Dr. Ulrike Gretzel, USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations, University of Southern California
Most marketers have come to terms with the important roles that influencers and creators play in contemporary marketing communications. Influencers and creators have been added to the marketing communications mix, and they are managed and evaluated like other media channels.
Attention is the currency that matters in this context, and a complex ecosystem has formed around identifying, managing, contracting, and monitoring talent that can deliver eyeballs, likes, and positive sentiment. High engagement rates have become the most sought-after commodity in the influencer marketing world. For those marketers who do not want to deal with the messiness of the influencer and creator space, virtual influencers now provide an increasingly viable alternative thanks to advances in AI.
This focus on influencers and creators as a complementary communication channel comes as no surprise, considering who is typically responsible for influencer marketing on the brand side. However, this myopic view of what influencer marketing can do for brands is problematic in the long run. Communication goals are important and will remain a cornerstone of influencer marketing, but they should not be the only driver of collaborations with influencers and creators. Beyond the attention and content asset creation goals that matter from a marketing communications perspective, influencers and creators have also opened new avenues for distribution. Yet, conversion-focused campaigns have largely been limited to distributing coupon codes or organizing giveaways. The power of social commerce has only recently begun to gain recognition with the emergence of TikTok Shop, Amazon Live, and Whatnot.
In China, where livestream shopping is a lot more mature, thinking of influencers and creators as part of the company’s extended salesforce has become a central aspect of influencer and creator-centric marketing strategies. Selection criteria and performance measures have yet to be fully adapted to accommodate this social commerce trend. There has definitely been a shift toward performance-based compensation for influencers and creators, which foreshadows the increasing emphasis on conversion and product distribution. What is currently still missing is a change in the mindset and influencer relations practices of most practitioners.
Skilled livestreamers can move mountains for brands, but tapping into their talents requires different strategies from what has become standard practice in communications-centered influencer marketing. Exciting influencer events and beautifully styled influencer briefs won’t cut it in this fulfillment-focused context.
The most neglected aspect of influencer and creator marketing by far, however, is the opportunity to use these talented communicators and sellers for consumer insights and innovation. Influencers and creators cultivate passionate follower communities that allow them to co-create and spot trends. Brands rarely take advantage of influencers and creators’ closeness to specific consumer groups to inform their own research and development. One-off collabs are the rule (mostly with brands in control), while true creative partnerships are few and far between.
As a result, many successful influencers and creators are shifting their efforts toward creating their own brands, using the knowledge they have gained from their interactions with followers to innovate and sometimes create new markets. When this happens, they move from being potential partners to actual competitors. When influencers and creators start owning brands or media and can attract significant sources of capital, shifts in market power are inevitable. Brands, thus, ignore the power of influencers and creators as innovators at their own peril.
In brief, the roles of influencers and creators are constantly shifting. Brands are often slow to adapt to these new realities and, consequently, miss out on important opportunities. Or worse, they risk making themselves obsolete in markets where social capital can easily be turned into venture capital. Valuing influencers and creators as important stakeholders and potential business partners, rather than as an optional communications channel, is the key to success.