When these updates are finally rolled out, it will now open up a whole new realm of possibilities for creators, which, will in turn, affects the influencer marketing strategies and the briefs alike. To stay front of your mind, brands must adapt their approach to start utilising the new features which allow creators to carry out experiment and keep their audiences engaged and entertained.
One of the trends that we are seeing as a result of these new features is an increase in the social commerce – and brands have to seriously consider engaging and integrating the influencers for their social commerce campaigns.
The rise of social commerce
Social commerce has been around for a long time, it has been around for nearly 20 years, but it is right now that we are witnessing its true potential, that is accelerated by the increased use of social media as a result of the pandemic. From the Facebook Marketplace, to the Instagram Shop, the social media giants have realised the success of an in-app shopping for brands. Users want to be activated in spending their money in one click, without being taken away from the content that they are browsing.
Live shoppable events have really exploded in the popularity recently, with the brands been able to see the direct ROI as the shoppers can easily purchase the signposted products. Just recently, the Clarks hosted a live shopping event, and they were working alongside creator Nià 0Pettit (@niathelight) to showcase some of its Spring/Summer collection. Something Clarks did very successfully was to integrate influencer and the brand content, which is a really effective way to reach audiences.
As the social commerce continues to grow in popularity, brands will need to create shoppable moments that will intrigue and will also inspire followers. They should look towards the live shopping campaigns, be those branded events or the integration into a creator’s proprietary Live. Hosting these in-store means that the brands are right down at the consumer level, and it can help to bridge the gap between online and the offline shopping experiences.
As the world is looking to open up more with restrictions easing and the lockdown lifting, brands should now start to think about how these events might eventually translate into the non-virtual life. Having practiced virtually, the creators will be even much more confident in hosting the real-life live events and are more cost-effective than the traditional celebrity talent.
It is really going to be an exciting six months, but as the past year has proven already, brands will need to be very flexible and adaptable. One constant though it is an influencer marketing. It is only growing and the brands marketers who are not already, need to start incorporating the creators into their strategies right from the get-go.