Granfluencers: Breaking Down Barriers of Age

Look out Gen Z there’s a new influencer on the rise and they’re some experienced competition. It’s your grandparents! We know you’re probably shocked to hear this but as social shifts happen people want to see more authentic content that less edited. Your grandma has an up on ya’ here because she probably doesn’t even know how to do those things. People want new voices as well as diversified ones. The boomer generation is perfect for this since they honestly don’t give a s#$% what other people think and are comfortable being who they are. Granfluencer was the name coined by whom we do not know but it’s cute. They create content that not only is authentic, it is warm and wholesome. It’s inspiring people all over the world to YOLO proving that age is only how many times you’ve taken a trip around the sun. They’re just like the younger generation dating, traveling and living it up. Granfluencer, Loni Pike is a 57-year-old who stated, “You don’t have to fear age. I’m the same person at 57 that I was at 25. I just have more tattoos and I drive a better car.” This is the kind of mentality the world needs so we can see why the rise of the Granfluencer is upon us. We love this and hope to get to work with some in the near future!

De-Influencing

It seems that the forecast for trending influencer marketing uptick in 2023 may be fiction more than fact. We’ve reported that it may be trending upaward this upcoming year through our research, but with economic uncertainty on the rise, that may not be true at all. Everyone in the U.S. has been more cautious with their spending habits and has increased their scrutiny over “influencer authenticity.” This became a recent reality when a popular creator was accused of wearing fake eyelashes to promote L’Oréal mascara. Our favorite part of this scandal is that it has been coined “Mascaragate.” We love a good pun… When influencers are paid for their reviews by certain brands, it raises questions over the authenticity of their reviews and promotions. Rightfully so! We find it hard trust anyone who was paid by a company to give me a review on a product or service. Would they tell me if the product sucked? Probably not. Influencer marketing worked in the past because their reviews were true to their opinions without any influence from particular companies. Therefore, something that created trust at the birth of the influencer was their negative reviews on any given products/services. This is actually the concept of de-influencer. De-influencer is defined as the act of telling followers what not to buy. This could be a way to bring trust back into the brand to audience gap but there are still issues here. Even if an influencer says use this and not that, are they being paid by the brand who they’re telling people to use? Gen Z’s trust in influencer marketing has been waning quite a bit since the end of 2022. There is a heightened need for authenticity.

While we don’t have all the answers, but we do think that investing in micro-influencers and regular people is where this road will lead. Found content is going to be that pot of gold at the end of the metaphorical rainbow. Investing in real people to connect authentically with people is where it’s at. It makes sense. Brands collaborating with micro-influencers whose audiences’ see as more trustworthy is another solution to this connection problem. It’s time to start fixing the trust issues with good content and transparency!

B2B Influencer Marketing

We all know what influencer marketing is at this point. But how does business to consumer influencer marketing differ from business to business influencer marketing? First and foremost, it must be understood that B2B influencers must be an expert in the field of business that you are recruiting them for. This means that they may not have the social media skills as most B2C influencers do. It’s also important to think of them as a partner in your B2B influencer marketing campaign together as you build a relationship together for brand credibility. Let’s note some similarities between the B2B and B2C influencer marketing strategies.

1.     Expertise in a particular field. Both types of influencers will be experts in the field they are collaborating with.

2.     Social media presence. Both will have a good amount of reach on social media. Although, B2C will be much larger. 

3.     Appeal. They will both be people that other people are interested hearing. They have a charm about them that intrigues or call others to attention.

Some key differences:

1.     Type of content. Where B2C influencer are photo and video content heavy, B2B influencers will generally be more text based

2.     Scale. As noted above the B2B influencer will have a smaller scale following on social media.

3.     Decisions making versus influencing. B2B influencer will share insights and opinions that are for buying teams doing research.

Influencer marketing is on the rise and B2B is not immune to how well this strategy works. Some examples for B2B influencers would be analysts, journalists or those that work for brands in a particular field. HubSpot expect to see B2B influencer marketing grow exponentially as it is currently, “underdeveloped and largely unmonetized.” They also found that B2B clients consider sponsored third party or co-branded content more trustworthy than content straight from a vendor. It’s clear that this style of B2B marketing has its benefits.

Content Creators vs Influencers

Influencer marketing is coming in the lead this year for marketing and advertising strategy. But what is the difference between an influencer and a content creator? They are not necessarily the same thing. Let’s look at content creators first. This group of creators know how to create high-quality and authentic content that resonates with the audience. They consider this to be their career. An influencer is someone who actually has influence over a particular audience, hence the name. They’re usually experts in a particular field that regularly post tips, information and tutorials on their craft that influence others. Influencers have different tiers:

1.     Mega: over 1million

2.     Macro: 500K-1million

3.     Mid-tier: 50K-500K

4.     Micro: 10K-50K

5.     Nano: 1K-10K

There are some differences when working with content creators versus influencers. Working with content creators will get people engaged whereas influencers, as the name implies, influence. They have big followings so this is a way to increase brand awareness.  Working with content creators can enable a brand to experiment with different types of content, publish more frequently, save money and work with experts in certain fields. Working with an influencer can expand your reach and help you reach your target audience. Influencers have sway over their audience’s purchasing decisions. There is no way to say whether a content creator or an influencer would be better for your brand. It really depends on what your goals are. Are you trying to reach your target audience more effectively or are you trying to increase engagement? Both content creators and influencer have great things to offer your brand. We’ve worked with both at Locomotive and we understand the importance as well as differences of both. Understanding each is the first step to knowing which to use for your campaign.

Digital Marketing Trends 2022

Trending

Trending

Now that we’re at the end of the pandemic we can thankfully say that overall, this year been increasingly better than the previous two. Don’t you agree? Although we’re well into the summer, we’ve put together a quick list of things that are expected to be trending all year. They’ve been gaining steam and aren’t going anywhere. Here are our top 5.

1.     Influencer marketing. This one takes a top seat! Many sources say that influencer marketing is here to stay and not only that, it’s growing every year. People trust people more than they trust brands. We’ve known this for years. It’s why we do what we do. Harness the power of influencers to connect and engage with your audience. It will increase your sales, ROI and build trust between the brand and consumers. Watch this video to understand how to choose the right influencers for your brand.

2.     Organic content. At Locomotive we can’t stress this one enough. We thrive on organic, user generated content. We source all of our content with real humans to see what organic emotional responses our videos invoke for our campaigns with agencies.  Organic content improves the algorithm and according to Forbes, this is now everything!

3.     Humanized Marketing. The previous bullet brings us to our next trend of humanized marketing. It’s less about buttoned down professionalism now and more about conversational outlooks. People want to be treated like people. They don’t want to be sold anything and they want personalization.

4.     Live streams. According to Hubspot, “52% of marketers who invested in live streaming said it performed better than expected.” If you’re not live streaming for your brand, it is considered a BIG social media mistake. Make sure to take advantage of engaging with your customers in real-time to get feedback.

5.     Responsible Marketing. Being conscious with the environment in mind as well as socioeconomic issues. This includes diversity and transparency. Consumers want to support brands that aligns with their own values. Especially Gen Z.

These are only a few of the top digital marketing trends that are expected to be important this year. Staying up to date with current trends in the digital world will keep your business thriving. 2022 has been an interesting year so far in terms of economy and social issues but we’re optimistic that we will all finish out this year better than we began!

Harnessing Influencers for Marketing

Influencers… we can all name at least one in this day in age. Jake Paul for example has set out and created a great business for himself through YouTube and now in the boxing arena. Although, let’s be honest the guy can’t box. They just feed him poor old men who were once previously good Mixed Martial Arts fighters. Big difference from real boxers. Nonetheless, he’s made millions through his marketing strategy as an influencer. But how can brands harness the power of these influencers and what are the reasons they would even want to? Influencer marketing has been shown to produce great return on investment (ROI). It delivers 11x’s that of paid media (Sprout Social). As the digital world continues to expand, it becomes more difficult for brands to reach their target audiences and influencer marketing can close that gap through locating influencers in their market (FORBES).

The first step in this process would be to conduct research to find what type of influencer best suits the needs of the brand and which platform you should be using. If you’re a vitamin supplement company you’re probably not going to reach out to a fashion model for influencer marketing. It’s also important to know which social media channel your brand’s area of expertise is dominated on: YouTube, Instagram, etc. Fashion and beauty tend to be more YouTube centric whereas other industries may be dominant elsewhere. Once you do this, you will also need to decide on a budget that can determine whether or not you go with a microinfluencer (less than 2K followers), someone between 5-10K or higher. The more followers the influencer has the costlier it becomes, naturally. Once you have decided on the budget you will need to know what the goals are for the brand through the influencer marketing. Is the reason for breaking into the Gen Z audience that your brand hasn’t yet? Are you trying to increase brand to consumer trust? Are you looking for more credibility in your industry? Deciding on this early on is crucial. Finally, it’s time to reach out and start making relationships with influencers.