Your Weekly Influencer Marketing Update 🚀

19.10.2021

☀️ Welcome to your weekly #influencermarketingupdate ☀️

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⚜️ // LUXURY BRANDS MUST BECOME PEER-TO-PEER INFLUENCERS

What’s it about?

Luxury brands are moving away from utilising aspirational influencers, and are focusing on “everyday influencers” to sell products in community-based settings. According to a study (Aug 2021) commissioned by Bazaarvoice they are considered one of the most authentic and trustworthy.

Headline Quote

Power lies in the ability of a community to self-influence and sideways-sell. “I think we’re overly obsessed with brands connecting with consumers. We should focus on how brands can help customers connect with each other,” he says, observing sales caused by a spike in peer-to-peer recommendations

Our Take

This (sponsored article by Klarna) is an interesting addition to the “micro vs macro” debate. Personally, I have (subconsciously) always linked luxury brands to high-reach creators. However, this article highlights that personal connections (and therefore smaller influencers / communities) are key to loyalty.

It’s incredibly interesting to see these brands look at peer-to-peer selling, and doubling their efforts on “family and friend creators” and believing in the ability that these communities are can self influence and “sideways sell”

Klarna - who are using a platform called Apprl to connect retailers directly with creators -are “using” influencers “not as a media channel but as a partner to curate content in the app”

This piece makes a great use-case for how creators can be utilised at scale, and that influence does not per definition have to be automatically linked to the amount of people you are able to reach.

📷 // BUSINESS CANNOT AFFORD TO IGNORE TIKTOK - OR WHAT COMES NEXT

What’s it about?

Willingness to engage with unfamiliar platforms is [becoming] increasingly important for companies of all sizes, with competition tougher than ever — and that applies beyond TikTok.

Headline Quote

“Brands have to be open to trying new things, listening to their customers, and be willing to test different technology. There is no one set way to do things in the metaverse — similar to the early days of social media and the web.”

Our take

While it is not advisable for brands to jump on everything that is believed to be the “next big thing” - this article highlights the clear trend around hesitation around new tech .

NPR and The Washington Post have done incredibly well to make themselves GEn Z relevant on TikTok - and now the term metaverse is gaining traction. A flexible and pioneering approach is key. Brands such as Louis Vuitton (activating within League of Legends) and Gucci (activating within Roblox) as well Fortnite going the other way (in-game concerts) are paving the way of marketing tactics that could become more mainstream in the upcoming years. What is clear (and exciting!) is that there will be a myriad of opportunities for brands to innovative and be different.

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🏭  This week’s must-reads

// A GAMING INFLUENCER IS LAUNCHING A CANNABIS BRAND. HERE’S HOW (AND WHY) HE’S CONVERGING THE TWO WORLDS

With marijuana legalization gradually sweeping across the country, Rodriguez felt investing in cannabis was a no-brainer. “Originally, I had gone with a tequila brand,” he said. “But when I started to do the research, and I saw the opportunities, I was like, ‘there’s no reason why I shouldn’t take a chance on this.’”

// WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A BEAUTY INFLUENCER OVER THE AGE OF 45

The final challenge is the wording they use when they target products at women over 45. Anti-aging? Why are so we so against aging? We all get older, nothing stops that. We need to embrace aging and stop bullying older women into thinking they have to turn the clock back and look younger in order to be acceptable.

// INSTAGRAM STRUGGLES WITH FEARS OF LOSING ITS ‘PIPELINE’: YOUNG USERS

Liza Crenshaw, a Facebook spokeswoman, said in a statement that it wasn’t true Instagram focused all of its marketing budget on teenagers. But having teenagers as part of the marketing strategy was unsurprising, she added, s†ince the company has long said that “teens are one of our most important communities because they spot and set trends.”

// OUTAGES AND SCANDALS; WHY INFLUENCERS ARE RETHINKING FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM

A survey of over 50 influencers complied by social listening platform HypeAuditor has revealed a majority of influencers want to be less dependent on Facebook and Instagram.