Once upon a time, when Instagram was in its infancy, the dark arts of influencer marketing were a trade secret. Now, the cat is officially out of the designer handbag.
Influencer marketing is a critical piece in a marketer’s tool belt, with marketing teams assigning huge portions of their budgets toward influencer strategies every year. According to Forbes, influencer marketing spend is expected to rise to $15 billion by 2022, compared to $8 billion in 2019. But as younger audiences become increasingly aware of the realities of ‘sponsored’ posts and content, are we seeing a shift in attitude towards influencers?
Gen Z are increasingly skeptical about the transactional relationships that define influencer culture. They now use hash tags as warning signs of inauthenticity such as: #ad, #sponsored, #PRpackage.
No longer are users cajoled by promises of an aspirational life that’ll transpire at the click of the affiliate link. And the positivity that once existed towards influencers is slowly being replaced by scepticism (only 4% of consumers still trust influencer marketing, You Gov).
What we’re beginning to see in the ‘authenticity gap’ left behind is the emergence of customer advocacy communities. Brands use these communities to leverage the real voices of their customers for promotion via genuine word-of-mouth marketing. To understand this more, we asked 1,000 people across the globe for their opinions on influencers – ranging from Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, the UK, the US, France, Poland and more. Here’s what they had to say…
Purchasing Power
60% of Bulbshare’s 1,000 strong focus group reported that they had never made a purchase inspired by an influencer’s social media post. We noted acute skepticism towards paid posts, with Bulbshare users stating that ‘bought’ opinions meant less to them than organic endorsements. In fact, only 35% of the 1,000 sampled expressed an unequivocal ‘yes’, when asked if they believe influencers are still ‘authentic’ and 51% expressed a negative emotional reaction, according to our AI sentiment analysis, when asked about trust and influencers.
Under the mask of perfection
This disdain at paid ambassadors was heightened during the pandemic. When asked whether influencers used their influence well during lockdown, our research communities answered that they felt the flaunting of wealth and flouting of rules was inappropriate. Terms such as ‘false lifestyles’ and ‘unrealistic images’ arose, as well as concerns about travelling despite restrictions.
Not all influencers are created equal
However, there are still good examples of influencers. These are associated with themes such as ‘spreading positivity’, ‘keeping [followers] company’ and ‘distracting’ people from ‘the real world’ coming up.
Influencers are distinguished between those felt to be responsible and believable – and those ‘only in it for the money’. The distinction, crucially, came from the relationship as friend rather than follower – and micro-influencers achieved this best.
According to Forbes, those with less than 1,000 followers generally received likes on their posts 8% of the time. Users with 10 million+ followers only received likes 1.6% of the time.
Customer communities create brand champions
So, if the influence of mega-influencers is dwindling, what is the future for brand advocacy?
The answer is cutting out the middleman and getting straight to the consumers – letting them be your spokesperson.
By inviting them into your brand, becoming their trusted friend and allowing them a say in the products they consume, you guarantee customer loyalty and authentic advocacy.
88% of our sample group were enthusiastic about collaborating with brands and 76% said they enjoy reviewing products. When the average consumer has such capacity to become a brand ambassador, the gulf left by the lack of trust for influencers can be filled by customer advocacy. With authentic, trusted, unendorsed voices shouting about your brand in customer communities and beyond, you will have found your solution to sourcing flag bearers.
Relatable advocates
When 84% of our 1,000 strong market research group responded that they preferred the recommendations of family and friends over famous influencers, it is evident that the potential of peer-to-peer marketing is overflowing.
These relatable brand champions were considered more trustworthy than anyone with #ad attached to their voice.
So, why hesitate? Building a customer community will arm your brand with content creators, social sharers and genuine supporters that are actually trusted by their peers.
As Deloitte says, “This ‘word of mouth’, […] has emerged through customer participation. […] The amplification of global participation through technology provides new opportunities for consumers, citizens and communities to engage directly in shaping, influencing, building and co-creating platforms, initiatives, movements and brands”.
Customers turned content creators
74% of the digital community we surveyed said that quality was the most important factor when it came to them recommending products – not the influencers associated with it (3%). They would happily promote a product that was made to a high standard.
When you empower your customers to become your reviewers, you ensure quality that they will love – before products hit the shelves. Through heat-mapping of responses, AI sentiment analysis, and video ethnography, you can understand the qualitative and quantitative data your customers provide, allowing you to access your customers’ wants and needs better than ever before. When you know your target audience, you know the solution to creating a product they will recommend.
And this quality will speak for itself through the mouths and medias of your consumers. With the social sharing function, your customers can share their opinions and responses to their followers – making them the real influencers.
According to Deloitte, “The next level of engagement is focused on customer advocacy and influence where customers represent brands in the marketplace as influencers and ambassadors, directly providing user-generated content in many cases”.
