(Ir)relevancy of influencers in the fragmented buying journey of millennials

Millennials, one of the largest generations in history and the biggest buying power, are now moving into their prime spending years, and one of the biggest challenges brands are facing is how to reach, convince and convert them. They grew in a time of rapid change, giving them a set of priorities and expectations markedly different from previous generations. Their unique experience has changed the ways we buy and forced companies to re-evaluate how they can reach and convert their target audience.

Working as a digital strategist, I spend a lot of time researching digital marketing trends and ways for brands to approach millennials. Influencer marketing is one of the trends that I was convinced would be short-lived and is already being overused — stumbling upon countless fake or “wannabe” influencers and bots artificially generating engagement in one way or another only re-enforced my belief. However, I changed my opinion after attending an event dedicated to influencer marketing organized by FYI.con recently. Millennials might not trust influencers blindly, but they are nevertheless a very powerful marketing tool when used correctly.

MILLENNIALS ARE TRUSTING INFLUENCERS LESS WHEN IT COMES TO PRODUCT PROMOTIONS…

I dare to claim that the influencer marketing market is mature as 75% of marketers state to have allocated money for influencer marketing and 67% of marketers promote content with the help of influencers. However, as the market matured, 52% of millennials say they trust social media influencers less these days. Here are some of the reasons why:

1.Blurring lines between sponsorships and authentic recommendations

In recent years the influencer landscape has become increasingly commercialized and social media platforms are starting to implement native features for sponsored posts to make these disclosures easier to implement and clearer to consumers. While these features might help in theory, there are still plenty of gray areas between what’s paid for and what’s an authentic recommendation — this reduces the trust potential customers have in what influencers say.

2.Traditional trust indicators are less reliable than they used to be

Brands used to access influencers with quantitative research — the number of followers and posts, growth, and engagement rates. But as the trend matured, manipulation and attempts to inflate statistics through automated bots and other services appeared. This crept into the consciousness of users and they, consequently, became more skeptical and cautious in interpreting authenticity of influencer content.

3. Influencers are becoming new celebrities, but less authentic

When the trend of influencers first appeared, their followers enjoyed an intimate, authentic connection with that individual. But as the trend continued to rise, some influencers acquired millions of followers and started acting like celebrities — the inevitable result of this was the erosion of that authentic connection.

…HOWEVER, THEY ARE CONSTANTLY INTERACTING WITH INFLUENCERS ALONG THEIR BUYING JOURNEY

Delloite’s latest research on millennials’ shopping behavior showed that regardless of the weakened trust, millennials are still reaching out to influencers. However, there is an elementary shift in how they perceive and interact with them. Followers don’t base their trust on influencers’ follower base, but rather on their own interests, activities, and sense of style. They aren’t looking for product endorsements, but rather for new trends and inspirations on one side, and specialists’s opinions and recommendations on the other.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE BRANDS?

The goals of influencer marketing are to build an experience and emotional connection between a brand and their target group. Brands, therefore, have to utilize influencer marketing effectively and build relevant content touch-points along the entire customer journey. In this journey, an influencer’s role should be different in every stage, as the breakdown in the graphic indicates.

60% of social media users say they have learned about a product or service on social media and 75% of those take some action after seeing the post. Brands should therefore cooperate with general influencers that cover a wide range of topics and a large follower base during the initial (1)inspiration /awareness stage of the journey. In other words, brands should devote more time to look for influencers with a larger follower base. With effective cooperation in this stage, they can get the attention of a broad set of relevant audience.

70% of social media users say that they trust the recommendations of their favorite influencers above those of celebrities. Brands should thus cooperate with influencers that create more focused content on specific topics and also post reviews, instructional how-to videos etc. in order to build trust and knowledge about the product for the already aware millennial target group in the (2) consideration stage of the journey. As mentioned before, these influencers are seen as specialists and enjoy trust of their followers. The number of followers in this stage should not be the main concern of the brand anymore, but rather their focus, expertise, storytelling and genuineness of the content created.

As millennials are known for being price sensitive they usually need an additional form of motivation when they are deciding to buy a product. They will do thorough research and compare prices of the same product in various selling points. Therefore, during the (3) purchase decision stage brands can go a step further with influencers and offer exclusive discounts codes via their accounts. This tactic drives sales and additionally improves the ROI tracking of their campaigns. This particular method enables brands to see how many direct purchases are made via the influencer and also how many traffic the cooperation generated during a certain time frame.

Last but not least, as millennials are not known for being brand loyal and are constantly open to novelties, brands also need to keep them engaged in the (4) post-purchase and repurchase stages. Here, they can keep the conversation alive with the help of influencers by re-posting their content and offering additional benefits. Similar to the previous stage, the most effective influencers here have focused content and like to share their experience and loyalty to certain brands. As loyal brand customers themselves, they can increase engagement and activity with the community, or deliver feedback or insights.

INFLUENCER MARKETING CAN BE A POWER TOOL IF USED STRATEGICALLY

Millennials’ fragmented buying pattern offers many entry points for the brands to spark their interests and reach them. This can be positive and negative for brands. Positive especially for brands that are new in a certain market. They have lower entry barriers and can reach the potential consumer even when they are in the consideration phase with other brands already. However, it can also be challenging for brands to stay in the market, as they constantly have to fight to stay in the consumers buying mind. Aligning the influencer marketing strategy with the consumer decision journey will therefore help brands stay relevant and can be a very powerful marketing tool.

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SOURCES:

Forbes, 2018: The Great Debate: Is Influencer Marketing Worth The Investment?

Deloitte, 2017: Bling it on What makes a millennial spend more?

Dealspotr, 2017. How Social Media Influencers Impact Purchasing Decisions.

Goldman Sachs, 2017: Millennials coming of age

McKinsey, 2010: A new way to measure word-of-mouth marketing