremely refreshing to read something that is not commissioned by a company pushing a certain agenda, or someone trying to be edgy. I would highly recommend reading the article in full.
🏭 This week’s must-reads
🧪DTC Briefing: As influencer marketing gets more expensive, brands test out new approaches
“In turn, younger brands have to find scrappy ways to connect with influencers, while facing pressure from agencies to shell out a lot of money to work with influencers. Some smaller brands are finding success with directly gifting influencers products in exchange for reviews, but admit the tactic is harder to scale as the business gets bigger. At some point, bigger brands often find they have to turn to talent agencies to be matched with the most effective types of influencers based on their brand needs. While this process helps streamline influencer relationships and campaigns, it also means longer timelines and higher monthly fees.”
🎙️Decoding GymShark's Marketing: How a Fitness Brand Navigated Sales vs. Communication Goals
“GS was one of the first brands to engage in influencer marketing. As a new company, they didn’t have the marketing budget to spend on ads, so they decided to reach out to their admired Youtubers to wear their gear in the videos. It helped build credibility among their audience and rapidly increased brand awareness, generating early traction.”
💵 What We Lose When Influencers Only Post Paid Content
“My hot take? Not every influencer and brand interaction should come with a price tag. I’ve stood by this belief from the beginning; there was and still is a world where things need to be fully organic, without a dollar sign or contract attached”
📲LinkedIn Dives into Influencer Marketing: Leveraging User Base to Address Revenue Stagnation
“LinkedIn is moving into influencer marketing to leverage its massive user base and boost income, as its revenue growth has stagnated since 2022.
The platform owned by Microsoft now offers "Thought Leader" ads to promote posts from users with large followings, part of its efforts to grow and profit from its 1 billion users.”
✍️ For creators and former bloggers, Substack offers a renaissance — and a new revenue stream
“Writers in the fashion and beauty space are now using the subscription model to get paid for the content they work so hard to create, without a middleman,” said Christina Loff, Substack’s head of lifestyle partnerships. “Many creators use affiliate links and do brand partnerships here, too, but a lot of writers in the space are finding freedom in this model, and finding that readers will pay them directly to get their honest takes, free of ads.”