While we hope to be moving towards a more stable marketing environment as we move through 2021, it cannot be denied that brands were forced to deal with an unprecedented number of roadblocks during the Covid-19 uncertainty of the past year and a half.

During this period, influencer marketing (outsourcing to Social Media influencers to raise brand awareness) proved invaluable in maintaining a dialogue between companies and their customers. Judging by the effectiveness of this strategy it is highly likely that brands that only started embracing influencer marketing during the pandemic will continue to do so now as we move into a more open atmosphere.

And here are 3 reasons why this should certainly be the case:

1. TikTok and the younger generation

Our first port of call has to be TikTok. This video-sharing app, while released prior to the 2020 lockdowns, exploded in popularity during the pandemic. What was once almost an entirely Gen-Z population soon became a haven for everyone, regardless of age. The app saw an increase of 80% in downloads in the first half of 2020 when compared to the first half of 2019, and is currently the only app sitting in the top 5 global downloads which are not owned by Facebook.

While influencers were already being drawn to the app, with its short-form content providing perfect bites of information for shorter attention spans, TikTok is currently in the process of establishing a ‘creator fund’ to help build content for the site. As well as providing a method to keep content fresh, the already content-saturated app will increase the quality of the videos produced, meaning that video marketers will need to truly push their video creativity.

By working with influencers, the pressure is removed from the brand and is placed instead on the person whose livelihood is based around content production. A perfect case study released by Forbes discussed a brand that recruited influencers to create a dialogue between themselves and a younger target audience; the result was a choreographed video that challenged viewers to get involved with their own take on the routine, resulting in 14 million views and nearly 2 million likes.

By using influencers to branch out into TikTok, brands are able to reach demographics that may otherwise have gone untouched. With a little creativity, they increase their chances of going viral across multiple Social media platforms, as TikTok videos often find themselves shared across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Furthermore, TikTok influencers are more likely to understand their audience versus a brand that’s new to the social network.

2. The evolution of live streaming

In the early days of the pandemic, human contact was heavily restricted and many began to suffer the effects of loneliness. To combat this, members of the public turned to social media to maintain a feeling of connection with others. This resulted in an increase of over 70% in people using the Instagram Live function that allows users to livestream directly to their audience.

Off the back of this surge in popularity, Instagram has recently implemented a new feature called ‘Live Rooms’, a function that allows up to 4 users to livestream from the same channel at once. This has opened up multiple new avenues for social media influencer marketing. For example, by including guests such as influencers or brand ambassadors, companies can host interactive Q&A sessions to spread awareness of their product.

By using the following of an influencer, the personability of the ambassador and the knowledge of a company representative, brands are able to better engage directly with a larger audience.

This is not without its pitfalls however; it is important that there are guidelines to be followed to prevent the session from becoming derailed, and methods of preventing trolls or negative opinions from overtaking the session.

It is clear that live streaming is a marketing trend that is not likely to go away any time soon. Of the businesses that have truly embraced streaming during the Covid-19 pandemic, 91% have said that they plan to maintain their streaming efforts, while 81% said that it was going to be a social media priority.

3. The decline of celebrity involvement

Brands have long used celebrity endorsements to sell their products, but the gap between the average customer and celebrities was particularly pronounced during the pandemic. This disconnect was highlighted by celebrity endorsements that came across as clinical or unrealistic. For example, Febreeze was endorsed by Khloe Kardashian and, rather than fostering a sense of familiarity, it simply resulted in a lot of pushback on social media.

While celebrity endorsements are likely to reach a much larger audience, customers are more likely to engage with influencers on social media. As well as creating a more positive image of a brand, this trend saves brands a lot of money and so offers a much better ROI. This is thanks to

social media users feeling that influencers are ‘just like us’, making them more likely to trust a smaller name. We recommend always choosing engagement and relevance overreach.

This has already been put into action with the UK supermarket chain Iceland. Since 2016, Iceland has stopped working with celebrities and instead have reached out to micro-influencers, influencers who have between 1,000 and 10,000 followers. Iceland’s most notable example of their success has been ‘Channel Mum’ and the results of this switch have been overwhelmingly positive, boasting a 55% percent retention rate on Facebook with a reach of nearly 4 million in the first three months alone.

This article was created by Mediareach Advertising, a leading London-based digital and social media marketing agency.