What are the differences between Influencer Marketing Vs. Traditional Marketing
Throughout last year, significant strides were made in delivering increased authenticity and improving legislation, and influencers continued to position themselves as creatives for brands rather than simply advertising channels.
This year the influencer marketing industry has been responding to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic and with its impact on consumer behaviour, we have witnessed the likes of TikTok, now being the world’s most downloaded non-gaming app. The short-form entertainment platform is founded on the belief that social media is more relevant and engaging when it’s raw, authentic, and spontaneous, and its popularity has helped establish it as a genuine alternative marketing channel to YouTube and Instagram.
In this new influencer marketing landscape, marketers will be encouraged to explore each social media channel to get the best out of their advertising budget. Content strategies must be adapted carefully to suit the distinctive characteristics of each platform, the type of creators they attract, and the varying user behaviours.
As the industry has matured, and with influencers having more success diversifying their following across multiple platforms, we’ve seen increased demand for campaigns that go beyond a singular platform.
Our recent whitepaper found particularly in the US, 61% of marketers have worked with influencers on multi-platform campaigns.
Marketers’ rising confidence in influencer marketing is increasingly seeing them explore additional channels for this activity. As customers engage with a brand on a more regular basis, the chances of them becoming and ultimately staying loyal to that brand increase.
There are many different marketing opportunities available for brands across the channels and knowing how and when best to allocate budgets to each is the key to a more cost-effective and successful campaign.
By only allocating budget to one channel, brands risk putting all their eggs in one basket and could miss out on important opportunities to grow brand awareness and drive engagement and conversions among new and different audiences.
Using a more targeted approach with each channel serving a different purpose, brands can reach the consumers that matter most to them on the channels they’re most engaged with.
Whereas working with influencers may previously have been considered an unknown quantity, a risk or a luxury that not all brands could budget for, marketers now value influencers much more highly as a core advertising channel and creative force. This has led to a far broader range of brands and sectors investing in influencers, and a diversification of the role of influencers in campaigns. To accommodate this increased activity, budgets have also risen.
Encouragingly for the industry, and perhaps surprisingly, marketers in more traditional advertising channels are among those most increasing resources for influencer marketing, including ‘Out Of Home’ (OOH), digital and billboard advertising (83.3%), print (80%), and TV & Radio (81.3%). This reflects marketers’ growing familiarity with influencers and a heightened trust in their ability to deliver ROI across a more diverse range of channels.
This year TAKUMI partnered with the World Health Organisation to help raise awareness of protection measures against COVID-19 with creators, highlighting what could be done for 20 seconds whilst washing their hands; e.g. keeping the ball off the ground etc.
Given the fear and uncertainty during the lockdown, consumers were craving information on both essential goods and services that they could rely on, as well as factual content and best practices to help stave the spread of COVID-19.
In the US, in the run-up to the presidential election, both parties’ campaign strategies used social media influencers as a necessity in their marketing strategies.
Coordinated networks of social media influencers, especially small-scale influencers with fewer than 10,000 followers, are now a powerful asset for political campaigns.
The fact that we have seen the likes of the WHO and US politics tapping into influencer marketing and using multiple platforms to do so, showcases not only how influencers are resonating far better than traditional marketing methods, but that they are exploding as a way of gaining trust with increasingly discerning audiences and the success from both campaigns coming with a multi-platform approach.
Multi-platform and multi-market campaigns are now key to influencer marketing success; managing them effectively will unlock the industry’s potential. If you would like to find out more about activating a multi-platform campaign please get in touch hello@takumi.com
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