Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Influencer marketing ecosystem has been rapidly shaken up – leading brands are experimenting with new tactics
With the world stuck in quarantine, there has been a drastic change in the consumer lifestyle as well as behavior! People today look for content that provides them with confidence amid the on-going disruptions around. Digging deep into the COVID-19 crisis, the economy and market are hitting the worse with long-term uncertainty, and impacting businesses’ decision making.
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Influencer Intelligence, the social analytics firm, has studied the current market layout and published its latest report, “What COVID-19 Means For Influencer Marketing”. The study is aimed at the effects of the coronavirus crisis on the influencer marketing landscape and how brands can engage with their target audience.
Influencer marketing once had touched global fame in real-time rapidly, as it was the preferred marketing strategy for many brands. It became a significant subset of content marketing. But many companies are reevaluating their business models and content marketing strategies to strive in the marketplace. The influencer marketing campaigns have either been halted or prematurely discontinued. Marketers are putting a brake on activities that are more prone to affect them – as such content may account as insensitive concerning the current scenario.
The majority of the influencer marketing campaigns are related to the promotion of future business events or promotion of business offerings. Unsurprisingly, they are not happening now – either postponed or canceled. As mentioned in the report, “The pace of life is slowing, and consequently, new routines are emerging temporarily for the near future. Obvious and rapid reactions that we have seen from consumer brands concern pulled promotional campaigns that are deemed inappropriate and insensitive within the current environment.” These include where ads are showing shaking hands, close interactions, gatherings, and more.
However, the study suggests there is still a lot of scope for social content and influencer marketing to adapt to the current situation. With online channels within easy reach of everyone, increased use of social media channels and people seeking authentic information and content has been found. Now the question arises – What kind of influencer content and strategies are most preferred amid the worldwide pandemic?
- Live-stream is increasingly getting popular
- Brand purpose campaigns are on the frontline
- Tik-Tok engagements are shooting up rapidly
- More informative and solutions-based content
The report also mentions, “inevitably, for those brands that facilitate greater connectivity or can enhance lifestyles through isolation, the ability to commercially communicate appropriately via influencer marketing is far easier.”
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The world is still not clear about the future of the campaigns, and the deep-rooted impacts are unknown. If marketers can put legitimate purpose in keeping aside their profit margins for a while, they could engage in meaningful influencer collaborations. Smarter businesses are likely to use this opportunity to create long-term partnerships as most people are seeking a sense of ‘community’ at the moment! Here, influencer marketing will be apparently more relevant.
