Top 5 digital marketing trends for Q1 2024 and how to adopt to build brand equity.
Influencer marketing and beyond
At Kingfluencers, we’re fortunate to work in a dynamic industry that’s constantly evolving. We often leverage new approaches to help our clients engage with their audiences and build digital brand equity. In this new, quarterly trends guide, we’ll investigate the latest trends and – most importantly – how you can adopt them.
Here are our top 5 digital marketing trends for Q1 2024 you need to know about:
AR MARKETING IS MERGING DIGITAL EXPERIENCES WITH REAL-LIFE
ART INSTALLATION ADVERTISING: LEVERAGE THE CREATIVE EDGE OF ART INSTALLATIONS FOR ORGANIC PR
THE POTENTIAL OF VIRTUAL INFLUENCERS
BRANDS ENGAGING AND BUILDING CONNECTIONS: COMPANY MASCOT TURNED INFLUENCER
LEARNING NEW WAYS TO WORK THROUGH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Eager to learn more? Check out the full digital marketing trends for 2024 Q1 and download our Trends Guide below!
Questions? Reach out to us anytime. Click here to find out more about our Digital Influence Programs and our expertise within the field and beyond.
In the dynamic world of modern marketing, the symbiosis of influencer content and performance marketing emerges as a powerful force. This approach entails a multifaceted strategy that melds the strengths of influencers, data-driven insights, and optimized ads. At its core, this methodology revolves around seamlessly integrating influencer content into performance campaigns, guiding potential customers towards online shops with finesse. Features like Instagram Shopping and Facebook Shop enhance the customer journey, optimizing the conversion process. This article explores the intricacies of this strategy, unraveling how it drives engagement and sales.
The Evolution of Performance Marketing with Influencer Content
Performance Marketing with Influencer Content, though not novel, has gained substantial traction in recent times. This method empowers advertisers to refine their marketing tactics, fostering user acquisition, brand recognition, and efficient return on ad expenditure. At its essence, creator-based performance marketing transforms authentic content generated by influencers and content creators into the driving force of performance campaigns. The resultant conversion-optimized ads propel sales in the domains of e-commerce and social commerce.
Harnessing Influencers and content creators in the Digital Era
In the contemporary digital landscape, social media has emerged as a dominant player in marketing. The convergence of influencer marketing with performance campaigns amplifies the efficacy of advertising strategies. Influencers and content creators wield the trust of their followers, endorsing products with research-backed integrity rather than contractual obligations. In contrast to celebrity endorsements, influencer marketing’s appeal lies in its laser focus on niche communities, facilitating profound engagement.
Crafting an Effective Creator-Based Performance Marketing Strategy
Within this realm, crafting an effective creator-based performance marketing strategy entails a multifaceted orchestration. The interplay of compelling content, astute audience targeting, and finely tuned ads constitutes the symphony of success. By assimilating influencers’ and content creators’ authentic perspectives, brands synthesize a resonant narrative that propels users towards online shops. This integration serves to humanize the marketing process, fueling engagement and driving conversions.
Empowering Campaigns with Influencer Creatives
In today’s digital tapestry, influencers and content creators have ascended to the role of modern storytellers. Their content possesses the rare ability to captivate and convert. Integrating influencer-generated content into performance campaigns taps into an authentic wellspring of relatability and trust. This integration imbues advertisements with an undeniable authenticity, fostering a seamless transition from interest to purchase. By embedding influencer and content creator insights into the journey, the trajectory from browsing to transaction becomes intuitive, catalyzed by the persuasive power of genuine endorsement.
Moreover, influencer content can be marketed on a much more authentic level. Which leads to the usage of diverse, creative and target group-oriented assets, instead of having to rely on or resort to monotonous, less authentic stock images. Customers are thus addressed on an emotional level, while at the same time a recognition value occurs, which increases the purchase potential immensely. This also leads to cost efficiency on the brand side, as the influencer and content creator campaigns created can simultaneously create a synergy for the usage and marketing on other channels.
A Seamless Path to Conversion
In bridging the inspiration-to-action gap, the pivotal role of influencer content takes center stage. Brands have leveraged ingenious features such as Instagram Shopping and Facebook Shop to facilitate frictionless conversion pathways. Merging influencer content with these tools elevates inspiration to actionable engagement. Audiences captivated by influencer- and content creator-endorsed products can seamlessly transition from captivating posts to tangible purchases. This harmonization ensures a seamless journey, transforming potential customers into steadfast advocates and fostering an enduring cycle of engagement and growth.
The Essence of Influencer Selection and Engagement
Optimal influencer and content creator selection is foundational to this approach. Establishing transparent agreements and briefing influencers and content creators on brand ethos are essential to fruitful collaborations. Legal safeguards and clear communication lay the groundwork. In scenarios where expertise is limited, partnering with agencies can streamline influencer and content creator interactions and campaign execution.
In Closing: Creator-Based Performance Marketing Unveiled
To summarize, the convergence of influencer content and performance marketing encapsulates a dynamic approach that intertwines storytelling with data-driven precision. Integrating influencer and content creator insights within this framework magnifies its impact. By aligning influencer and content creator expertise with e-commerce tools, brands sculpt a seamless journey from intrigue to conversion. This narrative-rich pathway augments user experiences, fuels engagement, and emboldens online sales, forging a harmony between authenticity and commerce.
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.
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!
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.
Switzerland has a number of agencies who can help you grow your brand by taking over your social media marketing.
In this article we’d like to give you an overview of the Swiss landscape for social media marketing.
We’ve listed the agencies by the major cities in Switzerland.
3 important criteria for choosing a good social media marketing agency
Here’s a checklist you can use to pick the best agency to work with:
Experience. When choosing a social media marketing agency, make sure they have enough experience working with clients. Ask for their client portfolio to see past projects they’ve completed. It’s easy to simply call yourself an agency and go into business – actually getting results in the real world is something different.
Services offered. Check if the agency is providing the exact services you’ll need. Often you’ll have a specific kind of social media campaign in mind to grow your brand. You want them to be able to achieve your goal.
Price. While it’s generally not a good idea to just look at the price and go for the cheapest option, you still might want to shop around before deciding on a social media marketing agency to work with. It’s important to only pay for services that’ll actually benefit you. If you can have the agency tailor the campaign to work only on what’s essential, you might be able to stay within budget more easily while reaping all the rewards.
The best social media marketing agencies in Zurich
Zurich has by far the most social media marketing agencies of any city in Switzerland – which makes sense with it being a hub for business in the region. You’ll find everything from small start-ups to big agencies that have been around for decades.
Following are the best social media marketing agencies in Zurich, Switzerland:
If you’re looking for an agency in Basel to help you with your social media marketing efforts, there’s multiple to choose from.
Some of these have been in business for over 10 or even 20 years. While certain agencies focus on social media marketing, many are full-service agencies providing help with all sorts of digital marketing tasks.
Here are the best social media marketing agencies in Basel:
Bern boasts a number of high-quality social media marketing agencies as well.
Some of these, like ads&figures, are known for services such as Google Ads – but they’re equally talented in social media marketing. As another Swiss city with great marketing expertise, you’ll surely find an agency who can create a campaign to your exact needs.
St. Gallen’s premier social media marketing agencies
Getting into some of the smaller cities in Switzerland, the marketplace for marketing services will become a bit smaller as well. Yet, there’s still a number of agencies in St. Gallen that are worth your business.
The best social media marketing agencies we’ve found in the city of St. Gallen are the following:
Best social media marketing agencies in Winterthur
In Winterthur you’ll find a small number of Swiss agencies specializing in social media marketing. Some of these are well-established and have been around for a long time.
As always, it pays to shop around and compare different agencies with regards to expertise, services and pricing.
Here are the top social media marketing agencies in Winterthur:
The top social media marketing agencies in Romandie – Genf, Lausanne, Fribourg
If you’re looking for social media marketing services in the Romandie region, you’ll be able to find several agencies who can provide those for you.
If you don’t like what you see in one city, you might have to check out the next. But overall there’s still a wealth of options, so in the end you should be able to find the one who can carry out your social media campaign to your satisfaction.
The best social media agencies in the Romandie region of Switzerland (Genf, Lausanne and Fribourg) are:
There’s at least 50 social media marketing agencies in Switzerland worth mentioning, and among them you’re sure to find the perfect one for your own campaigns.
As was to be expected, Zurich has the most choice when it comes to social media agencies. It’s also where Kingfluencers is based.
So if you’re in Zurich and looking for a reputable agency to help you with your social media marketing, don’t hesitate to contact us at Kingfluencers. With our large portfolio of successful client work, we have the experience and skills to multiply your results on social media.
We are all aware that we’re living in economically uncertain times, which often lead to budget cuts. But marketers know economic downturns are times to rethink to reduce the risk of lost revenue and get ahead of competitors. Not only, but now even more in these uncertain times, influencer marketing (IM) with Kingfluencers is a certain solution thanks to four key attributes of IM.
1. Affordable
Influencer marketing campaigns can be launched without huge budgets.
For some channels, even the thought of planning hurts – for huge campaigns or classic TV spots only the production of the ads takes several months and is very expensive! With print ads, it’s difficult to reach a sizable portion of your audience without a big budget. But with IM, it’s possible to get a lot done even with a relatively low budget, particularly in Switzerland. Swiss influencers earn fair compensation while remaining an affordable marketing channel for brands of all sizes.
Spending on influencer marketing has increased continuously over the past few years and is estimated to reach around €477 million in Germany. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the period from 2019 to 2024 is around 23 percent (only direct payments to Creators are taken into account here, the actual market value is even much higher).
Globally, advertising spending in the influencer advertising segment is estimated at around €24.59 billion in 2022.
Just recently we implemented campaigns where we reached so many people with a small budget. One campaign started with a budget of 5k (3.8k base budget + 1.2k boosting budget) and reached over 230k people, an engagement of 11.4%, and more than half a million impressions! Another case also showed insanely good results with a budget of 15k and 5k boosting budget – the campaign reached over 1.7 million people and impressions of over 2 million.
2. Fast
Influencer marketing campaigns can be executed much faster than most other forms of advertising. With Kingfluencers, your campaign can be designed and executed successfully in a matter of a few weeks
While we’re already in the last quarter of the year, it’s not too late to launch a campaign that can help drive additional revenue for the remainder of 2022. IM is an ideal solution for struggling marketers to navigate these challenges.
For example, Sympany, one of the leading Swiss insurance providers, decided to run an end-of-year influencer marketing campaign to generate additional new leads and customers. Kingfluencers managed the entire project, which took 5 weeks from ideation to finish. 21 influencers across multiple social media platforms made posts consisting mostly of videos. The campaign achieved an engagement rate of 3.4%, a reach of 1.229M, and generated 3,025 qualified leads.
Last year, Kingfluencers worked with Uqoniq Chefs, a premium culinary delivery platform that connects iconic chefs to food lovers around the world. The project kicked off on December 3 and less than three weeks later, the campaign was already live and generating an impact. A variety of influencers was chosen, including nano-influencers, and all created high-quality content. The results show the community was interested in Uqonic and exceeded all forecasts, including 654.4k impressions, 202.6k reach, and 2.6k clicks, a full 100% above forecast.
In addition to getting up and running fast, influencer marketing campaigns can be adapted quickly.
Once you’ve started a campaign, you don’t need to stay locked in, committed to every choice for months down the line. Some marketing channels require large commitments upfront, but IM remains flexible. You can continue to move fast, reallocate budget, and make changes as desired or boost with some budget to generate an even higher reach.
Of course, some planning is necessary, such as onboarding influencers and scheduling their time, but IM delivers unbeatable speed and agility. Kingfluencers IM services also take a data-driven approach, enabling us to make quick improvements to optimize your campaigns and maximize ROI. Kingfluencers launches successful campaigns, making our clients heroes in their company.
Eyeglasses maker AFFLELOU works with Kingfluencers to expand brand awareness in French-speaking Switzerland and generate 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).
4. Effective
Influencer marketing is an excellent way to connect with your target audience. Studies indicate that every 1 Euro spent on IM generates 5.2 Euros in return/sales. IM achieved 11X the ROI of banner ads. According to a survey by Influencer Marketing Hub, 90% of respondents believe IM is an effective form of marketing. A recent Statista survey shows that around 60% of Swiss companies and organizations already rely on influencers.
Traditionally, advertisements have been a deviation from the content audiences want to consume. Ads and content were distinct. IM breaks this paradigm. IM is a different game altogether, and not just another media channel. Influencers are real people within settings that people relate to. 4 in 10 millennial YouTube subscribers say their favorite influencer understands them better than their friends. By launching IM campaigns that earn a high ROI, you can prove your expertise as a skilled marketer contributing to the top and bottom lines.
In today’s highly volatile world, marketers need to be extra agile and balance a budget-conscious approach with the need to keep communicating in an impactful way. Influencer marketing gives brands a strategic and effective solution to this challenge – a solution that also works on a tactical level and with the caution needed today.
“As marketers, we know that in troubling times, it is even more crucial to keep getting the message out. This can be done very effectively without huge budgets or months of planning with creative IM and influencer content repurposing via TV ads and performance marketing.”
Khartoon Weiss, head of global agency and accounts at TikTok recently described the app in an interesting manner during her keynote at the Gathering marketing conference. “The audiences that love and build and create and connect with TikTok, they say they check Facebook, and they check Instagram and they check Twitter and they check Snap and they check things. But they don’t check TikTok. They tell us they watch TikTok.” Weiss argued that “you can’t TikTok and…” meaning users aren’t able to simultaneously TikTok and text, Zoom, watch TV, etc. —in contrast to Instagram or Twitter.
Numbers released in October 2022 show a 14.6% increase in TikTok ad reach year over year.
Recognizing this paradigm, TikTok advises, “Don’t make ads. Make TikToks,” inviting brands to be more creative and authentic, and create content that truly speaks to people. Apparently many brands heed this advice, achieving great success. Kantar’s Media Reactions Report ranked TikTok #1 for ad equity, topping the list for delivering branded content that actually resonates with online consumers.
24% of those surveyed in Germany bought at least one product or service in the last year because it was advertised by a YouTuber, and 19% as a result of advertising by an influencer on Instagram. Even ads placed on social media platforms don’t have the authenticity of influencer content.
Build more trust, and ultimately brand love
People trust and connect with other people… even ones they don’t know. According to Nielsen, 92% of those surveyed trust people more than brands (even if they don’t know the person!) Additionally, as published in Forbes, people are significantly more likely to trust a company whose CEO and senior executives are active on social media.
Spread the love by including more credible authentic voices. Enrich your brand advocacy with powerful tools such as user-generated content, cool creators, and corporate ambassadors. Elevating multiple voices that present different angles and narratives boost not only the visibility but the credibility of your brand. IM is an effective tool to generate awareness and drive revenue, while also contributing to the much larger goal of brand equity. As consumers grow to love your brand, they share that love in a self-perpetuating cycle.
Expand your Reach & Connect with your Audience… Even with Budget Volatility
Thanks to its effectiveness and high return on investment (ROI), IM enables you to achieve your goals without a huge budget. More than 50% of marketers surveyed in the Swiss Influencer Marketing Report, find companies that make use of IM compared to other forms of advertising realize a higher ROI.
With well-managed campaigns from Kingfluencers, you can target the right people on a large scale without a large budget. Ad spending in influencer advertising is projected to reach US$94.29m in 2022, with the Statista analyst opinion concluding, “influencer advertising has become more important than ever for connecting a brand with consumers and driving sales.” Reserve some budget for IM, and you can achieve the same or even better results for each marketing franc spent.
Maximize ROI with Efficient Use of Content
Influencer marketing itself is an effective market tactic and Kingfluencers has many tools to optimize outcomes. But with an omnichannel approach, you can repurpose existing IM content to achieve your goals while also saving money.
You can build on the effectiveness of IM to generate yet more effective marketing.
Boost your stories across various, additional channels to expand and amplify reach. Leverage content you’ve already created with various influencers and amplify outcomes with the best-performing assets. Using IM takes your ads from boring anonymous promotions to relatable content people respond to and interact with.
Combine the Power of Video, TV & Influencer Marketing
With “Influencer TV Spot” as a new exclusive advertising format, Kingfluencers, and Admeira give all brands the opportunity to broadcast your influencer marketing content as a TV commercial. Merge the power of TV with the trustworthiness and appeal of IM to gain unbeatable reach at an accessible cost.
The first Influencer TV Spot premiered on July 13, 2022, on SRF2 with content from Ochsner Shoes. According to Frank Zelger, CEO of TV marketer Admeira, “this new form of advertising was able to optimally extend the social media campaign and also generate additional reach with a high purchase intention.”
In Uncertain Times, Influencer Marketing is a Certain Solution
Because influencer marketing is an effective, affordable tactic, you can rely on it in good times and in bad. Economic sickness and health. Uncertain and stable. Kingfluencers pulls it all together in a way that’s impactful for your brand. While it might be more difficult to get budget approved for larger initiatives with high price points and requiring commitments of multiple months upfront, IM is accessible and agile. When senior management is contemplating cutting your marketing budget, IM is an excellent line item to retain– or even increase. Contact us if you’d like further support justifying budget, including projecting campaign outcomes. We furthermore have exciting insights and successful case studies that can give you an even deeper insight!
In part 1, we answered the Q, “Just what is TV,” examined the growing popularity of TV, and how it remains a powerful medium for connection. In part 2, we’ll explore how TV and influencers make a powerful combo for brands, then consider innovations that could be on the horizon.
Crossovers with TV & Influencers
We may think of TV stars and influencers as two distinct types of celebrities, but there is overlap. Some influencers first stepped into the spotlight through means other than social media, then leveraged that fame to grow a social following. For example, Patric Haziri from The Bachelor, and Sara Leutenegger from Germany’s Next Top Model. The same is true for comedian Jonny Fischer, model, and former Miss Switzerland Christa Rigozzi, and singer Linda Fäh. Lina Senn is one of several influencers Kingfluencers has worked with on an ongoing basis to build successful long-term collaborations for L’Oréal. Lina also hosts the TV show, “First Dates Switzerland.”
Crossovers are also predominant amidst screens and programming. With YouTube integrated into new smart TVs, audiences consume social media on their large, wall-mounted TVs, while also watching TV programming on their mobile phones and tablets. Consumers seek quality content that resonates, and they consume it through a blend of channels and devices.
TV + Influencers = Powerful Combo for Brands
As we wrote in, “Influencer Marketing vs. Legacy Advertising,” traditional ads are a deviation from the content audiences want to consume. Conversely, influencer marketing fuses ads into the desired content. Influencers are seen as trustworthy opinion leaders and their content as authentic, unlike traditional advertising. People relate to influencers, and their recommendations are imparted with relevance and credibility. To their community members, an influencer can feel like part of their friendship circle, helping drive high levels of engagement.
Partnering with influencers is a powerful tool for brands to create engaging and authentic video content, build trust, and connect to consumers in order to fuel growth. Meanwhile, television in general remains the video channel with the widest national reach. With our new Influencer TV Spots service, Kingfluencers combines all this into one effective and efficient advertising format.
Working with Kingfluencers, influencer content can be broadcasted just like a TV commercial in the style of a social media story, such as a TikTok or Instagram Reels, lasting for up to 15 seconds. Repurpose your existing influencer marketing content for a second lifecycle on television. Promote your stories in new ways to increase campaign reach and maximize ROI. You also have the option to place fresh, new ad content on the sides of your spot to fill the TV frame. By embedding trackable CTAs like QR Codes with scan-to-shop features, discount offers, and integrated contests, you can generate direct engagement.
Through our exclusive partnership with Admeira, Kingfluencers is the only influencer marketing agency to offer this unique cross-media synergy between social media and TV in Switzerland. Reach your target audience on channels such as SRF 1, SRF 2, Swiss 1, TF1, RTS1, or more. Frank Zelger, CEO of Admeira, told Werbewoche, “With this new form of advertising, the digital campaign is optimally extended and generates additional reach thanks to the power of TV.” Then Admeira TV is in the top 4 behind YouTube, Instagram, and general TV – and still 4 places ahead of TikTok in terms of Swiss reach. In total, 5.29M people can be reached weekly via the Admeira TV channels, which is more than 60% of the Swiss population.
What’s Next? A Look Ahead
TV continues to be a powerful medium in the lives of people of all ages, worldwide. We may see linear (live) television events merge with the connective power of the metaverse. With virtual worlds, TV viewers can transcend merely “viewing” to achieve the feeling of physical presence during exciting events of global significance, such as expanding space travel.
Incorporating the metaverse can drive more intense experiences and drive a variety of deeper connections on a global scale. Reality TV programming, including contests, no longer need to be limited by physical borders. Dr. Alen Lipuš, PhD, R&D Manager @ Pro-Bit, stated, “There’s nothing better than physical touch, but the metaverse is the next best thing.” We might even just sit down on a virtual couch, ‘together’ in the metaverse to enjoy a soccer game.
In 2017, Netflix began offering “interactive” shows in a “Choose your own adventure” style. Fusing such viewer participation with the sense of togetherness the metaverse brings could generate fresh, new immersive experiences.
Having started in 1927, TV may be nearly a century old, but it’s far from a dying format. Kingfluencers’ Influencer TV Spot merges the power of TV with the trustworthiness and unmatched appeal of influencer marketing to gain unbeatable reach at an accessible cost. Contact us to learn more about this unique offer or to book your exclusive advertising package.
