E-commerce has become synonymous with influencer marketing. For some consumers, it’s almost impossible to shop online without first considering what their favorite influencer has to say about any particular product or service. Both brands and consumers have come to realize why understanding influencer marketing is key. In this Amazon influencer marketing guide, we’ll explore the wide world of Amazon influencer marketing. And we’ll dig into why it’s not going anywhere any time soon.

We’ve become quite familiar with YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok influencers. But many of us still ask, “What’s an Amazon influencer, anyway?” Similar to those on other platforms, Amazon influencers promote and or recommend products to their audience. 

Kev Blackburn put his engineering career on hold to become an Amazon influencer. He’s since solidified his place in Amazon influencer marketing for sellers. He’s not only an influencer but a mentor. Using his Amazon influencer marketing program, he teaches aspiring e-commerce entrepreneurs how to start, scale, and systemize their Amazon FBA businesses.

Marketing Agencies for Amazon Influencers

Influencers can serve as the go-between for brands and consumers. Meanwhile, influencer marketing agencies work to bridge the gap between brands and influencers. Amazon influencer marketing agencies are expert matchmakers of brands and influencers — helping to flawlessly align their goals and values. These agencies also offer a vast array of services. They offer everything from influencer identification to campaign management. And they work to ensure a seamless, effective collaboration using data-driven strategies. This helps them understand the dynamic influencer marketing landscape and digital marketing trends. 

Why Do Brands Work with Amazon Influencers? 

Amazon has 310 million active users and over 600 million products on the marketplace. These numbers are growing daily. Amazon is the most popular marketplace in the world! In April 2023, Statista reported that Amazon.com had 4.8 billion visitors. In addition to having access to this growing audience, there are other reasons why brands want to collaborate and take advantage of the Amazon influencer marketing platform. 

Influencers have the unique ability to connect with their audience with ease and authenticity. This authenticity causes the influencers to appear to be trustworthy and credible to their audiences. This is, of course, incredibly valuable for brands.

Data highlights the impact of influencer marketing, confirming impressive returns on investment and increased brand awareness. The influencer marketing industry became an approximately $21.1 billion industry this year. Studies have shown that influencer marketing campaigns can deliver 11x ROI over all other forms of digital media. That’s over 1,100 percent more effective. 

When influencers create genuine connections with their audiences, brands also benefit. The result is a beautiful community of like-minds with shared values. This makes for more relatable marketing messages that resonate with consumers on a much deeper level. And that drives brand success and customer loyalty.

Amazon’s Legal Woes

On September 26, 2023, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) and 17 states sued Amazon. They accused Amazon of creating a monopoly that hurts small businesses. The purpose of the suit is to address practices that “block competition, stunt rivals’ growth, and cement its dominance.” The plaintiffs seek to restore the lost promise of competition, benefiting consumers with lower prices, better quality, and greater innovation.

Amazon’s response points to its role in creating a competitive marketplace that supports its millions of merchants. However, a significant aspect of the case revolves around anti-discounting strategies that restrict the sellers’ pricing freedom on third-party platforms. For current and future Amazon sellers, the outcome of this case could be changes in Amazon’s operations. The hope is these changes will create fair competition and enhance UX. It’s also proof that adopting diverse marketing strategies works. It makes sense to utilize influencers on alternative platforms to adapt to changing regulations and shifts in the marketplace.

Amazon Influencer Marketing in Conclusion

Amazon influencer marketing has an undeniable impact on the e-commerce landscape. If your brand is preparing to navigate the ins and outs of Amazon Influencer Marketing, we understand that this is a huge undertaking. That’s why we’ve created a checklist of essentials to get you started. Let’s take a look at what we’ve covered:

• Recognize Influencer Marketing’s Impact: Understand the undeniable influence of influencer marketing in the e-commerce world.
• Embrace Authenticity and Trust: Value the authenticity and trust that influencers bring to your brand’s image.
• Consider Marketing Agencies: Explore the role of marketing agencies in connecting brands with influencers.
• Stay Informed About Legal Landscape: Keep an eye on legal developments, like the ongoing legal battle with the FTC, and its potential impact.
• Diversify Your Marketing Strategies: Acknowledge the need to diversify marketing approaches, including considering influencers on alternative platforms.

Ready to ignite your Amazon influencer marketing strategy, and learn how to find Amazon influencers? Great! We’ve got you, and we’ll help take your brand to the next level. Schedule a strategy call today. Together we’ll help you unlock the full potential of Amazon influencer marketing. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lira Stone | Effective, Magnetic Strategist

For over a decade, my focus has been ensuring that professionals stay ahead of the curve in the most time-efficient, task-prioritized, and stress-free manner possible. My extensive experience has equipped me with the knowledge to design a concise, company-culture-relevant, methodical approach to internet sales and marketing.

The post Amazon Influencer Marketing 101 appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

What is Local Influencer Marketing? 

I’m a Detroit baby. I’ve lived in a few different states and visited a few different countries, and one thing I know for sure is that Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz was right. There’s no place like home! Each place has its unique personality, heartbeat, and rhythm. At its core, local influencer marketing is about tapping into that distinct vibe. Leveraging voices that resonate deeply with a specific community while creating authentic connections. The kind that global campaigns can’t replicate. Influencer marketing for local businesses is the art of capturing the essence of a place. The best campaigns do this through the voices of those who know it best, ideally resulting in a significant boost in brand visibility.

The Power of Local Influencer Marketing

Chef Prej Iroegbu. In 2020, Chef Prej launched Fork In Nigeria, a Nigerian food truck in Detroit. It brings the authentic flavors of his homeland to the streets of Motor City. Each dish not only tantalizes the taste buds but also tells a story. The food bridges the gap between continents, making Detroiters feel a little closer to Nigeria.

He began as an immigrant with a passion and connection to home that could never die. The business experienced a surge in sales. To this day, when they host pop-ups and visit festivals, the truck sells out within a few short hours. He didn’t just cause the Midwest (there’s also a Columbus, OH location) to fall in love with Naija food and culture. His drive produced an entire subculture. 

He now hosts a Nigerian cuisine segment on the local news. The acceptance of his ideas and culture wasn’t just an endorsement. Chef Prej’s authentic connection with his audience from West Africa to the Midwest made him incredibly powerful. This encapsulates what influencer marketing can do for local businesses.

How We Can Help

Looking for local influencers to promote your brand and not sure where to start? This is where an influencer marketing agency comes in handy. Specialized agencies have their fingers on the pulse of the local influencer scene. 

Using a data-driven process, agencies simplify collaborations, ensuring that brands get optimal ROI. They’re not just matchmakers; they’re strategists. They can answer questions like: How do local influencers promote products? How do you market your local product? And how do you promote your local brand effectively? 

By partnering with an agency, brands can tap into a wealth of local influencer expertise. Get insights into who’s who in the localized influencer marketing world. And learn how best to collaborate with them for maximum impact. And we can help with that! Schedule a strategy call with one of our experts today.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lira Stone | Effective, Magnetic Strategist

For over a decade, my focus has been ensuring that professionals stay ahead of the curve in the most time-efficient, task-prioritized, and stress-free manner possible. My extensive experience has equipped me with the knowledge to design a concise, company-culture-relevant, methodical approach to internet sales and marketing.

The post Your Guide to Local Influencer Marketing appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

Facebook ad revenue is expected to hit $153.76 billion in 2023. The valuation of the entire influencer marketing industry in 2023 is  $21.1 billion. It’s no wonder choosing between these two methods of advertising isn’t easy!

If you’re stuck at a fork in the road trying to choose between the two, no worries. You’re in good company. In this post, we’ll help you decide the best path for your brand to take as we explore Facebook ads vs influencer marketing. We’ll discuss the key similarities and differences to help you navigate your way through this decision.

This post aims to create a roadmap to answer the questions: What are the differences between Facebook ads and influencer marketing? What are the pros and cons of Facebook ads vs traditional marketing? And are you ready to use all of the above to ramp up your strategy? 

Let’s start with Facebook ads.

Facebook Ads: Knowing The Basics

If you’ve spent any time on Facebook, you’ve seen Facebook ads. These targeted ads pop up on your feed with such accuracy that you wonder whether Meta is listening to your conversations. It’s almost like walking into a shopping mall and every product on the shelf is tailored just for you. So spot-on that it’s creepy. But how does it all work? 

Facebook ads now offer tons of different options. Brands can promote pages, posts, websites, and even the actions users take. Ad format options are also expanding with new additions like Instant Experience. This lets people watch videos, look through tagged images, carousels, and product catalogs, and visit other web pages. 

Targeted Reach

Facebook ads allow brands to target specific demographics, interests, and behaviors. Want to reach dog dads in Omaha aged 25-34 with an affinity for baking? You can do that! Some marketers consider Facebook’s targeting capabilities to be one of its greatest strengths since they work well with any business strategy. And a lot of these capabilities are only available on Meta’s platforms.

Data-Driven Approach

Within Facebook’s sophisticated ad system, Like, click, and share actions produce specific data brands can study this data to understand what works and what doesn’t. It’s 2023, and data makes the world go ’round.  Sprout Social reports that 77 percent of marketers use it for their retargeting efforts, harnessing the power of data to reconnect with potential customers to increase the success of their Facebook ads and Instagram ads marketing strategies.

Cost-Effective

Think Facebook ads are expensive? Here’s a hack: With Facebook ads, timing is everything. An ad for glazed ham may cost significantly more during the holidays than it will over the summer. With options to set your budget and bid for ad space, it’s a cost-effective way to reach audiences as brands can specify a budget, and automatically bid on ad placement.

Measurable Results

Facebook ads always provide a detailed analysis to let your brands know how successful their campaigns are. Although Instagram has proven to be the platform with the best ROI, it is tied with Facebook on engagement and quality leads.

Creative Freedom

Videos, carousels, Instant Experience, and more. Again, Facebook ads offers a ton of creative marketing tools to showcase the value proposition of your brand. It’s a playground for creativity, and SproutSocial points out that 65 percent of consumers say they feel more connected to brands with a strong social presence. 

Facebook ads provide a versatile platform for creative expression, but there’s another marketing strategy that has the advantage of the human element. Let’s take a look at influencer marketing, where authenticity and personal connection take center stage.

Influencer Marketing Essential Elements

Influencer marketing is more than just trendy buzzwords. This is where data meets relationships, and it’s the perfect marriage. Let’s look at what makes this combination so magical.

Human Connection 

The best thing about influencer marketing is….well, the people! This kind of marketing is all about connecting with your audience through interaction with real people (usually). AI influencers are on the rise, but that’s another post. This one, as a matter of fact.

Influencers, whether they’re computer-generated, celebrities, or micro-influencers, have a following that trusts them. It’s like having a friend recommend a product to you. This is why 81 percent of consumers say social media posts drove their interest in items or services within the past year, not traditional advertising.

Authentic Engagement

I can remember when Oprah Winfrey would recommend a book and it would become an instant best-seller. Now, Khaby Lame has the same effect on his generation — just by making a face. Influencers have always had a unique way of connecting with their audience, making their recommendations feel genuine and personal, even without speaking a word. Now that’s influence!

Reaching Niche Markets

Influencers generally serve a specific niche. Whether it’s fitness, fashion, or finance, brands would be wise to tap into these niches to reach their targeted audience. Using niche marketing strategies can help to catapult growth to new levels 

During the Covid-19 lockdowns, my son saw a kidfluencer playing Roblox on YouTube. Since then, he’s convinced his dad and me to buy a game console, approximately a kuh-billion dollars in Robux, merch including backpacks, underwear, and posters, and he made us sit through the movie. 

I noticed that he’s also shown his cousins (local and out-of-state) how to log on and play with him. We’ve even had a few family sessions (which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed). All this because his favorite kidfluencer recommended it. He’s been a loyal player ever since!

Measurable Impact

Anything worth doing is worth doing well. Like Facebook ads, influencer marketing offers measurable results. Brands can track key performance indicators (KPIs) like engagement, click-through rates, conversions, and impressions to determine the success of a campaign.

Creative Collaboration

Consumers are constantly bombarded by ads, so influencer marketing can be a breath of fresh air. Influencers have an advantage over algorithms in that they bring creativity to the table. They know their audience and they understand how to create relatable content that resonates. The collaborative effort between the brand and the influencer is what leads to engaging, innovative, and effective campaigns.

Facebook Ads Vs Influencer Marketing: Which is Better? 

Let me tell you about the Tale of the Tape. It’s Tiiiime (in my Bruce Buffer voice)!

Introducing first in the blue corner: Facebook ads, the tech-savvy algorithm-driven, surprisingly accurate, semi-creepy powerhouse! And in the red corner: influencer marketing the relatable, consumer-centric, paradigm shifter. Here’s a look at the Tale of the Tape:

Reach and Targeting 

Facebook ads can reach a mind-blowing 2.08 billion users and are laser-focused on targeting. It’s estimated that there are 4.9 billion users of social media worldwide. Influencer marketing has the potential to reach every one of these users by offering a niche-heavy approach, connecting with specific audiences with the help of the personalities their audiences have come to love and trust. 

Trust & Authenticity

Here’s where influencer marketing shines. 62 percent of consumers trust influencers more than brands or celebrities. That trust translates into engagement, loyalty, and customer retention. Facebook ads, while great at targeting, may lack the personal touch that consumers have come to crave, and even expect.

Cost & ROI

Facebook is not only the most-used social network. It also offers the highest ROI. Influencer marketing can vary widely in cost, depending on the influencer’s reach and engagement rates. On average though, businesses can expect to produce $5.20 per dollar spent on influencer marketing.

Creativity & Collaboration

Both strategies offer a bit of creative freedom, but influencer marketing adds the bonus of collaboration. Think of it this way: Queen is dope. But “Under Pressure” would not have been the banger that it is without David Bowie.

Get my drift? Collabs take everything to the next level — usually resulting in a harmonious blend of brand and influencer creativity.

Measurability

Both Facebook ads and influencer marketing give brands the ability to measure success. They can see what works and capitalize on any opportunities to make improvements as they see fit.

Trends & Adaptability

Influencer marketing is people-driven. People by nature have to be great at adapting. It’s essential to our survival. Influencer marketing is adaptable and also in tune with current trends. Facebook ads, being data-driven, can quickly adapt as well as see upcoming trends, and quickly make adjustments to be ready for market changes before they occur.

Facebook Ads vs Traditional Ads

Let’s not forget the OG of the marketing game: traditional ads. How do they compare?

Well, they’re different — really different. Sure, they have the same purpose. They aim to let potential customers know about a product or service, make sure they remember it, and persuade them to consume it. But traditional advertising, with its print media, radio, and TV ads, is prone to missing the mark on personal relevance. It often lacks the real-time responsiveness of its digital counterpart.

Facebook ads are dynamic and do a great job determining and reaching the brand’s targeted audience. The ability to optimize messages and visuals quickly and in real-time not only makes social media advertising more effective but also more cost-efficient. 

Statistics prove that more than 60 percent of marketers expect their influencer budgets to increase while many are foregoing traditional marketing altogether. A marketer’s goal isn’t simply to reach people. It’s to connect with the right people at the right time, in a way that traditional advertising historically has been unable to do.

So, Facebook ads vs influencer marketing: Which is better?

We’ve covered the differences, similarities, and pros and cons of Facebook ads, influencer marketing, and traditional marketing. We see how each method can be accompanied by unique opportunities and challenges. So who wins this bout? It’s not exactly a one-size-fits-all answer. There are tons of variables to consider. It depends on your brand, your audience, and your goals. Facebook ads offer a wide reach and precise targeting, while influencer marketing builds trust and engagement.

The right choice for your brand depends on your specific goals and target audience. Think of it like choosing between a classic black dress and a trendy new outfit. Both have their place and purpose. The key is understanding when and how to use them.

Whether you’re looking to expand your reach with Facebook’s targeted ads, build trust through authentic influencer connections, or explore a blend of both, you can count on the geeks here at The Shelf to point you in the right direction. Ready to take the next step and find the perfect strategy for your brand? Great! Schedule a strategy call, and let’s find your brand’s voice, and get it out there.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lira Stone | Effective, Magnetic Strategist

For over a decade, my focus has been ensuring that professionals stay ahead of the curve in the most time-efficient, task-prioritized, and stress-free manner possible. My extensive experience has equipped me with the knowledge to design a concise, company-culture-relevant, methodical approach to internet sales and marketing.

The post Facebook Ads vs Influencer Marketing appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

If content creation is in your future (or present), you want to protect and value your work as you collaborate with brands, make deals, and sign contracts. Content monetization is the name of the game. It’s how influencers are able to make an income. On the other side of that coin are content rights. They ensure no parties are being taken advantage of in the influencer economy.

Understanding content rights and monetization is essential to a successful influencing gig. That’s why we compiled this guide, to help you create with confidence as you level up your work while keeping it safe.  

So, What’s Content Monetization? 

The content you create gets consumed by viewers. Content monetization is the process by which you make money off that content and those views. Depending on your approach, your payments can come from third parties like brands or directly from the social platform your content lives on. 

For example, you can receive payment from YouTube when people watch your videos if you’re eligible for monetization. Or maybe you partner with a brand and post a sponsored reel on your Instagram that promotes their new product launch in exchange for a fee. 

Who Owns the Sponsored Content You Create? 

Lucky for you, the copyright goes to the creator in America when it comes to both user-generated content (UGC) and sponsored content. However, that’s not to say that people won’t try to use your work for their own benefit. 

This is why it helps to set clear guidelines and have both parties sign a contract that ensures everyone benefits while upholding your content rights and protecting your work. This way you can outline whether a brand can use your content on their website or in their marketing materials after you publish it on your account. 

What Does U.S. Copyright Law Say?

According to U.S. Copyright Law, ownership goes to the creator, even if the content was sponsored. Intellectual property may not be something we associate with social media, but your work deserves credit, protection, and compensation. 

Other countries like Japan have copyright laws that protect creative expressions without the creator having to register their work, making it illegal to share any copyrighted material that isn’t yours or without the rights holder’s permission. Places like Australia also require permission from the creator or a license to use it as their own. If you’re an international creator, be sure to check in with the copyright law in your country to make sure you can take the steps necessary to ensure your work is protected.

While the enforcement or punishment may vary from country to country, you have content rights that should be honored. If someone downloads your work and shares it as their own, with or without linking the original post, it can be copyright infringement if they don’t have your permission. 

You can transfer ownership rights in your contract, as well as explicitly describe the ways the brand can utilize your work. Be clear on your value and what you are and are not okay with when it comes to the usage of your content. 

Rules For You to Follow 

Cool, your work is protected. Now what? You may be wondering if there are any rules you need to follow. Along with avoiding copyright infringement in your own work, there are different rules and regulations that you’re going to want to abide by. 

First, make sure you understand the restrictions surrounding the platforms you use so you can avoid your work being taken down or flagged, which can lead to your account being suspended or removed. 

You also need to adhere to FTC guidelines. While they may not be regularly enforced, you can avoid potential complications by following rules like visibly tagging sponsored content as a paid partnership. 

Why Content Rights Matter 

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a seasoned veteran in content creation or an emerging micro-influencer, there are rules in place to protect your hard work. This maintains the value of your content without having to sacrifice the rights to your work. 

Content rights can also ensure transparency for consumers so content isn’t being presented as someone else’s when it’s not, or not being labeled as sponsored content if there was an exchange of money. 

Knowing your content rights and being clear with brands and consumers helps you advance your career without falling into common legal pitfalls. Now that you know the rules, how do you start maximizing your content monetization? 

The Top 5 Paid Creators 

Here are the top five TikTok influencers that figured out how to optimize their income as online creators, according to Influencer Marketing Hub in 2022. This can hopefully show you what’s possible and inspire your efforts as you continue to grow. 

Charli D’Amelio

Known globally for her dancing videos, Charlie D’Amelio’s estimated annual earnings are $17.5 million. Her income has surpassed many big-time CEOs, raising the possibilities for creators. 

Dixie D’Amelio

Charli’s sister, Dixie, is on a similar path making roughly $10 million a year. She’s moved into the music industry and continues to release songs and viral videos. 

Addison Rae

Addison gained popularity for her TikTok dances and now makes a yearly income of $8.5 million. Her efforts have garnered several brand partnerships along with Netflix and entrepreneurial opportunities. 

Bella Poarch

Bella first got her start with lip-syncing videos that now earn her $5 million a year. She’s partnered with eSports in live streams and gaming, along with releasing music. 

Josh Richards

Like many TikTok success stories, Josh uses a diverse range of the platform’s features such as dancing trends and lip-syncing to gain his following that had led him to make $5 million, yearly.

Kris Collins

Kris makes videos that make people all over the world laugh. The possibilities aren’t just endless, they’re profitable, especially for Kris who brings in an annual salary of $3 million.

No matter your niche or interests, there is money to be made in the creator economy. And it seems there will be for years to come. The options for content monetization continue to diversify as the influencer marketing industry grows to $21.1 billion this year. 

How to Make Money as a Creator 

So, how are the influencers monetizing their work and scaling their incomes? There isn’t just one way to do it. Everyone from bloggers to Twitch streamers can capitalize on their valuable content. 

Sponsored Content 

One of the main ways that influencers are able to leverage their work is through sponsored content. This approach involves partnering with a brand and determining expectations, deliverables, deadlines, and, of course, payment. Don’t forget your content rights and set clear, written guidelines about how your work can be used or repurposed.

There are few standards when it comes to brand payments. Rates depend on elements like your engagement, experience, or following. Business Apps shared a 2022 rate sheet for Instagram that lays out averages for nano-influencers as $10 – $100 while mega-influencers or celebrities with over 1 million followers are charging upwards of $10,000. That’s just a taste of how influencers are negotiating their fees. 

When it comes to setting rates, be sure you have a carefully-constructed influencer media kit. This should include a listing of your offerings and how much they cost to accompany your brand deal negotiations. 

Become an Affiliate 

Ambassadors or affiliates are typically influencers that are long-term supporters or advocates for a particular brand. Instead of receiving payment for posting a single piece of content in a campaign, you receive a percentage or lump sum for every time a consumer uses your link or code to purchase the brand’s product or service. 

This could look like using your fashion affiliate link in your bio and directing your followers to check out your favorite pieces, or posting an article or video with a trackable discount code so your community can save while you receive a portion from the sale. 

Leverage Platform Features 

Social media platforms are offering new and fun ways for content monetization. TikTok pays eligible creators through their Creator Fund. Plus, creators can receive live gifts that viewers can buy and send to you in real time. Instagram also utilizes lives as a way for watchers to send badges that are worth money. 

Sell Other Types of Content

As an influencer, you act as your own brand, which may mean you want to sell something beyond your content. This could mean an e-commerce business with your own merchandise or even online courses and coaching services that help people grow their own followings. Imagination is your only limit when it comes to content monetization. 

Now that you know how to make money as a creator, you can find the strategy that best serves you. 

The Best Platforms for Monetization 

The possibilities are endless when it comes to monetizing your social media accounts. Determining which platform will yield the biggest return can be tricky. We can help.

Some social media platforms pay you to post content on your account with them. TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest are some of the few that have funding or options where the company pays you as the influencer to create content or run ads. 

However, this is just one revenue stream as we’ve discussed. If you can easily find and grow your audience on Instagram, then this is your best platform and may be an opportunity for sponsored content. Or, maybe you’re an emerging gamer on Twitch who’s an affiliate for game companies and uses Patreon so your followers can monetarily support you. 

Carefully consider your talents and where your ideal community is spending time online to help you cultivate a content monetization strategy that’s specific to you and your strengths. 

The Best Type of Content to Make for Monetization 

High-quality, valuable content always wins. However, there are certain types that may make it easier to monetize and scale your work. 

If you excel at telling visual stories through your well-edited photography on Instagram, then capitalize on this content type. Or maybe you’re great at conducting interviews or using your voice to connect with your community. That would make podcasts or TikTok a better medium for content monetization. 

Consumer attention spans are rapidly shortening, and the world is moving further into visual consumption over reading long-form content. We’re already taking it to more experiential levels. Virtual reality’s estimated market size in 2020 was $4.42 billion. It’s projected to hit $84.09 billion in 2028. 

Try to play to your strengths and consider leveraging the increasing demand for visual and experiential content. 

It’s Time to Monetize and Value Your Work

You bring value to the world. Your content should be treated as such. Save and share this article for inspiration and guidance when it comes to protecting and leveraging your work. 

We also help you kick-start your content monetization journey while maintaining and protecting the value of your work. Our experience and brand connections make it easy to pair you with aligned campaigns so all parties win. Join our Influencer network today!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lira Stone | Effective, Magnetic Strategist

For over a decade, my focus has been ensuring that professionals stay ahead of the curve in the most time-efficient, task-prioritized, and stress-free manner possible. My extensive experience has equipped me with the knowledge to design a concise, company-culture-relevant, methodical approach to internet sales and marketing.

The post What’s the Deal with Content Rights and Monetization? appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

Did you know there are dozens of KPIs influencer marketing uses? You can use them to measure the effectiveness of your influencer marketing campaigns. No matter what type of campaign you’re running, or what industry you’re in, there’s a KPI that will help you gauge its success. 

In this super-duper-ultra-valuable listicle, we’ll outline some of the most powerful KPIs for influencer marketing campaign performance. We’ll also provide tips on how to track them effectively. You’ll learn everything you need to know to start tracking and monitoring your campaigns’ success.

What Are the KPIs for Influencer Marketing?

Before we dive in, let’s quickly review what influencer KPIs are, and why they’re important. An influencer marketing KPI is a way to measure and track the success of your company’s various marketing channels. They help you make decisions about which areas need more attention, as well as whether or not they’re performing at an acceptable level compared to other companies within similar industries.

A key performance indicator (KPI) may be defined simply: It Indicates how well your campaign is going. But these numbers can also show us if there’s anything that needs fixing so we know how to improve.

1. Engagement Rate

Engagement rate is an important influencer marketing KPI. The engagement rate is the number of people who engage with your content divided by the number of people who see it. Engagement can include likes, comments, shares, and clicks. This KPI measures how well your content is performing and how interested your audience is in it.

Establishing and maintaining engagement with your audience is key to the success of any brand. It builds relationships, relevance, and loyalty among customers while also being a good barometer for how well-received your content is.

You’ll want to confirm that you’re speaking to your ideal demographic and that they are engaged with what you have to say. People who engage with your content demonstrate that they not only see your content but also find it interesting. This means they want others to know about you too. A high engagement rate is proof of the success of your brand.

Maintaining a good engagement rate on social media is vital for any business, and most experts agree that this percentage should fall between one to five percent. The number of the influencer’s followers doesn’t matter as much as the quality of your content.

When seeking out potential influencers to collaborate with, always consider both their engagement rate and reach. An influencer whose followers are fewer in number but highly engaged will be more effective for promoting your brand than one whose following is large but uninvolved.

To improve this influencer marketing KPI, be sure to post content with strong visuals, an interesting headline, and a call to action. Also, consider the time of day you’re posting. Experiment with different times and see when you get the most engagement.

ProTip: Geotagged Instagram posts see 79 percent more engagement than those without location tagging.

2. Reach

Influencer reach is their total number of followers, AKA the number of people you could potentially engage with your content. Reach can be measured for individual pieces of content or your overall account. Reach is a good way to measure the potential impact of your content and to see how far it is spreading.

To be successful, you should track how many people were reached with your campaign and whether any new prospects became aware of the brand as a result. You can also look at your last campaign to determine context for success or failure in comparison to previous efforts.

Improving this influencer marketing KPI could be as simple as working with influencers who have a large social media following. Again, don’t forget that influencer quality is more important than quantity. The goal is to create brand advocates.

Always focus on creating high-quality content that’s shareable and interesting so that people will want to spread the word about your brand.

Instagram may be the way to go if you’re looking to increase reach. In terms of paid social media reach, Instagram is currently outpacing Facebook. Facebook’s global advertising only grew by 6.5 percent this year, whereas Instagram more than tripled that at a 20.5 percent increase.

Another easy way to expand reach is to post at the right times. By scheduling your social media content to post during the most active times of day for each specific network, you’re much more likely to engage with your followers.

3. Impressions

Reach and impressions are sometimes confused, but these KPIs for influencer marketing are not as similar as they seem. The total number of people who see your content is classified as reach, while impressions are the number of times your content is displayed (with or without engagement).

Every time a user views one of your posts, it is counted as an impression. So if the same user views one post three times, that would count as three Impressions and one reach. If you have a higher Instagram impression rate than reach, it means people are watching your content multiple times!

The way different social platforms count impressions and reach can vary, so be sure to analyze your results from different social media platforms carefully as there can be subtle variations when measuring this influencer marketing KPI.

Impressions can be measured for individual pieces of content or your overall account. This is a good way to measure how often your content is being seen and to track its reach over time.

Impressions data can be used to understand how often people are seeing your content, which can help you make decisions about frequency and budget, and increase your brand’s visibility.

4. Conversions

Conversions are the number of times people take the desired action after seeing your content. They can be anything from signing up for a newsletter to making a purchase. Conversions are a good way to measure how effective your content is at achieving your goals.

By utilizing influencer marketing, you can greatly expand your potential customer base by growing a follower list of people who might buy from you down the line. However, an influencer KPI that shouldn’t be overlooked is conversion rates — how many leads are we getting each month and closing?

Conversions are one of the most useful KPIs for influencer marketing because they measure how effective influencers are at driving people to take the desired action. 42.3 percent of brands determine the success of an influencer marketing campaign by measuring conversions and sales.

There are a few ways to make sure that your campaign smashes your conversion goals. First, influencers should be as relevant to your brand as possible. Their audience should also be highly skilled at creating content that doesn’t distract from the CTA. This keeps followers engaged and focused, which means they’re more likely to take the desired action.

It’s also important to make sure that your influencer’s call to action is clear and concise. The more specific you can be, the better. Campaigns with a clear, personalized call-to-action convert more than twice as well as those without one.

If you’re directing your audience to a website, ensuring that it’s mobile-optimized is key. About 60 percent of internet traffic now comes from mobile devices. Make sure that your website loads quickly and that buttons and links are easy to find and click on a small screen.

5. Sentiment

In influencer marketing, sentiment means the emotion that an influencer’s posts evoke in their audience. A high sentiment score means that the influencer’s posts mostly create positive, enthusiastic emotions in their audiences like happiness, approval, or satisfaction.

A low sentiment score is a very telling influencer marketing KPI. It means that the influencer’s posts are mostly negative and evoke sad, angry, or frustrated emotions in their audience. Neutral sentiment is associated with things that are neither good nor bad, like facts or statements of opinion.

Sentiment exists whether your audience is online or offline. High inflation and gas prices caused the consumer sentiment index to drop from 58.4 in May 2022 to 50.2 in June 2022, which is the lowest level on record since November 1952.

It’s important to track sentiment because it can be a good indicator of the overall tone and relationship that an influencer has with their audience. Monitoring this metric also allows you to measure public opinion, offer a better customer experience, and if the need arises, quickly spring into damage control mode.

Some drawbacks to sentiment analysis exist. It’s difficult for AI and algorithms to determine the tone of the text it’s trying to analyze. Misspellings, sarcasm, punctuation, and even emojis can cause problems for sentiment analysis. Contrastive conjunctions can also complicate analysis. This is when two different sentiments are given in the same statement like “Standing in the long line was horrible, but I loved riding Splash Mountain.”

6. Referral Traffic

The next influencer marketing KPI on our list is referral traffic. Referral traffic measures the number of visitors that come to your website from an influencer’s blog or social media profile.

Referral traffic is a valuable metric because it shows you how effectively an influencer is driving users to your website. If an influencer has a large amount of referral traffic, it’s a good indication that their followers are interested in what you have to offer.

To track referral traffic from influencers, you can use Google Analytics. Simply set up a campaign tracking code for each influencer and then check the Referrals report to see how much traffic they’re sending your way. Google has announced that Universal Analytics will no longer process new data in standard properties beginning July 1, 2023. It is advising all users to switch over to Google Analytics 4 as soon as possible.

Over the last few years, Google has worked hard to improve the search experience for users. This includes returning more accurate and relevant results, as well as getting rid of any intermediaries who use techniques that try to cheat the system. As a result, organic search traffic is up. Still, it only accounts for 53 percent of traffic. This means there are still endless opportunities for influencers to help you reach your target audience.

7. ROI (Return On Investment)

ROI is a measure of how much money you make from an influencer campaign compared to how much you spend. For example, if you spend $1,000 on an influencer campaign and it generates $10,000 in sales, your ROI would be 10X or 1,000 percent.

ROI or return on investment is an important metric because it allows you to see how effective your influencer campaign is at driving revenue. If you’re not seeing a good ROI from your influencer campaigns, it’s time to reassess your strategy.

You can also use ROI to compare the performance of different influencer campaigns. For example, if you have two influencers with similar numbers of followers, but one has a higher ROI than the other, you know which influencer is more effective and worth working with again in the future.

Influencer marketing currently gives you the best ROI of all digital marketing channels.

If you’re like the 28.1 percent of brands that run campaigns in-house, you feel that measuring campaign results can be a daunting task, but have no fear! The Shelf is here to help you navigate the ins and outs of your influencer campaign KPIs.

8. CTR (Click-Through Rate)

CTR compares the number of clicks an online ad receives to its number of impressions, or how often the ad was seen.

Click-through rates (CTRs) are an important part of pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. A high CTR is an indication that your influencer’s followers are interested in what you have to offer and are more likely to convert into customers because the content was relevant enough to keep them engaged throughout the entire process.

On TikTok, the CTR for Take-Over ads hovers between seven and ten percent, and TopView ads skyrocket CTRs up to 16 percent. This means that the platform’s audience is usually active and responsive, which is excellent news for brands trying to promote their content.

Measuring your click-through rate is simple. Divide the number of clicks your ad received by the number of times it was seen, or the number of impressions. For example, if your ad was seen 10,000 times and received 100 clicks, your CTR would be one percent.

LocaliQ just released their 2022 Search Advertising Benchmarks for Every Industry Report. Quite a few of the industries it analyzed saw a very high average CTR. Arts and entertainment sit at 11.43 percent and travel at 9.19 percent. That’s a big deal because the average CTR for Google Ads is 3.17 percent.

Every industry listed not only outperforms that data but puts the average across all industries in the six to seven percent range. Keep in mind though the data includes both Google Ads and Bing Ads, which could also account for higher CTRs. Need more inspiration? Read about how we got this smart lighting company over 3.5 times higher CTR than the industry standard will help tip the scales. We don’t mean to toot our own horn, but um… Beep Beep!

9. CPC (Cost-Per-Click)

CPC measures how much it costs to get someone to click on an influencer’s post. The advertiser pays the publisher each time an ad is clicked. The Cost-Per-Click is determined by taking the overall cost of your clicks and dividing it between the total number of clicks. Your average CPC will depend on your actual cost-per-click.

This metric shouldn’t be taken lightly. Marketers should take CPC into account, as it indicates how much a brand pays for its paid advertising campaigns. Marketers’ goals should be to reduce the cost per click while simultaneously increasing clicks from high-quality prospects/patrons.

The average amount paid for each click on an ad is known as CPC. A high number of clicks or visits to an ad indicates that the audience is interested in the product or service.

So, How does CPC work? Great question! The cost-per-click of an ad on a website or popular keyword is determined by how much advertisers are willing to pay for that placement. The more demand there is for a particular keyword in the auction, and the better the ad placement (such as appearing higher up on a webpage), the higher those costs will be.

The smaller the number, the better! When a brand has a low CPC, it means that its ads are high-value but relatively cheap. A perfect example of this is when we achieved a CPC of $0.14 for a global footwear retailer. Is this a big deal? Nah. It’s HUGE. Especially when you consider that the average CPC in the apparel/fashion industry is $2.66.  

Are You Ready To Have Your Mind Blown? 

After reading this ridiculously valuable listicle, you now know nine influencer marketing KPIs that are essential to measuring the success of your influencer campaigns. Fully maximizing these Powerful Influencer Marketing KPIs is the only thing that stands between you, and the success of your campaign. By understanding and utilizing these KPIs, you can fine-tune your influencer marketing strategy to ensure that it is as effective as possible.

This is a lot to take in. We get it, and we’re here to help. Our team of marketing geeks, ninjas, geniuses, and wizards (yes, there are levels to this) can help you develop and implement an influencer marketing strategy that is tailored to your specific needs and goals. Book a strategy call, and let us wow you with our mad influencer marketing skills!

About This Author

Lira Stone | Effective, Magnetic Strategist

For over a decade, my focus has been ensuring that professionals stay ahead of the curve in the most time-efficient, task-prioritized, and stress-free manner possible. My extensive experience has equipped me with the knowledge to design a concise, company-culture-relevant, methodical approach to internet sales and marketing.

The post 9 Powerful Influencer Marketing KPIs appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

If you take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. If you take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I’ll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. 

You’re still reading? Red pill it is!

You Need This Guide. Here’s Why.

Matrix references aside, in the world of social media marketing, things change quickly. Really quickly. What works today may be completely outdated by tomorrow. That’s why it’s important to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices. And when it comes to Instagram influencer marketing, there’s no better time to start than now.

With so many platforms and options available, it can be tricky to know where to start. That’s why we’ve put together this comprehensive guide to using Instagram as an influencer marketing platform in 2023. By the end of this guide, you’ll know everything you need to get started with Instagram influencer marketing, including how to find the right influencers for your brand and how to measure your campaign’s success.

The Opportunity: Why Instagram Influencer Marketing?

Instagram has over two billion monthly active users, making it one of the most popular social media platforms on Earth. Pretty impressive, right? What’s more, 72 percent of users say their trust in influencers has increased. Meanwhile, trust in brands is on a steady decline. In fact, 66 percent report that influencers are driving factors in what they choose to buy, and 64 percent look to influencers to help them discover new brands and products.

So, does Instagram influencer marketing work? Absolutely! Because Instagram is such a visual platform, it’s perfect for promoting products and services that are visually appealing. And because users can easily like, comment, and share posts with just a few clicks, Instagram also provides an easy way for influencers to connect with their followers and build relationships.

Instagram also offers several features and tools that make it easy for brands to track their influencer campaigns and measure their success. For example, with Instagram Insights, brands can see detailed information about their followers, including age, gender, location, and interests. This data can be used to create more targeted and effective campaigns in the future.

The Strategy: Build A Ridiculously Successful Campaign

Now that you know a little bit more about influencer marketing on Instagram, it’s time to start planning your campaign. When it comes to influencer marketing, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. That’s why we create bespoke campaigns for brands like yours. Here’s how we work our magic.

Determine Your Campaign Goals

Now that you’ve started to uncover the value of having an Instagram influencer marketing strategy, let’s take a look at how we’ll help you get the results you want. Success in influencer marketing starts with having a clear and defined goal. Without a goal, you’ll never be able to measure the success of your campaign.

There are many different goals you could set for your influencer marketing campaign, but this step details all measurable aspects of the campaign. If you know what you want your influencer campaign to do, you can structure it to achieve specific goals.

Ask yourself these questions to help determine the goals of your campaign: What do you want to achieve? Who’s your target audience? What are your expectations? What’s your influencer whitelisting strategy?

Choose Your Target Audience

You may say, “Oh, this is an easy one. We know exactly who our audience is.” Here’s where I encourage you to trust the process. Bear in mind that influencer marketing is a tool that helps you to reach new audiences that you may not have had access to before. To do this, it’s sometimes necessary to think outside the box when it comes to targeting.

For instance, we had a ridiculous amount of success with a campaign for a popular cosmetic brand. Even during one of the most expensive holiday shopping seasons ever, we saw unprecedented results with both interest-based and influencer engagement lookalike audiences. In other words, we were able to expand awareness to a whole new group of potential customers who had never even heard of the brand before — even though the brand is well-known.

Find Your Ideal Influencers

A benchmark report issued by Influencer Marketing Hub affirms the most challenging part of running an IM (influencer marketing) campaign is finding the right influencers. But don’t fret. Our expertise relieves you of the stress of influencer searching and vetting.

Keep in mind that the best influencers are those who have an engaged following of users who are interested in your industry or niche. Generally, the primary goals in working with influencers should be to increase brand awareness and brand reputation. These are followed by building brand community and social media followership. Then increasing customer loyalty and generating revenue are the cherries on top.

To find the right influencers for your brand, consider their expertise in your particular industry. This step is important because you want to make sure they have the knowledge and experience necessary to accurately represent your brand. You should also consider their engagement rate, or the number of likes, comments, and shares, they receive on their posts. Influencers with high engagement rates are more likely to have followers who are interested in their message.

Be Selective When Partnering with Instagram Influencers

Plunging beneath the surface is an essential step in influencer vetting. Demographic factors like age, gender, and socioeconomic status are important to consider when assessing influencer appropriateness for your brand. Additionally, there are performative and behavioral elements that need to be considered. These include previous partnerships, categories of authority, post topics, quality, and frequency. Finally, creative assessments help determine whether the influencer’s storytelling, values, personality, and other attributes are the best fit for your brand.

We know this is an extensive process, and it can be a bit daunting to do all of this on your own. Luckily, we can help you with influencer research, influencer marketing strategy, and influencer outreach using our proprietary influencer marketing platform. This saves you the headache of guesswork and the expense of trial and error.

It’s also important to consider an influencer’s overall reach when choosing who to work with. An influencer with 200,000 followers is not necessarily more valuable than one with 10,000 followers if their engagement levels are low. In fact, 67 percent of marketers choose to work with micro-influencers (those with between 10,000 and 50,000 followers). They often have higher engagement rates than even the most popular celebrities because their followers feel like they have a personal connection with them. The moral of the story is to capitalize on trustworthiness, not just popularity.

The Cost and ROI of Influencer Marketing on Instagram

One of the most common questions we get from brands is, “How much does Instagram influencer marketing cost?” Great question! As with any investment, the amount you spend on influencer marketing should be based on your goals and objectives.

To determine how much to spend, start by identifying what influencer marketing can do for your business. As we’ve discussed, influencer marketing can help to increase brand awareness, improve brand reputation, build brand community, and increase sales. With these objectives in mind, you can begin to determine how much you’re willing to spend on influencer marketing to see a return on your investment.

Determine Your Campaign Type

The kind of campaign you choose will determine your influencer marketing budget and ultimately your ROI. For example, a product review campaign will require a different budget than an influencer-led event. There are three main kinds of campaigns to choose from: brand awareness, content-focused, or click-focused.

Brand Awareness Campaigns

Brand awareness campaigns are great for new brands and those looking to launch a new product, rebrand, or re-establish industry value and position. These types of campaigns make new consumers aware of your brand so you can grow your reach. Giveaways and social media takeovers are examples of this kind of campaign.

Content-Focused Campaigns

Content-focused campaigns are the way to go when you’re looking to reuse influencer-generated content across your branded channels. If your goals include creating scroll-stopping ads, this is likely the campaign type for you. Measured social media posts are an example of this kind of campaign. 

Click-Focused Campaigns

Click-focused campaigns are the ideal option when the goal is to increase site traffic, grow a mailing list, retarget offerings, or grow sales. Sponsored blog posts, reviews, and affiliate marketing are some post examples you’ll find in these campaigns.

Track Your ROI

Now comes the fun part: tracking your campaign’s ROI. As you know, influencer marketing is a data-backed science aimed at converting engagement into leads. So, to accurately track your influencer marketing ROI, you’ll need to set up some tracking infrastructure. This allows for optimal results as you track and measure the effectiveness of your influencer campaign.

Of course, this means absolutely nothing without a complete understanding of the things we’ve discussed in this guide so far. That explains why upward of 80 percent of marketers have tried influencer marketing, but  25 percent of them have seen a zero percent ROI. Making sure that you avoid influencer marketing mistakes, have a clear strategy, and use influencers that are the best match for your brand is essential to influencer marketing success. Luckily, that’s our bread and butter.

Focus on Your KPIs

The key to influencer marketing success is to track your most important KPIs (key performance insights). These are the backbone of any influencer program and indicate whether an influencer is effective in meeting your business goals. So it’s important to have a good understanding of which ones you should track before launching a campaign. To make things easy for you, we’ve listed the metrics you can expect to see in our reporting, as well as how they map to your business goals.

Important influencer marketing KPIs for brand awareness, click-focused, and content-focused campaigns include:

Awareness: Reach, impressions, and social media mentions. This measures how many people lay their eyes on your content.

Engagement: This counts how many times people stop what they’re doing to interact with your content. This could be anything from a like, comment, or even share.

Followers: This number measures the growth of your audience.

Views: This value indicates the number of people who have watched your video content for at least 3 seconds.

Link Clicks or Swipes: This metric gathers data on the number of times a prospect used one of your links to get more information about your brand or to access your product from a different platform or website.

Promo and Discount Codes: These allow you to measure how effective influencer-generated content is in getting people to make a purchase from your brand by tracking how many times consumers viewed and acted on your brand’s offer.

Instagram Influencers Who Are Crushin’ It

Finding the perfect Instagram influencer for your brand is one of the influencer marketing tips that can make or break your campaign. Our proprietary SaaS influencer matching platform is the perfect tool to find influencers that will help you reach your business goals. We’ve done the heavy lifting for you. The perfect influencers are now at your fingertips in seconds using various search criteria including location, industry, engagement rate, followers, and much more.

There are tons of influencers who can be an asset to your brand. Here are a few examples of influencers who are absolutely crushing it right now:

Nataldee

Natalie (@Nataldee) is an influencer and content creator known for her vibrant, body-positive feed. She loves to romanticize her life, and she makes sure her followers feel like they’re on this journey with her as she welcomes them to her fairytale. Her content is engaging, aspirational, and absolutely breathtaking, which is why she’s amassed a sizable following across social media platforms.

me_and_my_butts

Cat (@me_and_my_butts) Buttigieg’s children Clementine, Felix, and Robin are her biggest muses! The four, five, and seven-year-olds are the stars of her content as they go about their daily lives and explore the world around them. From enjoying hot cocoa at the dining table to celebrating birthdays, Cat’s content is relatable, heartwarming, and hilarious. These pint-sized fashion icons from down under are sure to put a smile on your face and inspiration in your heart!

TheGroomerGal

Lindsey Dowling (@thegroomergal) is a dog lover, dog handler, and Master Creative Groomer. She owns two pet grooming salons and is frequently featured in professional dog shows. On her feed, this nano-influencer often posts videos and photos of her beloved fur friends being groomed in her salons as well as tips on the best pet-safe grooming products. 

Frequently posing with the best-in-show, her passion for animals is evident in her work, and she has used her influencer platform to educate others on the importance of mindfulness and appreciating a pet’s true nature. If you’re a dog-focused brand, Lindsey may be the influencer for you.

As you can see, influencers come in all shapes and sizes with a wide range of interests, backgrounds, and styles. It’s important to remember that influencer marketing is all about finding the right fit for your brand. This is a vitally important process, and it shouldn’t be left to chance or trial and error.

Time to Dive Into Instagram Influencer Marketing

The Shelf is the influencer marketing agency for forward-thinking brands. We take a holistic and data-driven approach to influencer marketing, and we are dedicated to helping our clients achieve their business goals, and defeat the Agent Smiths of the marketing world. Booking a strategy session and getting started has never been easier.

You’ve made it through his entire guide — so you’re looking to take your influencer marketing to the next level. We’ve got you. Connect with The Shelf today.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lira Stone | Effective, Magnetic Strategist

For over a decade, my focus has been ensuring that professionals stay ahead of the curve in the most time-efficient, task-prioritized, and stress-free manner possible. My extensive experience has equipped me with the knowledge to design a concise, company-culture-relevant, methodical approach to internet sales and marketing.

The post 2023 Guide To How Instagram Influencer Marketing Works appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

So, our annual Mother’s Day strategy post is aimed at assisting the marketers who are inevitably targeting the daughters, sons, hubbies, grandkids, and partners who will be making their way to stores between now and May 14th. Friend, it’s time for some Mother’s Day marketing strategies… and right here is where you’re going to find some really legit influencer marketing strategies. But first…

Here Are the Mother’s Day Stats That Matter to Marketers

Mother’s Day is now the second biggest gift-giving holiday, after Christmas, and the fourth-largest retail event of the year (Back-to-College, Back-to-School, and the Winter holidays – in that order – hold the top three spots). When it comes to gift-giving, moms typically receive more gifts than dads, and in an effort to make Mom feel super special, Mother’s Day shoppers consistently outspend Father’s Day shoppers.

According to a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation, 2023 Mother’s Day spending was on track to be the highest in the survey’s entire history at $35.7 billion. Consumers expected to spend more than $7.8 billion on jewelry, $5.6 billion on special outings, and $4 billion on electronics.

Thirty percent of those planning to buy Mother’s Day gifts planned to splurge on personal services like massages, manicures, and pedicures for a total of $3 billion.

Those buying for fashion-forward moms planned to spend another $3.3 billion on clothing and accessories. And for those keen on letting mom do her own shopping, the amount shelled out on gift cards could surpass $3.4 billion in 2023.

Now, this last group of purchases is where the big bucks are generally spent (like, every year…). Shall I compare thee to $3.2 billion in flowers and floral arrangements? Mother’s Day is one of the most active periods of the year for flower growers.

While three in four Mother’s Day shoppers will be adding greeting cards to the mix, the percentage of people who buy greeting cards for Mother’s Day has dropped 13 percentage points since their height in 2007.

Mother’s Day Trends That Impact Your Marketing Efforts

With millions of consumers in search of the perfect gift, they are spending billions of dollars on Mom. It’s no wonder brands compete to get in front of ready buyers in the days and weeks leading up to Mother’s Day. Here are a few Mother’s Day trends that marketers have had to keep in mind.

Subscription boxes… We’ve all done our fair share of online shopping over the last three years. So, it’s no surprise that one in three shoppers say they have their eyes on subscription boxes and services.

Experiences are also still pretty popular, considering… Experiences? Really? Yep. One in four shoppers are planning to give Mom some sort of experience for Mother’s Day. Also, consider this stat: 60 percent of celebrants are planning to take Mom out on a special outing. Millennial and Gen Z gifters are more likely than Gen Xers and Boomers to gift experiences. They’re also more likely to share their gift idea and Mom’s reaction on social channels.

This means… the gift – whatever it is – needs to be feed-worthy.

Social media is ultra-shoppable… Social media is a powerful, almost MATCHLESS sales tool for spring holidays like Mother’s Day. Not only is social constantly changing the ways in which consumers shop… social is also changing consumer expectations… and changing what they buy, how they buy, and why they buy.

New to Influencer Marketing? Start Here

The Complete Guide to Influencer Marketing

In This Particular Mother’s Day Marketing Post

We’re at a time in digital marketing when over 70 percent of the decision-making process is happening on phones and tablets, and half of all Mother’s Day shopping is being done on a smartphone.

That means being visible, searchable, and social just became the only way to get on anyone’s shopping list. So, we pulled together a list of social media and influencer marketing strategies that will help retailers craft Mother’s Day marketing campaigns designed specifically to boost traffic to your website and to your store.

Yeah, foot traffic. So, you need to give customers a compelling to spend their money on your site (or on-site), right?

Right.

To grab that attention, you’ll need to offer them more than just great ads. Storytelling is going to be HUGE for brands this Mother’s Day… as will creating customers experiences that help shoppers streamline and simplify the process of gifting Mom and Grandma something AWESOME.

The typical buyer is looking for something completely different than what they may have gifted in the past. The key to leveraging Mother’s Day gift-giving as a marketing strategy is to create a supply of experiences, special gifts, and rare items that will meet the demand for something awesome that mom will love.

Related Post

What Makes Them Buy: Millennial Women and Moms

Strategy 1: Video Marketing with YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat

Target Shopper: Gen Alpha, Gen Z, and Millennials

Gen Alpha? Yep. Gen Alpha should be on your radar this year. Because the oldest Gen Alphas are in middle school and the youngest are still on their way to Earth in the next two years.

There are lots of ways brands can use video in their Mother’s Day marketing strategies. Zeroing in on Generation Z and Millennial shoppers with a video campaign is smart because Gen Zers – the 13 to 27 crowd – defer to YouTube for product recommendations and to help them make final purchasing decisions. More than half of Millennials (54 percent) check YouTube daily. Their content of choice includes things like product unboxings, hauls, tutorials, and content that’s quick, fun, and entertaining.

Smart Mother’s Day Marketing Tactic: Holiday-Focused Primer Videos

One of the coolest videos I’ve spotted in recent months is one the youngest girl in my household has probably already seen, and it’s from the Come Play with Me channel on YouTube. This channel is one that older shoppers may not have seen unless they have little ones in the house, but it’s bascially a channel built for kids who want to watch other kids (and I think adults as well) play with toys.

In this video, the kids and the dads – including Eric from The Little Mermaid, Snow White’s toddler daughter, Frozen’s Kristoff, as well as a host of other characters from Arendelle – are preparing a huge Mother’s Day brunch for the Disney Princess moms. So, they are expecting Princess Tiana from The Princess and The Frog, Elsa and Anna, Snow White, and other famous Disney heroines to show up for a fantastical Mother’s Day surprise.

There aren’t any products being promoted. Just a video that helps kids understand the value and potential of Mother’s Day, and provide them with family friendly ideas for how they can celebrate Mom this Mother’s Day.

Smart Mother’s Day Marketing Tactic: Branded Insider Videos

Mother’s Day Campaign Inspo: The #EveryMum Mother’s Day Campaign from Blue Illusion

To watch this video, it wouldn’t be immediately apparent what Blue Illusion is – the video isn’t at all about the stuff it sells. The only hint is that Nicole, daughter to Lisa and one of the company’s apparel buyers, was included in the video.

Self-proclaimed curators of personal style, French-Inspired Australian fashion boutique Blue Illusion is dedicated to selling clothes that showcase the modern woman’s spirit, the pursuit of style, passion for life, and generosity of heart.

The company’s #EveryMum Mother’s Day campaign on YouTube was a sweet but candid look at the mother/daughter relationship, and how valuable the family is to Blue Illusion’s company culture by featuring employees who were mother and daughter.

These kinds of videos are often endearing and tug a bit on the heartstrings. More important, they immediately humanized your brand and give it a face… Actually, this video gave the brand eight faces… all of them believable and relatable.

There was dialogue in the videos between mother and daughter, where both mum and kid revealed interesting things… like Esther isn’t great at picking out clothes for her daughter Lexi.

Totally relatable.

Smart Mother’s Day Marketing Tactic: Mother’s Day Gift Ideas and Guides

Another effective way to use video marketing for Mother’s Day is to partner with influencers who can create great gift-idea vlogs.

Now, YouTube videos will typically be one of the pricier options for an influencer campaign, especially if you’re partnering with a macro-influencer. Like, add-a-zero pricey. But these kinds of short, personal videos can get tons of eyes on your product and get ears listening to the good things about your product.

To reduce the cost of a sponsored YouTube video, consider including your product as part of a larger list of gift ideas rather than choosing to have an influencer make an entire video strictly about your product or products.

The challenge with sponsored videos is to partner with an influencer who can disclose that the video is sponsored without the whole thing seems like a big, fat sponsored video. Here’s a GREAT example of an influencer who’s great at that.

Mother’s Day Campaign Inspo: Fleur de Force x L’Occitane

Lifestyle vlogger Fleur de Force (on Instagram @fleurdeforce and here’s her YouTube channel) put together a Mother’s Day video that now has more than 61K views.

If you have never seen one of her videos, they are very well done. Fleur de Force is easy to understand, personable, refined, and gorgeous. What’s cool about the way she does gift idea videos – and this one in particular – is even though it’s a sponsored video partnership with L’Occitane (which she noted in the video description and the title), the video itself really is full of good Mother’s Day ideas that feature lots of other brands.

In addition to L’Occitane gift sets, she talked about jewelry and modeled some comfy pajamas. She also noted in her video that after polling the moms in her life, she discovered most of them just want some time off, time to themselves, which gave way to the idea of creating a relaxation basket for moms that include things like books, bath salts, nail polish, a scented candle (which was a collaboration between Cowshed x Scamp & Dude), and those pajamas… She talked a bit about subscription boxes as well.

Here’s the important part: L’Occitane was featured in the video, yes, but it wasn’t a L’Occitane commercial in the eyes of her viewers, and THAT’S what’s powerful about a video haul or gift idea video like this one.

Smart Mother’s Day Marketing Tactic: Hauls

Mother’s Day gift hauls are entertaining to watch. These informal discovery videos come in all types and are done by bloggers from all over the world who have audiences of all sizes.

What makes hauls so valuable to brands is hauls provide prospects with an easy discovery method as they are already knee-deep in Mother’s Day gift research. This is great for holidays like Mother’s Day when shoppers are more deliberate and thoughtful about the kind of gifts they buy. Gift cards are more popular at Christmas time than they are for Mother’s Day, and that’s because Mother’s Day is an appreciation holiday the Moms 84 percent of people are setting aside time and funds to honor.

Another thing that’s cool about hauls is they come across as authentic because they’re usually loosely scripted or completely unscripted. They’re not over-produced.

If you watched a bit of Fleur de Force’s video, you saw the lighting in her bedroom changed, probably affected by the cloud cover outside. That sorta thing doesn’t negatively impact haul videos.

Now, I’m not saying that production isn’t important at all. I’ve actually skipped haul videos that looked interesting because the vlogger’s messy bedroom in the background was distracting and I quickly realized that mess would influence my view of the products she found in her haul. What I am saying is no one’s winning an Oscar for their holiday hauls.

I think the key element that makes hauls compelling is the same thing that drives Instagram videos to grab so much attention – it’s the opportunity to engage with the video’s creator and to engage with other viewers about THEIR experiences with the brand.

Another thing about haul videos is that timing is important. Mother’s Day in the UK is just a few weeks before Mother’s Day in the US, and there are lots of Mother’s Day videos from bloggers in all those countries (and Australia).

As we’re writing this in mid-March, most of the new content we see is from UK vloggers preparing for UK Mother’s Day on March 31st. Keep that in mind when planning your campaigns.

Mother’s Day Campaign Example: In-Store Shopping for the Budget Shopping

This gift idea video is way more focused on Target than on a particular product, which sets up a really relaxed, in-store browsing kind of feel.

While the previous video was focused on extoling the virtues of specific products, this one zeroes in more on providing a bunch of different products that would be available at your local target store OR on Target’s robust, AR-powered ecommerce platform.

This video from Mily Fitzgerald is pretty much an in-store walk-thru – no faces, no family, no distracting personalities. It’s a straightforward method of creating a gift ideas video that’s not at all salesy.

While Mily actually has a whole list of trackable links in the description of her video, nothing about the video feels like she’s trying to push one product over another. AND the quality is great without being overly produced.

One of the benefits of a video like this is that the over-45 crowd tends to tune out recommendations. You’re talking to Gen Xers who are FAMOUS for being completely unmoved by other people’s opinions. And Baby Boomers who are far more swayed by facts and stats than opinions and editorials, the in-store browse would be engaging without being annoying. For those types of shoppers, this format would be ideal.

Mother’s Day Campaign Example: Shopper Mandy Luxury Haul

So, one of the more produced hauls we found was by a popular vlogger named Shopper Mandy (get her YouTube channel here and you can find her on Instagram @shoppermandy).

Okay, you’ll notice even from the screenshot below that Mandy’s video has been produced a bit. She puts the products featured in the haul in a little white box on-screen so viewers can see the actual color of the product, unaffected by her lighting and movements. Smart.

Shopper Mandy also includes in the description section beneath her video beauty and fashion affiliate links to the products in her posts.

Affiliate marketing and influencer marketing work well together. According to Rakuten, 80 percent of advertisers run affiliate programs, and you would be hard-pressed to find a micro- or macro-influencer who didn’t participate in affiliate programs.

For instance, the link for the Yves Saint Laurent ‘Volupté’ Lip Gloss Trio goes to the Nordstrom product page for that set. It’s sold out.

For instance the link for the Yves Saint Laurent ‘Volupté’ Lip Gloss Trio goes to the Nordstrom product page for that set. It sold out.

Mother’s Day Campaign Inspo: KyleandCourt | Bath & Body Works Mother’s Day Haul

Another way to do hauls is to sponsor an actual branded haul. Go Team Fam! is a family YouTube vlog channel from Kyle and Court Hale and their kids. Now, I don’t see any indication that this is actually a sponsored post, but… for Bath & Body Works fans, this would have been a legit win because of the Mother’s Day promotions that were going on in-store.

(Just an aside… Bath & Body Works is a BOSS at reaching customers where they are and driving traffic into the store, from their end-of-summer clearance sales (never miss ‘em) to their free holiday gifts, and those break-apart cards that come in direct mail promoting different time-sensitive offers for 30- and 60-day periods… this company knows how to drive foot traffic).

So, here’s what really grabbed me about this particular haul…

Smart Mother’s Day Marketing Tactic: In-Store Mother’s Day Promotion

At the very beginning of the video, we find out that this haul video was compelled by a great in-store buy. Court went into the store and discovered there was also an in-store Mother’s Day promotion going on that allowed shoppers to get a large zippered navy or bronze tote in a chevron weave.

Smart Mother’s Day Marketing Tactic: The Free Gift

Shoppers who spent $50 could get an additional box of products valued at $100+ for just another $30. It’s possible to buy for Mom and yourself, or buy for Mom and Mother-in-Law, or Mom and Grandma or your best friend who’s a new mother…

Smart Mother’s Day Marketing Tactic: Digital Coupon Went Out to Subscribers

There was also a coupon available (list-building opportunity) to Bath & Body Works email list that gave them another $5 off their purchase. So, Mother’s Day shoppers paid $75 and got $167 in product + a tote.

Smart Mother’s Day Marketing Tactic: Easy Returns and Exchanges for Moms

FINALLY, scents (even those given as a gift) were eligible to be exchanged for other scents. That means Mom could get her gift and go back to the store to swap out her fragrance and be upsold by a perfume, spray, scrub, or lotion with the same scent for layer.

(Coincidentally, I went to their site immediately to be signed up for upcoming email offers… even though I know I got direct mail Bath & Body Works offers that also send me running to the stores.)

STRATEGY 1 RECAP

Video marketing is legit, especially if you’re incorporating influencers into your strategy. Video gift guides and hauls really can come in all shapes and sizes. But remember, YouTube videos can get really pricey, especially if you want the entire video to focus exclusively on your products.

If the price of a branded video is too steep, consider including your product as part of a larger haul that includes complementary products from other brands.

Last thing to think about is timing. The UK vloggers and US vloggers produce tons of Mother’s Day content, but Mother’s Day in the UK typically falls a few weeks earlier than in the US, so plan to publish and promote videos starting in March for the UK and April for the US.

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Strategy 2: Create Experiences Outta Nowhere

Target: Adult children buying for Mom, adult children with families, free-spirited Gen Xers and Boomers (birds of a feather, you know…)

EXPERIENCES SELL. For social media users (which is literally half of all Internet users at this point), cool-looking experiences are Instagram fodder. Before COVID that meant Instagram pop-ups and interactive museums. These days, it’s a raised-bed garden in all its glory or a staycation backyard setup or documenting that all-important trip to At Home when it’s time to decorate a new house.

Not everyone’s ready to hit up the Museum of Ice Cream while cases are still spiking in hot spots around the world. And the pandemic accelerated the shift from the super-curated feed to the less perfect feed that was already happening on Instagram.

Smart Mother’s Day Marketing Tactic: Create those In-Store Experiences

Mother’s Day Campaign Inspo: Bass Pro Shops Does It All

Creating in-store experiences isn’t a new strategy. But it’s one that has helped retailers like Bass Pro Shops grab mall foot traffic from shoppers who may have had no intention of visiting the store, but who go into the store simply because of the forest-themed spectacle.

Getting in a little Easter Bunny action. : @shawnaalward

Image Source: Instagram

The company’s retail locations are humongous stores full of outdoorsy things (totally a scientific term), equipped with a 25-cent shooting range (not real guns), a fishing pond, full-sized stuffed wildlife, and one of my kids’ personal favorites, the in-store mountainside stream (the stream part is really just a gigantic aquarium) that’s gotta be like 20feet high.

Bass Pro Shops does a great job at translating the wonder and majesty of nature into an awe-inspiring in-store experience for visitors. The store’s team members are knowledgeable and accessible, with younger and (thank goodness) older team members ready to be engaged when you need them (translation: they don’t stalk you around the store).

But BPS doesn’t skimp on seasonal photo opportunities either. And that’s perfect social media fodder in a world where Instagram backdrop culture and pop-ups have all but disappeared.

Another thing Bass Pro Shops does well is they create opportunities offsite with special events to engage with customers. I screengrabbed this digital flyer that was on the company’s main website. This sorta segues into my next tactic, which is creating experiences that Moms can do with a small group of people who are in their bubbles in locations that naturally allow for social distancing (because who wants to be right near a woman firing off a bow and arrow?)

Smart Mother’s Day Marketing Tactic: Create Experiences That Mom Can Do with Her BFF, Not Her Famly (hello, REFERRALS!!)

One of the cool things about experiences is they pave the way for customer referrals. Fleur de Force mentioned in her video that many moms want some time to themselves for Mother’s Day. The flipside is, often moms who have adult children are game to do some activities either with their kids and grandkids for Mother’s Day, or share in experiences that allow her to still have a day off, but maybe spend it with whomever she chooses.

This is where things like gift certificates, paid reservations, open travel plane tickets, and accommodation/hospitality gifts can come in handy. These sorts of gifts compel Mother’s Day shoppers to buy “in pairs” so Mom has someone with whom she can share the experience.

Here’s the thing though: It’s smart to create experiences that she will want to share with a friend instead of a family member. I came across an interesting factoid in Mention-Me.com’s Referral Success for Luxury Brands report.

“As a rule of thumb, women share more than men & under 30s share more than 30+. However, whilst older ages share less, the shares they make tend to convert better.”

Strategy 2 Recap

Think about creating Instagrammable experiences that kids can share with Mom like Museum of Ice Cream, create in-store experiences that drive people to want to come inside like Bass Pro Shops, and create referral-worthy buddy experiences that Mom will want to do with her own friends.

Strategy 3: Go Narrower; Find the Outliers

Target: Gen Z teens, kids of 30-something moms, friends of Millennial moms

Smart Mother’s Day Marketing Tactic: Tap into Mom’s Uniqueness

“It’s a vegan, cruelty-free, no-waste, upcycled, circular movement naked cupcake. Proceeds go to save the Whatevers…” Right? Is that your mom, or a mom you know?

Different generations of women look completely different from one another… until they have kids. That’s when the youngest generation of parents start to adopt (and finally “get”) the principles and values their parents and grandparents were working so hard to instill. There are still marked differences in parenting styles from generation to generation, but it’s not oranges-to-apples differences… they’re green-apples-to-red-apples differences.

As parents start to deal with the very unsnowflake-like moments that come with having kids (temper tantrums, remote learning, iPads that work attached to school district virtual dashboards that are ALWAYS on the fritz, being captured yelling at your kids when you don’t know their mic is on, moody teens, weird things happening with grades, dating, crashing the car, missing curfew, dirty bedrooms, messy closets…), parents all start to sort of blend together.

Long gone are those early years when Mom still had enough energy to kick butt AND take all those names. But every mom want’s to be reminded of what a doll, boss, beast, maven, genius, Creative she was before kids came and tried to make her seem dumb.

Is there anyone out there who remembers when their mom had a black belt in Tae Kwon Do (mine did)? Or seen the footage of your mom raunchy and commanding as she fronted a pretty sick grunge band in the 90s?

Reminding Mom of all the things about her – unrelated to kids – that make her awesome is a great way to help her celebrate Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day gift choices that reflect her uniqueness, fire and strength are always winners.

Mother’s Day Campaign Inspo: Lush Honors the Super in Moms

Lush Cosmetics is known for its vibrant, beautiful, vegetarian cosmetics line. The company prides itself on living by six principles: the freshest cosmeticas, 100% vegetarian products, ethical buying, homemade, naked (unpackaged), and the charge to fight against animal testing. During its Mother’s Day campaign, Lush offered special gifts for the SuperMom.

What’s cool about Lush is the company has a very strong social media presence, and there are multiple Lush accounts on Instagram alone. The one below is for the Australia / New Zealand Lush stores.

Here’s another thing you probably didn’t know – Lush had naked stores.

Yeah… naked.

Smart Mother’s Day Marketing Tactic: Be Unapologetically Something

The next tactic is about going all-in on some fringe thing. Maybe your new company memo isn’t going to force people to come to work naked. Lush’s Naked stores aren’t really about being helped by naked sales associates. These are actually the company’s packaging-free stores. The naked workers thing just sort of drives the point home (and the traffic in).

Think that drives in-store traffic?

Okay. Okay. Maybe now’s not the time to do a naked store. But Lush also does the R&R-for-mom thing pretty nicely, too.

Source: On Instagram

Lush has been around since the 1980s, but it remains a staple for young, environmentally-conscious adults, regardless of their defined generation.

STRATEGY 3 RECAP

Help kids and friends find ways to remind Mom of who she was before motherhood consumed her (it’s totally an all-consuming type of thing…). Remember the movie Avatar… and how audiences made a big deal of the way they greeted one another? Well, instead of saying, “Hey, how are you?”, they greeted each other, “I see you.” Help kids see their moms again.

Bold, tongue-in-cheek, quirky products can grab the attention of shoppers and help them align the intention behind your product with their mom’s personality. And having marketing collateral that aligns with Mom’s sense of humor, her college days, her fearlessness, or her time as a singer/songwriter can trigger the connection for shoppers.

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Strategy #4: Target Non-Mom Moms (because everyone is a mother of something)

Target: Friends of older Millennials, friends of Gen Xers

Fun fact: Moms are liable to get gifts from just about anyone. Mother’s Day shoppers don’t just buy for the woman they call “Mom”, they buy for moms in general – significant others, daughters, aunts, grandmothers, sisters, other family members, and friends.

But there are non-traditional moms out there who also get Mother’s Day love.

Mother’s Day Campaign Inspo: Barkbox Celebrates Dog Moms

Okay. This didn’t drive traffic into a store, but it was a great idea from BarkBox to kinda loop non-moms (and her friends and family) into the Mother’s Day shopping.

The web-based subscription took Facebook by storm as it dared to redefine the traditional idea of motherhood. #DogAnthem didn’t target all moms, just dog moms. As the two performers rap about the popularity of their fur babies, it’s almost impossible not to get this tune stuck on your head: “If you’re a dog mom, put your hands up. This song’s for all the ladies who provide for their pup. When you’re a dog mom, it’s just what you do. ‘Cause they say you’re not my baby but I know it ain’t true!”

Dog Mom Anthem

STRATEGY 4 RECAP

Widen your market by not taking yourself (and Mother’s Day) so seriously. If you don’t have traditional Mother’s Day stuff to sell, create a message that will resonate with non-mom moms.

Strategy #5: Take the Straight-Laced Out of Luxury Gifts

Target: Significant other, adult children

We came across a pretty neat little Mother’s Day haul video from popular luxury YouTuber Sonal Maherali (you can check out her channel here). Now, the setup of this haul is that Sonal is opening Mother’s Day gifts that she received from her husband, who was traveling on Mother’s Day.

(FYI: We didn’t include this video at the top with the other haul because this one targets a different buyer).

Smart Mother’s Day Marketing Tactic: The Gift-Opening Haul

Mother’s Day Campaign Inspo: Sonal Maherali’S Super-Luxe Haul

The video opens with Sonal sitting next to a set of black Chanel gift bags and a fourth big bag in the back. The first gift she opens is a genuine leather passport holder with a super-cool illustration on the front, featuring leopard print Christian Louboutins.

Other than that AMAZING passport holder, here’s what’s cool about this video – as she proceeds to open the rest of the gifts, there are times when she doesn’t know the name of a shoe and other times when she does… and she’s seen the shoe before online… but has never actually touched it.

She’s trying to describe each item as she sees it, instead of having scripted keywords that she had to use for the video. She comes across as really sincere, and the gift haul seems authentic.

It’s sort of a backdoor into a haul video that would make for great, low-key product placement.

Another thing that’s sort of clever about this particular type of haul is that for the products she doesn’t know well, that could have been a great opportunity to follow up the video with a blog post of her modeling the shoes and reviewing the products.

She didn’t do that, but what did happen in the days, weeks, and months that followed was that as people watched the video, other users chimed in with information about the products and their experiences with those and similar products.

It’s the gift that keeps on giving. And here it is two years later and we’re checking out this Mother’s Day haul as well.

PS. Sonal is extremely likable.

STRATEGY 5 RECAP

Gift-Opening hauls are a great way to foster YouTube engagement from viewers – solid engagement like comments and sharing experiences, and talking candidly about your brand and your products. It’s also a great way to source insights about the level of knowledge her followers have about your brand. And, of course, it presents a great opportunity for your team members to chime in organically about your products.

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Strategy #6: But If You Teach a Mom to Fish…

Targeting: Husbands and sons, brothers, dads and kids, daughters only

Our final strategy caters to the sentiment motivator for picking gifts and that’s DIY tutorials on or around Mother’s Day. Of course, there are tons of cool DIY and handmade videos, Pinterest boards, and blogs from everyday users.

Smart Mother’s Day Marketing Tactic: Handmade Gifts Anyone Can Do

Mother’s Day Gift Inspo: Handmade Gifts from If You Want It D.I.Y.

If You Want It D.I.Y released a Mother’s Day Gift Ideas video that provided step-by-step instructions for four different DIY gift ideas in under 10 minutes. Brilliant.

The video is detailed enough for viewers to follow along and see the types of products being used. But it’s edited in a way that speeds up the video so it’s easy to follow but doesn’t take a lot of time to initially digest all four ideas.

Now, my original thought with the DIY angle was for a brand like The Home Depot or the local hardware store to create a series of detailed step-by-step tutorials targeting dads and sons who could work together on an outdoor DIY project for Mom in the days leading up to Mother’s Day. A tutorial.

SMART MARKETING TACTIC: DIY BIG PROJECT TUTORIAL FOR MOM

Why a Tutorial? Believe it or not, How-to videos and tutorials are what followers want to see most from the influencers they follow.

Courtesy of: The Shelf

Well, tutorials are crucial for the YouTuber. In our post on YouTube user stats (this one), one of the things we talked about was how Gen Zers and Boomers use YouTube as a learning channel. Baby Boomers are big on watching tutorials to decode tech-related stuff. And, of course, who fixes cars anymore without having their phone nearby to reference the tutorial that’s walking them through the task they’re doing? Nobody. That’s who.

Tutorials and DIY videos are powerful marketing tools for brands because most viewers will try to adhere to the tutorial as much as possible to recreate the results they saw in the video. So, this provides a good opportunity for brands to partner with DIY influencers for natural-looking product placements.

It doesn’t have to be a video though. Pinterest is a HAVEN for this kinda stuff, a virtual library of beautiful backyard projects from super-simple stuff to more complex large backyard projects. Plus, Pinterest is great for SEO, showing up in search results, and especially Google Image search results, which means shoppers don’t have to be pinning fanatics to find your tutorials on Pinterest… they only have to be using a search engine.

In the screenshot below, the content on the far right is sponsored by TimberTech, and the one below it is sponsored by The Home Depot.

We penned a post at the end of last year (this one) on how HUGE Pinterest is for home decor and DIY brands. Let me just recap one piece of that info here:

Pinterest alone reaches 40 percent of the people who have made home furnishing purchases within the last six months, and users say Pinterest is THE MOST influential platform for home decor and home design inspiration.

User-wise, Pinterest doesn’t have as many monthly active users as Facebook or Instagram. As of May 2023, the platform has 463 million monthly active users, according to the company’s Business page. But unlike Facebook and Instagram, 9 in 10 Pinners use the platform to plan for or make purchases. Sixty percent of Pinners have used Pinterest to actually MAKE purchasing decisions for home decor.

Home decor is one of the three most popular search categories on Pinterest as well as one of the top shopping categories that lead to purchases.

Now, a large DIY project (like building something in the backyard) is probably going to require a longer campaign to get the attention of dads, sons, and daughters, AND give them time to mentally plan how they would do it without Mom finding out, AND to buy materials, AND to do the work.

The key is getting them to finally DECIDE to do the project… which retargeting ads can help with nudging them toward a commitment to do the project and the subsequent purchases required to do it right.

So, the process could go this way – YouTube pre-roll ads for Mother’s Day targeting different shoppers. The brand grabs viewers’ attention in those precious first five seconds with an on-screen message. Here’s what I’m thinking as far as targeting goes…

To Mom from All of Us

To: Mom… Love, the boys

To: Mom… Love, Your Favorite Son

Here’s a Mother’s Day Project for Kick-Ass Daughters (I imagine this one in an Alec Baldwin / Will Arnett type of voice)

Smart Mother’s Day Marketing Tactic: DIY Project to Do WITH Mom (hear us roar)

Mother’s Day Campaign Inspo: Darvin Orvar’s Backyard Gazebo for Her Dad

Darbin Orvar created a step-by-step video for building a small, low-cost gazebo in her dad’s garden that is actually targeting people who aren’t carpenters… or may not be great with their hands. She uses hand tools in the video – not HGTV-grade super tools that need their own area of the yard to operate. Just something simple.

The video includes a trip to the local Lowe’s Store. She also talks about her hammering skills (great opportunity to teach, share techniques, and recommend gloves, hammers, and maybe even something to combat the calluses that will inevitably result from spending one day as a construction worker).

Take a look at this video because it also has a sponsor mentioned in the beginning, GAF, the company that provided the shingles for the roof of the gazebo.

The Smoaks Vlogs (they’re just so darned charming!)

Okay. I think this may be as unscripted as it gets. But, this video is a great example because The Smoaks Vlogs are laid back but really captivating.

In this particular Mother’s Day video, it’s Mom who wanted to clean out the barn and build a new kennel for the pups (looks like they have 7 or 8 dogs), so they head out to the stores and pick up supplies.

What’s cool about this video is actually Shawn Smoaks’s narration. The couple goes to The Home Depot and Tractor Supply Co and loads the flatbed of their pickup with supplies. Another easy way to incorporate products.

STRATEGY 6 RECAP

Like HAULS, DIY videos and tutorials can provide a natural product placement opportunity. I think the primary difference is it’s a little easier to zero in on grabbing men with DIY videos, compared to hauls.

One thing I didn’t mention is a lot of these home improvement project videos have natural spots in them for objective product reviews… like this drill works on this, but not on that. You may have heard Shawn Smoaks talking about the capabilities and limitations of his Milwaukee drill in his Mother’s Day video. Those types of objective reviews resonate with men and Baby Boomers who would much rather have the facts and make their own decisions about the product than an editorial. Just an FYI…

For larger projects, give your campaign more lead time because there’s a good chance you will need to incorporate retargeting as well as sponsored posts across multiple platforms (like, reaching Boomer husbands on Facebook, targeting sons on YouTube and Snapchat, getting to Millennial husbands on Facebook and through retargeting and emails).

Wrapping This Up with a Pretty, Pink Ribbon

It’s vital to get your product in front of the right people. And with Mother’s Day right around the corner, it’s really time to pull those campaigns together. If this post provided you with your game plan, awesome. We see you.

If it made your blood pressure shoot up and you had to take a Honey Bun break, you probably need our help. Don’t sweat. We’re cool, we’re creative, and we stay on top of trends and tactics that convert. Call us to set up a demo.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lira Stone | Effective, Magnetic Strategist

For over a decade, my focus has been ensuring that professionals stay ahead of the curve in the most time-efficient, task-prioritized, and stress-free manner possible. My extensive experience has equipped me with the knowledge to design a concise, company-culture-relevant, methodical approach to internet sales and marketing.

The post 6 Mother’s Day Marketing Strategies to Boost Foot Traffic appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

But…

Having an internet connection has created a whole new world of opportunity for retailers. Limits once imposed by distance or accessibility are now virtually nonexistent. We can now shop from anywhere in the world with just a few clicks.

While brick-and-mortar retailers are scrambling to become more creative, online shopping continues to grow. We’ve created this post to be the ultimate guide to Live Shopping in an effort to help marketers get the most value out of this growing industry.

So, pull up your Notes app. Let’s dive into the intriguing world of Livestream Shopping, and discover why marketers and consumers can’t get enough of it.

What is Live Shopping? 

Live shopping (or Livestream shopping), in its current iteration, is the interactive process of buying and selling products or services during a live broadcast on a social or digital platform.

It’s a type of digital commerce done in real-time, usually on platforms like Amazon, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, or YouTube. The Live Stream is generally hosted by an influencer – social media creators, models, musicians, and celebs who are influential in the niche or category in which the selling is being done. Popular formats include activities like product unboxing videos as well as live Q&A sessions with product experts.

The main driver for Live Shopping? To boost user engagement with a brand via Q&As and real-time info

An internet connection isn’t the only criteria for closing the deal when it comes to Livestream Shopping. Customers typically want to get as much information about a product as they possibly can before making a purchase. So, live shopping is a two-birds kind of thing.

According to the 2022 YouTube Trends Report, 81 percent of consumers do product research before making a purchase. And a Live Shopping stream on social media offers many benefits that aren’t available with traditional online or in-person shopping, namely the ability to engage with potential customers in real-time just as they’re ready to buy. And that’s HUGE for younger shoppers.

• More than a quarter of those surveyed for the YouTube Trends Report said they want to be able to ask questions directly to product experts through social media.
• 50% of Gen Z consumers  are more likely to buy from brands that demonstrate they really understand customers’ wants and needs.

A Livestream shopping event online marries the two shopping styles. Consumers get the convenience of shopping from a device paired with the human element. What’s not to love?

Home Shopping Network Audiences Have Been Live Shopping Since 1977

Cue scene: Early 2000s. I decided to stop by my aunt’s house for a quick visit. Everything always looked so beautiful there. So elegant. Flawless. The crystal figurines that she had on display shimmered with extraordinary brilliance.

As we chatted on this particular December afternoon, our conversation was interrupted by the faint sound of a diesel engine arriving. “Ooh!” she exclaimed as she quickly sprang up and power-walked to the side door. I curiously observed as she reminded the UPS driver of their agreement as he handed her a package. That agreement: he was only allowed to deliver packages if my uncle’s truck wasn’t in the driveway. For, you see, my aunt did not want him to see the frequency or final tally of the items she’d been ordering from QVC. 

Live shopping online has evolved, but it isn’t exactly a new phenomenon, right? You may remember your parents or grandparents watching QVC, even if they didn’t necessarily buy anything. Heck, what 90’s mom didn’t want a bottle of Tova (my aunt had that one too, by the way)?

QVC was founded in 1986 and generated gazillions of dollars for merchants and aspiring entrepreneurs just by taking phone orders from customers who watched the shows and then decided to make purchases. The idea was to offer consumers an alternative to the already established HSC (Home Shopping Club), which started in 1977 on AM radio.

By 1982, the Home Shopping Club had grown enough to move from AM radio to TV. Its first broadcast was on a local cable channel in Florida. The growth continued, and by 1985, HSC went national and rebranded to become HSN, The Home Shopping Network.

A year later, the company went public. This led to an influx of less successful home shopping channels using live video content and traditional phone lines to close their target audience. Livestream shopping sessions are a transgenerational go-to. Some home shopping networks are turning 45 this year. And if you go to YouTube right now, you’ll find this:

So you see, live shopping has been a go-to for the last few generations. 

One of the most disappointing online shopping experiences is buying an article of clothing, waiting for it to ship, then unboxing it just to discover that the fabric isn’t what you expected, or the stitching isn’t as good as it looked online. Livestream shopping enables consumers to avoid this problem. Interacting with the seller in real-time is one of the main benefits of livestream shopping.

It lets you get your questions answered before committing to a purchase. This also allows the seller to upsell or cross-sell products, all while driving traffic to the platform. The brand wins, the influencer wins, the consumer wins, and the platform wins. Everyone wins.

Where’s the Live Shopping Online Trend Headed?

The Livestream Shopping industry is still in its infancy here in the U.S. But, if we look to China, we can get a pretty good idea of where it’s headed. In a 2020 survey, 66 percent of Chinese consumers said they’d bought at least one product via Livestream. What’s even more impressive is that the Live Shopping industry in China is still relatively new.

Alibaba’s Taobao live debuted in May 2016. The Live Shopping trend quickly made its way to the U.S., and with good reason! American consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable with the idea of social-based Livestream Shopping. It’s not just the younger generations that are into it either. Baby Boomers are dominating the traditional online shopping space.

Consumers over age 65 are the fasting-growing category of online shoppers. Livestream shopping isn’t only limited to revamped QVC-style presentations. Innovators such as the Live Shopping app, Popshop Live, and other social platforms have started a revolution!

What Are The Different Formats of Live Shopping Broadcasts?

First, let’s look at the different presentation formats for Live Shopping. There are a handful of really popular methods that offer different types of experiences for viewers. Here are a few examples:

• Product launches
• Unboxing videos
• Product demonstrations
• How-to guides
• Live Q&As
• Contests and giveaways

The Top Live Shopping Platforms (Especially for Influencer Marketing)

One Instagram feature that is retiring this year is the live shopping feature, according to TechCrunch. Not to be confused with the platform’s popular shoppable posts, which IG looks to be keeping. Only the live shopping feature is going away. But across platforms such as TikTok, Youtube, and Pinterest, livestream shopping is on the come-up.

Live Shopping on Facebook

Facebook is the most widely used social media platform on the planet. It makes sense for live shopping on Facebook to be booming. Facebook live shopping has been a great way to connect with your customers and form a dedicated following. With nearly 3 billion active users, Facebook is a great way to reach a large audience with your live shopping content.

Benefits of using Facebook for live shopping include:

• Access to the largest pool of social media users in the world.
• The ability to use the platform to create a more personal connection with viewers by sharing the story behind the product.
• Livestream shopping increases sales because customers can purchase products without leaving the site.

The amount of success live shopping Facebook has produced may have been too great! Is the shopping experience so good that it’s infringing on the success of Instagram? Meta has announced that effective October 1, 2022, Facebook Live Shopping will no longer be available. Meta has reported a 32% year-over-year increase in US e-commerce sales in 2020.

By 2023, the expected revenue from global Livestream Shopping sales will be $500 billion. It chose to allow live shopping on Instagram to continue to grow while halting the development of Facebook Live Shopping. Meta stated, “As consumers’ viewing behaviors are shifting to short-form video, we are shifting our focus to Reels on Facebook and Instagram, Meta’s short-form video product.”

Live Shopping on TikTok

With over a billion active users, TikTok is one of the world’s most popular social media platforms. TikTok shopping tested Shopify merchants in the United States and the United Kingdom before growing to Canada and expanding from there. Live shopping on TikTok comes with quite a few benefits. A few include reaching a large audience, creating a more engaging shopping experience through storytelling, and increasing sales because customers can purchase products without ever having to leave the site. TikTok LIVE is most effective when brands experiment and align live concepts with their business objectives. The Ipsos study shows TikTok users are interested in engaging with all forms of LIVE content from brands, including:

• How-to/tutorials (80%)
• Product releases (78%)
• In-depth product reviews (77%)
• Q&As (74%)
• Product sales (72%)
• Live events (72%)

A few notable features of TikTok live shopping is the ability to create a custom stream with a product playlist, the option of going live from desktop or mobile, and allowing consumers to purchase directly from the live event with Checkout. Select creators can now use Shoppable Recipes in food videos. This fun feature lets users shop for items now through an Instacart TikTok Jump. This feature makes shopping for a dish’s ingredients super easy by adding everything they want to their shopping cart with one button.

Live Shopping on Twitter

Twitter has also recently entered the live shopping space. In Late 2021, Twitter partnered with Walmart, entrusting their livestream shopping debut to singer-songwriter and social media heartthrob Jason Derulo. The partnership with Derulo is strategic, as the artist has a massive social following.

Twitter’s newest addition to the Twitter shopping family is ‘Product Drops.’ With this service, when a brand tweets about a new, upcoming product launch, followers will see a “Remind me” button within the tweet. When the product launches, notifications will be sent 15 minutes before the product becomes available to the general public. This eliminates potential cancels the consumer’s FOMO and gives them a better chance of getting their hands on the product before it sells out.

Live Shopping Experience on Amazon (Amazon Live)

Amazon’s entry into the live-streaming market should not come as a surprise, as it is one of the company’s several moves to expand its e-commerce dominance beyond just being an online retailer. What is surprising, however, is how quickly Amazon Live has been able to catch up to the competition.

The e-commerce giant designed its live shopping platform with the intention of cultivating a customer experience wherein creators/merchants inspire, inform, and entertain patrons through real-time brand interaction. There are three vehicles through which Amazon wants its audiences to be engaged.

1. Amazon Hosted: Amazon curates live shows with specific themes and purposes. The host candidly recounts their experiences with the product and educates the shoppers about product offerings. Amazon-produced live streams require a minimum spend of $50,000, so not everyone qualifies for this option.
2. Partner Hosted: These are similar to Amazon Hosted shows, but the difference is that the partner (influencer, celebrity, etc.) host shows and have creative control over the show.
3. Brand Generated: This is for smaller businesses and entrepreneurs who want to get in on the action but don’t have the resources to do so. Amazon gives users a set amount of time (usually an hour) to sell as many products as possible. What is compelling about Amazon Live is that it has the potential for high viewership and very high conversion rates.

The change has driven Amazon’s bottom line in a colossal way in the past year. Adobe Analytics’ Digital Economy Index reported the average household shopping Amazon’s 2022 Prime Day event spent $116.58 by 9 a.m. Eastern Time on July 13, according to Chicago-based market research firm Numerator. That’s up 26.6% from $92.09 by the comparable point during last year’s Prime Day.

Amazon has also entered the live shopping space with its live streaming service called Amazon Live Shoppable Videos. This is different from Livestream Shopping because it is not a Livestream of a person but a recorded video explicitly created to sell products.

Some of the advantages of Amazon Live Shoppable Videos in addition to their ability to drive sales are that they are less expensive to produce than traditional live streams. They can also be made in advance so that they can be scheduled to go live at the most advantageous time for the brand.

Another advantage is that these videos can be edited and re-edited to ensure that they are high quality and engaging, without the need for a live stream which can often be more chaotic. Once the retailer branches off into other regions, the pre-recording will be a benefit to creators without a reliable internet connection.

The disadvantage of Amazon Live Shoppable Videos is that they are not live; therefore, there is less opportunity for interaction with online shoppers.

Online Shopping on Pinterest (Pinterest TV)

Pinterest has always been the go-to platform for inspiration in fashion, beauty, and home decor. With the introduction of Pinterest TV (PTV), it’s become a one-stop shop for consumers’ favorite products, too. What is PTV? It’s a new vertical on the app that’s dedicated to long-form video content from your favorite creators.

Originally, Pinerest TV focused on drawing viewers by featuring shoppable live episodes featuring Pinterest’s most popular key opinion leaders, including Tom Daley, Christian Siriano, and Manny MUA. Now, brand channels, smaller influencers, and even newbies can launch live shoppable experiences on the platform. We spotted this Valentine’s Day self-care candle guide from LOHN just today.

PTV is a way for users to shop for their favorite products while getting expert advice on how to style them. It’s the perfect solution for anyone who’s ever seen an outfit they love but had no idea where to start when putting together a similar look.

Pinterest swaps out videos each weekday and allows on-demand viewing. On Fridays, products can be purchased at a discounted price during a weekly live shopping event.

To start live shopping on Pinterest, pinners simply open the app and go to the Explore tab. Then, tap on the Live Shopping tab at the top of the screen. This will display a live feed of real-time products users can browse and shop for. Pinterest has noted, “In 2021, the number of Pinners engaging with shopping surfaces on Pinterest grew over 215%, and 89% of weekly Pinners use Pinterest for inspiration in their path to purchase.”

Live Shopping on YouTube

YouTube has been intentional about meshing its viewing experience with e-commerce. It’s offering a place for creator’s merch, shoppable ads, and finally, Live Stream shopping.

YouTube is historically where consumers do research before making a purchase, so it only makes sense that the platform would want to get in on the action. In fact, one of the most compelling YouTube statistics is that 89 percent of viewers agree that YouTube creators give them the best information about products throughout the purchasing process.

YouTube Live Stream shopping is a combination of an influencer live streaming their content with the ability to click and buy the products they’re using or talking about in real time. The search engine strives to grow its live shopping feature by partnering with e-commerce enabler Shopify.

Their joint efforts have resulted in an integrated live shopping online experience that allows creators to tag their products in each live stream— allowing consumers to window shop and buy without ever having to leave YouTube.

Conclusion: Looping Livestream shopping into your influencer strategy

Youtube has been intentional about meshing its viewing experience with e-commerce and increasing gits gross merchandise value. It’s offering a place for creator’s merch, shippable ads, and finally, live stream shopping. YouTube is historically where consumers do research before making a purchase, so it only makes sense that the platform would want to get in on the action. In fact, one of the most reassuring YouTube statistics is that 89% of viewers agree that YouTube creators give them the best information about products throughout the purchasing process.

Youtube live stream shopping is a combination of an influencer live streaming their content with the ability to click and buy the products they’re using or talking about in real-time. The search engine strives to grow its live shopping feature by partnering with e-commerce enabler Shopify. Their joint efforts have resulted in an integrated live shopping online experience that allows creators to tag their products in each live stream- allowing consumers to window shop and buy without ever having to leave YouTube.

About the Author

Lira Stone | Effective, Magnetic Strategist

For over a decade, my focus has been ensuring that professionals stay ahead of the curve in the most time-efficient, task-prioritized, and stress-free manner possible. My extensive experience has equipped me with the knowledge to design a concise, company-culture-relevant, methodical approach to Internet sales and marketing.

The post How to Loop Live Shopping Into Your Influencer Campaigns appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

Who Are Baby Boomers?

Baby Boomers are the demographic born between 1946 and 1964, and they account for a whopping 70.23 million people in the United States alone. Boomers are part of the cohort of people born during the post-World War II baby boom that started in the mid-1940s and continued through the early 1960s.

The post-war baby boom was largely attributed to increased economic prosperity. Many families chose to wait until the end of the depression to try for their kids. Couple this with millions of soldiers coming home from fighting WWII with a G.I Bill which allowed them to purchase homes, obtain formal education, and ultimately provide for a family. Almost exactly 9-months later, a baby boom started.

Many Marketers Have Outdated Notions of What a Boomer Looks Like

Brought up to appreciate hard work, value education, and fight for what’s right, Boomers have been present to witness virtually every major cultural event in the past 75 years. They’re tech-savvy, healthy, active, and independent.

Did you see Angela Bassett’s arms as Queen of Wakanda? Or Keanu Reeves as John Wick? Tom Cruise is still out here doing his own stunts for the seventh AND eighth installations of Mission Impossible films. The clip below, we grabbed from the YouTube channel of Paramount Pictures. This footage was released in December 2022.

7 Characteristics About Boomers You Need to Know, and How to Address Them In Your Marketing

Chances are when you think of Boomers, you’re getting the wrong idea. For some unfortunate, bottom-line-diminishing reason, brands tend to miss the mark when crafting traditional or influencer marketing strategies and analyzing the spending habits of Baby Boomers. But these mature consumers are willing to spend money with your brand IF you market to them properly.

#1: Boomers Are Influential. So, Let Them Influence.

Marketing campaigns shouldn’t only target Millennial Moms and Gen Zers; marketing to Baby Boomers is essential for success. Not only do Boomers have control of their own $7 billion of annual online spending, but they are also critical influencers in the lives of their adult children, young adult grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren.

These adults have a lifetime of experience building relationships that span beyond marketing products to creating personal bonds with people in their lives. As Boomers age and life expectancy increases, they are increasingly investing in younger generations — whether it’s college tuition or buying the latest tech gadgets for their grandkids.

Boomers are now more likely than ever to be a member of a multi-generational household.

In marketing to Baby Boomers, you can reach multiple generations with a single marketing campaign: the Gen Xers, Millennials, Gen Zs, and Alphas who are influenced by their parents’ and grandparents’ spending habits, as well as the Boomers themselves.

#2: Boomers Love To Shop Online

For years marketers have overlooked opportunities to market to Boomers online. This may be because Boomers are known for their in-person shopping preferences. Any marketer worth his or her salt knows that the decision phase is only one part of the buyer’s journey. It’s 2023 for crying out loud! Consumers (of all ages) are using the internet to discover, research, review and compare products before ever stepping foot inside a store.

Boomers are no exception to this trend. They are the fastest-growing e-commerce demographic. Consider this: 86 percent of Boomers in the US did their holiday shopping on Amazon.com in 2022.

It doesn’t stop there! Forty-five percent of Boomers have discovered new products on the internet in the last 3 months. An overwhelming majority (59 percent) of those polled say online search is the primary channel for uncovering hidden gems. 

This means marketing to the over-60 crowd requires creating content marketing strategies, thoughtful influencer marketing campaigns, and digital marketing targeting.

#3: Baby Boomers Also Love Loyalty

Baby boomers are the most loyal generation of consumers. They’re reluctant to try new brands and products, but when they like something, they generally stick with it. This is great news for your brand for obvious reasons.

Loyalty to brands is especially strong among older generations, who value the affordability of their products. In a study conducted by Oracle, participants identified three primary reasons for brand loyalty: Fair pricing, product selection, and quality. Both Baby Boomers and Silent Generation consumers prioritized fair pricing as the most important factor when choosing their favorite brands.

Good service from decent people. While price is the most important, What makes Baby Boomers buy again and again is providing a high level of attention and service. Coming from a traditional background, they were brought up believing that the customer was always right and quality service was more important than any product.

My aunt is a Baby Boomer. She loves to go to breakfast at a particular diner in Oak Park, Michigan. She’s been going there for years and has formed relationships with the staff. When she visits, they always greet her with a warm welcome and give her great service that keeps bringing her back.

Each time I go with her, I can’t help but think, “This has got to be because of the service”. The carpet is old, the chairs are pink and outdated (I’m positive that those chairs are older than me), and the place never really looks clean. I will never understand her love for that place!

Values. Another way to the Boomer’s heart is to stand for something they believe in. Baby Boomers are more likely to be loyal to a company that shares their core values and makes them feel as though they are being heard.

Ben & Jerry’s does a phenomenal job at this. For decades it used marketing campaigns for social justice causes. This resonates with the Baby Boomer generation as many were involved in civil rights movements in their life.

Although Millennials and Gen Zs like to consider themselves woke, and socially conscious, and they have been praised for their progressivism and social consciousness, older generations are more likely to take into consideration a brand’s values and community contributions when making buying decisions.

Baby Boomers are marketing gold when you consider their loyalty, desire to build relationships, and expected level of customer service. With marketing strategies tailored toward Baby Boomers, your products and services have a much better chance of being seen

.

#4: Baby Boomers Are Active On the Socials

If you’ve spent any amount of time on TikTok, you’ve no doubt seen the video of the senior discovering a “Snapping Turla” on her property. At the time of writing this, the original video has 1.2 million views, and the sound has been used 5.6 million times.

Not only do Boomers like to use social. Everyone else loves when they do too! The fact that the Baby Boomer generation is now actively engaging with social media marketing should be good news for marketers hoping to tap into this segment of consumers.

While only two percent of Boomers polled (Statista) reported using TikTok, 78 percent of U.S. Boomer and Senior respondents stated they use Facebook, compared to 71 percent of the general online population. Next is YouTube (67 percent), then Pinterest (40 percent).

With the help of Facebook, Boomers stay connected with their loved ones and informed about current happenings in their area. Furthermore, this platform has even started to sway how they decide what products to buy! It’s a win-win!

Not only does social media marketing allow companies to reach a wide audience, but it also allows them to target marketing strategies for baby boomers more precisely. Companies can use data collected from social media marketing to understand what products baby boomers buy and what activities they enjoy spending their money on.

Facebook, for example, allows companies to target ads based on a person’s age, interests, and topics discussed in posts. This marketing strategy can be used to create marketing campaigns tailored specifically for the Boomer generation that resonate with them and are more likely to convert.

#5: Boomers Ain’t Going Nowhere…Have You Seen Them?

During my lifetime, my dad has celebrated “his 26th” birthday 40 times. Literally 40. While he can no longer pass for 26, He certainly doesn’t look 66 years old. Baby Boomers are not the seniors of generations past. I think I know more millennials that like rocking chairs and knitting than Boomers.

They have a lot of living left to do and they are actively doing it! With more free time on their hands, Boomers are traveling the world, participating in philanthropic activities, and living their best lives.

They’re not getting any younger, but due to technological advances and medical innovations, the average life expectancy is increasing each year. In a historic milestone, the US Census Bureau estimates that by 2034, for the first time in history, older adults will outnumber children under 18 years of age.

#6: Boomers? They Got Money!

The U.S. Census Bureau According to a survey conducted by USCB, Baby Boomers hold almost nine times more wealth than Millennials. This mind-blowing research revealed that Baby Boomers boast the highest median wealth of all generations, excluding home equity – with a hefty $90,060!

The Silent Generation (those born between 1928 and 1945) come in second at $72,280. Gen X trails closely behind them with their median wealth amounting to $48,070 while Millennials tot up to an impressive sum of $13,110, and Generation Z clocked in at two-thousand dollars ($2,000).

The financial success of Baby Boomers is a result of their commitment to accumulating wealth and investments over time. Furthermore, Baby Boomers are increasingly active in the stock market.

Astonishingly, Vanguard Group reported that nearly one-fifth of their retail clients in the age range 65 to 74 have up to 98 percent of their portfolios allocated into stocks. A report from the group reveals that 40 percent of investors aged 60-69 who are associated with Fidelity 401(k) hold 67 percent or more of their portfolios in stocks.

Boomers have so much money that by the year 2030, millennials are poised to inherit a net worth five times greater than what they currently have. It’s projected that this generation will inherit over $68 trillion from their boomers during The Great Transfer of Wealth.

#7: They’ll Open Your Emails!

If you’re looking for marketing strategies for baby boomers, you don’t want to miss this one! Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach baby boomers. Research has shown that they are more likely than any other generation to open emails and respond–so if you want to make sure your marketing efforts hit their mark, this is a great place to start.

With email being the preferred medium for communication by an overwhelming 74 percent of Baby Boomers, it indicates that this generation considers it to best channel to receive communications from brands. This isn’t an invitation to spam their inboxes though. 68 percent of Baby Boomers said it was acceptable for brands to contact them digitally regarding a purchase, while over half (53 percent) expressed that being contacted with offers or deals on digital platforms was alright.

Conclusion

Baby Boomers are indispensable and valuable to every brand. It may take more than a trendy meme or a pretty post to get them on the hook, but tapping into this marketing group’s needs and wants can bring great rewards to your brand.

To curate your marketing for Baby Boomers, you should take the time to invest in communicating the value of your product. Be socially responsible and tailor your efforts to their values, interests, and needs. As long as you offer marketing content that resonates with them, Baby Boomers will be happy to invest their time and money in your product. Your brand will thank you for generations to come!

Baby Boomers and Influencer Marketing go hand-in-hand. Trust us! With decades of marketing experience, our marketing experts are uniquely equipped to help you reach this valuable demographic.

We understand how Baby Boomers think and what products they buy. From the research and marketing techniques to get their attention, The Shelf can help you stand out from the competition every step of the way and design marketing strategies for baby boomers. Book A Strategy Session today to learn more!

About This Author

Lira Stone | Effective, Magnetic Strategist

For over a decade, my focus has been ensuring that professionals stay ahead of the curve in the most time-efficient, task-prioritized, and stress-free manner possible. My extensive experience has equipped me with the knowledge to design a concise, company-culture-relevant, methodical approach to internet sales and marketing.

The post Marketing to Baby Boomers: What Makes Them Buy in 2023? appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

Born between 1965 and 1980, Gen Xers grew up during an era of sweeping social and economic change. Marketing dollars and ad spend are commonly focused on Millennials, the much-maligned generation that follow Generation X, but there’s a lot to be said about the unique and powerful consumer group known as Gen X.

By the end of this post, you’ll understand how to hold Generation X’s attention, what makes them tick, and how they choose to spend their hard-earned money. You’ll have the elements of an ultra-dope marketing strategy that won’t allow this slept-on generation to look away.

In comparison to other generations, Gen X is relatively small. With only 65 Million people (compared to 70 million Boomers, and 72 million Millenials). They are the first digital natives, and as such, have a deep understanding of how technology can be used to solve problems and make life easier. 

They’re also fiercely independent, a quality that has become synonymous with Generation X. But what many brands and marketers miss is that households headed by Gen Xers have an average of $102,512 in disposable income, according to Statista.

So, let’s Get Into the good, the bad, and the ugly of Generation X’s buyer behaviors. 

6 Reasons Why Gen Xers Are Both A Marketer’s Wildest Dream, and Worst Nightmare

No. 1: They’re Back-In-The-Dayers

Gen Xers dig nostalgic experiences and are willing to pay a premium for them. That’s why you see so many 90s trends making a comeback in recent years. High-waisted jeans, chokers, and even fanny packs have all made their way back into the fashion consciousness (yes, even fanny packs).

When marketing to Gen X, try to tap into their sense of nostalgia. Use images and language that harken back to their childhoods or teenage years. You can also partner with other brands that have a similar target market. For example, Urban Outfitters has had great success partnering with iconic 90s brands like Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.

It’s not only fashion that’s making a comeback thanks to Gen Xers. The entire concept of “retro” is being revived by this powerful consumer group. Brands like Big Chill Appliances (@bigchillappliances) are capitalizing on this trend by selling retro-styled refrigerators, stoves, and dishwashers. What’s old is new again, and Gen Xers are leading the charge.

This method of marketing works because it’s a callback to a simpler time. In a world that’s constantly changing and evolving, it can be comforting to hold onto something familiar. That’s why Gen Xers are willing to spend money on experiences and products that remind them of the good old days.

According to scientific research, nostalgia is mostly experienced as a positive emotion. It has the effect of making someone feel good and also increasing their sense of purpose in life. Additionally, it raises self-confidence and hope for the future.

Since nostalgia is essentially a form of escapism, it makes perfect sense that a generation that came of age during some of the most tumultuous years in recent memory would want to escape into simpler times. If done well, nostalgia is a win-win for everyone.

McDonald’s recently released a Happy Meal for Adults in partnership with Cactus Plant Flea Market. The meals, which could be purchased as either Big Mac Meals or 10-piece McNugget meals, came packed in the traditional Happy Meal box (redesigned by the Cactus Plant team) and came with fries, a drink and a throwback McDonald’s mascot toy.

As you’d probably expect, these adult Happy Meals sold out in days in many locations.

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A drawback to this tendency is that Gen Xers can be resistant to change. If a brand has been around for decades and has built up a strong reputation, they’re likely to have a loyal Gen X following. These consumers are also more likely to stick with products and services that they know and trust, even if there’s a newer, shinier option on the market.

No. 2: Unbreakable Brand Loyalty

This brings us to point number 2. Gen Xers are ridiculously loyal to their preferred brands. My sister is a Gen Xer, and she holds fast to the belief that JIF is the best brand of peanut butter. That is clearly brand loyalty-based malarky. We all know there are tastier options out there. I said what I said!

She isn’t the only one that holds their favorite brands close to their heart. Gen Xers are more likely than any other generation to be brand-loyal customers. They’re also the most likely to say they would pay more for a product from a brand they trust whether it was endorsed by an influencer or not.

Gen Xers frequently join loyalty reward programs to save money and for a bespoke brand experience, though they often leave programs when it takes too long to rack up points. Except Chick-fil-A. People are just going there for the sauce.

Loyalty programs are a great way to show your appreciation for the Gen X consumer. Many brands offer loyalty cards or apps that give customers points for every purchase they make. These points can then be redeemed for discounts, freebies, or exclusive experiences. 

Starbucks recently revamped its loyalty program. After hinting Web3 plans to its investors, the coffee giant announced the offering of limited-edition NFTs for purchase in Starbucks’ Odyssey web app.

The loyalty of Gen X could be a byproduct of their formative years. This is the first generation to come of age with consumerism as we know it. They were raised on advertising and are extremely brand-conscious. For many of them, the brands they grew up with are a big part of their identity.

This intertwining is the reason why it can be difficult to get them to switch, or even acknowledge a brand other than the one they prefer. This can be challenging for marketers present new products to this audience.

Check out our deep dive on What Makes Millennial Parents Buy >>>>

No. 3: Gen X’s Side-Eye Game Is Too Strong

If there’s one thing that characterizes Generation X, it’s skepticism. This is a group that came of age during the Watergate scandal, the Iran-Contra Affair, and the Savings & Loan Crisis. This suspicion often manifests as a healthy skepticism of advertising.

They’ve seen it all, and they’re not going to be taken for a ride, or simply take your word for it. Gen Xers are turned off by pushy sales tactics and marketing that’s too in-your-face. Instead, they respond better to subtlety and humor. They also appreciate authenticity and transparency from the brands they shop.

They’re not going to believe your marketing claims without some solid proof. This is a very research-oriented consumer group. They’re going to read reviews, compare prices, and look for the best deals before they make a purchase; and again, once they’ve decided on a product or service, they’re extremely unlikely to switch to something else. 

This means that if you’re trying to sell to them, you need to have your ducks in a row. Make sure your product is top-notch, your prices are competitive, and your customer service is responsive.

Brands need to be able to back up their marketing claims with proof, or they’ll lose Gen Xers’ trust. 

If you can appeal to their need for convenience, their love of family, and their sense of responsibility, you’ll be able to tap into their unbreakable loyalty and experience substantial ROI.

Related Post

What Makes Them Buy: Millennial Women and Moms

No. 4: They’re Do-Gooders

Generation X is known for demanding social responsibility from the brands they buy from. They want to know that the companies they’re supporting are doing their part to make the world a better place. This means that cause marketing is a great way to appeal to them.

Gen X was the first latchkey generation; they were often left home alone after school while their parents worked. The rise in divorce rates during their childhood meant that many of them were raised by a single parent, and they’re known as the latchkey generation because of it. This can lead to a sense of independence, but also feelings of insecurity and anxiety.

It’s also worth noting that this consumer group also came of age during the AIDS crisis, which instilled a sense of social responsibility in many of them. They’re more likely than any other generation to donate time to charitable causes.

Most Gen Xers didn’t have the typical all-fun and games childhood. They grew up a little faster than Boomers did which gave them a certain independence and self-reliance that’s unique to their generation. This also points to the fourth item on our awesome list.

Related Post

What Makes Them Buy: Generation Z

No. 5: Gen Xers Often Head Multi-Generational Households

Gen Xers are extremely family oriented. This is evident in the fact that they’re more likely than any other generation to head a multi-generational household. 28% of Gen Xers are currently doing so. Family is so important that they’re usually the driving force behind the merging of households within their families. Their inherent sense of responsibility often extends to their role as caregivers. This is a consumer group that’s more likely than any other to be caring for both young children and aging parents at the same time.

They’re also more likely to be providing financial support to extended family members. Studies show that members of multi-generational households are less likely to experience poverty. This means that they have a lot of buying power and that their purchasing decisions are often made with the whole family in mind.

Studies show that while millennials used the pandemic years to spend more on experience, and boomers took part in the great resignation, gen Xers kept a level head, held on to their jobs, and spent their money in ways that would improve the lives of their families.

Since they’re often the ones doing the household planning for their families, they’re very attuned to dependable brands that offer products and services that make their lives easier.

Making their life easier is very important to Gen Xers. It’s one of the defining characteristics of the generation. They value convenience and efficiency. Brands like HelloFresh and Blue Apron, which deliver fresh, pre-measured food ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes to your door, are a perfect example of this.

No. 6: The Tech Split

One of the biggest challenges marketers face when trying to target Gen X is the demographics within the demographics. Let me explain. This generation spans between the birth years of 1965 and 1980. This means some of them are old enough to remember life before the internet, while others can’t imagine a world without it.

This difference in tech usage has led to a split in the generation, with those on the younger end being dubbed as being consumed with social media and tech, and those on the older end being disinterested or not as engaged with digital platforms.

This tech usage split has led to two very different groups within Generation X: digital natives and digital immigrants.

Digital Natives are those who grew up with technology. They can’t remember a time when there weren’t computers in every home and cell phones in every pocket. They’re the ones who are always on social media, and they’re very comfortable sharing their personal information online.

Digital Immigrants, on the other hand, are those who didn’t grow up with technology. They remember a time when you had to wait for the dial-up internet to connect, and they’re not as comfortable sharing their personal information online.

This is one of the reasons why some marketers don’t consider Gen X worth the investment. They think that because the generation is split, they won’t be able to reach them all with a single message.

But this isn’t necessarily true. While it’s true that you might have to tailor your message to appeal to either digital natives or digital immigrants, the fact is that both groups are part of Generation X, and they control almost 30% of the United State’s total wealth. This is a stark contrast compared to millennials- who only own 5% of the nation’s wealth.

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Marketers often gripe about how difficult it is to target Gen Xers because of this fluid duality. The truth is, though, that being able to reach them across multiple platforms isn’t a bad thing.

Cross-channel living is a way of life for Generation Xers. They will Research the best product and price online to find what they want before heading into the store. Although they communicate much of the day through social media, they acknowledge that some things are better expressed with an old-fashioned handwritten letter.

They logged onto The Sims, Candy Crush, and 2048, but they look fondly on the days of playing Monopoly, Sorry, and Oregon Trail (and occasionally dying of dysentery).

Best Practices: Remember the imminent pivot of the internet from social media websites to AR and VR. They bear witness to the fact that change and more importantly adaptability are the order of the day for marketers targeting this powerful generation.

Before I Go…

During their teen years, they were uninterested in what “the man” was doing to our nation, using the birth of rap, skateboards, grunge, and bags of teen anguish as a means of rebellion. They didn’t need no education. They didn’t need no thought control. These rebel girls and rude boys leaned into their misfit tendencies and redefined teendom.

Their parents may have been a little more hands-off and they’d like to think they turned out just fine. As they’ve aged, they’ve mellowed a bit. They’re doing their best to balance the scales by being ultra-involved in the lives of their kids- even if that means being the embarrassing parent at their kid’s soccer games. They’re also careful to be great children to their elderly parents, taking care of them in their retirement years.

They still don’t need no education, but most of them have found their place in the world. They’re comfortable in their skin and they know what they like. They’re also unapologetic about it. So marketers beware- if you’re going to target this powerful generation, you better know what you’re talking about. Otherwise, they’ll see right through your BS.

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Bonus Insight:  Xers Will Become Boomers

Well, not exactly. But they’re aging. This means that their needs are rapidly changing, and marketers need to change with them.

When Gen X became young adults, their focus shifted from being “free and rebellious” to being responsible. They wanted to have it all- successful careers, happy families, and great social lives. And they were willing to work hard to get it.

Now that they’re approaching retirement age, their focus is shifting again. As they age, their priorities shift from raising a family to empty nesting. Health and retirement planning will begin to take precedence over everything else. And as they move into retirement, their spending habits will change once again. Today’s boomers are concerned with making their money last, and they’re much more conservative with their spending. That’s where Gen X is headed. What does this mean for marketers?

This means that marketers need to start thinking about how to appeal to this generation in a way that acknowledges their changing needs, and the changing buying habits of Gen X. They can no longer be marketed to in the same way as younger consumers. Their priorities have shifted, and so must your marketing strategy.

This is a generation that has dealt with a lot of change and they’re still standing. They’re a powerful force to be reckoned with, and marketers would be wise to keep them in mind when targeting consumers. When it comes to marketing to this enigmatic generation- understanding their background is key to success. Keep an eye on the trends, and adjust your marketing accordingly.

Remember households headed by this generation have over a hundred grand in disposable income. This is an astonishingly profitable consumer group that is often overlooked. But, if the mathematically inclined marketer knows what makes them tick, that information places them head and shoulders above the competition.

If you’re not sure how to target Gen X, no worries. We know exactly how to reach them. Just book a strategy call with our marketing team and we’ll get you on the right track. Book a strategy call today. We’ll help you develop a marketing plan that targets Gen X and helps you achieve your business goals.

The post What Makes Them Buy: Generation X appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.