Why are D2C brands in love with online creator communities?
Industry observers say the pandemic and ‘influencer fatigue’ brought the community-led model into focus, prompting brands to allocate budgets for consumer-cum-creator led marketing
Direct to Consumer (D2C) brands so far had largely been focussing on performance marketing and Above The Line (ATL) campaigns. Not anymore.
Most D2C brands have now shifted to building online communities of consumers now.
Canon, for instance, has created a space for photography lovers with #CanonEdge, where community members share photographs. Samsung mobile phone too has launched #WithGalaxy, where content creators actively share their shots.
The trend has found takers in cryptocurrency too. Crypto exchange WazirX, for instance, has created “WazirX Warriors” who educate people in tier 2 and 3 cities about the idea behind cryptocurrency. WazirX Warriors are connected through a private Telegram group. Interestingly, this “super-community” gets crypto rewards for the content the members post, provided it is “purely educational”.
Why community marketing?
This branch of marketing is different from social media marketing and is based on the fact that consumers are more likely to react to informal social interactions than paid ads. It also encourages prospective buyers to spread the message via direct word-of-mouth advertising in a non-intrusive way.
According to industry experts, the pandemic and ‘influencer-fatigue’ have accelerated the community-led model, prompting many brands to allocate a budget for the unique consumer-cum-creator led marketing.
‘User-Generated Content More Effective’
Communities generate more authentic interactions, and User-Generated Content (UGC) is more influential in the purchase decisions than influencer or branded content, show researches. As per a Nielsen report, 92% of customers trust and turn to people they know for reviews and recommendations above any other source.
It has also been found that 79% of people consider UGC has had a direct impact on their purchasing decisions since it comes from ‘real’ people and is 10-times more relatable.
Ambika Sharma, Founder & MD, Pulp Strategy, says, “Unlike traditional advertising that is solely focused on getting new customers, a community marketing strategy is more about connecting and engaging with people to build long-term relationships. It’s about conversations and the power of making your customers or potential customers feel recognized, heard, and important.”
LEGO Ideas is an ultimate example of a successful brand community. The community has over 1.8 million members connecting over their love of creating and building with LEGO products, industry leaders point out.
Catching up & how
Community building has turned into a thriving trend, and almost every other marketer is looking to tap its potential, says Sahil Chopra, Founder & CEO- iCubesWire.
“According to a report, 6 in 10 marketers allocate their marketing budget towards community building. Reason: The social media dynamics have seen significant change over time, and content creators now spearhead the digital sphere. With content creators leading the show, it is even easier for brands to make potential buyers feel welcomed in the community, given their vast followership.”
Fashion and cosmetics brands have created several communities of micro-influencers. They focus on building communities on Instagram and YouTube and work with lot of consumers who double up as micro-influencers. Their content is displayed on a brand’s website, they co-create products, post content on social media to drive acquisition and more.
Pink Lemonade Communications, an integrated marketing and communications agency, recently announced the launch of a UGC platform. “We have seen that more and more brands today are looking at newer methods of marketing to gain more customers, build trust among their audience, and influence purchasing decisions. Pink Lemonade UGC Studios is a step towards providing new-age marketing tools for the brands that we work with,” says Tina Garg, CEO and Chief Creative Storyteller.
Through its subscription-based service, the firm aims to help brands in putting out great, relatable content made by a multitude of talented creators.
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About 60% Instagram influencers in India have fake followers: Report
As per a media report, influencer marketing platform KlugKlug has found that only 2.48 million profiles out of the 8 million have ‘high-quality’ followers
Two of three Instagram influencers in India have more than 60 per cent fake followers, a report by influencer marketing platform KlugKlug shows.
This is particularly true for the beauty and fashion sector, the report noted.
Other countries that have influencers with fake followers are Brazil, the UAE and Indonesia.
As per media reports, such Instagram fake followers can be roped in for as little as Rs 10 to a high of Rs 1,000.
According to Klug Klug India, only 2.48 million profiles out of the 8 million have high-quality followers.
A number of other categories have also been buying fake followers, media reports have noted.
As per a media expert, quoted in the reports, brands are finding it difficult to identify and curb the menace of fake followers and bots.
In a recent setback for influencers the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has said those promoting activities like gambling and betting are equally liable as the companies promoting the same.
Share15% consumers enhance their user experience through virtual assistants: Kantar report
According to Soumya Mohanty, Managing Director & Chief Client Officer- South Asia, Insights Division, Kantar, less than 1% of ads get tested due to lack of time
Marketing data and analytics firm Kantar has unveiled a report that studies the burgeoning AI market to dish out actionable insights for marketers. Within AI, virtual assistants are the fastest growing segment. The report noted that 15% consumers enhanced their ‘user experience through virtual assistants’. This segment is the fastest growing at 27% YoY.
According to the study, while ‘fitness’ and ‘social media’ apps are amongst the leading categories, driving AI adoption (with an average of 2.3 AI led features embedded in these applications), segments like ‘BFSI’, ‘job search’ and ‘short video’ apps are relatively slow in AI adoption, with an average of 1.2 features each. Entertainment apps, digital commerce and pharmacy apps stand somewhere in the middle with 2.0 & 1.8 AI features being adopted, respectively.
Additionally, the report said that while 90% of marketing and sales leaders think their organisations should be using AI “often”, 60% said their organisations “rarely or never” do. Speaking to exchange4media, Soumya Mohanty, Managing Director & Chief Client Officer- South Asia, Insights Division, Kantar highlighted that currently there are a lot of organisations who know that there is something called AI, but haven’t yet figured out how it could help them holistically.
“A lot of the AI just gets used for efficiency purposes, so repetitive tasks get automated,” Mohanty pointed out. Data also plays a big role in why certain organisations are struggling with how to use AI.
For instance, Mohanty explained that in segments like D2C, telecom etc. there is a lot of primary or first-party data. So being able to leverage AI also gets easier. “It's the traditional large sort of FMCG type companies where data sits in silos. You don't really have one single source of data where it's a little difficult to use the full power of AI, because the full power of AI also needs a lot of data sitting in a structure that you can use,” she added.
So, can AI help marketers have a unified view of data? No, says Mohanty. “AI does not help marketers get a unified view of data. Once you have data in a unified way, AI can help you do a lot more with that data.”
According to her, organisations today need to have good, strong data warehousing. “It needs to make sense because a lot of the silos are also because everybody owns one part of it. A lot of people have their own analytics teams internally, so there are a lot of agendas and stakeholders. And then we say data is in silos because fundamentally, when you're doing something internally, different people have different stakes in it,” Mohanty added.
Puneet Avasthi, Senior Executive Director, South Asia, Insights Division, Kantar shared that most organisations are now heavily investing in creating first-party data sets. “Companies that have first party data about their consumers and transactions or interactions that they have with the brand are going to be able to leverage that more effectively to create sharper profiles for the brand as such for the consumer and build relevant recommendations at the right moments.
Panning out she also highlighted how AI can be leveraged to enhance market research and make it more accessible, a part of which Kantar is itself involved in. “A lot of times people say that we can't test an ad because we don't have time. So less than 1% of advertising gets tested and just gets put out. Does it work when it gets put out? It is the question the audience should answer, because so many times, it backfires,” Mohanty shared. Apparently, digital particularly doesn't get tested because organisations just do a/b testing and leave it at that.
Speaking of preferred use cases of AI, Avasthi added that various businesses and brands are looking at creating an experience for the brand that is in line with the brand's architecture and progress across all touch points. “That is something that the AI engines that are working behind can ensure, that all such interactions are consistently delivered across different virtual assistants or chatbots that are available to the consumer,” he said.
The other use case, according to Avasthi, is ensuring that there is greater visibility for the brand in the digital sphere as such, through various recommendation engines, when a certain need is being looked for and to throw up the right kind of information about the brand so that the brand message is amplified in the mind of the consumers.
Among other insights from the Kantar AI report is that 88% consumers used AI based algorithms which analysed their preferences, behaviours, and interests to create personalised recommendations for tailored experiences. This segment grew at 6 % YoY. At 21%, ‘smart home automation’ is a smaller segment but growing at 25% YoY.