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• Influencer Marketing • Social Updates • Creator Culture • Industry Insights •
TAKUMI’s insights team is curating the most impactful industry news and weekly developments right here 👇.
Instagram Influencer Marketing to Become a $22bn Industry, With Fraud in Decline | 25th Jan 2022
“Data from its State of Influencer Marketing 2021 report reveals that social commerce and the redistribution of ad budgets toward digital will result in Instagram’s influencer industry ballooning by 12.6%, up from $13.8bn in 2021.The increased adoption of adblocking software is also expected to drive growth on the platform [...]”
TAKEAWAY 🔥: As the influencer marketing industry continues to grow, cases of fraud are decreasing. The trend signifies a maturing industry in which reputation, standards and expectations continue to evolve 📊. The fact is, improved attribution tools are providing deeper insights for marketers, setting new benchmarks for monitoring the effectiveness of influencer campaigns and the impact of a creator's content.
It is up to brands and agencies to ensure that their creator selection process for influencer campaigns involves a vetting procedure that is sophisticated enough to detect fraud 👾. At TAKUMI, follow-to-follower ratios, engagement rates, and follower growth are all monitored to determine whether a creator has a genuine platform. With increased ad spend, improved social commerce tools, competitive monetisation programmes, and a growing demand for authenticity, the creator landscape continues to professionalise. From this, we should hope to see a strengthened narrative that there is no place for creator fraud on social channels or in influencer marketing.
Facebook and Instagram May Help You Create and Sell NFTs | 20th Jan 2022
“Instagram is reportedly testing a way to showcase NFTs, while Meta is also said to be discussing a marketplace that would help you buy or sell these digital collectibles.”
TAKEAWAY 🔥: It's no surprise that rumours have emerged of a Meta marketplace for NFTs, given what we know already about the metaverse. If the real and the virtual worlds are destined to collide, then we may need to redefine what it means to own something 💸. As this piece explains, we can't merely discuss NFTs in the context of the metaverse, but their very existence is already reframing what it means to collect, own, and appreciate art 🖼. For Meta, the creation and selling of NFTs on its platforms will either bring them into the mainstream, or serve a minority of alienated collectors and artists. Only time will tell…
Meta Is Developing an 'Ethical Framework' for the Use of Virtual Influencers | 16th Jan 2022
“It would be better to know what’s real and what’s not, and as such, Meta needs clear regulations to remove dishonest depictions, and enforce transparency over VI use.”
TAKEAWAY 🔥: In the metaverse, people will be represented by avatars adorned in virtual assets; we’ll exchange money for digital outfits and accessories that allow us to express our real personalities in the virtual world 🌏. The ‘success’ of digital influencers like Lil' Miquela has shown just how versatile and marketable these virtual influencers already are. But will the success of real-world content creators translate over to their digital avatars? Potentially 👀.
Social media in general has been slammed for promoting unrealistic body standards, and most recently a Digitally Altered Body Image Bill has been proposed in the UK which would require users to show a badge declaring edited images of bodies. Digital avatars will be an exciting vehicle for brands and marketers in the metaverse, and while an ethical framework will be necessary for distinguishing the virtual from the real, platforms should tackle the concerns in the 'real' world before we enter a digital one ✊🏻.
Instagram Launches Live Test of Fan Subscriptions, Providing More Monetization Options for Creators | 19th Jan 2022
“The option is currently in very limited live testing, with only a handful of prominent creators in the app. Those users now have a ‘Subscribe’ button on their profile, linking fans through to the sign-up flow.Those that do have access are able to charge a variable monthly amount for subscription – between $0.99 and $99.99.”
TAKEAWAY 🔥: Instagram is leveraging the allure of exclusivity to bring creators a new opportunity to monetise their content, in the form of Instagram Subscriptions. Instagram recently announced an expansion of its Live Badges feature to all eligible creators, allowing them to earn tips during livestreams, and so a subscription option is a natural extension 💸.
While this is an exciting prospect for creators, the demand for bonus content is already being met across other platforms; Facebook's subscription offering has been in place since 2020, while tests of Twitter's Super Follows feature are ongoing. Other platforms such as Patreon are also professionalising the creator space, meaning Instagram will have to innovate tools that give its own Subscriptions the edge 💫. Bonus content really does have to be exclusive, distinguishable from the content that non-members get to see for free, while in-keeping with the signature content that followers know and love.
An informal poll of creators on TAKUMI’s Instagram found that 61% felt their followers don’t have an appetite for exclusive content, and aren’t willing to pay for it. This could account for the 64% who felt that monetisation options like Subscriptions are asking too much of content creators, rather than viewing these features as an exciting opportunity. Although this is certainly not representative of the entire creator community, it does give some small indication of creators’ opinions on these tools 💭.
Marketers increasingly turn to TikTok for influencer marketing | 19th Jan 2022
“Nearly two-thirds of US influencer marketers plan to use the video sharing app in 2022.”
TAKEAWAY 🔥: Research by eMarketer shows that 42% of US marketers used TikTok for influencer marketing in 2021, with this number projected to rise to 54.9% by 2025 📈. It's no surprise that more established platforms like Instagram and Facebook remain the preference over others, but what TikTok lacks in maturity, it makes up for in potential. Our recent Whitepaper report found that almost six in ten creators across the US and UK had participated in a brand campaign on TikTok, second only to Instagram at 97%. However, the numbers are smaller when it comes to consumer engagement, with just 37% of US and UK consumers reporting increased engagement with creator content on TikTok since the start of the pandemic, behind YouTube (56%) and Instagram (48%). As influencer marketing spend on TikTok increases, there's a good chance consumer engagement will too. One thing is for sure: marketers' confidence for leveraging TikTok is growing 🙏.
We’ll be back soon with more insights and updates.
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