The Engagement Rate

An industry bulletin for marketing pros.

Today is a reminder that you should love yourself just as much as Jennifer Lopez loves herself to create an over indulgent, utterly chaotic visual album blending fantasy, musical, sci-fi and thriller genres. I have absolutely no idea how any song on her new album warrants a Space-Odyssey meets Avengers meets John Wick production. But go off sis. True Leo energy. 

Anyways, here’s some influencer insights to fuel your week 💪

Influencer & brand wins of the week 🏅

🚢It’s win or cruise… 

Royal Caribbean's 274-day-long ‘Ultimate World Cruise’ voyage has become a hit with Gen-Z who are following the plotlines and characters like a reality show. Book publisher Atria Books noticed the attention it got and was the first brand deal surrounding the raucous. After TikToker Marc Sebastian posted a video begging to be on the cruise, the company sponsored an 18-night stay in exchange for the creator to lead a ‘World Cruise Book Club’ on TikTok live. #MarcReadsABook has amassed more than 8 million views in just over a week.

🌶️Hot tamale

Grace Wells likes to describe her content as ‘epic commercials for random objects’. After partnering with Maybelline to promote the new chili-pepper-powered plumping lip gloss, Wells shared a hilarious BTS, with scenes of her dipping the lip gloss into a fondue pot and setting the applicator tip alight. 

^{Sponsored by Newform.ai}

TikTok represents the largest user acquisition opportunity the internet has seen. But consumers have grown too discerning. It’s hard to make content that actually converts.

With 1B+ views, Newform.ai has turned the unpredictable in short-form to a repeatable science with clients seeing an average 48% CAC reduction.

The entire team has startup DNA, so content is shipped with unparalleled speed through campaigns rigorously tested at scale.

Hamza (founder/CEO) and team are happy to chat. You can book some time here. 

No ROI? Here’s what you’re doing wrong for your influencer campaigns

I’ve spoken to plenty of marketing teams about their apprehensions surrounding influencer marketing - and their reasons all point to a lack of ROI. I tell them that they’re doing it wrong. 

When I look at the core of many marketing teams’ campaigns, the ones that fail to reap big rewards are ones that lack an informed, data-driven approach. And the biggest starting point is setting a goal post for your minimum budget. It’s not the easiest thing to do albeit, there is no uniform figure across industries, these budgets are relative and each campaign has a different optimal minimum budget that depends on the likes of target audience, content verticals and target demography. It’s why it’s important to treat influencer marketing as a long-haul, iterative process. Each campaign is an opportunity for data collection and analysis. Many teams focus on short-sighted metrics that halt reaching profitability and more importantly, lessons learned. Campaigns even with sub-optimal results present an opportunity to perfect the blueprint of your approach, and in essence, what your minimum budgets are. Don’t lose faith in the process and know that a singular campaign without multiple tries will lead you down a road of misinformed conclusions and missed opportunities to perfect your strategy. 

Furthermore, understanding key tracking and attribution parameters are paramount. In the digital marketing realm, we’re all doing tracking links, QR codes and pinned comments. The best of the best focus on organic traffic for profitability and the best way to understand its impact is best done by baseline comparisons pre and post campaign. Yet, organic traffic is not easily attained when you’re hiring influencers based on touchpoints like views and engagement rates, there’s got to be more depth in your decision making. Yes - nano and micro-influencers are the way forward but surface level metrics of their performance won’t cut it. A methodology that combines an analysis of competitors, audiences, consumer behavior, industry trends and channel vetting yields far more substantial results. Once hired and onboarded, it’s essential to stay true to your timelines. Influencer negotiations and correspondence can be a hassle, so it shouldn’t be a surprise for me to recommend being selfish in choosing the pro’s who know what they’re doing. The cost otherwise is one where unnecessary deviations to your deliverables and timelines can drastically impact the performance of your campaigns.

So there you have it. Adopt an informed and data approach and you’ll see the rewards come in! Write it down on your hand if you don’t trust your head 😉

Brands are starting to see what older female influencers are: consumer icons

In her mid-60s, Stephanie Glover, unintentionally became a social media influencer, challenging stereotypes about women over 50. Brands like Serena and Lily, J. Crew, and Target took notice, and Glover not only gained 11,000 followers but also earned $20,000 annually from her unexpected side hustle.

While the advertising industry traditionally targets the 18-to-35 age group, over-50 influencers like Glover are gaining substantial followings. Brands are starting to recognize the potential, forming lucrative partnerships with older influencers. Older female consumers, a growing demographic with increasing economic power, remain largely untapped. Influencers like Grece Ghanem, Gym Tan, and Wendy Euler, with empowering narratives around aging, resonate with a broad audience. Despite their popularity, older influencers encounter challenges from brands assuming their focus on menopause or other age-related products, pushing "anti-aging" products solely based on age, reflecting societal biases about women and aging.

Despite misconceptions, research indicates that younger audiences are interested in the lives of older women. Many older influencers are actively shaping narratives on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Lonni Pike, behind @grayhairandtattoos, challenges stereotypes about sobriety and turning 50, but brands struggle to understand her diverse audience. The disconnect between influencers and brands, especially concerning older women, sometimes drives influencers to exit the industry.

As the landscape evolves, older influencers are redefining their roles, emphasizing authenticity and rejecting stereotypes. While challenges persist, there is a growing recognition that older women can effectively engage and influence audiences across age groups.

Is YouTube Shorts - the money-maker for 2024?

Drumroll - yes, it looks like it is. 

According to data from CreatorIQ, marketers continued to invest heavily in creator-generated short-form videos across usual culprits like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube in 2023 and the rewards were lucrative. $62.3 billion in value was provided to brands, just from short videos, a 14% increase from 2022. 

And YouTube comes on top, with a 700% increase in spending on its Shorts platform. With YouTube expected to be the dominant player in the channel-race for 2024, it’s no wonder brands are starting to pay more attention to the wide choice of short videos and creators on the platform, diversifying their investment across categories like food, technology, sports, beauty and fashion. However, with TikTok’s push for creators to start developing content longer than a minute, keep your eyes peeled on how this dynamic might shift in the market…