Social Media and Influencer Marketing

Social media and influencer marketing - 28th January 2018 

lecture:

Social media, scale and dominance

• Influencer economy 2018 - 1.6 billion dollars. 
• Social media and gen z - if your 24 and under will make up to 40% of the population by 2020
• Indirect buying power of over 1 trillion dollars in the US alone 
• Brands are competing for attention
• Digital natives; connecting and consuming 
• Access instagram on average 16 times a day 

Globally

• 40.7 million social media users in the UK aged 18 and over equalling to 80% of the adult population
• One in 5 British people use instagram daily
• 13% more likely to be a student
• 48% of people say they use the app more than a year ago 
• Buying decisions of gen z are influenced by instagram 48% and youtube 52%

• Essential to daily lives
• Allowed us to make better connections and collab
• A more critical outlook on our lives 
• Living more in digital world than real world

Advertising and social media

Brands are:

• Trying to make authentic content which connects with the hearts and minds of consumers
• Brands are competing against each other on a crowded market 

Brand use social media too:

• Establish SM presence across major platforms including Facebook, Youtube, and twitter 
• Create available content 
• Gathering feedback and insights
• Create a loyal customer base

• Why use instagram for brand advertising
• Visual contents 40x more likely to get shared on SM than other types 
• Video content is 8x more likely to be engaged with than photo based content 
• Top brands are seeing a per - follower engagement rate of 4.21% which is 58 times higher than on facebook 
• 90% of insta users are younger than 35 
• 32% of teenagers consider instagram ti be the most important social media platform
• Female internet users are more likely to use instagram than men at 38% vs 26% 
• Posts tagged with another user 56% or location 79% have significantly higher engagement rates 
• Instant access to insights monitors engagement and reception can be monitored. 

Pro’s

• Easily target a larger international audience 
• Easy to measure interaction and engagement consumers choose how they want to receive their marketed content
• Good for brand development
• Benefits its collaborators / influencers
• Can be cost effective with a better ROI

cons:

• Crowded platform and industry 

Influencer marketing

• Influencer marketing is no longer new 
• Influencers are also content creators
• Influence is a strategy not a tactic 
• Brands increase investment
• Increasing eye on guidelines disclosure and legalities 
• The viewer is becoming more savvy and aware

Why influencer marketing

325% increase in the search term for influencer marketing in the last 2 years 

Influencer marketing

• Sponsored content - Videos IG TV youtube videos
• Brand collaborations
• Brand led events and trips
• Reviews and blog posts
• Brand ambassadorship 
• In-store events meet and greets

Why brands choose influencer marketing

• 70% millennials influenced by their peers in buying decisions
• 30% of consumers are likely to buy a product recommended by a non celeb influencer
• 39% of marketers were planning on increasing their influencer marketing budgets in 2018 

How brands measure sales:

• Affilate links
• Promo codes
• Measurable insights - impressions and engagement
• Google analytics/ SEO 
• Website / blog clocks
• Measured sales for specific product 
• Increase of follows
• Reposted content 

What brands look for in their audience

• Demographic of the audience 
• Engagement and impressions of their content
• Aesthetic and narrative of their posts/videos
• Sell through of products and services
• Platforms of use 
• Scale and location 
• Ethics and beliefs 
• It’s important to [pair the right influencer with the right brand and the right product which in return is right for the target audience. 

Lydia said that if approached by a luxury brand as a social media influencer she would have to consider and may decline as her target audience wants high street style and price, if she did a post for luxury brand her target audience might not be interested and might not work the same and she might not make as much money to give back .