The Wild West of Influencer Marketing

Have you ever been influenced into purchasing something after hearing a glowing endorsement online, only to find that an influencer was paid to promote the product? Did you feel a bit cheated by this?

The once unregulated influencer marketing industry is beginning to be reined in by rules and laws around disclosing paid sponsorships. However, this isn’t stopping the power these influencers hold in digital communities and over consumers. Understanding the relationship between Influencers and the ‘influenced’ is integral to implementing successful influencer marketing campaigns without leaving social media users feeling cheated.

Source

Consumers are one-half of the influencer marketing equation, and in Australia, they represent a growing segment of social media users.

• 18.4% of Australian social media users follow influencers
• Australian females aged 16-25 make up most users following influencers.
• Nearly 50% of all social media users in Australia are actively researching brands online
• 13% are engaging with sponsored social media posts.

This indicates that influencer marketing has a tangible impact on how Australians interact and engage with social media content. Although consumers are split on the trustworthiness of influencers, only 15% of Australian consumers are likely to buy from a brand or business that uses influencer marketing, and 63% find influencer marketing less appealing, decreasing their likelihood of purchasing a product. To increase this trust, it is crucial to understand how consumers are using social media to gain knowledge and insights on consumer interests and create relevant, relatable and trustworthy influencer marketing campaigns.

Photo by Artem Podrez on Pexels.com

A successful influencer marketing campaign that sought to create relevant, relatable and trustworthy content was the American brand Dunkin Donuts partnered with (at the time) the most followed TikTok creator on the platform, Charli D’Amelio. This campaign went beyond just sponsored posts and endorsements but also used a vial campaign contest #CharliXDunkinContest and released two Charli branded coffee drinks at Dunkin Donuts. This influencer marketing partnership saw a 45% increase in cold brew coffee sales at Dunkin the day after launch.

@dunkin

So official, we put it in writing @charlidamelio. Order ‘The Charli’ on the Dunkin’ app!🙌 #CharliRunsOnDunkin #TheCharli #Dunkin

♬ original sound – Dunkin’

The success of this campaign was built on understanding how consumers interact with TikTok. Using the segmentation matrix framework of Hodis et al., Dunkin’s marketing strategy was designed to recruit and empower the TikTok user base who fall under the devotee segment. Devotees are highly engaged social media users interested in creating and viewing content. The devotee segment was strategically targeted by Dunkin with the use of an interactive contest in which social media users were encouraged to post their own videos with the Charli Drink. Leveraging this understanding of how the TikTok platform is being used, Dunkin capitalised on its relationship with influencer Charli D’Amelio a trusted and popular TikTok creator who was able to influence 100,000s TikTok users to purchase Dunkin Donuts Coffee through an influencer marketing campaign.

The next time you spot influencer marketing on your social feeds, will you be influenced?