Marketers who want to reach engaged audiences through the power of visual media may benefit greatly from employing influencer marketing, which is especially effective for aesthetically focused lifestyle, retail, and travel firms.
Just how can we quantify impact?
Although many marketers are familiar with the concept of using influence as a form of currency, they often lack a thorough understanding of the mechanics involved. To define what influence is, both influencers and brand owners tend to look through a narrow lens. Followers, likes, comments, shares, increased internet traffic, etc. assist establish online celebrities’ legitimacy and highlight the worth of a brand’s management to stakeholders who must justify a marketing expenditure.
Instagram’s Like-less Future
So, many were taken aback when Facebook said at the May F8 conference that they planned to test a “like-less” Instagram, where users and marketers alike would no longer be able to get their dopamine hit off the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of clearly visible interactions. A little bit of fear followed.
With any luck, Instagram users will only be able to see the number of likes their own posts have received and not the likes other users have earned. Perhaps that’s only a small tweak? It’s a tiny adjustment that will have a significant impact on how marketers and influencers utilise Instagram. As a result of this change, Instagram may finally become a platform for social interaction, individual expression, and collective creativity. Hiding the total amount of likes also reduces the unhealthy rivalry between followers.
Brands need to start using more insightful metrics.
Now that brands have access to influencer marketing tools, they can track more actionable analytics and learn about the targeted audience for their campaigns. The Instagram influencer marketing platform Klear includes the Meltwater Influencer tool, which has audience reporting tools that show marketers the demographics of an influencer’s following. To determine the most effective audience for their campaign, this technology helps businesses see exactly who is being impacted.
How will it effect people of influence?
Some influencers are afraid that this may hurt their engagement rates, while others believe it will add credibility to an increasingly popular marketing strategy.
By hiding their popularity ranking, influencers want to regain the comfort that comes with a large following. Rather of focusing just on sales, they will be incentivized to provide material that is both highly entertaining and inspires creative thought. Without the ability to purchase likes, the value of Influencers on Instagram will be determined only on the amount of referral traffic they generate. As a result, the influencers will crank out superior material that may draw in new followers for the long haul.
Good material, good readers
If the experiment with Instagram without likes is a success, companies will rely less on that metric when trying to determine which influencers will have the most impact on their campaigns. Instead, content creators’ success would be measured by the number of clicks their work receives and the revenue it generates.
What kind of shifts can we anticipate in influencer marketing campaigns?
- Formerly, content success was measured mostly by the number of likes it received. In order to maintain readers’ interest, feeds need to be more original, interesting, and reliable. Companies are likely to choose working with “micro influencers,” or those who have 10,000 to 50,000 followers, for more intimate campaigns. Because of their more specific tone and greater engagement rates, these creatives deliver a fair return on investment for companies.
- There could be a rise in the number of people actively following their favourite brands. Fans will feel more invested in clicking “like” when they do so in accordance with their own values rather than those of the mainstream or any particular trend. Because of this, only those who care about your brand will interact with your material, allowing you to build true connections with your target audience.
- Instagram’story’ views will become a critical measure to track as brands seek to project a more lively image on the platform. Branding will grow increasingly dependent on cutting-edge marketing initiatives, particularly as the popularity of voice-activated searches and vertical video continues to rise.
A different Instagram tactic to accommodate these shifts
What changes can we anticipate, and how can we adjust our strategy to accommodate new ways in which Instagram users will engage with the platform?
- Instagram stories and Instagram TV (IGTV) are becoming increasingly participatory.
- Making your brand seem to a smaller, more specific audience
- The use of e-commerce and product labelling in otherwise static picture postings
- Weeding out idle and uninterested accounts from one’s list of followers.
- To maximise your click-through rate, aim for certain numbers.
- Elevation of the bar for complexity and excellence in media
It is not darkness and gloominess.
Instagram might benefit in a variety of ways from something as simple as concealing the likes count. Better online mental health and more concentrated narrative material are only two examples. Instagram’s forward-thinking initiatives are reshaping the advertising industry and the platform is on track to outperform Snapchat in terms of daily engagement rates, which bodes well for the expansion of influencer marketing.