Influencers have existed practically since the beginning of advertising: at the end of the 18th century, some owners put their faces in their products or on posters to give their brands a "face" that would help consumers to feel closer to the brand. Later, brands that did not have their own identity hired models to position themselves in a better way.
At the beginning of the 20th century, brands created characters or "pets" that began to become highly popular. Some of those characters are the Coca-Cola Santa Claus and the Zucaritas Tony the Tiger. Celebrities (as actors, actresses, and singers) were also part of this trend.
But the very Influencers revolution began in the 21st century, around 2004. Once social media and sites like YouTube allowed anyone, from the comfort of their own home and using minimal resources, to become opinion leaders, with real followers who are truly interested in what they have to say or do. The Internet "democratized" the influence.
Why are influencers important?
Here are some reasons:
- On average, a person spends 1 hour and 40 minutes a day on social media.
- 80% of brands say that their influencers campaigns have been positive generating engagement and awareness.
- People perceive influencers as trustworthy people, rather than hired celebrities.
- 70% of teens say that youtubers are more reliable than tv or movies "celebrities".
- 88% of people believe in online recommendations the same way as well as friends or relative's recommendations.
- 84% of millennials do not believe in traditional advertising.
These are some insights about the present state of influencer marketing.
In one hand, according to a study by Celebrity Intelligence in 2017, the brands worked mostly with digital influencers (61%), compared to those who worked with singers, musicians, TV actors or models. In the same way, 44% of surveyed believe that influencers will be apter in the near future to accept business opportunities than they were before.
On the other hand, having a relevant audience and a good number of followers is still very important to help the brand to make a decision and work with an influencer: 85% of surveyed said that this aspect was "critical" or "very important".
Additionally, 41% of the brands said that the celebrities’ audience and how it echoes, it is the determinant factor when deciding who to work with. This data is important in terms of the 2018 trends (which we will talk about later) because it shows that although the number of followers is important, also it is the celebrities' influence on their audience. This means, someone, may have few followers, but if their influence on them is high, this person will allow you to reach a brand to very specific niches, ensuring more clarity in the goal's scope and the measurement of outcomes.
Why is it important for you to know this?
If you are thinking about adding influencers to your 2018 budget, there are some aspects you should consider, starting with the cost: obviously, they are no longer cheap. According to Captiv8, the prize of an Instagram influencer picture with a minimum of 3 million followers can cost around $75,000 dollars, while a collaboration with an influencer in YouTube can cost up to $187,500 dollars.
The previously mentioned means that marketing specialist are having a hard time assigning budgets to include influencers.
Different from ROI of an influencer which is still attractive: according to the study made by Celebrity Intelligence, for each pound (£1 = $0.04) invested in 2017, each Brand earned £17.21 ($449), a very considerable amount.
So, if the use of influencers and celebrities is still profitable, it is a fact that its implementation strategy must change to keep these earnings, mostly in social networks, which usage will not be reduced in 2018, being the most important trend the mix of established celebrities with micro-influencers, meaning those with a lower but more focused influence sphere.
A couple of success cases
In 2017 we saw an example of the previous statement with the GAP fall/winter campaign, "#MeetMeInTheGap." 78% who have worked with digital influencers and celebrities rated their experiences as "very effective" or "effective", the brand joined together the celebrities with digital influencers known only to people in their niche. Due to this, there are creative combinations such as Cher with the dance duo Chloe & Maud Arnold. The idea was to show that we can close the gaps between us through clothes.
Emma Gregson of ITB, a company that participated in the campaign, said that "this group of wonderful people added an additional layer of creative content to the mix. When you see them in the commercial you do not know who they are, they are just great artists; however, there is a story in every digital layer and that is what really reaches specific audiences."
Let's see another case: The Body Shop, a company of body treatments, has been characterized in recent years for being against cosmetics' animal testing. On June 1st, 2017, it launched his campaign "#ForeverAgainstAnimalTesting" in order to get 8 million signatures to present to the UN a petition to totally prohibit cruelty practices.
To support their campaign, The Body Shop used a mix of celebrities like Kelly Osbourne with digital influencers to demonstrate diversity. The company suggested the use of an official shirt, but it was optional, letting the campaign protagonists be creative and with an outcome related to their style, so their followers would see it as something organic. In the end, all the influencers used the shirt, except one.
The target KPIs were 10 million reaches and 2% engagement in the talent channels. The outcome? 26 million reaches and 4.3% engagement were achieved. The Body Shop official account reached 54,000 new followers in the weeks after the campaign launch.
The most important influencer marketing trends for 2018.
Now, in addition to the aforementioned, it is important that you keep the following for this 2018 marketing influencer strategy:
- The digital influencers will not lower their popularity in 2018. On the contrary, they will be boosted by the generación Z demands.
- Consider working with digital influencers who do not have many followers, but very well positioned in their niche, so you will reach more specific audiences, unlike celebrities.
- Celebrities will not stop being useful in 2018, but audiences, especially younger ones, do not see them as trustworthy; they prefer to see someone similar and close to them. In summary: it doesn't matter which option to use, as long as you are fulfilling your specific needs.
- The influencers of the female niche will be increasingly popular.
- Generation Z will decide who are influencers and who are not. Pay attention to their demands. Remember that they are a more collaborative, ethnically diverse, egalitarian and socially conscious generation: they are influencers by nature, intelligent, cynical and can detect someone false kilometers away; they seek to impact their social environment.
- Decisions about who to work with will be based on concrete data. The needs for more efficient methods of measurement, audience intelligence, and insights will increase.
- Related to the previous paragraph, it will be increasingly necessary to have a specialist or agency that is an expert in engagement tools to evaluate the performance of your influencer and analyze your audience.
- The personal interests and influencers values will be key in deciding whether or not to work with them, since they should, in the best of cases, be related to your brand.
- In 2017 it was the micro-influencers boom, but in 2018 it will try to integrate everything: the best brands will use a mix of different types of influencers and celebrities with well-defined audiences to achieve their business goals (see success stories).
- The previous point will allow that budgets destined to influencers stay at least unchanged such as in 2017. Costs will be compensated thanks to the combination of different types of influencers with different rates.
- Contract by project/campaign will grow, in contrast to contracts for long periods.
- In addition to celebrities and traditional influencers, a third type called "unconventional" will increase, which will not be attractive for its look or its number of films filmed, but for its unconventional talent. They will be attractive by what they do and how they do it, causing people to follow them, even if they do not recognize their face or have never used their social media to make a profit from them.
- Celebrities will have more freedom to "own" the campaigns so that the outcome should look more organic. To achieve the previous, you have to know how to choose the right celebrity to avoid taking risks. There should be an organic approach.
How to prepare yourself when facing these tendencies?
It is important that you consider your budget; keeping this in mind, you will know how to choose the mix of traditional or unconventional influencers and celebrities that best suits your brand. Remember that some influencers accept products or exposure as payment.
Another point to consider in choosing the right partners is to stay true to your values and goals as a brand, so you will better identify the ideal influencer: investigate and be very practical about it, remember that the audience is more likely to react positively to something organic and authentic.
As you can see, one of the most important challenges for this 2018 is knowing how to choose the right influencer. It's something that still requires too much time and effort from brands, according to the Celebrity Intelligence study. The majority selects them "manually", searching in social media and forums; this means, without relying on specific and reliable data (which, as we saw earlier, will be a trend this year). If you don't feel safe to do it yourself, then try with an expert to help you identify the best option for your brand.
Conclusion
It is a fact that the influencer marketing will continue to grow but it will take certain aspects influenced by the 2018 trends. Influencers are increasingly aware of what their postings and interactions cost, so the process of working with them increasingly becomes a commercial issue in which you have to negotiate.
Therefore, it is important to find the right influencers for your brand, and to know your audience 100% is the key: If your brand does not align with the influencers, your efforts will not give the best results. Be careful when choosing your partners the amount of followers is not the only thing. We can help if you have any questions.
SOURCES:
http://hello.celebrityintelligence.com/age-of-influence-pr/
https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2017/11/20/7-influencer-marketing-trends-will-dominate-2018/