Lecture-Social Media and Influencer Marketing

Social Media and Influencer Marketing

01 Social media, scale and dominance
02 Advertising and social media
03 Influencer marketing
04 Brand considerations for influencer partnerships

"Instagram is fashion.. You still cant download a dress, but Instagram has rewired the industry, replacing print magazines as the primary way in which people discover fashion".

Its the foundation on which the industry has built everything; from new labels to an influencer economy worth $1.6 billion in 2018.

Social Media, Scale and Dominance

Social Media and Gen Z
- Part of the gen z team if youre 24 and under
- Will make up 40% of the population by 2020
- Indirect buying power of over 1 trillion dollars in the US alone
- Brands are competing for our attention
- Digital natives; connecting and consuming
- More aware, conscious and critical than ever
- Access Instagram an av. of 16 times a day

Globally
- There are 40.7 social media users in the UK aged 18 and over-equaling 80% of the total adult population
- Over 1 billion daily Instagram users internationally

In the UK
- More than one in five (22%) Brits use Instagram daily
- 13% more likely to be student
- 48% of people say they use the Instagram app more now than over a year ago
- Buying decisions pf gen z are influenced by Instagram (48%) and YouTube (50%)

Overall...
- People love social media, or have a love hate relationship with it
- Social media shapes the lives of gen z in a digital age, being instantly accesible, at anytime

- Its become essential to our daily lives
- Its allowed us to make better buying decisions
- It allows for inspiration

It allows for
- A smarter audience, seeing whats real and what isnt
- A more critical outlook and opens doors for toxic self comparisons
- Us  to live in the digital world opposed to the real world
- The fear of missing out and staying connected

Advertising and Social Media

Brands are...
- Trying to create appropriate, authentic content which connects with the hearts and minds of their target consumers
- Compete against eachother in an growing and crowded market
- Becoming aware of ther consumers needs and desires; diversity, representation, empowerment and purpose

Brands use social media to
- Establish a SM presence accross major platforms including facebook, tiwtter and youtube
- Create shareable content/campaings/competitions
- Gathering feedbacks and insight
- Create a loyal customer base to improve brand credibility
- Directly sell products
- Use influencer marketing
- Share news

Its important to listen to your consumer when building relevant social content...especially for gen z... in order to build a successful, relevant brand.

Why use Instagram for brand advertising
- Visual content is 40x more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content
- Video content is 8x more likely to be engaged with than a photo based content
- Top brands are seeing a per follower engagement rate of 4.21% which is 58 times higher on Facebook and 120 times higher than on twitter
- 90% of Instagram users are younger than 35
- 32% of teenagers consider Instagram to be the most important social media network
- Female internet users are more likely to use Instagram than men, at 38% v 26%
- Posts tagged with another user (56%) or location (79%) have significantly higher engagement rates

- Instant access to insights monitoring engagement and reception and can be monitored tweaked and/or changed to alter performance.

Pros
- 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 collaborations/influencers
- Can be cost effective with a better return of investment

Cons
- Crowded platforms/industry

Influencer Marketing

How the role of influencers are changing...
- Influencer marketing is no longer new
- Tiers of influencers continue to evolve and change
- Influencers are also content creators
- Influence is a strategy not a tactic
- Brands increase investment
- Increasing eye on guidelines, disclosure and legalities
- The viewer/consumer 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
- Focuses on targeting key industry leaders to drive brand message and awareness to a specific market of consumers via social media platforms
- Influencer marketing represents a unique opportunity for advertisers to instruct inspire and intrigue potential buyers regarding their products and the benefits those products deliver through key content creators

Influencer Tiers
- Different levels of influencers of different levels of reach and respectively, different audiences
- In fashion circles, all different levels will be used in different ways, by different brands depending on needs and budgets

Influencer Marketing and Fashion
- Sponsored content
- Brand collaborations
- Brand led events and trips
- Reviews and blog posts
- Brand ambassadorships
- Gifted content
- In store events/ meet and greets

Why brands choose influencer marketing
- 70% of millennial are influenced by their peers in buying decisions
- 30% of consumers are likely to buy a product recommended by a non celebrity influencer
- 39% of marketers were planning on increasing their influencer marketing budgets in 2018
- 70% of teenage YouTube subscribers said they relate more to content creators than celebrities
- 81% of consumers frequently purchase items they've seen on social media

Influencer Marketing in 2018

Earned media values and likes from influencer marketing through Instagram (Jan-May 2018)

Earned media refers to social media expsoure gained through word of mouth, reccomendations, or conversations about the brand. this form of media includes user generated content, reviews, brand mentions, or any form of content that is shared by social media users in relation too the brand.

How brands measure sales from influencer marketing
- Affiliate links
- Promo codes
- Measure insights- impressions and engagement
- Google analytics
- Website/blog clicks
- Measured sales
- Increase of follows
- Reposted content

Brands expect an increase in sales and increased impressions and/or engagement in return for influencer marketing.

The importance of insights
- Shows how well a page is performing
- Shows engagement
- Website click-through
- Makes comparisons between posts/influencers/pages visible
- Tracks page growth
- Gives information on best performing times of the day for content to be shared, viewed and engaged with

Brand considerations for influencer partnership

What brands look at influencers
- Demographics of their audience
- Engagements and impressions of their content
- Aesthetic and narrative of their posts/videos
- Sell-through of products and/or services
- Platforms of use
- Scale and location
- Ethics and beliefs

Its important to pair the right influencer, with the right brand and right product, which in return is right for the target market.

International relationship model

Identifying and finding the right influencers

Aligns on KPI's and business objectives