In today’s world, digital marketing has become a crucial aspect of every business.  With social media personalities on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube becoming increasingly popular, businesses have started to shift their focus toward influencer marketing.  Influencer marketing has proved to be a powerful tool in reaching out to a vast audience and generating more leads.

What are some benefits of Influencer Marketing?

  • Increased Brand Awareness – Influencers have a massive following on social media platforms. By collaborating with influencers, businesses can tap into their followers and reach out to a wider audience.  Influencers are seen as experts in their respective niches, and their endorsement can increase brand awareness and establish trust among potential customers.
  • Targeted Audience – Influencers have a specific audience who are interested in their content. When businesses collaborate with influencers who have a similar target audience, they can reach out to potential customers who are more likely to be interested in their products or services.
  • Cost-effective – In some cases, this can be true, and return on investment can be much higher.
  • Increased Engagement – Influencers have a close relationship with their followers. By collaborating with influencers, brands can increase engagement with their target audience and build on those relationships.
  • Authenticity – Because influencers are found as trustworthy, having the endorsement adds authenticity to the brand and can increase the likelihood of a purchase.

A new trend we are seeing is using Influencer Marketing within your Social Mirror Campaigns.

What are Social Mirror Ads you ask?

Social Mirror ads look like your social media display or video posts but appear on other websites and apps, linking back to the social media platform and your website, and run across all devices using our targeting strategies. We are “mirroring” the EXACT look of your social post as an ad that runs on thousands of OTHER websites and apps, targeted just to the people you want to reach across all devices.

As you can see from above, the ad is being served on Auto Trader in this case, but it looks like a TikTok Video.  Again, these ads can click through to your website AND your social media platform, giving you the ability to drive traffic, and possibly increase your following on that social platform.

When it comes to ways to target your potential customers, there are several ways to do so:

 

A look inside Social Mirror

In Q4 of 2022, Vici showed a 44.3% growth in the number of Social Mirror ads that were bought from across our clients.  Not only did we sell more Social Mirror ads, but our click-through rates continued to perform above platform benchmarks.

As we continue to analyze the data for Social Mirror Ads, we find that Story Ads, Carousel Ads, and Video Ads have the highest click-through-rate.  Stories continued to be the premiere format for top-of-funnel engagement with a CTR average of 1.71%.  (That’s 24.42x the national average for those counting). In addition, we see Facebook and Instagram being the top two platforms used for Social Mirror creative.

What opportunities does this information give us with Influencer Marketing?

As influencers utilize platforms like Facebook and Instagram, the content that’s created can be utilized as part of your Social Mirror campaign.  Using your influencers’ videos to create Story Ads allows you to be able to enhance the reach of that influencer to even more potential clients outside of that plaform.  Showcasing an influencer’s experiences with your product or service through a carousel ad can capture attention of people who may recognize that influencer.

One real opportunity that exists currently is the rise of TikTok.  The usage is skyrocketing!  Not only is the usage skyrocketing, but so is ad spending.

  • 25% of all social media ad budgets are now going to TikTok
  • 50% year over year growth on TikTok

With all of this growth on TikTok, now’s the opportunity to get in!   Creating a TikTok account for your business, partnering with an influencer, and then utilizing the capabilities of Social Mirror targeting can maximize your exposure.

To maximize your exposure, here are some best practices for TikTok creative:

  • Performance is highest with videos under 10 seconds
  • Restrict captions to under 3 lines to focus on the visual experience
  • At Vici we match the CTA to the brand color to drive higher click-throughs

Key Influencer Trends:

  • 89% of brands said they tapped into influencer marketing in 2022
  • In Q4 of 2022, brands utilized influencers to promote gift guides and unboxing videos
  • Influencer spend is moving rapidly from Instagram to TikTok

 

Campaigns targeting Gen Z are succeeding with a social-first approach.  Here’s how Social Mirror is breaking through the clutter:

  • Attention span: the average GenZ attention span is 8 seconds, which is 4 seconds less than millennials (Morning Consult)

 

  • Online shopping: 72% of GenZ has purchased a product online in the last month on any device (Global Web Index)

 

  • Streaming video: GenZ streams an average of 23 hours of video each week (Criteo)

 

  • Social-first: GenZ spends an average of 3 hours on social media per day, almost an hour more than the average Millenial (World Economic Forum)

 

  • Influencers: 76% of GenZ follows an influencer on social media (Morning Consult); 52% trust social media influencers for product or brand advice (McKinsey & Co.)

 

Here are two examples of brands utilizing influencers on TikTok:

 

With Social Mirror, there are a lot of ways to reach this audience.  Here are just a few examples of behavioral categories we could target:

TikTok User

TikTok Active User

Pinterest User

Pinterest Influencer

Snapchat User

Snapchat Influencer

LinkedIn User

LinkedIn Influencer

Visited LinkedIn Last 30 Days

Visited YouTube Last 30 Days

YouTube OTT Watcher

YouTube User

Facebook User

Facebook Sharer

Visited Facebook Last 30 Days

Facebook Influencers

Facebook Category Recommenders

Instagram Influencer

Instagram User

Visited Twitter Last 30 Days

X (previously Twitter) User

X (previously Twitter) Influencer

 

Those are just targeting categories that you can select from.  That doesn’t even take into account target by age, which you can start at the age of 13 and go up to 65+!

As Q1 of 2023 comes to a close, envision what your marketing efforts can look like in the months and years to come.   Is there in influencer out there that has a similar audience that you have customers?  Could an investment in them and an investment in your digital marketing help create the return on investment you’re looking for?

Make the investment with the right influencer.  Utilize creative outlets to enhance that social media presence, like Social Mirror Ads, and reach those potential customers outside of their regular social platforms.   With rising CPMs on social platforms, and the fact that your customers exist both on social media, and off, don’t you think you should be able reach them on social media…and off as well?