Swipe up to shop UTM links, custom discount codes and collaborative clothing lines – it’s easy to see why influencer marketing works so effectively for ecommerce brands, particularly in the fashion sector. With 25% of all clothing sales happening online, the active buying market is already there. But when it comes to food and drink brands, you aren’t quite as likely to convince someone to change their weekly shop, as to impulse buy a dress from Boohoo (with the added bonus of 20% off).
Working with influencers as an FMCG brand isn’t about selling products. It’s really not. It’s about introducing an influencer’s audience to your brand. It’s about building associations between your brand and the lifestyle your target demographic want or relate to. It’s about awareness.
With a new series of Love Island in full swing, we can expect a new bunch of ‘influencers’ to hit Instagram once they leave the villa, with their endless supply of teeth whitening strips, weight loss supplements and protein products. And with it comes the scepticism of influencer marketing.
But we need to look at influencer marketing as the multi-faceted advertising tool that it is. It’s not just television shows, bikinis and 500,000 followers, overnight ‘influencers’. It’s those that have built a community from the ground up, with effective and engaging content. These are not just the ‘celebrities’ with five minutes of fame to spare. To truly see the worth of collaborating with influencers, we need to see them for what they truly are – creators.
Not only do you take away increased awareness and followers from campaigns but with the right brief, you also have more content to share on your owned channels. Content creators do so much more than just hold up your product. Whether that’s incorporating your product into recipes or featuring it as part of an ‘eating experience’, the content feels so much more genuine.
Not every influencer campaign will be a success, and that’s because brands don’t work with the right people. Yes, if you have a fake tan brand, it’s probably worth shelling out for reality TV contestants, but their influence is limited to the ‘Love Island lifestyle’ and the younger, female demographic. If you sell luxury chutneys at Waitrose, those ‘influencers’ and their audience aren’t for you. In the same way, you wouldn’t approach a full-time meat eater with a vegan product, or an influencer without kids for a children’s snack brand. And yet so many brands are just looking at the numbers and paying fortunes for millions of irrelevant ears to hear about their products. Because finding the right people isn’t easy.
That’s why we do in-depth research and use existing relationships to match brands with the right content creators. The bottom line is, influencer marketing for FMCG brands is all about brand awareness. But it has to be with the right audience for the campaign to succeed. Chat to us to find out more about influencer marketing for your brand.