How Influencer Marketing On Social Media Has Changed During The Pandemic

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Two words have defined the social media generation in recent years — influencer marketing. It’s both a topic of some derision (a recent example from the protests includes someone doing a selfie in front of a dilapidated building) and incredible success.

I recently caught up with an influencer named Elma Beganovich, one half of the influencer marketing team of sisters Amra & Elma, to ask about how the influencer marketing field has changed, ideas for how anyone can become an influencer, and life during the lockdown.

How has the influencer market changed amid the outbreak?

Influencer marketing has changed in several ways during the outbreak. Firstly, influencers have had to shift gears in terms of their content creation and focus on the stay at home economy — so what do influencers see around their homes, from activities to hobbies, that their followers can relate to at this very moment. Secondly, the pricing of influencers has dropped from 30% to 40% even though there has been a surge in online viewership. Viewership has doubled for Instagram Live and Facebook Live. Hence, it is a perfect time to take advantage of the surge in online activity and online shopping. 

How have you changed your own strategy in light of social distancing, lack of photography, etc.?

For A&E, our agency, we have shifted our strategy to advising our clients on social responsibility and crafting campaigns, which are not tone deaf. At the end of the day, consumers want to know what brands are doing to provide relief in their communities, whether it is donating a portion of sale proceeds to charities heavily impacted by COVID (such as the fashion and beauty brands) to donating food to hospitals (such as for food brands).

For our personal brands, we are well aware of the challenges our followers are facing and the changes in their daily routines, so we are devising videos on our Instagram Stories with messaging that is inspirational, such as stay at home cooking and well-being to self-care with some of our favorite beauty brands.

How do you make your income as an influencer these days?

Influencers make income in a variety of ways from sponsored posts to royalty proceeds from sales of their namesake brands. For example, there has been an explosion of beauty influencers with their namesake brands, which one can prominently see in the front aisles of Sephora. Other ways to make income as an influencer include being a guest speaker, making an appearance at a highly publicized premiere or show, and creating content for brands.

Have you seen about the same interest level or less? Why?

We’ve seen a surge of interest since consumers have shifted to online shopping and the impressions are up by at least 40% although we have seen a decrease in ad spending and some companies have hit pause altogether on their campaigns. 

The surge of interest comes from many brands scratching their heads so to speak, so do you position your brand in the midst of the pandemic, what to communicate to the consumer and how to do it in a cost effective manner? And all of the latter questions involve a heavy use of digital channels with consumers directly shopping online.

What do you recommend doing if someone wants to be an Instagram influencer?

There are several steps to become an Instagram influencer, and some top priorities include: Creating your brand persona. What are your core values as a brand (and yes a brand can be a person!) and what are you trying to communicate to your audience? How are you different from other existing influencers? Find your niche or create a memorable persona. Learn to edit your own content from Photoshop to Adobe Lightroom.  Be ready to dedicate a lot of time to producing content, think of yourself as a mini production studio from creating scripts and skits, for videos, to editing your own content. Take an internship and work closely with celebrity influencers to learn the arts and crafts of the trade.

What are the things to avoid doing that don’t work?

As an agency, we advise brands not to jump the gun and then give up quickly on influencer marketing. Whether you are an entrepreneur, a startup or a marketing professional, it takes time to devise influencer campaigns from crafting the creative brief to identifying influencers, who are at the epicenter of influence in your own industry. Also, make sure you have set up ways to measure the campaign, some KPIs such as customized links, landing pages, impressions, reach, engagement and even campaign #hashtags used. 

For our personal brands and as influencers, we advise other aspiring influencers to invest heavily into their content, after all, content is why your followers follow and trust your brand. Learn Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, iMovie, etc. Also, be ready to spend a lot of time on your phone and stay up to date with new features and technologies, such as carefully analyze the available insights and analytics that Instagram is providing in order to be able to pitch your personal brand to companies you want to work with.

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