Top 4 Platforms For Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a powerful income-generating strategy for brands of all sizes to implement. In fact, about 73% of marketers in the US are projected to incorporate influencer marketing campaigns in their overall strategies in 2022. There are many factors to consider when planning an influencer marketing campaign, including picking the right content creator to represent your brand, developing a relationship and establishing contract terms, and choosing the right platform.
Picking the best platform for your influencer campaign
Instagram can be considered the original platform for the influencer marketing industry. There are over 1 billion monthly active users on Instagram with content niches that include travel, beauty, fashion, health and fitness, parenting, music, business, and everything in between. With so much diversity in content, Instagram is an easy choice for influencer marketing. TikTok has risen to glory in the last few years and now stands as a leading channel for aspiring and established influencers. The numbers are staggering.
“As of January 2021, TikTok had been downloaded over 2.6 billion times worldwide. It experienced meteoric growth in 2020 when the global pandemic took over the world and many of us were forced to stay indoors due to lockdowns. In the first quarter of 2020, it was downloaded a whopping 315 million times across Apple and Android phones, making it the most downloaded app in the world.” Digital Agency Network, 2021
Instagram creators have incorporated similar features as TikTok to the platform with the introduction of Instagram Reels and a virtual feed for Stories. The similarities in the two apps have created additional opportunities for influencer content marketing that can be used cross-channel. We will outline the key differences between the two apps below.
Gone are the original Instagram days with over-filtered photos and images of food. Today’s Instagram is more focused on video with three different components. Instagram Stories are similar to Snapchat: short-form videos that disappear after 24 hours. IGTV is more like YouTube: long-form content usually around 10 minutes, but up to an hour for verified accounts. Lastly, Instagram Reels are Instagram’s answer to TikTok’s success: short-form video content usually with a song or quick voice-over that can be replicated by other users.
TikTok
TikTok started out as Musical.ly in 2014 and was originally an app to create and share 15-second videos of lip-syncing. By 2019, Musical.ly had rebranded to TikTok and the content diversified to include videos up to 60-seconds long. These were usually of dancing, comedic skits, commentary about products or world events, or viral challenges or trends. Gen Z is the poster child for TikTok users, with over half of that generation using the app, compared to 39% of Millennials.
Other Platforms to Consider for Influencer Marketing
While TikTok and Instagram are the main platforms for influencer marketing, there are opportunities to be had on other platforms as well – especially if your brand’s target audience aligns based on age or other factors.
Pinterest has over 400 million active users and 85% of them are women. According to a survey of Pinterest users, 60% say they get their ideas for what to buy from Pinterest and 90% say Pinterest helps them decide what to purchase. For brands with visuals that would appeal to the audience of Pinterest users, influencer marketing on this platform is a fantastic opportunity for generating leads. The website has a built-in platform to link brands and top influencers called Pin Collective. To access this tool, businesses must commit to a minimum spend for promoted pins and other content. The brand can then work directly with creators to generate content for the brand’s boards. The limitation of Pinterest’s influencer marketing capabilities is the content creators are limited to a pre-decided group.
Source: Influencer Marketing Hub
YouTube
Like Pinterest, YouTube has also developed an internal platform specifically for influencer marketing. Similar to Google Ads and Facebook Ads, YouTube has a formal advertising setup allowing marketers to build different types of content campaigns. Influencer content on YouTube is especially appealing to the Gen Z and Millennial audiences who watch way more streaming apps than traditional television.
Schedule a consultation today for advice on which platform your brand should use for influencer marketing campaigns, or plan a social media training workshop to give your strategy a boost!
Frequently Asked Questions
How can a small business reach out to influencers?
Small businesses should identify nano or micro influencers who are more likely to respond to direct inquiries for collaborations than influencers with larger followings.
How many small businesses use influencers?
Recent studies have found that about 25% of small businesses use influencer marketing.
How long should an influencer marketing campaign last?
Influencer marketing campaigns should run long enough to see results. Results could include an increase in sales using a coupon code customized for the influencer’s followers or an increase in followers on the brand’s social media channels.
