Assessing the 2021 landscape: Commerce aligned with social set to rocket as brands truly digitise

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that massive disruptions can happen overnight across industries, with customer communication responsibilities from marketing to care often falling to the social media marketing team. The trends we at Socialbakers have seen take shape this year -- from increased usage of social messaging to recruiting niche influencers to help expand social reach -- are likely to grow in the coming year as more and more customer interactions happen...

14 December 2020 | Advertising

Why experiential marketing is more than just FOMO-inducing activations

A pre-pandemic Ad Age article suggested that experiential marketing might have reached its peak and, in supporting its argument, cited Instagram-worthy installations like the Museum of Ice Cream and The Color Factory. The problem is that while both installations are fun activities in their own right, they’re not actually examples of experiential marketing. They’re photography-oriented theme parks designed primarily for entertainment and social media sharing.

Experiential...

9 December 2020 | Branding

Sherwin-Williams, influencer marketing and UGC trends: Why consumers were left shaken but not stirred

The story of a Sherwin-Williams employee who was fired after the company saw his viral TikTok channel focused on paint mixing has led to plenty of reaction around the decision, as well as discussion around wider influencer marketing and user-generated content (UGC) strategies.

Tony Piloseno, who worked part-time at a Sherwin-Williams store in Ohio, had built a 1.2 million-strong TikTok audience for his channel which showcased paint mixing. As reported by BuzzFeed, Piloseno was...

24 November 2020 | Branding

The Covid-19 realities which support influence marketing and in-housing

As we push forward into the winter of 2020, nearly six months since the appearance of COVID-19 in our lives, the impact of the pandemic on business marketing remains significant. Where “zoom” might have been the occasional reference to just another web conferencing tool, “zoom” is now a verb defining an entire ecosystem. So while some aspects of business are being challenged, many other aspects are seeing opportunity explode. In digital marketing, this is truly the...

12 November 2020 | Influencer Marketing

Travis Scott, J Balvin, and McDonald’s: Why some social partnerships work and others are destined to fail

If you went to McDonald’s in September, chances are you encountered Travis Scott. The prolific rapper had the first celebrity meal partnership to be featured on the McDonald’s menu since Michael Jordan’s in 1992. The Cactus Jack meal, named after Scott’s record label, replicated his favorite childhood special-order. The partnership was wildly successful. In its first few weeks, McDonald’s saw many franchises completely run out of ingredients for the meal, forcing a logistical...

12 November 2020 | Influencer Marketing

How user-generated content can be more powerful than influencer marketing campaigns

User-generated content (UGC) is quickly becoming the most popular marketing tool ahead of online influencer campaigns. The public have become accustomed to reality stars and has-been celebrities flogging whichever never-used-gadget that they’ve been paid to promote.

Since the rise of the Insta-marketeer, the Advertising Standards Authority has prescribed new rules for promoting products and services through social media platforms and online blogs, where a paid promotion must be...

11 November 2020 | Content Marketing

Trends in influencer marketing: Instagram and TikTok key, brand collaboration promising

The influencer marketing industry continues to grow with Instagram and TikTok key channels - but as Covid-19 continues to rage, a new report has found promising areas of collaboration in uncertain times.

The report from Tribe Dynamics, which surveyed more than 60 brands and more than 250 influencers, found manpower and resources remain roadblocks to program success. 91% of influencer marketing teams were between one and five people in size. More than four in five (81%) said their...

12 October 2020 | Branding

Key practices for tech brands to drive brand love in today’s tumultuous climate

2020 has been a tumultuous ride that no one saw coming. Every industry out there has been affected by COVID-19, and businesses are unlikely to go back to the way things were anytime soon. Especially at a time where consumer spending has generally decreased, businesses need to rethink their marketing strategy and brand story, in order to earn a place in the hearts of consumers. 

For technology companies that may be tightening their budgets amidst the current times, it is still...

9 September 2020 | Branding

The state of influencer marketing amid Covid-19: Concern but micro-influencers show path forward

Influencer marketing campaigns, so often trying to achieve a balance between aspiration and authenticity, have seen a fault line rip through them as the coronavirus pandemic has progressed.

For all of the missteps which made the news last year - Philip Morris breaking its internal rules on a campaign, fashion influencer Marissa Casey Grossman's marriage which brought a new meaning to the term 'brand engagement' - the statistics around influencer marketing were solid. According to...

29 June 2020 | Campaigns

Instagram and social engagement rises in lockdown – but influencers having less impact

More people are engaging with Instagram, but posts from influencers are on the decline as marketing budgets are slashed, according to the latest report from Socialbakers.

The company's Social Media Trends report, for Q1, specifically highlighted the impact Covid-19 was having on marketing trends. While many organisations were undergoing a natural change in circumstances amid the pandemic - take the travel industry as an example highlighted by this publication earlier this week -...

6 May 2020 | Influencer Marketing