In Part 1, we examined the reasons digital influence is a powerful tool for B2B brands, including the measurable impact of B2B influencer marketing, how it addresses difficult business challenges, and integrates with your existing marketing initiatives. B2B audiences are highly engaged and working with influencers can bring your brand’s core messages to life and create stronger connections with your communities.
The reasons why B2B brands should do influencer marketing are clear – but how to do it successfully requires knowledge and skill. We’ll dive into the key components of successful B2Binfluencer marketing campaigns to give your brand a personality and voice and generate digital influence to positively impact your business. Just as influencer marketing continues to grow and rise, so will B2B influencer marketing experience its growth. Globally, spending in the influencer advertising segment is estimated at around €24.59 billion in 2022. Experts suggest B2B influencer marketing could account for 40-50% of the influencer marketing sector revenue over the next 3 years.
Establishing digital influence means communicating information, ideas, and viewpoints to target audiences with the potential to impact their views and preferences. Digital influence can benefit not only your brand but ultimately your audience – by helping them in their information searches and decision-making.
The Demand Gen 2022 B2B Buyer Behavior Survey describes how, “Buyers are taking the responsibility into their own hands by conducting independent, anonymous research, reaching out to peers for advice, and keeping an eye on social media.” Gartner reports that B2B buying groups spend 27% of their time conducting independent online research.
Developing your true potential digital influence requires building on every element that defines the true impact of your brand and message.
Discover your brand’s voice
Establish trust and a closer connection with customers and prospects
Create a cornerstone for your organizational and commercial success
So now we’ll dive into the “how” part.
The Building Blocks of B2B Influencer Marketing
Progressively build your brand’s digital influence with a well-structured process from preparation, through execution and optimization, starting with the following building blocks:
Purpose & Values Define your brand’s purpose, the foundation for your brand’s voice and influence
Clear Goals A key component of successful influencer marketing campaigns is to first of all set clear objectives and overarching goals
Credible Advocates Identify your internal and external brand advocates and storytellers who can effectively communicate and credibly amplify your messages and boost your credibility
Storylines Build purpose-centric storylines that allow your audiences to gain insight into your brand, become informed, and feel part of your brand’s journey
Message Craft the different messages you want to convey to your target audiences
Digital Presence Map the right channels and formats to reach your audiences and establish digital influence
Verify Conduct due diligence to verify that potential ambassadors reach the right audience
Consistency & Continuity Establish continuous learning and improvement, generating ever more benefits and growing positive outcomes for your brand
Analyze & Optimize Measure outcomes and track KPIs
Support Complex Purchase Decisions with Knowledgeable, Credible Advocates
Let knowledgeable people speak for your brand in an authentic and credible way, boosting awareness and visibility and generating tangible returns.
B2B buyers are increasingly relying on guidance from peers throughout decision-making processes that are growing longer. The Demand Gen 2022 B2B Buyer Behavior Survey respondents indicated that the newly added processes to their buyers’ journeys include:
Using more sources to research and evaluate purchases (32%)
Spending more time using social media to research vendors and solutions (31%)
Relying more on peer recommendations/review websites (29%)
Partnering with B2B influencers who can provide guidance to your prospects can alleviate some of the burdens of the purchase process.
Having the right partner is even more crucial when credibility is the key to success. Kingfluencers’ well-structured process delivers B2B Influencer Marketing in a synchronized way.
Strong In-house B2B Community With our extensive creators’ network, we can help you find and onboard your right influencers
Exclusive Collaboration with Kcore Analytics We use AI and social network structures to identify influencers from massive real-time online data
Quality and Performance-Driven Outcomes We assure great outcomes with rock-solid procedures and a proprietary campaign management platform with innovative AI forecasting
Distinct Storytelling & Narrative Tracks Working with various advocates, we can build multiple storylines and establish different storytelling tracks
Use of Direct & Indirect Channels Our B2B services leverage both direct (corporate channels) and indirect (via employees and others) networks on social media channels like LinkedIn and Twitter.
Selecting Ideal Brand Ambassadors
B2B influencers deliver authority, focus, and purpose. Multiplying these key attributes delivers real impact for your business. B2B Influencer Marketing campaigns must combine ambassador categories, with platforms and formats.
Making perfect influencer matches is vital. Influencer choice must align with your brand’s message and values, as well as your campaign objectives. Consider working with numerous brand ambassadors from the following categories:
Internal
Brand leaders (C-level)
Internal voices (your employees)
Partners (suppliers and tech partners)
Clients/ customers
With comprehensive training, you can turn your potential advocates and ambassadors into brand power voices.
External
Credible category professionals
Topic specialists
Thought leaders with affinity
Content creators with specific focus
It’s also crucial to work with credible influencers who are respected experts in their field. There must be a clear link between your brand and the person in order to keep your influencer marketing campaigns real. Trust and authenticity cannot be compromised upon. People connect with people and trust stories, not logos.
Target those with deep industry knowledge, individuals who can influence corporate buyers and tap into business-to-business conversations. Be sure to conduct due diligence, and consider which influencers are the right match with your platforms of choice.
B2B Influencer Marketing Success Cases
Financial service provider American Express hired a design industry blogger and a lifestyle presenter to promote acceptance of Amex credit cards to small businesses. Global technology company the Voith Group provides equipment for hydroelectric power plants. The company traveled with several energy experts to power plants in Europe and documented the tour to share on four different social networks. Würth featured carpentry on YouTube with Manni Dirsch. The tone appealed to the craftsmen and women who work with the tools and materials from Künzelsau.
Turn Presence into Digital Influence with Kingfluencers’ Full-Service Approach
Building digital influence is achieved by developing a credible narrative and activating powerful brand advocates and supporters who help amplify your message and give it additional impact. Kingfluencers delivers a hassle-free approach, with a standard process to generate the best outcomes for your brand. Our team provides you with a full service including every aspect of social media.
While there are distinctions between the B2B and B2C decision-making processes, digital influence remains a powerful tool for both. Influencers can bring your brand’s values and core messages to life and create stronger connections with your audience, moving your brand from supplier to ‘friend.’
B2B Versus B2C Influencer Marketing
Although the core principles of influencer marketing are almost the same for B2C and B2B, there are some differences that warrant a distinct B2B approach.
B2B sales processes are often more complex and require more information on both sides
The sales funnel consists of multiple, distinguished stages
Numerous people are typically involved in the decision-making process
The typical buying group for a complex B2B solution involves six to 10 decision-makers
Building a trusting relationship with the vendor’s representative is much more important
1. B2B Influencer Marketing is Impactful for Business and Will Move the Needle
B2B influencers deliver credibility, focus, and purpose. Multiplying these key attributes delivers real impact for your business, making it an important addition to your toolkit.
Credibility: B2B content creators and thought leaders have recognized expertise in their field. Their opinions are highly valued by their peers.
Relevance: When a professional decides to follow a B2B influencer, there is usually a very high interest in that influencer’s content and opinions, so followers are attentive (often higher than B2C).
Focus: Their content is often very focused on a specific topic, with the aim of providing guidance to fellow professionals.
Reach: B2B influencers can connect with your target audience, particularly at crucial times when they’re actively seeking info about the solutions you offer.
Understanding the important role of content creators, the Amazon Web Services Heroes Program “recognizes a vibrant, worldwide group of AWS experts whose enthusiasm for knowledge-sharing has a real impact within the community.” As the Marketing Director at a serverless security startup, Kingfluencers’ writer Megan Bozman reached out to several Heroes, including Yan Cui and Forrest Brazeal, who participated in our podcast.
Named a LinkedIn Top Voice in 2020 and 2022, Zurich-based Selma Kuyas also works as a resume coach and LinkedIn learning instructor. Also based in Zurich, Bertrand Blancheton, currently works as Head of Marketing at Braavos Crypto Asset Management, and writes about the metaverse, Web 3.0, crypto, decentralized finance (DeFi), and NFTs, including participating in LinkedIn Audio.
B2B brand ambassadors bring a lot to the table, including a unique point of view that can resonate strongly with your target audience. Original thought leadership makes your brand more visible and more desirable, positively impacting your target customers’ decision-making process.
94% of B2B marketers who’ve tried influencer marketing feel it’s highly effective. Swiss B2B marketers indicate that B2B IM is higher on the agenda for 2023 than webinars (55%).
2. B2B Influencer Marketing Audiences are Highly Engaged
Marketers need to not only reach their target audience but engage so their messages are received and understood.
Professionals decide to follow a B2B influencer due to an interest in that person’s opinions, making followers very attentive. This increases the impact of B2B IM content, making it particularly effective. This is especially the case when the thought leader’s content is sought after as part of the research phase in a decision-making process. You can overcome even more difficulties by working with an agency. 9 out of 10 B2B companies prefer to let an agency manage their B2B IM efforts with a main focus being on content creation (55%).
3. B2B Influencer Marketing Integrates Very Well With Your Existing Marketing Initiatives
62% of Swiss B2B marketers say IM is high on the agenda for coming years, higher than webinars for example. 57% of marketers plan to fully integrate influencer relations into their activities by 2023.
B2B influencers are also relatively more likely to have in-person contact with their communities by speaking at conferences, trade shows, and local business and networking events. Their authentic professional credibility can help provide answers to your audience’s pain points and boost consideration and conversion.
B2B IM can even result in synergies, boosting other marketing initiatives such as SEO. You can repurpose content you’ve already created with various storytellers to amplify outcomes. For example, the content generated by influencers from IM campaignscan provide additional value with secondary or tertiary goals, such as increasing awareness.
IM content can enrich traditional content across various channels, such as owned communities or other advertising platforms such as webinars. Repurposing existing content enables you to achieve your goals while also saving money. 74% of B2B marketers agree that influencer marketing improves customer and prospect experience with the brand. Kingfluencers can help you tie it all together with a holistic approach.
4. B2B Influencer Marketing Can Generate Competitive Advantages
B2B IM may be on your agenda as a hypothetical future possibility, but now is a great time to start. As the leading full-service social influence agency in Switzerland, Kingfluencers has established the tools, processes, and resources to do B2B IM efficiently.
Partnering with influencers is a marketing tactic many of your competitors may not be leveraging yet. Getting started now can generate unique competitive advantages for early movers. Most B2B organizations (85% of respondents to a study with TopRank Marketing) are planning influencer marketing campaigns. Additionally, the professionals, platforms, tools, and processes for IM are already well-established, lowering barriers to entry for B2B brands. B2B brands should capitalize on this opportunity and take a page from the well-established B2C playbooks in order to achieve similar successes.
Kingfluencers Delivers a Hassle-Free, Full-Service Approach
Our services guide B2B IM in a synchronized way, from strategy to ongoing community management. We help you develop your true potential social influence, building on every element that defines the true impact of your brand and message. Contact us and we’ll take a holistic approach to develop your brand voice and give that voice a positive impact, generating digital influence that goes beyond (B2B) influencer marketing.
More than 85% of the Swiss population can be reached on social media and 40% follow influencers. Can they be influenced to make purchases through these channels? Our study on where and how Swiss consumers find inspiration and information about products and brands today, with an added focus on influencer marketing and the luxury industry, says yes.
Influencer and advocacy marketing can nowadays be identified as Influence Marketing producing the pinnacle of purchase decision drivers, electronic Word of Mouth or eWOM. eWOM is impacting consumers through recommendations that feel as relevant as those of a friend or an expert. It’s therefore no surprise that, according to our data, every third inspiration via a social media channel or influencer leads to a purchase in Switzerland.
We address the ongoing debate about authenticity and marketing power of influencers – do consumers trust them? Can they really sell products? We found that in the lifestyle and luxury sector, 78% of Swiss consumers who noticed paid influencer ads were inspired by them, and 40% stated they’ve made a purchase because of them. In other words, influencer marketing is a powerful form of marketing in Switzerland where authenticity and commercial opportunity co-exist.
In our Consumer Study Report about “The Power of Digital Influence”, you will find profound insights into online channels, platforms, and content creators that inspire Swiss consumers and act as key decision-making levers in the purchasing process.
If you have missed our exclusive summary of the study in our public webinar with marketing.ch, where key results and insights have been presented by our CEO Yoeri Callebaut and Chief Strategy & Digital Influence Officer Eric Amstein, you can find the full recording here.
Free Consumer Study Report – The Power of Digital Influence: What inspires and influences Swiss consumers
We recently wrote about how retail expanded from brick-and-mortar stores to include ecommerce and has been expanding further to also include social and livestream commerce. Many attributes of Switzerland and the Swiss people make us an ideal audience to target with new retail initiatives.
What trends are we now seeing within this new, broad scope of retail?
Merging the Point of Inspiration with the Point of Purchase
With the inclusion of social commerce and even AR, brands aren’t selling to distinct, separate audiences with isolated tactics. New retail involves connecting with your audience in innovative ways and merging the point of inspiration with the point of purchase.
The third trend includes a blurring and blending of physical and virtual worlds. “It is certainly true that some consumers who shopped online in 2020 and 2021 are likely to return to brick-and-mortar stores, and that the store of tomorrow will look very different… And what may be surprising is that people of all income levels and generations are interested in shopping for real-life products in virtual worlds.”
39% of consumers have had a consultation in a virtual or augmented reality environment on topics from health and wellness to DIY projects. In agreement with our own guidance, Accenture advises, “The metaverse has arrived, and the best thing that retailers can do today is starting to experiment.”
Collaborate Cohesively
Deloitte also emphasized the need for cohesion. “Social commerce trends are not only reshaping consumer shopping experiences, but unlocking new opportunities for platforms, brands, and creators. Social commerce success depends on collaboration and integration of key players in the ecosystem.”
Deloitte provides social commerce services that solve operational and technical challenges, including architecting technology stacks to integrate brand and retailer e-commerce systems with platform systems.
Influencer Marketing Success Case
Cohesive integration of marketing campaigns between brands and influencers is equally important.
Kingfluencers recently executed a campaign in which influencers discussed how to start your day successfully with SUPER SHOTS by hohes C, while taking their communities along for the day. The communities showed high qualitative interest with an engagement rate of over 5%, and the influencers received many questions on where to buy the SUPER SHOTS. In addition to indicating high trust in the brand and the creators, this reveals how social campaigns can drive purchases from brick-and-mortar stores.
Anna PfisterGiulia SteingruberLinda Fäh
Fusing Digital & Physical Experiences
While we may think of ecommerce and retail stores as distinct modes of shopping, Deloitte’s 2022 Retail Industry Outlook describes the accelerating fusion of digital and physical experiences. “Over the next five years, leaders are buying into the prospects of digitization of the physical world, such as voice commerce, staff-free cashier-less stores, and the selling of digital goods.”
Burberry opened a shoppable digital version of one of its flagship stores. Customers can navigate themselves around the virtual store and purchase items by selecting digital icons.
Experiential Retail and Flagship Stores
To attract new customers and build loyalty, retailers are developing immersive shopping experiences and building innovative flagship stores. Athletic apparel brand On’s first-ever flagship store, On Labs, is situated beneath its Zurich-based headquarters and features a foot scanner that details your shoe size to within 1.25mm of perfection. Kingfluencers’ team was part of the flagship store launch, sharing the good vibes, sporty challenges, and benefits of joining the club for running lovers with content creators like HaVy Nguyen. The campaign achieved over 1.6M impressions and a 3.11% engagement rate.
Zurich is also home to the Freitag tower, made from used freight containers. The flagship store sells recycled, one-of-a-kind products, such as bags, smartphone cases, and wallets. Additionally, consumers can personalize their bags by becoming involved in the production process at the Freitag Sweat-Yourself-Shop.
Social Commerce on Instagram
Social commerce usually takes place on the move, i.e. via smartphone or tablet, as social media offers are preferably used via mobile devices. Brands can excel by building a social media strategy optimized to cash in on the movement and avoid losing out to competitors.
Instagram enables you to use real-time and pre-made content to create an interactive, visual shopping experience that deepens connections with your community. With Instagram Shoppable posts, you can sell products directly from shoppers’ feeds. Product Tags let you highlight items from your catalog directly in your images and videos, so people can easily tap and learn more.
As part of our Instagram marketing services, Kingfluencers can help make your products easy to discover on Instagram. Earlier this year, Mondelez launched limited edition Oreos in collaboration with Warner Bros and the brand-new Batman movie. Kingfluencers ran a campaign in which influencers showed how biting the new cookies in a creative way can lead you from a serious world into a playful one.
Technology-Driven Convenience
Some retail trends originally expanded in response to COVID-19, such as self-checkout, buy online pick-up in-store (BOPIS), and contactless payment. These technology-driven experiences remain popular for convenience and their ability to reduce staff, (plus the preference of antisocial shoppers!).
Retailers must also consider macroeconomic trends, including inflation. On July 26, 2022, The International Monetary Fund (IMF) wrote, “Several shocks have hit a world economy already weakened by the pandemic: higher-than-expected inflation worldwide – especially in the United States and major European economies – triggering tighter financial conditions.” Of course, inflation can lead to consumers buying fewer items and being more price-conscious about the items they do purchase. While many consumers worldwide are worried, CH inflation is expected to fall in the new year and Switzerland should avoid a recession.
Sustainability is Sought After
A 2022 report shows that two-thirds of consumers say they would pay more for sustainable products, and nearly three-quarters value product sustainability over brand name. Interestingly, retailers are largely unaware of the strength and prevalence of these preferences, creating a greenfield for savvy retailers.
Buying and selling secondhand products, referred to as “recommerce” is also on the rise, enabled by platforms such as Poshmark. In addition to helping buyers save money, it’s a sustainable practice. Some great options in Switzerland include Depop and Secondhandkiste for clothes. Tutti, Ricardo, and Brocki.ch are popular Swiss sites that offer a variety of items.
Kingfluencers also had the pleasure of running a campaign for Ricardo focused on communicating the brand’s USPs through interactive campaigns. Influencers were given various challenges when putting together hiking gear on Ricardo. The total engagement rate was 5.1%.To further encourage sustainability and low-waste products, Brocki.ch also worked with Kingfluencers on a campaign to promote their thrift stores all over Switzerland. Impressions were 41% higher than forecasted, and the total engagement rate was 5.0%.
What’s Emerging and What Should Brands Be Doing About it?
Last year, we published, “13 Social Media & Influencer Marketing Trends to Look For Now,” many of which are still relevant for 2023. So, what new trends are emerging now, and what’s changing? Most importantly, what should brands be doing about it?
1. Social Media is More Deeply Intertwined with Life, as People Share Everything
While people have long used social media to share life’s fun (and sometimes not so fun) moments, posts were often carefully curated and edited.
Social media is now becoming increasingly entrenched in people’s lives, as people share everything in the moment, on the go. Users are sharing every second via video on TikTok, SnapChat, and BeReal in ways that are less pre-planned and polished than typically seen on Instagram. On the popular Netflix show “Emily in Paris,” the protagonist livestreams her visits to popular tourist destinations – free of edits. The Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau posted where to find the main locations in the series to help people see the city through Emily’s eyes.
For Pro Juventute, we organized a campaign against cybermobbing in which three TikTokers, including Kris G, authentically shared their experiences with cyberbullying along with tips on how to deal with offensive comments and messages.
The Takeaway: Create brand content and select influencers who embrace this instant authenticity people crave.
2. Moving Even More Toward Everything Video
In our 2022 guide, we noted that video is increasing in relevance and importance, leaving other formats less likely to be noticed. As platforms adapt, they’re converging on video, specifically on-the-go storytelling. Sprout Social predicts that businesses will put more money behind video production.
PPCexpo states the video is, “The single most important content marketing strategy today.” Both video and authenticity continue to grow in importance. Social Media management platform Later notes video content is already shifting towards casual, off-the-cuff storytelling. “Even video editing is becoming more about telling a story, like using multiple apps to create clever edits.”
The Takeaway: Allocate sufficient budget to video production and select influencers with proven ability to create engaging videos. Also consider innovative use of your influencer video content with Kingfluencers “Influencer TV Spot,” a new exclusive advertising format that we launched last year, to take storytelling to a whole new level.
3. Performance Marketing Grows in Importance, as Brands Focus on KPIs
Many brands are still struggling to figure out how to monetize their social media presence. Brands want to ensure their initiatives, including IM campaigns, pay off, but tracking KPIs can be challenging.
As 2023 progresses, IM will be more tuned into sales and focused on conversion. Kingfluencers’ Head of Creative Strategy, Larisa Topalo, stated, “Conversion will begin to overtake awareness as the key goal.”
Eric Amstein, Kingfluencers’ Chief Strategy & Digital Influence Officer, stated, “Brands need to use every digital communication channel more and more strategically. Getting ahead of the narrative across all stakeholder interaction will be crucial to stay relevant and commercially successful. These investments will drive stronger results in digital brand building, digital reputation, positive eWOM, driving better performance of marketing activities and ultimately conversion rates.”
Fohr, influencer marketing agency and platform provider, also predicted, “Brands this year will be highly focused on ways to track conversion and their return on ad spend (ROAS).” In addition to a prioritization on conversion, Fohr predicts a rise in multi-touch attribution models that follow a longer customer journey.
The Takeaway: Allocate some of your campaign budgets to performance marketing (boosting organic content to reach even higher KPIs). Establish specific campaign goals and closely monitor quantitative KPIs, in addition to nuanced measurement with qualitative analysis. Consider multi-touch attribution models and use every channel more strategically.
4. IM Content Gains More Ground
According to a study from eMarketer, “Influencer marketing spend is projected to grow 23.4% in 2023 and 15.9% in 2024.” But we don’t expect IM expenditures to be restricted to traditional campaigns.
Instead, IM content will continue to spill over into other domains and serve as the basis for performance marketing campaigns. Brands will use the power of that content to convey their value, get attention, and further capitalize on their IM investments.
Larisa said, “We’ll see more influencers, more content, more platform changes. Integration of influencers into traditional marketing activities will continue, for example PR events, capsule launches, product co-creation, TV advertising. There is a lot of room for creativity, and we’ll see even more unusual collaborations, viral campaigns, and clever integrations.”
Influencer marketing will also continue to expand beyond consumer products, impacting B2B purchase decisions and integrating the influence of corporate leaders. We expect B2B influencer marketing to take off, but it needs the requisite tools and processes. It can be time-consuming and difficult to find B2B influencers, making the support of agencies that much more vital. (And yes, Kingfluencers is already part of this take off!)
The Takeaway: Allocate funds for IM as an integral part of your marketing efforts. Yoeri Callebaut, Kingfluencers CEO, advises, “Take the time needed to strategize, plan, and allocate budgets. IM can’t be an afterthought at which you throw leftover budget. It’s important for brands to have a diversified and smart approach to social media and constantly reinvent how they communicate, spending more time on content to stand out. The storytelling train is moving fast. You need to get on now and come with brand stories, characters, and room for influencers to be creative.”
5. Social Media Platforms & Creators Continue to Innovate… Beyond TikTok
Platforms have long been accused of copying one another, which we expect to continue. However, some innovative channels are still emerging and growing as they target unique niches, such as Twitch.
Larisa expects IM campaigns to become more creative, complicated, and elaborate. GoPro demonstrated their trust in the unbridled creativity of influencers at the recent GoPro Creator Summit. The brand invited 42 creators to a four-day, all expenses-paid jaunt to Interlaken, Switzerland, an experience one summed up, “A brand threw me out of a plane.” GoPro didn’t give creators any specific assignments or content mandates.
In collaboration with Street Parade Zurich, we created an exclusive Kingfluencers VIP Stage and shared the experience with over 250 influencers. Under the hashtag #KingfluencersXStreetparade, the influencers shared the unforgettable day live with their communities. The creators published a total of 71 posts on Instagram and TikTok, achieving over 1.8 M impressions.
The Takeaway: While it’s important to stay informed of the latest platform innovations, brands must move toward a community-centric approach. Focus on your target community and build an approach that includes which platforms to use to reach them. Think beyond Meta (Instagram) and TikTok and include other platforms like Twitch (especially for men), Pinterest (especially for women), and YouTube. Kingfluencers will continue to help you stay informed with our new upcoming study coming out mid-March with insights into digital influence on Swiss consumer behaviors like inspiration searches, purchase decision-making, and platform usage.
6. TikTok Remains a Driver, as Platforms Strive to be More Entertaining and Engaging
Fohr thinks, “TikTok will stay as a cultural engine, as the platform matures, creators could bring their communities elsewhere.” The agency and platform provider has seen reports of slower follower growth and fewer views on creator content, which means new opportunities for YouTubers, bloggers, newsletters, or live streaming.
TikTok has been banned in government agencies due to cybersecurity risks in several US states. Fear of TikTok bans persist, but restrictions are likely to remain limited to government agencies or individual corporations.
“In my opinion, other platforms now see the entertainment approach is working, and are launching more features to make the platform both more entertaining and more engaging. Impacted by TikTok’s success, platforms are striving to create community feelings and engagement, stimulating interactions with features such as chat, video calls, groups, and audio rooms. These are big factors that make people stick to the platform, contributing to the success of social media,” said Yoeri.
“Sparking connections between people over what they find,” is among Instagram’s priorities in 2023, alongside inspiring creativity, and discovering new things.
The Takeaway: TikTok remains a vital channel to connect with consumers, and don’t disregard the opportunities for engagement elsewhere. Entertaining content is great, but people stay when they can connect and interact in a community.
7. Focus on User Generated Content (UGC)
Nearly 80% of consumers surveyed say UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions. Recognizing this value, brands are making increasing efforts to capture a greater variety of voices, such as consumers and employees. Through consumer advocacy efforts, they’re working to capture UGC and use it wisely, building a squad of voices to deliver a broad range of support.
Salesforce is one very impressive success case. The brand revamped their social ambassador program and turned 25,000 employees into social brand ambassadors in 21 months by leveraging Haiilo.
The Takeaway: Make plans to capture and leverage UGC. Don’t leave it to chance. Give your consumers creative freedom to showcase how your product can solve a key pain point of your community. The authenticity of such real stories makes IM powerful and can result in highly successful campaigns.
8. Scrutiny & Oversight of Platforms + Influencer Guidelines
Recent events at Twitter have unleashed many questions and increased scrutiny. Specifically, how do platforms really operate? How fragile are they? What impact do they have on democracy?
Social media is becoming a topic of geopolitical interest, amid growing concerns about the power and instability of platforms. We’ll likely see increasing demand for more oversight and regulation.
Greg notes that Twitter could become more interested in the creator economy to generate new revenues. While some brands have reduced their Twitter marketing spend, the platform still provides great opportunities. For example, Shakira sang about her ex Gérard Pique’s new girlfriend, “You traded a Rolex for a Casio.” Casio responded and has been having great fun on Twitter.
Anja Lapčević, Kingfluencers Co-CEO & Chief Influence Officer, stated that France is now another country that has planned to implement guidelines for influencers. “We will also focus on further developing the Code of Conduct and expanding the Conscious Influence Hub, in addition to recruiting more creators, agencies, brands, and individuals to work with association. We believe that as a community we can use the positive power of social media to strengthen digital togetherness.”
Sprout Social wrotehow brands talk about sustainability, specifically, will change, with many opting for a quieter approach amid fears of being called out for greenwashing.
The Takeaway: Contribute to social media as a force for good. Ensure public statements are always transparent and sincere.
9. Brands Will Hire Influencers to Run Their Accounts & Work Onsite
Shopify states, “If an influencer has a track record of going viral with their own accounts, chances are they can replicate the success for a brand.” In addition to their knowledge of what engages communities on social platforms, they also have friendships with other influencers that can further help brands extend their reach.
Kingfluencers manages Manor’s TikTok account, where our team also engages with their communities via the creators T-Ronimo and Ericwdrae. Another successful example is influencer lala who creates TikToks for the German grocery store EDEKA.
10. In-Store Influencers
Based on their global consumer study, the Qualtrics XM Institute has declared 2023, “the year businesses rediscover the human connection.” “But in the rush to digitize everything, and drive operational efficiency, many companies left their humanity behind. And now, they’re paying the price as consumers demand deeper, more human connections with the companies they buy from.”
Influencers can play a part in building more human connection. As published by Trend Hunter, “Brands are inviting influencers to their brick-and-mortar retail locations for more interactive and engaging partnerships. These collaborations are often realized as consumer-facing marketing resources, or a way for the brand to help influencers supercharge their social media content.”
Consumers are increasingly looking at influencers for insights into different products or services, as they are often shown in the moment or in use. Both, brand and influencers, ensure through in-store creator events to provide real, authentic experiences instead of putting the purchase decision in focus.
Some of our influencers participated in such a in-store creator event for the opening of the On Running flagship store in Zurich, together with other talented content creators. It was a fun (and sporty!) event, full of laughter, music, good vibes, and refreshing drinks.
Brands will increasingly focus on reviving brick-and-mortar retail experiences, especially with influencer opening events or visits, because that makes retail fun and more human-centric! Even employees can act as in-house influencers and become a crucial part of your branding.
The Takeaway: Consider enabling creators to manage your account or just take it over for a day. Give creators freedom to generate content for your brand. While influencers are often associated with social media, consider partnering with them for in-store collaborations.
11. Need to Compete with AI (Artificial Intelligence)
New use cases for artificial intelligence seem to occur on a daily basis. Launched in November 2022, ChatGPT is a chatbot that’s shockingly decent at creating unique content. Social Media Today writers suspect that many websites will use AI-generated content for generic overviews, helping cut down on SEO time. “The end result, then, is that people – like, actual, real humans – will be less and less engaged by the generic, which could open up more opportunity for better copy to stand out.”
On the other hand, the OpenAI Terms of Use states, “Due to the nature of machine learning, Output may not be unique across users and the Services may generate the same or similar output for OpenAI or a third party.” Therefore, by using AI-generated text, you could end up with duplicate website content, thus incurring Google penalties.
AI-generated art has also been growing, with some unique results such as every country as a super villain.
AI may be progressing in creating text and imagery, but it doesn’t seem capable of making fun TikToks… yet.
Content, whether for SEO, email, or social posts, must resonate with people. As reiterated by many surveys we’ve quoted here, people crave authentic human connection. It’s crucial to share emotional, sincere posts from real people that consumers can relate to. AI can’t come close to achieving that vital depth of connection.
The Takeaway: Influencers will have to compete with AI in creating content. Brands should carefully vet influencers – especially writers – so you can be certain the content they’re creating is unique. Real people are needed for real human connection. But also consider including some fun, fascinating AI-generated imagery as a complement to your authentically human campaigns.
12. Preventing Burnout & Improving Mental Health Will Be Priorities
With all the new trends and innovations, it’s important to maintain a focus on wellness, both physical and mental. Behind every smiling face on social media is a person with doubts and problems. That’s why we’re introducing a new format on our channels: Monthly Mental Health Check-in. We at Kingfluencers want to bring attention to the topic of mental health and share very personal and close experiences. Our January topic was comparing yourself on social media and was extended in February with our #NoFilterFeb Challenge. In our 2nd part of the Mental Health Campaign, we highlight how social media distorts reality and provide tips and tricks.
Talking to The Media Leader, Phil Rowley, Omnicom Media Group’s head of futures, commented on the need for social media to positively impact mental health. “We love social media, but we hate it too, and we certainly can’t stop using it. So the only long-term solution is to find a model that scratches all of our itches but doesn’t make us feel terrible in the process.”
The Takeaway: Consider how your social media interactions will impact anyone who encounters them. Refer to the Conscious Influence Hub Code of Conduct for guidance.
Soon, But Not Now:
Live Commerce
Live commerce is gaining ground worldwide, although it’s not yet common in DACH. The Drum reports a recent shift in understanding and engagement of live shopping in Europe.
Many platforms offer their own shopping features – with social commerce, brands can handle the entire customer journey within one platform – from the initial inspiration to the purchase of a product. This gives social commerce an advantage that traditional online commerce cannot offer and also increases the impulse of purchases. According to the Swiss Mail Order Association, which brings together more than 320 online retailers generating around 50% of Swiss B2C online sales, manufacturers and brands are investing heavily in their online format to increase sales and improve the customer experience.
Although the topic is still very young in Switzerland, it will become increasingly relevant and also be used more and more.
Metaverse and Web 3.0
Fastcompany says: “In 2023, the Metaverse is likely to grow exponentially, becoming more immersive and more expansive. With advances in technology, we are likely to see more realistic avatars—the figures that represent you in the Metaverse—that allow for more complex interactions in virtual worlds.”
At Kingfluencers, we expect the metaverse to grow significantly in 2023 both on the side of brands and users presence – although perhaps not at the speed sources like Fast Company predict just yet. In Switzerland and DACH, we assume that it might still take a little while and foresee the boom rather as of 2024-2025 for a number of reasons such as complexity for people to get involved in areas like NFTs (requiring NFT wallets etc) and general access to the Metaverse with multiple ‘Metaverses’ like Sandbox existing without any of them being the true leading one. We do believe that in the next 2 years clearer dominance of certain Metaverses will become apparent, which will help adoption as people and brands will know where to go – Metaverse-wise. Furthermore in order for Metaverse to become more popular and gain traction, access to Metaverse and Web 3.0 should be simplified and potential users need easily accessible guides and information or education concerning how to participate – from buying NFT’s to generation avatars and being ‘on the Verse’. Once how to gain access is more clear or simplified consumers and brands are likely to find their way to the world of web 3.0 a lot faster and the exponential boom can begin (much like it happened with social media in general).
The real trend we expect is that specialized stakeholders in this industry such as web 3.0 developers but also some leading frontrunner brands outside the web 3.0 technology zone will make access to the Metaverse and Web 3.0 easier or more attractive in order to stimulate adoption. This will be done for example by simplifying systems and procedures related to access and ownership of digital assets, so that more people will find their way to it without much ‘technology hassle’. Some of this will require real ‘reengineering’ of certain systems and processes related to these fields. Forward looking companies and brands will continue to invest in innovation in all areas as well as NFTs throughout the year and with good reasons.
Supporting Your 2023
If you have any more questions about the emerging trends listed or would like to chat about other trends on the horizon, feel free to contact us right away.
Here are six actionable strategies to drive up engagement of your social media community:
Welcome new members. Have a way to open up the conversation with those who are just joining you. This could be a post tagging new members and asking them to introduce themselves. Or it could be a direct message to anyone who is new (manual or automated). Making people feel welcome and warming them up for active participation is one of the best ways to create engaged community members.
Post at the perfect time. This requires looking at your analytics for when most people interact with your content. Time zones and audience demographics play a big role in when exactly that is. If you figure out the best time to post, more fans will be there to engage with your content right away. The increased initial engagement then encourages social media algorithms to promote your content more – turning your time spent analyzing the best time to post into a double-win.
Encourage discussion: Share interesting third-party posts. People love discussing the latest events relevant to their niche of interest. By sharing selected pieces of content that are sure to get the conversation going, you can drive up your members’ engagement with your social media profile and with each other.
Make your content beautiful. Beautifully crafted posts and crisp images stand out from today’s sea of social media content. Everyone loves to consume, engage with, and share the most appealing things they come across online. If that’s your content – you can be sure people will love engaging with it.
Use video. Video just feels more real than other types of social media content and is still the most requested and most consumed content on social media. If you use it well, your followers will feel more connected to you. As a result, they’ll stick around longer and respond more positively. Using Video is a great way to keep your community going strong.
Gamify your content. Can you figure out a way for your fans to earn points, badges, or discounts for engaging with the community? That’s a perfect way to keep them coming back to your platform again and again. The increased fun factor is sure to keep your followers hooked – gamification can supercharge their community interactions.
Now, what are the exact tasks you have to do when you manage your social media community?
We’ll dive into those below:
These are your tasks in social media community management
There’s four distinct types of tasks you have to carry out to manage your community well.
If you do these right, and keep up your efforts over time, your fans will stay happy and you’ll continue to reap the brand-boosting benefits:
Task #1: Monitor
This means you’ll listen to any conversation in any way relating to your brand. There’s so much to glean from these:
Are your members venting about their unsolved problems?
Are they praising certain positives – that you could double down on in the future?
How are they talking about your competitors?
How is the general vibe, how are your fans relating to each other? Could you do something to facilitate their conversations?
Are they passionate about your brand’s offer to the world?
By staying “on the pulse” of your community, you remain agile – ready to pivot and implement new strategies in response to the insights you gained.
A good social media community manager can read into what he’s monitoring, and quickly devise new tactics based on his learnings. In addition, a good manager keeps an eye on everything happening – are negative comments being spread or is there even a shitstorm approaching or something similar that should have been handled? You should always be able to react immediately.
Task #2: Moderate
As mentioned above, a social media community manager must respond quickly. Many people think of “moderating” first when they hear the term “community management”:
The removal of comments using foul language, harming your brand, or otherwise misleading your community members.
And indeed it’s an important part of the manager’s job. Additionally, you’ll need to address bad customer feedback and calls for support.
Handle these well, with short response time, and your honorable attitude in dealing with criticism and dissatisfied customers will strengthen your reputation.
Task #3: Engage
The most fun part of social media community management: The (sometimes serious, sometimes playful) back-and-forth with your community members.
Creating an actual connection with your fans. Making them feel like they’re part of the tribe.
While it’s a good idea to let your followers talk among each other without jumping into every conversation, you should strive for 100% engagement if someone directs a question at you or tags you in any way – within reasonably short response time.
It’s just another aspect a great community manager is tasked with: Showing the members you really care.
Don’t leave any question unanswered. And draw attention to your profile by commenting on other creators’ or brands profiles and leaving funny comments.
Task #4: Measure
To measure is to make management much easier – that’s why this is one of your most important, but also most beneficial tasks as a community manager.
Click-through to your sales page or product listings
The use of analytics is a powerful way to stay on top of managing your community. You’re able to see the full picture of how your community is doing. And you’re able to react swiftly if some of the data show room for improvement.
When you manage communities on social media, there’s certain things you have to get right to have everything run smoothly – the so-called best practices. You’ll now learn what these are, so you can make sure to implement all of them successfully.
Do you want us to take care of it for you? We have deep expertise in managing online communities. We’ve been a full-service digital marketing agency since 2016 and have helped many prominent brands with their social media community management.
Community management best practices: How to get it right
What are community management best practices?
Best practice #1: Outline rules and guidelines
Before people start taking part in your community, it’s considered best practice to make them aware of the rules they’ll have to respect and the guidelines they’re expected to follow.
Your standards for acceptable behavior might be different from other communities they’ve participated in in the past – so it’s only fair to let your fans know beforehand. Also, having strict boundaries as to what’s allowed for members and what isn’t makes them feel part of a special in-group:
Not only does it make your community easier to manage, it’s also great for creating group identity and cohesion.
Best practice #2: Generate new members
It should always be your goal to find new users to join you. Managing a social media community well also means making sure it doesn’t shrink, but always keeps growing.
So it’s best practice to use different strategies to make people aware of your community and entice them to join: Make sure to frequently share posts to new outlets – and encourage your members to share, too. Explore other outreach methods: Publish links to your community on your company’s website, or promote it to your email list.
The ultimate way to generate new members is of course to manage your community so well that people are delighted to refer their friends by word-of-mouth marketing.
Best practice #3: Check your ratings
At least every month, make sure to monitor what people have said about being part of your community on review sites like Google, Yelp, etc. You want to be able to address any negative feedback you might have gotten.
If you then visibly work to improve on what was criticized, it says a lot about how much you value keeping your fans happy.
Again, people don’t like to see unanswered reviews. Take a stand on negative comments or just say thank you on a positive review.
Best practice #4: Reward your fans for interacting
Above and beyond actually reading every post in your community and responding with a “like” or other response emoji – let your community managers show your fans even more love for their regular engagement with your content and your followers:
Respond with a GIF or meme
Write out a few thoughtful sentences
Gift them a coupon or discount code
Share their post or mention them in your own
Follow the best practice of authentic, attentive interaction with your fans, and you’ll cultivate a wonderful feeling of community among your followers.
More than other platforms, Facebook is all about two-way communication. So to manage your Facebook community well, it’s recommended you take the time to type out thoughtful responses to each post – consistently and in a timely manner. This shows your audience that you care. And it’ll keep your community engaged for the long run.
By the way: Open communication with fans in your Facebook group or page will give you great insights into what your brand is doing well, and what could be improved when dealing with prospects and customers.
If only for this benefit, investing effort in proper community management on Facebook should be worth it to you.
5 tips for effective community management on Facebook
Publish educational posts. Only sharing links to your website or content you found elsewhere is not the best way to manage your community on Facebook. On the other hand: Create content that genuinely aims to teach your fans something and to improve their lives, and your community will be much more engaged.
Ask your community’s opinion. Make your members actively participate in the group. This is the key to managing social media communities well: Have people actually be social. If you encourage (constructive & cordial) discussion, you’ll help your fans connect with each other. As a bonus, the added interaction will push your content from an algorithm standpoint, giving your posts a much greater reach.
Answer in Facebook Messenger. Some of your customers will try to contact your business page or your community manager’s account through Facebook messenger with questions, remarks or concerns. If you attend to these messages quickly, respond in a friendly way, and try your all to help them out, it’ll do wonders for your community’s reputation and levels of engagement. Your fans will be thankful you care about helping them, so they’ll reward you by sticking around and possibly promoting your Facebook community to others.
Have employees share updates. The community likes to gain a more private insight into the workings of your brand. Having your employees frequently share updates about what’s happening in your business will give your fans the feeling they’re a special part of everything. If your team members then share these posts on their personal profiles, you’ll also be gaining more reach for your Facebook community.
Check your Facebook analytics. Inside the Facebook Creator Studio you get great tools to inform your community management efforts. You can track the performance of each piece of content you post in your Facebook group or to your business page:
Views
Engagement rates
Followers gained (or lost)
Also, it helps you filter, organize and respond to messages and comments all in one place.
By frequently checking and analyzing your analytics, you can see what worked and what didn’t, and use what you’ve learned to manage your Facebook community even better in the future.
Instagram community management: It’s all about approachability
On Instagram, creators are highly accessible to their audience. To manage your Instagram community well, you should be ready to interact on a whim.
It’s also important to “keep it real”:
The audience skews younger than Facebook, and they appreciate simple, down-to-earth communication. It’s common for even bigger accounts to still respond to DMs, sometimes even go through their followers’ profiles, like their posts and leave thoughtful or funny comments.
If you want to excel at community management on Instagram, you could adopt the same strategy.
How to build a community on Instagram
Make your IG profile beautiful, interesting & helpful
The first step in building a community quickly is to create an outstanding Instagram profile.
This will drive up your conversion rate: A higher number of those who visit your profile will choose to start following you if your content is both visually appealing, educational and/or entertaining. It’ll amplify all your other growth strategies, because a higher percentage of the traffic you’re driving to your profile will convert into followers.
Search popular hashtags
When you’re first starting to build your community on Instagram, go where your target audience is already interacting. Join the conversation, comment on other people’s posts, and add your own relevant content under the same hashtags.
Follow the most relevant hashtags, and be sure to participate where you can. If your own profile is somewhat enticing, people will start following you.
DM people in your niche
Once you’ve identified those who are engaging with topics in your industry, you can strike up conversations with them via Instagram’s DM feature. These can be bigger accounts, but also your regular would-be customers who are active in your niche.
You’re starting to make real connections – creating the beginnings of your thriving Instagram community. Not only will the algorithm preferentially show your content to those you’ve interacted with via DM, but you’ll start an even more valuable relationship with your followers and peers.
Real interactions are how community is built. Be it in real life or on Instagram.
Work with influencers
To jump-start your community building, consider working with influencers in your niche.
You can have them promote your account on their Instagram profile, sending people over to your brand community. Or have them take over your own account to drive up the engagement there and spur new growth. Instagram influencers can lend instant credibility to your budding community and help you “humanize” your brand
And they’re experienced at building social media accounts – so it could make sense for you to borrow both their authority and their expertise to grow your own.
Engage your audience using stories
Instagram stories are a great way to engage your existing followers, but also to build your community by reaching new people.
Every time your brand is tagged in someone’s story, a percentage of their followers will click on the tag to visit your profile. If they like what they see, they’re going to stick around – some of them might become your most engaged fans in the future or buy your products.
Make your stories real, fun, and informative:
Present your products or services in an interesting way
Show insights into the day-to-day behind the scenes
Educate your audience about popular topics in your niche
Tag your fans
Do you have “Superfans” inside your Instagram community?
Those who like every post, always add insightful comments, and share all of your content?
Then make sure to tag them from time to time in your stories and profile posts. It’ll make their day – and they’ll continue to feel great about being your brand ambassadors.
Also, if anyone mentions you in their post or story, be sure to repost.
Engage with your Instagram followers, authentically, as friends. You’ll build a strong, lively community.
TikTok community management – It’s all about engagement
Your brand shouldn’t think of your TikTok community as just another social media outlet to be managed in a one-way fashion.
It’s an entertainment platform where people dive deeply into connection and co-creation with others.
If you show up as someone real, i.e. your brand acting as an authentic person – participating daily in conversations inside your community – you’ll see the best results on TikTok.
Here are a few actionable ways to make that happen:
Host hashtag challenges
Your TikTok community will thrive on user-generated content (UGC).
How do you manage to have your fans create UGC around your brand’s niche? You come up with your own ideas for hashtag challenges. If your challenge goes viral – which happens frequently with TikTok’s algorithm – you could grow your reach exponentially. Not to mention how it’ll make your followers grow closer as a community. One example of this is the THOMY Mayonnaise dance challenge, where influencers like Kevin Bannier and Faye Leonie challenged their community to share their #thomyhappydance as well.
Hop on TikTok trends
Likewise, people love to take part in the latest trends across TikTok. You can ride that wave and gain a lot of momentum with your TikTok community. As there’s always new trends emerging on the platform, you’ll never run out of opportunities to engage your community.
Brands that know how to attach themselves to trends on TikTok, win.
Show your products in an entertaining way
Be it with special dance moves, unique outfits and makeup, or the specific way you speak about your product: You’ll engage your TikTok community if you manage to present your offers to your audience with fresh, engaging, and creative content that spreads your brand’s unique message. Manor provides a good example: on their TikTok channel, they publish recipe ideas, the hottest outfits, makeup tips and much more, and also interact with their community through quizzes.
Organic TikTok content can be a fantastic way to showcase your products and services to your audience – whether on its own or supplemented by paid advertising methods.
Build a narrative
Beyond fun, building a story connecting you and your fans can turn your TikTok community into something special that people want to be part of.
One important aspect of community management is keeping that story alive with each new piece of content you publish and each conversation you have with your fans.
A feeling of community goes deeper than superficial social media metrics.
Do you want our help turning your community into a thriving, engaged environment – priming your followers to become loyal customers and brand advocates? Then take advantage of Kingfluencers’ community management services.
Stay tuned for Part 3, where we’ll dive into 3 great examples of a brand’s social media community management.
Retail, formerly the exclusive domain of brick-and-mortar stores, expanded many years ago to include e-commerce. New retail has expanded again and now includes social commerce and livestream commerce as well. Many attributes of Switzerland and the Swiss people make us an ideal audience to target with new retail initiatives.
What is Social Commerce?
Social commerce differs from social media marketing in that users are able to make purchases directly through social media networks, rather than being redirected to an online store. Social commerce makes the link between social media storytelling and revenue generation with clever shoppable features like:
Swipe up
Linked shoppable product catalogues
Temporary flash promotions
With well-structured campaigns, brands can leverage social commerce to engage with potential customers and drive revenue.
Social Commerce is on the Rise
Social commerce is expected to grow to a $1.2 trillion industry by 2025
70% of European shoppers are interested in at least one form of “shoppertainment”
In Switzerland, the social commerce industry is expected to grow by 26.7% annually.
Social commerce capabilities and features are evolving and advancing quickly. Platforms and influencers alike are investing in social commerce and experimenting with new approaches. In July 2021, Pinterest announced its first set of tools to let content creators earn money with affiliate links.
TikTok introduced Shopping Ads, a new three-in-one commerce ad solution with new formats brands can adopt and combine: Video Shopping Ads, Catalog Listing Ads, and LIVE Shopping Ads. Shopping Ads aims to simplify the media buying experience and include new automation features. Billions are spent annually on TikTok live-stream commerce in China. TikTok is still working through its livestream commerce integration, in efforts to increase uptake with western viewers, and published a new overview of the brand opportunities of TikTok Live.
The Washington Post recently wrote about how more Gen Z and millennial shoppers are turning to TikTok and Instagram to find and buy gifts. For example, TikToker Savannah Baron can make as much as $5,000 per month from affiliate links and brand deals. Jens Knossalla alias “Knossi” recently hosted a gaming event on behalf of Kaufland. The event, live-streamed on Twitch, also included his streamer colleagues Sascha Hellinger (Unsympathisch TV), Starlet Nova, SelfieSandra, Sascha Huber, Shpendi, and Aaron Troschke. The theme was that all guests are on Santa’s “naughty list” and must convince him otherwise in order to celebrate with Kaufland’s mulled wine. More than 661,000 spectators followed the event live.
Livestream Commerce
Livestream commerce is a specific type of social commerce. With livestream shopping, consumers are able to interact with the host in real-time and make purchases directly through the live video promotion. With the immediacy of the interactions, livestream shopping helps brands connect with consumers and reduces barriers to purchase.
Livestream commerce is also on the rise. Surveys show more than 40% of European consumers are interested in buying electronics during livestreams on e-commerce sites or apps, and 34% are interested in fashion shopping via social media livestreaming. Amazon has begun paying a sales commission to influencers on products featured in its livestreams.
Swiss retailer About You is presenting the latest styles via regular live streams hosted by popular influencers. On 8 December, the “NIKE Gift Guide” hosted by Nardos also included a special Christmas surprise. Betty Bossi also features live shopping events with themes such as spicy cooking and grilling. According to Forrester Research, 70% of European shoppers are interested in at least one form of “shoppertainment,” defined as, “an emerging form of e-commerce that provides consumers with a more personal, interactive, and engaging shopping experience by leveraging pictures, videos, interactive games, and/or livestream events to ultimately drive transactions.” Social commerce and livestreams present an opportunity for additional revenue for brands and influencers alike.
Social Commerce in Switzerland
Switzerland is an ideal location for e-commerce and social commerce. As of 2022, the internet user penetration rate in Switzerland was 91%. Additionally, Swiss people can rely on the local delivery infrastructure. “In 2021, sales in Switzerland of Swiss online retailers continued to grow faster than those of their foreign counterparts. In total, Swiss residents spent CHF 13 billion ($13.35 billion) in local online shops in 2021, and around CHF 2.1 billion ($2.16 billion) in foreign online shops.”
Social Media is a Prime Purchasing Channel
A brand’s social media profiles have become some of their most essential storefronts. Among millennials and Gen Z, social media is becoming a prime purchasing channel. 97% of Gen Z consumers use social media as their top source of shopping inspiration. Additionally, data generated by social commerce platforms can also provide insights that can be used to optimize campaigns and improve performance.
Social Commerce on TikTok
“TikTok has invested more heavily in commerce capabilities, recently introducing tie-ups with retailers including Walmart that allow consumers to purchase products without leaving the app.” The TikTok Pixel, a small piece of code that you place on your website, helps you find new customers, optimize your campaigns and measure ad performance.
On 27 October 2020, TikTok announced a global partnership with Shopify to help merchants create and run campaigns geared toward TikTokers. Shopify is a subscription-based software that allows anyone to set up an online store and sell their products. The partnership makes it easier for Shopify merchants to tap into the creativity of the TikTok community, be discovered, and optimize their marketing campaigns.
TikTok stores are not yet allowed in Switzerland, although they are in the US. Check-out in-app is not currently available in Switzerland, but we expect it to be soon.
Social Commerce on Instagram
Instagram enables you to use real-time and pre-made content to create an interactive, visual shopping experience that deepens connections with your community. With Instagram Shoppable posts, you can sell products directly from shoppers’ feeds. Product Tags let you highlight items from your catalog directly in your images and videos, so people can easily tap and learn more. As part of our Instagram marketing services, Kingfluencers can help make your products easy to discover on Instagram.
Connect with your Audience via Social Commerce
With Switzerland being an ideal market for new retail, contact us to explore how Kingfluencers can amplify your brand messages, helping you generate revenue with influencer marketing.
In early 2023, we published, “13 Social Media & Influencer Marketing Trends to Look For Now.” We’re looking back at 2023 to see some examples of these trends… and one where we got it wrong.
1. Social media platforms are experimenting
2023 saw no shortage of innovations in social media! The biggest of which is the metaverse. We’ve written a series of 4 articles now. One key takeaway: it’s still early days, but the metaverse is currently a huge green field with many opportunities. We’ve predicted that a critical mass of users is still three to five years away, but brands should start thinking now about how to engage communities there. The guidance of experts and support from agencies will be more critical than ever.
Users have been wanting more authenticity in social media, and the hot new app BeReal is meeting that demand. BeReal has been downloaded millions of times, held the No. 1 position in the App Store, and received interest from investors.
Social media platforms have long copied one another and BeReal seems to be the one to emulate. Instagram launched a new ‘Dual’ camera mode, and TikTok announced the expansion of their suite of creation tools with TikTok Now, “a daily photo and video experience to share your most authentic moments with the people who matter the most.”In July, NPR wrote that Facebook is making radical changes to keep up with TikTok. Despite efforts to copy it, TikTok continues to dominate.
2. Social Media Platforms Emerge to Target Increasingly Smaller Niches
Our second trend is the one we admit we got wrong. Some influencers are focusing on increasingly smaller niches, making nano-influencers effective partners for brands to connect with their target audiences. We did also see platforms, such as BeReal, grow and expand, but that app was founded in 2023 and while it has a unique appeal, it’s not targeting a small niche.
However, 2023 didn’t see the emergence of any entirely new platforms targeting a small niche, so we acknowledge that this prediction was inaccurate
3. Digitalization of everything, including growth VR/AR & metaverse
We wrote about emerging retail trends, some of which fuse the physical and digital. With the inclusion of social commerce and even AR, brands aren’t selling to distinct, separate audiences with isolated tactics. New retail involves connecting with your audience in innovative ways and merging the point of inspiration with the point of purchase.
According to Accenture, 39% of consumers have had a consultation in a virtual or augmented reality environment on topics from health and wellness to DIY projects.
4. More love for nano and micro-influencers
Lauchmetrics found that micro- and nano-influencers made up the most Media Impact Value (MIV) in beauty. At Kingfluencers, we added 98 new nano influencers in 2023 into our creators’ community. Kingfluencers has run numerous successful campaigns with micro- and nano-influencers.
One highlight was Vacherin Fribourgeois. We ran a campaign to build awareness and create a sense of belonging to a community through the “Instants Vacherin Fribourgeois AOP.” Our concept encouraged influencers to talk about their different traditions while eating fondue and the secret ingredients they use to make it an even better experience. Over 3 weeks, 5 micro and 1 mid-tier influencers made a total of 69 posts on Instagram and Facebook. Total impressions were 232K, 60% higher than forecast, with over 1.239K interactions and a total engagement rate of 4.81%.
5. Creator content will become more widespread
The domain of influencers continues to expand beyond social media platforms. Kingfluencers was part of the opening night of the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF). We welcomed the biggest Swiss content creators on the ZFF Green Carpet, including two of last year’s Swiss Influencer Award winners: Adrian Vogt and Brian Havarie.
As Fabian Plüss, our Co-Founder said, “We’re proud to see that the work of content creators is also recognized and respected by the ZFF. This shows that the festival has a diverse perspective on video productions of all kinds and thus welcomes the creators’ scene.”
For Pro Juventute, we organized a campaign against cybermobbing in which three TikTokers, including Kris G, shared their tips on how to deal with offensive comments and messages. The reach of the campaign expanded beyond social media, as it was also featured in an article on Watson.
Adrian VogtBrian HavarieKris Grippo
6. Creator economy will boom as content becomes currency
One fascinating, innovative use of influencer content is the “Influencer TV Spot,” a new exclusive advertising format that we launched last year. In case you missed our “2022 Recap” article from 13.01.2022, we dove into this new exclusive advertising format in our, “Exciting News” section.
Video is dominating
Video is one of the most important formats on social media. PPCexpo states it is, “The single most important content marketing strategy today.” Video has revolutionized marketing across all channels. Landing page videos are able to increase conversion rates by 80%. 92% of mobile video consumers share videos with their social network, and over 80% of businesses say video generates a good marketing ROI. The number of digital video viewers is expected to reach 3.48 billion in 2023. With video content dominating, YouTube is now the second most popular website in the world.
Short-form videos are also an excellent tactic for informing and connecting with your audience, such as the Pro Juventute campaign against cybermobbing. Pro Juventute offers children and young people a confidential telephone line to talk about their concerns, as well as helpful tips on its website 147.ch. Six influencers, including Kris G, talked about their own experiences with mental illnesses in a total of 6 TikTok videos. Impressions were more than 866k with a reach of more than 598k, achieving a 26.7% engagement rate and 45.13% growth in followers. The campaign was also featured in an article on Watson.
7. Influencers face increasing pressure to innovate
TikTok released its Year on TikTok 2022 which included many innovations, such as a song set to Tariq’s, aka Corn Kid, enthusiastic description of his tasty snack. Among the breakthrough stars, “#SpaceTok opens up to a new dimension, thanks to European Space Agency Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who takes us on out-of-this-world adventures.”
Qualtrics spoke to more than 33,000 consumers in 29 countries to find out what businesses need to do to win their loyalty. The answer? Act more human.
Uster, the third largest city in canton Zürich, worked with Kingfluencers to emphasize the human impacts of littering. The campaign targeted young audiences to reduce littering in Uster and around Lake Greifensee. Comedy influencers communicated to their audience that littering is not cool under any circumstances. The curated content was very appealing to the audience, as shown by the immensely high engagement rate and the large quantity of positive comments. 3 macro influencers on Instagram and TikTok published a total of 12 posts (videos and stories) + 2 additional pieces of content. The interaction rate was 7.1%, and the engagement rate was 30.9%.
As influencers innovate, they must continue to be relatable and authentic. These attributes are what drive high levels of engagement. To their community members, an influencer can feel like part of their friendship circle. Partnering with influencers is a powerful tool for brands to build trust and connect to consumers, delivering exactly what consumers want – acting more human, and helping fuel growth.
8. Long-term partnerships between brands & influencers
Here at Kingfluencers, we’re thrilled to have ongoing relationships with influencers that are now stretching into their fourth year, including L’Oréal, Nestlé, and Mondelez.
Kingfluencers worked on campaigns to promote V6 chewing gum, a Mondelez brand. To highlight the unique health and well-being benefits of V6, the team chose influencers focused on health, nature, and an overall positive outlook. In one campaign, influencers shared a story in which they received the most beautiful compliment and why it made them smile, then encouraged their communities to share their own stories, achieving a total engagement rate of 3.9% on Instagram and Facebook.
Eyeglasses maker AFFLELOU worked with Kingfluencers on a campaign lasting 12 months, with the goals of expanding brand awareness in French-speaking Switzerland and generating new customers. Influencers were selected to inspire the audience with cool looks and give the brand credibility and familiarity. The campaign achieved a total engagement rate of 3.72% so far (the campaign is still running).
9. Heightened awareness of the risks of social media
Social media has had tremendous impacts that have reverberated throughout the year. We examined the complex issues around combating misinformation. Individual responsibility is vital. Stopping the spread of misinformation at scale is problematic. Algorithms haven’t proven effective at differentiating between criticism and advocacy.
As awareness of the potential downsides of social media increases, we’ve also seen a focus on the risks of toxic beauty standards. Governments have taken steps to combat toxic beauty ideals, while brands have actively promoted healthy attitudes toward beauty.
Unfortunately, no one is safe from fake followers, which can reduce your credibility on social media. Our article describes how to recognize them, how to remove them, and, above all, how to avoid them. Businesses of all kinds are aware of the many risks they’re facing. A PWC survey shows that more than 95% of businesses expect to face a crisis within the next two years. All of these issues reinforce the importance of crisis management, including ensuring your influencers know your contingency plans if things go wrong. While social media can be the source of a crisis, fortunately, it can also be a vital tool in managing one.
10. All about Gen Z
We predicted that the existing focus on Gen Z as a coveted demographic will continue, and recommended that brands should consider Gen Z in their campaigns. Kingfluencers is well-equipped to help our clients connect with Gen Z, as 37.5%* of our new creators are Gen Z (*of those Influencers who provided their birthday.)
But one trend that is not all about Gen Z is TikTok, as we wrote, Gen Z is not synonymous with “Gen TikTok.” Different generations use TikTok differently.
In the next article, we’ll take a look at what trends await us in 2023 and also give the trends our personal Kingfluencers touch and evaluate the trends. Be curious and stay tuned!
Join us on a short trip down memory lane as we share some favorite moments from our fun and productive year. Kingfluencers started 2022 at our new office in the heart of Zurich. After the successful Q1, we not only redecorated our office rooms but welcomed over 10 new employees throughout the year.”
Campaign Highlights
In 2021, Kingfluencers completed over 150 campaigns. Our total increased to 213 in 2022 (+40%). Implementing all these successful campaigns was only possible thanks to our amazing creators. We worked with 308 different influencers in 2021, which increased to 346 in 2022 (+12%).
+ 12% Creators+ 18% New Creators+ 40% Campaigns
While it’s difficult to choose our favorite campaigns, we’ve selected a few highlights.
We did a total of 46 campaigns for L’Oréal, and a campaign with Toblerone included a giveaway with Emma. For Pro Juventute, we organized a campaign against cybermobbing in which three TikTokers, including Kris G, shared their tips on how to deal with offensive comments and messages. The campaign was also featured in an article on Watson.
But also our wonderful clients shared their thoughts on working with us this year:
Tatiana Traulsen, Marketing Manager @Nestlé Cereals: “I have really enjoyed working with Kingfluencers for our two cereals campaigns this year. Everything went smoothly, even despite tight timings, thanks to very reactive and transparent communication, as always! Kingfluencers brought smiles and excitement and a perfectly managed successful campaign. Thank you for making it so easy.”
Rebecca Pohlmann, Digital Manager @Pierre Fabré Suisse: “We are very satisfied with the cooperation with you. You work very reliably and bring a very high degree of flexibility to fulfill our wishes. We are very much looking forward to presenting our brand together with you in the next year according to the current social media trends in the networks.”
Our Growing Creator Team
In 2022, Kingfluencers welcomed 579 (vs. 489 in 2021) new influencers to our team. In this section you will find a small mini-honor from Kingfluencers to the categories: Newcomers, Most reliable, Most creative, and OG Influencers.
Starting with THE newcomers 2022: Noah Bachofen, who shares cooking tips with beautiful scenery. Cooking with Jey also shares quick and easy recipes from healthy to indulgent, along with glimpses of her adorable cat. Basel-based design and fashion influencer Gian-David posts funny videos on topics such as traveling and relationships. Kingfluencers’ most reliable creators in 2022 are Vivienne Burkhardt, Aline Made, and Ramona Brüniger. The most creative were SwissComedy, Margaux Seydoux, and T-Ronimo. We continue to run successful campaigns with our numerous OG influencers, including Alison Liaudat, Minea, and Family of 5.
Alison Liaudat for Gucci BloomMinea Jud for GUNNAVivienne Burkhardt for Ochsner Shoes
Creators’ Favorites from 2022
Reflecting on the year past, our creators appreciated the nicely organized projects with pleasant and uncomplicated cooperation. Creator Alison Liaudat’s favorite campaign was watching the champions league finale with Just Eat in Paris, which included building brand awareness rather than specific product placement for a “natural approach.”
While creator Laura Bante struggled to select her favorite campaign, the Steampod launch campaign stood out for her. “I was able to closely experience the evolution of each generation and was able to test the latest generation before everyone else! This also contributed to the interest and curiosity my followers had to see what new features were in stock.” Fabio Zerzuben stated that, “all campaigns were unique and really cool. Especially Oreo (Batman), but also Generali were great collaborations.” Other highlights were the Rundfunk event and his visit to the KF office for an exchange “in real life.”
Exciting News
This year, Kingfluencers launched the “Influencer TV Spot” service, a new exclusive advertising format. Kingfluencers and Admeira give brands the opportunity to broadcast their influencer marketing content as a TV commercial. Merge the power of TV with the trustworthiness and unmatched appeal of influencer marketing to gain unbeatable reach at an accessible cost.
One of the first success cases was within the Ochsner Shoes yearly campaign which is based on seasonal events throughout the year, with influencers skillfully setting the stage for each pair of shoes. The Influencer TV Spot premiered on July 13, 2022, on SRF2, achieving a Gross Rating Point of 21.6% and more than 1 million impressions. Broadcast in November, the second Influencer TV Spot campaign with Ochsner Shoes and Christa Rigozzi achieved a Gross Rating Point of 32.0% and more than 1.488 million impressions.
Kingfluencers also worked with a leading Swiss technology company in 2022, helping connect to their B2B audience and building an employer branding strategy. Finally, Kingfluencers also manages social media for Manor’s TikTok account since July 2022, where our team has enjoyed planning their account & engaging with their communities in regard to content creation with creators like T-Ronimo, Ericwdrae or Fatjona.
Productive & Fun Events
2022 was filled with a variety of exciting and productive events. In April, Kingfluencers and Pathé held an exclusive screening of the much-awaited “The Batman” movie.
Thanks to our new collaboration with the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF), Kingfluencers was part of the festival’s opening night in September. We welcomed the biggest Swiss content creators on the ZFF green carpet, including two of last year’s Swiss Influencer Award winners: @aditotoro and @briann. As Fabian Plüss, our Co-Founder said, “We’re proud to see that the work of content creators is also recognized and respected by the ZFF. This shows that the festival has a diverse perspective on video productions of all kinds and thus welcomes the creators’ scene.”
In collaboration with Street Parade Zurich, we created an exclusive Kingfluencers VIP Stage and shared the experience with over 250 influencers. Under the hashtag #KingfluencersXStreetparade, the influencers shared the unforgettable day live with their communities. The creators published a total of 71 posts on Instagram and TikTok, achieving over 1.8 M impressions.
Also in September, we had the opportunity to celebrate one last beautiful summer night in Zurich at our exclusive client mingle event at Rundfunk, where we connected with some of our top clients and amazing creators in a fun and inspiring way!
In October, our team organized a get-together for our content creators in beautiful Ticino, providing an opportunity to better connect with our Swiss, Italian-speaking creators, while enjoying stunning views of Lugano Lake.
The 3rd annual Smile Swiss Influencer Award Show was held in November. With over 1,000 VIPs and a combined reach of more than 50 million followers, the event was a success with “Hollywood-ready social media moments,” according to Fabian Plüss, founder of SSIA and co-founder of Kingfluencers. Before the award show, we organized a pre-event with L’Oréal Switzerland, transforming our office into a beauty world. Makeup artists and hair stylists welcomed our lovely creators and styled them and our team for the big night.
In order for brand partners to benefit from impeccable and solid advice in the field of influencer marketing in the future, Kingfluencers will now also become the official sales partner. As the official distribution partner for #SSIA2023, we will offer exclusive partner packages.
We finished up the year with our sparkly Kingfluencers Christmas Party, where we were spoiled with the best Swiss cuisine while creating some TikToks.
2023 will be an exciting and colorful year with a variety of thrilling events. Kingfluencers will also have a startup stand at one of the biggest marketing events – so stay tuned for what’s to come!
KF @ Ticino EventKF @ Swiss Influencer AwardKF Christmas Party
Joyful Team Building & Charitable Fundraising
In October, we held a team-building event where our Co-CEO Anja filled the day with creative challenges and a beautiful hike from Lugano to Gandria. Along the way, we were asked to build strong, cooperative teams and learn more about our corporate values in order to better live them in practice.
Reflecting on 2022, Anja said, “My highlight every year is my team and everything they do. It fills me with joy to be able to accompany so many great people on their way. I’m also especially proud of our #KFcares initiative, which gives new meaning to our work and allows us to support important organizations every month.”
Through our charitable work with #KFcares, we’ve donated a total of 2,521 CHF. Starting in March due to the Ukraine war, where every post felt so pointless and wrong, we launched our own #KFcares project. This way, each of our posts gets added value and meaning. In March we donated to the Ukrainian organization Voices of Children, and in May & June, our donations went to Unicef & Pro Juventute. For November we donated to Iran and the Center for Human Rights. An initiative we are very proud of!
As of 13 December, we’ve made a total of 174 social media posts and 666 stories from our own Kingfluencers’ channels.
Coming up next week, we’ll take another look back. In early 2022, we published, “13 Social Media & Influencer Marketing Trends to Look For Now.” Throughout the year, we saw many excellent examples of these trends… and one where we got it wrong. Follow Kingfluencers on Instagram and TikTok to learn about 2023’s exciting events and even to occasionally follow along in real-time.
You’re consistently posting great content on your brand’s social media account. Your follower count is growing. People clearly like what they’re seeing from you. They’re responding positively to what you have to offer.
Now what do you do with that attention? Do you just let the hype evaporate – like it usually does on social media? Obviously you want to avoid that at all costs. You’ve spent much time, energy and money crafting your social media posts. Don’t waste that effort.
What you need to do now is channel the momentum you’ve built up:
Manage that community. Use the right strategies to “keep the fire going”.
In our work at Kingfluencers, we’ve helped many brands bring their social media presence to life – building engaged communities through our social media community management services.
Below we’ll share our lessons from over six years of building social media communities: The exact strategies, processes and best practices you can implement to create the thriving community your brand deserves.
Let’s take a deep dive, shall we?
Effective community management: What it is and why you need it
Your community are those people who consume your content, your brand’s existing and prospective customers, and anyone who interacts with your business online in any way.
Managing the relationship of that audience and creating value for them – both with each other and with your brand – that’s what we call community management.
Social media marketing vs community management – the big difference
For most brands, most of their interactions with their community will take place on social media. So social media is where the community “exists” – and where your community management efforts will be directed.
What this doesn’t mean is that community management is the same as social media marketing:
ocial media marketing is building a strategy that works for the audience, creating your branded content, publishing it on a social media platform and learning from reported stats to optimize KPIs.
Community management is what you do right after posting and throughout your daily presence – talking to your audience, encouraging them to exchange ideas with each other, and having them participate on your social media. It’s about building connections and achieving brand love, as opposed to just sending out your brand message.
It’s a two- or three-way exchange of information (and emotion!) vs. a one-way-channel.
What a thriving social media community offers to your followers
People join your community not because you asked them to – but because they receive something from it. And it’s something valuable that we nowadays increasingly get from online vs. real world interactions – a sense of belonging:
It instills a feeling of belonging and we all want to be part of something.
And it’s likely among those who:
have similar interests
enjoy the same activities
believe in the same values
like the same products as we do
that we find our tribe.
Community management makes a brand that seems so far away totally approachable. In today’s world, this is a super important aspect to be successful in the social media game and to get closer to the consumers.
Your brand can tap into this natural process. If you do community management right, you can channel this instinct to “tribalize”:
You’ll be the connector between like-minded people. And your audience will be grateful for it as it builds authentic relationships between your audience and your team.
Not only will a well-managed community connect your followers with each other. They’ll also get to know, like and trust the members of your team – who they’re engaging with daily on your social media accounts.
This is why it’s vital to “keep it real” when managing your community. People don’t want to interact with someone who:
isn’t in tune with their followers
sees them only as a number and a dollar sign
doesn’t “speak their language”
sounds too corporate or robotic
Integrate (if possible) also faces and brand voices into your community management, as for example Edeka did, whereas an influencer took over the Tik-Tok account. Make your brand as close to people as possible, because people trust people and not brands.
Your followers want to feel like they’re talking to humans like them. To friends, even. And that’s when a tribe will start to form around your brand. Because people like to be part of something cool – but also something real.
Do you want to grow and manage your community and make your followers feel valued and included? Check out Kingfluencers’ social media community management services. We’re all about creating brand loyalty with real connections.
What benefits a community offers your business
Now let’s dive even deeper into how your engaged tribe of fans on social media is going to benefit your business.
Sure, they’re loving you for the way you’re managing your community – but how exactly does that affect key metrics? After all, we don’t want to be chasing vanity metrics: We want to measurably improve our bottom line.
Your community lowers your costs for customer support
Your community members’ first instinct if they have questions or problems is to ask the peers they know, like and trust. Not to call a hotline or fire up the customer support chat.
In that way, your engaged social media community greatly reduces your need for these positions. When your customers can solve their problems without needing the assistance of dedicated support personnel – that’s real savings on your end.
Active social media accounts drive new traffic at no extra marketing cost and boost revenue for free
Instead of paying a high cost to acquire each new customer, your community will by itself get your name out there, attract prospects, and create buyers.
This means you’ll grow your revenue without having to dip further into your marketing budget. Whether on its own or combined with traditional methods of customer acquisition – an engaged social media community around your brand can significantly grow your bottom line.
Brand advocates multiply your reach
Your brand’s social media is also where your “Superfans” hang out.
They’re in love with your products, care deeply about your brand, and are highly engaged in your community. These are the customers who will sing the highest praises about you and refer all their friends and family to your business. With a thriving community, you’ll help create more and more of these hyper-loyalists.
Each new Superfan is creating more ripples in the market, attracting new prospects and customers to your business.
Your community can give you ideas for business growth
Have you ever thought about crowdsourcing ideas for the following?
New products, services, or features
New markets to enter
More efficient processes
Creative marketing campaigns
Your community will give you all these ideas for free – without you having to pay for any consulting.
Whether it’s by brainstorming ideas directly or simply talking about their experiences (and possible issues) with your product or service, you’ll be able to glean much data to help you improve your offers or create new ones.
How to build a community around your brand in 7 steps
We’ve seen all the benefits you’ll gain from building a community on social media around your brand.
What if you’re just starting to build it? How do you actually go about it? A thriving community is not built overnight – you’ll need effort, dedication, expertise, and continuity to make it happen.
Let’s look at the necessary steps, one by one:
1. Listen & understand: Gain vital audience insights
Start by listening to the conversations your customers and social media followers are already having.
Also actively encourage them to share their thoughts and feedback. Your goal is to get a complete picture of who you’ll actually be targeting. Their background, their circumstances, lifestyle, tastes, problems and desires.
Only then can you come up with a strategic plan to create an online community perfectly matched with that target audience.
2. Be strategic
If you want to make your social media community a success, it is worthwhile if you’re strategic about it. Your effort needs to be applied to the right actions. You need a plan and guideposts on your way to creating a tribe around your brand.
Before you start, be mindful about several things that are crucial to the success of your community building efforts:
Choose the right channels to build your community with
Determine (and lay out) the types of content that make sense for you to share
Set a posting frequency that keeps your audience neither bored nor overwhelmed, but perfectly engaged
Be sure about the tone of voice you’ll be using when you address your community
Create a complete content framework, planning out your themes and topics
Once you’ve created this strategy, you’ll be much better prepared to successfully build and manage your online community – in a focused way that’ll pay off for you.
Not just in the short run, but sustainably, for years to come.
3. Mind your branding & channel their passion
To really make an impact, your community needs to feel like a natural extension of your brand.
To achieve this, also apply your company branding to your social media activities. Your branding is how you stand out in the marketplace – and it will make your community members proudly stand out, too.
This comes down to how your content looks and sounds, but also how you refer to your followers and what they call each other. Ideally, your community members will share unique ways of expression, ways to view the world, and a special code of conduct.
A passion around your brand’s distinguishing features will be created, and people will be proud to be part of your in-group.
4. Rally around a social mission
It’s even better if your community’s passion can at the same time be used to rally behind a worthy or noble cause. They’ll feel a sense of purpose behind engaging with what you do – and they’ll stick together as a group even more.
Being “part of your brand” is now about more than great products and services, more even than connecting with like-minded people. It’s about enjoying all those, while making the world a better place at the same time.
Build a social media community right and you’ll be able to create something you, your members, and the world at large can feel good about.
5. Be real, approachable & create connections
In all your work to build up your community, never forget the key ingredient: Keeping it real.
It starts with:
You choose to sound like one friend talking to another – instead of a company talking at its followers
You regularly ask your community for feedback
You actually act on their feedback: share your learnings and what you did to improve
You foster two-way communication between you and your followers by hosting giveaways and quizzes
You also have them suggest new content ideas, features, initiatives and events
You let your followers co-create with you – by encouraging user-generated content on your social media or website
You turn your community members into brand ambassadors by giving them access to referral programs / discount codes
You help everyone develop new, positive relationships every day
By being approachable like this and focusing on keeping it real and creating connections, you’ll turn your online community into a special place that your followers will cherish.
Another powerful way to create a connection with your fans is to involve influencers (who they already like and trust) to strengthen that relationship. Many of our clients have successfully used that approach to build engaged communities around their brand.
People want to be part of something exciting. Everyone loves to see stories unfold. And in an age where some of the content shared on social media holds up false appearances or is altogether fake, stories told in a real, down-to-earth way are refreshing. Real stories create a real bond between you and your community.
Think about what kinds of stories can have maximum impact: It’s revealing behind-the-scenes insights into your brand, telling your team members’ stories, showing your real and vulnerable side.
But also highlighting stories right out of your community. You’re giving your loyal followers a platform to share about themselves and their journey. It all ties back to your brand – you created this opportunity for them.
This is how you build a tight-knit online community that lasts.
7. Execute masterfully
You now know what a successful community should look like and what parts are important. You have your strategy to build it all mapped out. Now you need to put it all into action.
How do you make sure you’ll actually create this tribe of engaged followers, without the process of building it fizzling out at some point?
Ensure a continuous content production flow
Post new content often and interact with your community every day
That’s how you create a thriving social media community in a nutshell.
You do need the drive and discipline to put in daily work to keep it going. This is why it might be a good idea to create the dedicated position of “community manager” in your business.
Either way, if you keep executing on your community-building plan, you can expect your efforts to increase customer loyalty – and ultimately, your bottom line.
Do you want our help turning your community into a thriving, engaged environment – priming your followers to become loyal customers and brand advocates? Then take advantage of Kingfluencers’ community management services.
Stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll go into the nitty-gritty of what you’ll do to always keep the engagement inside your community at the highest level, and further differentiating between Facebook, Instagram and TikTok community managements.
