Influencer Marketing Resources: April 2024

Marketing Resources,

April 2, 2024

Trends in social media: The Motherhood scours the headlines so you don’t have to. Check back throughout the month for more!

Influencer Marketing Industry Resources

BEHIND POPPI’S INFLUENCER MARKETING STRATEGY WITH NEON SWEATSUITS – April 27, 2024

For its Coachella partnership with TikTok star Alix Earle, Poppi not only rented out a luxurious house for Earle and her entourage—it also designed custom neon green sweatsuits for Earle and her group of friends emblazoned with the name Poppi invented for the partnership, “Coachearlea.”

Influencer Marketing Gets An Upgrade: How AI Is Changing The Game – April 27, 2024

Influencer marketing came on the digital scene in the early 2010s. Skip forward to 2024, and it’s now a multi-billion-dollar industry. Yet, even with all that money flying about, brands still need help finding the right influencers and building successful campaigns. The potential is enormous. Companies that figure it out see an awe-worthy return on investment—an average of $5.78 for every $1 spent, or 478%. Unsurprisingly, many brands are jumping on the bandwagon, ready to spend big on influencers.

Crafting Influencer Campaigns For Every Stage Of The Buyer’s Journey – April 26, 2024

Succeeding with creator marketing means knowing what will resonate with your audience and keeping trends in mind. It also means partnering with creators to generate quality content that meets your goals at the appropriate stage of the buyer’s journey. Let’s explore how you can align your influencer campaigns with the buyer’s journey to drive results.

Miss AI shows just how far influencer marketing can miss the mark – April 25, 2024

Move over Miss World, the robots are here: there’s a new competition where virtual influencers in bikinis battle it out to be crowned Miss AI. Sorry, but are we living in a simulation? Judges will rank these virtual women for their looks, their social media clout, and the AI-prompting skills behind these creations in a bid to win a share of a $20,000 (£16,000) prize pool. Even some of the judges are AI-generated. They probably won’t be wearing pixelated bikinis right enough. So far, so dystopian.

5 Big Influencer Marketing Myths Busted: Navigating Risk In 2024 – April 25, 2024

Influencer marketing is playing an increasingly critical role for brands aiming to boost their visibility and connect with their target audience. Given its undeniable impact over the years, it’s hard to find a business today that isn’t eager to explore influencer marketing as a key strategy to win over hearts and minds.

15 Emerging Social Media Trends To Leverage In Influencer Marketing – April 22, 2024

For marketers in charge of influencer marketing, staying on top of the latest developments in social media is like honing a superpower. Being in the know on social media trends not only helps influencer marketing professionals understand where their target audience is hanging out online, but also how to best leverage new platform features and handle changes to algorithms and rules to avoid pitfalls and ensure their campaigns stay effective and compliant.

How To Successfully Enter A New Market With Influencer Marketing – April 22, 2024

Chief Growth Officer (CGO) at HypeFactory, a global AI-powered influencer marketing agency.

In recent years, businesses have increasingly adopted influencer marketing, a form of advertising that leverages people with media followings, to promote their products and services. This strategy aims to strike the right balance in targeting specific demographics based on age, gender and product life cycle stage to maximize sales potential. As firms see the impact of influencer marketing, more are considering incorporating it into their marketing efforts.

Nepo Influencers Are Thriving on Social Media Thanks to Their Famous Parents – April 21, 2024

While it might look like a walk in the park to some, having a successful career as an influencer is more difficult than many people think—but being the offspring of someone famous makes it a lot easier. It isn’t uncommon for a “nepo baby” to grace our movie screens or hit the runway, but these days, they’re also all over our social media feeds.

5 Startup Opportunities In Influencer Marketing – April 17, 2024

Influencer marketing isn’t going anywhere, especially in the case of new brands and products. Very few people are willing to take costly risks, which means that the only way to expand beyond the small group of early adopters is to use social proof in order to convince the larger market consisting of early and late majority users that your product or brand has been tested and deemed worthy. Put simply, Influencer marketing is the best way to get social proof at scale, which makes it an indispensable marketing tool.

An Inside Look At Olipop’s Dream Job Contest & The Creators Who Won – April 16, 2024

Olipop, a beverage brand with over $200 million in sales that’s sold in more than 30,000 retail stores, recently unveiled winners for its latest influencer marketing campaign: the Dream Job contest. Stemming from the brand’s commitment to leveraging consumer insights and the voices of authentic brand advocates, the Dream Job contest was born as a creative way to harness the power of Olipop’s superfans and amplify their voices across social media platforms.

What We Lose When Influencers Only Post Paid Content – April 9, 2024

No one appreciates an influencer more than I do. I’ve been a believer in real people sharing their points of view and building platforms long before Instagram existed—I touted the power of message forums, bloggers and YouTube haul videos (remember those?) back in the early days of social media.

Gen Z’s fading dream – April 9, 2024

More than half of Gen Zers want to be full-time influencers, a recent Morning Consult poll found, and it’s not hard to see why. They’ve grown up watching their peers on YouTube film makeup tutorials, narrate their “Fortnite” games, and explain money. It’s both where they live their lives and where they learn about the world. Plus, the career path sounds like a dream: You get to be your own boss, you can make more than you could at a traditional job, and you just have to be good on camera. Success stories of influencers making millions of dollars have only galvanized the generation.

Beauty brand Merit went viral twice. It’s not counting on a third time – April 8, 2024

In some ways, beauty brand Merit delivered the Gossip Girl revival that HBO didn’t. A recent “get ready with me” video featuring actress Kelly Rutherford—known for playing Lily van der Woodsen on the mid-aughts CW show—is now Merit’s most-watched, most-liked TikTok video to date, with over 9 million views and more than a million likes.

Why the Influencer Industry Needs Guardrails – April 2024

The author argues for an industry in which unethical behavior is punished; professional expectations, pay, and desired outcomes are standardized; and creators are given the same rights and protections as other professional marketers. Over the past 20 years the social media influencer industry has grown from nothing into a pervasive global force that has completely rearranged the way information and culture are conceived, produced, marketed, and shared. Commercial sectors such as fashion, beauty, and travel led the way, but nonprofits, government services, and political campaigns are increasingly joining in, hoping to harness the seemingly more authentic medium of influencer marketing.

How Marketers Choose College Athlete Influencers – April 2024

Summary: The authors’ research findings: Athletes’ image and quality of social media posts are more important than their follower counts, posts should feature sports more than personal content, and sexy imagery should be avoided.

Brands Aren’t Just Targeting Young People with Influencers – April 8, 2024

Influencer marketing is maturing, with a majority (62%) of communications specialists having worked with influencers for at least 4 years, according to a recent report from Influencer Intelligence. As the area matures, the target audience may be shifting a little also, although youth are still the predominant target for influencer programs.

The Power Of Micro-Influencers In Niche Markets – April 8, 2024

Micro-influencers, which typically have followers ranging from 1,000 to 100,000, offer brands a smaller yet more focused follower base. Oftentimes, when we use micro-influencers with our clients, we see higher engagement rates because these influencers not only have a more personal relationship with their followers but also accept products and brands they know will resonate with their audiences. Micro-influencers (usually!) don’t take on products or brands that will not interest their audience; lack of sales and engagement is a quick way to lose credibility with a brand. This is particularly impactful in niche markets, where specificity and depth of knowledge are highly valued.

Influencer marketing: How to target Gen Z – April 5, 2024

With over 30 years in the industry, I have seen a number of marketing strategies come and go. Some stick, others fade, but they all reflect the generation of adults at the time of their creation. Now that Gen Z is entering adulthood, I stress to my customers how important it is to understand the best ways to reach them. From their preferred social media platforms to the things they value most, marketing to this new crop of adults presents its own challenges.

Matching Influencer Tiers With Your Brand Goals: A Guide For TikTok And Instagram – April 4, 2024

In 2024, the stakes in influencer marketing have never been higher. Success now demands more than just teaming up with someone who has a big follower count; it’s about building real, meaningful partnerships with influencers who can embody a brand’s vision and goals with authenticity.

Influencers are now asking to be in our brand ad. And we should listen – April 4, 2024

From the now infamous Fyre Festival to the hordes of influencers jetting off to Dubai during Covid, influencer marketing has been the topic of plenty of controversy over the years. But for everything that went wrong, there’s also plenty that’s gone right. Reflecting the growth and maturation of the sector, influencers and social media platforms took center stage at many of the key marketing festivals last year, including Cannes Lions. Influence has arrived in the marketing mix as its own specialist channel, and it’s finally being taken seriously by brands and agencies alike. Or at least the smart ones.

The Role Of AI In Influencer Marketing – April 3, 2024

Nothing has had marketers and creatives on their toes in the past few years like the rise of AI. With the introduction of ChatGPT at the end of 2022, there was an underlying fear of human creativity being replaced. That fear has since become obsolete. While AI may be a great help in streamlining and supporting creative processes, it is not (yet) capable of reproducing human tone and creativity completely. So, the notion of AI replacing our jobs hasn’t immediately held up. However, leveraging AI successfully is a skill that is now highly sought after.

Why influencer marketing is critical in B2B – April 2, 2024

What’s the key to B2B marketing success? Influencers. B2B influencer marketing involves collaborations between creators and brands to develop and share content that promotes the brand’s products or services. The same influencers you see on your personal social media feeds could be the missing link in your B2B marketing strategy. Whether you’re looking at big fish with millions of followers or investigating micro-influencers with fewer than 100,000 followers, the investment is worth it.

Why multicultural needs to be part of general marketing investments, especially for Gen Z – April 2, 2024

Media agencies that approach multicultural as a separate or smaller investment almost immediately hamstring their marketing strategies, argues one programmatic vendor — and it will negatively impact their engagement with communities beyond Gen Z and communities of color.

Sweet Success: Hershey’s, SheSpeaks and Walmart harness influencer power – April 1, 2024

In a world dominated by digital landscapes, the collaboration between brands like Hershey’s, SheSpeaks and retail giant Walmart has generated promising engagement in a growing era of marketing innovation through influencer partnerships. Hershey’s launch into influencer marketing paired the confectionery empire with tastemakers to spotlight its latest creations. These include delectable KitKat flavors like Apple Pie, Key Lime Pie, and Birthday Cake. Emphasizing authenticity and genuine consumer engagement, Hershey’s handpicked influencers shared a heartfelt affinity for their products, ensuring the campaign resonated deeply with audiences.

3 Tips For Working With Influencers To Build Audience Trust – April 1, 2024

Now more than ever, influencer marketing is one of the leading tactics brands use to bolster awareness, promote products or services, and ultimately drive conversions among billions of social media users. In simple terms, influencer marketing involves collaborating with an online influencer to help market your products or services. While this is not necessarily new to the world of marketing, some still wonder if this modern-day content-driven strategy effectively works to build long-term brand trust.

How CEOs are using LinkedIn to become their own brand ambassadors – March 27, 2024

As LinkedIn evolves as a hub for consuming and sharing professionally oriented content, more C-suite executives are posting on the platform to connect with their customers and employees. According to LinkedIn, C-suite leaders have increased their posts by 9% year over year on the platform, resulting in a notable 37% uptick in post engagement.

For legacy industries, influencer marketing is key to evolving the customer journey – March 26, 2024

When you think of influencer marketing, what comes to mind? A fitness expert touting a new athleisure brand? A get-ready-with-me video singing the praises of the latest plant-based moisturizer? Even if influencer marketing has become synonymous with industries like fashion, lifestyle products, and food and beverage, its potential extends way beyond that. More than half of marketers say that influencer marketing has a high impact on both their brand’s awareness and customer loyalty, according to a Q3 2023 Sprout Pulse Survey.

How media agencies are shifting toward generative AI content in influencer marketing – March 26, 2024

There is a shift happening in influencer marketing as influencers increasingly rely on artificial intelligence to make content — and agencies working with them are trying to balance different types of content with new strategies and tools. In a new AI study on the creator economy this month, influencer agency Billion Dollar Boy found that 92% of marketers have commissioned creator content either fully or partly using generative AI. Creators and influencers are embracing the trend too — 91% said they use generative AI at least once a week, according to the study. Yet there is also a growing preference among consumers and creators for AI-generated content over traditional creator content made without AI.

Influencers Are Hot In Media, But They’ve Always Been Here – March 26, 2024

A recent report on the State of Influencer Marketing 2024 from the Influencer Marketing Hub (IMH) provides some impressive statistics confirming the growing influence (sorry) of this media marketing strategy. Ironically, I’ve recently gone through a little social media “influencer” journey of my own, rediscovering the enduring power of the “influencer” networks all around us.

Pharma

Why should science-based brands invest in doctor-driven influencer marketing? – April 8, 2024

PharmaLinea has recently seen an uptick in cases where doctor or pharmacist influencers are creating outstanding results. Those in charge of marketing for a nutraceutical brand, know: traditional medical detailing is costly, and doctors can see 50 patients per day at most. However, there is a more efficient way for brands to get their message to consumers than through healthcare professionals. Recently, many doctors and pharmacists have become active on social media, enabling them to reach thousands of patients in minutes. Influencer marketing is a powerful tool, and it has now become fit for science-based supplement brands.

Social News

Meta Offers $5K Bonus for Influencers to Post to Threads – April 28, 2024

With the latest numbers showing that Threads usage is rising in the U.S., Meta’s now looking to make another push to boost in app engagement, by offering high-profile creators financial incentives to post to the app.

Average Screen Time and Social Media Usage by Region – April 21, 2024

People are spending more and more time online, and social platforms are still rising in popularity, and utility, in many ways. But which countries spend the most time online, and which are more reliant on social media than others? The team from Electronics Hub recently put together this visualization, based on data published by Datareportal, which provides some perspective on overall screen time and social media usage by region.

US Senate Looks to Advance TikTok Ban Proposal – April 18, 2024

The pressure’s rising on TikTok, with the U.S. Senate looking to quickly advance the proposed bill that could force the company into U.S. ownership, due to national security concerns.

YouTube Launches Premium Placement Option for Shorts Ads – April 17, 2024

YouTube’s looking to help advertisers ensure prime placement for their Shorts ads, with a new “YouTube Select Shorts” option, that’ll enable brands to place their ads alongside top Shorts content in various categories.

TikTok Could Remain Available, Even if Sell-off Bid Is Approved – April 10, 2024

So what’s going on with the TikTok ban, and is it actually going to happen this time around? Well, at the moment, it seems to be caught up in bureaucratic process. But if it is banned, or more accurately forced into U.S. ownership, it may well end up being available in the U.S. for another year, before any further action is required from TikTok’s current owners.

Snapchat Announces Ad Analytics Partnerships To Improve Campaign Insight – April 9, 2024

As part of its continued work to get its ad business back on track, Snapchat has today announced a range of new partnerships with third party data tools and ad platforms, in order to help ad partners make the most of their Snapchat campaigns.

LinkedIn Highlights the Potential of Video Ads for B2B Brands – April 9, 2024

LinkedIn’s looking to make a bigger push on video content, via expanded video ad options, and a new, dedicated video feed, that’s currently in testing with some users. Video has long been one of the top-performing content formats in the app, but LinkedIn hasn’t necessarily made video discovery easy, especially for live events, which are regularly being held in the app, but are not showcased in any specific way.

A 6-Step Guide to Social Media for Small Businesses – April 8, 2024

Looking for ways to boost your social media marketing performance? This will help. The team from SEMRush recently put together a 6-step guide to social media strategy, which provides some practical, actionable notes that you can implement in your approach.

Meta Updates AI Labeling Policy To Expose Generated Content in Its Apps – April 5, 2024

Instagram has added a new Notify sticker for creators, which will provide another way to help keep their audience informed of when they post in the app.

Instagram Adds Notify Sticker To Help Creators Maximize Fan Connections – April 5, 2024

Meta’s updating its AI content labels to ensure that a broader range of synthetic content is being tagged, in response to a growing flood of generative AI posts in the app.

Facebook Launches an Updated Vertical Video Display and Recommendations Algorithm – April 3, 2024

The TikTok-ification of social media more broadly continues, with Facebook rolling out a new, consistent full-screen video player, which will see all videos posted to the app expand to the TikTok-like vertical format.

Instagram Shares Tips To Help Create More Standout Stories – April 1, 2024

Looking for ways to improve engagement with your Instagram Stories? This might help. Today, Instagram has provided an expanded overview of tips and tricks for Stories, which don’t reveal any new features, but do provide some interesting notes to consider in your creative process. The overview includes five presentation tips, and a couple of sharing notes, which could enhance your Stories usage. The first tip is to use “Sticker Templates” which Instagram first launched in December last year:

TikTok Launches New Ad Campaign To Oppose Sell-off Bill – March 31, 2024

TikTok’s pulling out all the stops to oppose the sell-off bill proposed in the U.S., which would force its owner ByteDance to sell the app to a U.S. company in order to address potential national security concerns. TikTok’s latest effort on this front is a new, $2.1 million ad campaign, which aims to showcase the benefits that TikTok provides to U.S. users.

Instagram Tests Blend Feed for Private Content Sharing – March 28, 2024

Instagram continues to test out more private engagement options, this time via a new option called “Blend”, which is essentially a combined Reels feed, based on the Reels that you’ve shared with a friend.

YouTube Adds Members-Only Shorts To Drive Creator Subscriptions – March 27, 2024

YouTube has added another way to incentivize channel subscriptions with Members Only Shorts, enabling creators to share exclusive short-form content with their paying fans.

YouTube Adds Improved Audience Retention Data, Streamlined Pre-Checks – March 26, 2024

YouTube adding even more analytics tools, providing additional avenues to compare your content performance, while it’s also rolling out a new channel display customization option, as well as streamlined pre-upload checks. First off, YouTube’s adding audience segments into its “Audience Retention” report, which will enable channel managers to compare viewer engagement for different audience groups.

LinkedIn Adds Dynamic UTM Parameters to Campaign Tracking – March 25, 2024

LinkedIn is rolling out a new way to track ad campaign performance, with the addition of dynamic UTM parameters, which will enable marketers to include custom tracking elements in their campaign URLs.

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