I knew that if I had enjoyed her 15-second Instagram Stories and found her long, long captions valuable, then other girls like me would benefit from this content.
The first day she launched her blog she had 1000s of hits from people who had been following her journey on Instagram. The vulnerability and authenticity of her posts made captured the attention of a few thousand people enough to make them want to experience more of the journey with her.
Since then, she’s partnered with beauty brands to create campaigns based on her story and journey. She’s being paid to co-create content that appeals to girls like her because brands are realising that they need that authenticity to really speak to new audiences.
Before Instagram, there was an appetite for long-form content. And people were willing to click out-of-platform to access that long-form content. Instagram changed the game, with its ability to give us beautifully curated content all on one feed. It killed the idea of clicking off-platform.
However, over the last year, the appetite for good long-form content has increased. If it resonates, you’re going to engage with it.
In the gap that’s been created between mainstream media such as glossy magazines and ordinary people, content creators who are different have risen because they’re sharing content that is authentic to them and finding that there is a community that finds resonance in that content.
I heard the other day that there’s a new category of influencers that’s been defined as “nano” influencers. Why are we creating new categories of influence every season? Brands want to partner with people who are creating content that resonates.
Earlier this year, I realised that pretty pictures with flighty captions and a brand hashtag slapped onto a post aren’t enough. Working on a brand positioning re-launch for a banking client, I decided to try a different route and take the road less travelled. I proposed a content strategy that used influencers with relatively small, but engaged communities, across the country.
The results? South Africans across the provinces connected with the message of courage by working with people they respected. Instead of being prescriptive about the content my team and I wanted influencers to post, we asked them to answer a question: When was the last time you had to step out in courage?
The response was 20 uniquely-resonant stories across social that captured the essence of the campaign.
Taking a risk paid off. The big idea included sparking a conversation about courage around the nation when considering influencers for the campaign I also asked the team to look into young people who were experimenting with platforms like YouTube and Soundcloud for podcasts.
In the end, my team and I weren’t able to sell the use of those platforms, but the next time I have enough budget I’ll make it a point to centre co-creation with creators using “alternative” platforms.
Influencer marketing rose to fame because brands were looking to gain access to the communities influential people are speaking to. What’s started to happen is that people with smaller spheres of influence have high engagement because they’re sharing authentically – their pages aren’t dollied up to attract brands.
There’s an opportunity for your brand to co-create with a content creator and give people the authentic content they’re looking for in their scrolling.
