AI-Powered Algorithms Evolve the Influencer Landscape
(Part 1 of a two-part series)
5-minute read
Internet virality was once guaranteed to a celebrity online if their social media accounts had high enough follower counts. A provocative photo or an unexpected reveal was enough to light the internet on fire. Remember Kim K’s Paper Magazine cover that broke the internet? The magazine’s Instagram post of the cover compiled 15 million page views on their website. Or Beyoncé’s floral pregnancy announcement that became the most-liked Instagram photo of all time in 8 hours?
Right around Beyonce’s announcement, TikTok’s US release gave birth to non-celebrities being able to equal and surpass traditional celebrities’ buzz and follower count through their creativity, spontaneity, and compelling content creation. Charli D’Amelio holds the record for being the first person to reach 100 million followers on TikTok through wildly popular dance routines. Since Charli, countless numbers of everyday people have been able to amass high follower counts (some real, some not) in hopes of becoming internet famous. Gen Z and Young Millennials, having grown up watching the rise and fall of these online influencers, have become critical of the influencers they follow and have raised the bar on the content they'll engage with.
In Part one of this two-part series, we analyze how the influencer landscape has evolved. Follower count or fame no longer provides insurance for effective influence for a brand or highly engaged content for a brand post. What young consumers are now looking for in content are creators, not influencers, that use their talent, skills and creativity to produce entertaining content vs. solely focus on building their personal brand as some influencers do. While creators like@doeneseyaand@cambriabeautymight not have large followings their content generates high engagement and views. Here are a few examples of influential individuals with smaller followings achieving outsized impacts for brands.
Marc Jacobs Fragrance #PerfectAsIAm Hotline
Qulture worked closely with Marc Jacobs to create a “hotline” for their Perfect Marc Jacobs Eau de Toilette around Valentine’s Day. The campaign featured a handful of online influencers like Julia Fox and Antoni Bumba talking about love and encouraging audiences to share their personal stories to a toll-free number the brand had created. Julia Fox’s TikTok post was able to amass almost 19M views with a 7-second video for the brand even though her following was under 2M. Leaning into audience participation with the hotline and creating digital-tainment helped drive views and engagement for this campaign.
Reformation’s Recreation of Buzzy Creator Content
Reformation’s Instagram feed contains various creators reproducing sketches, stunts, and hilarious videos that have gone viral on influencers’ feeds with a twist: they are wearing Reformation clothing. One example is @_iamjamila posting a video on TikTok, which received 1.3M views about her experience with dating apps, showing a Hinge profile of a man standing on a horse. This video is cloned by the original creator on Instagram for Reformation’s account and wearing the brand’s Bailey Knit Top. In another example, a similar popular TikTok video received over 1M views when recreated on the brand’s Instagram channel. This strategy is mutually beneficial to both the brand and the influencers. Recreating already popular content is a way for the brand to guarantee high engagement on its own channel while also introducing a new audience to these creators’ channels.
Glossier’s Everyone’s A Creator Strategy
Emily Weiss has believed since before the launch of Glossier that “every single person is an influencer” or a creator regardless of their smaller footprint on social. This has led the brand to regularly scan social media to find how everyday people and creators with a smaller following have shown themselves using its products. The posters with the best content, not a massive follower count, are rewarded with reposting their content to the brand’s account and an invitation to become brand ambassadors. Showing a diverse set of real and relatable fans saying in their own words why they love their products, rather than celebrities or macro-influencers, has driven much of their sales - 70% of their online sales and traffic come from peer-to-peer referrals.
Part 2 of this influencer series will focus on a list of ways to find the right creators to partner with.