Influencer Marketing Strategy Archives

What is Social Commerce and its Impact on Shopping
The rise of social media has revolutionized the way we connect and has had a significant impact on the way we shop. Social commerce, integrating social media and e-commerce, has emerged as a powerful force in the retail industry, transforming how consumers interact with brands and make purchase decisions.
The importance of this evolution in online shopping cannot be overstated. 30% of online shoppers will likely purchase from a social media platform, with Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest currently being the primary outlets for social commerce.
One of the key drivers of social commerce is influencer marketing, which involves partnering with influential individuals on social media to promote products and services. Influencer marketing has become integral to social commerce since 1 in 2 customers rely on influencer recommendations for their purchases.
Influencer marketing has proven highly effective in promoting brands and products.
A survey conducted by Mediakix found that 89% of marketers believe that influencer marketing ROI is comparable to or better than other marketing channels. As such, influencer marketing has become a significant focus for brands looking to tap into the power of social commerce.
This article will explore social commerce and how it shapes online shopping. We will also delve into the role of influencer marketing in social commerce and examine its impact on how consumers interact with brands and make purchasing decisions.
What is social commerce?
Social commerce is the fusion of social media and e-commerce, allowing consumers to shop and purchase within social media feeds. It involves leveraging social media platforms to promote and sell products, provide customer support, and build brand awareness.
It differs from traditional e-commerce because it integrates social media platforms and networks into the shopping experience. Customers can browse products, receive recommendations, and purchase without leaving their social media feeds.
The growth of social commerce
According to a study done by McKinsey, the worldwide social commerce market is expected to reach $80 billion in the US and $2 Trillion worldwide in 2025.
In 2022 63.5 million US shoppers made a purchase through Facebook, crowning it as the most popular platform in the US. By 2025 they are projected to be 69 million shoppers on the platform.
In China, live streaming shopping has become a $171 billion market in just three years.
Along with the growth of social commerce we can see AR and VR growing hand in hand, with AR being expected to pass 100 million users by 2024.
Along with sales and users social commerce is also carrying the growth of live streaming and AR/VR by them being fundamental parts of the trend. In the future, we will see new components that allow brand and user to interact and get closer.
Social commerce platforms
Many social media are introducing social commerce features.
For example, Instagram’s shopping feature allows brands to tag products in their posts, making it easy for users to click through to purchase pages and complete transactions.
But also TikTok and Facebook are moving in a similar direction, implementing ways for brands to sell from their feed directly. While established e-commerce websites like Amazon and Shopee are introducing social features to capture momentum and improve time on the platform.
TikTok is leading the charge in organic trends with #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt, a viral hashtag that gathered over 50 billion views and combined social proof and FOMO to encourage customers to try out new products.
Social commerce VS e-commerce
Social commerce provides a range of benefits for brands and consumers alike. It allows brands to build stronger customer relationships, increase brand visibility, and drive sales.
Another advantage is that it enhances trust and credibility. By leveraging the power of social proof and user-generated content, brands can build trust and credibility with customers. Social proof and trust are critical in an era where consumers are increasingly skeptical of traditional marketing tactics and demand brand authenticity and transparency.
Finally, customers partake in a more engaging and interactive shopping experience. By leveraging the power of social media, brands can interact with customers in real time, provide customer support, and build stronger relationships.
Personalized and interactive connections enhance the shopping experience and increase customer loyalty and retention.
Social commerce represents a significant shift in how consumers shop and interact with brands. Integrating social media and e-commerce provides a more personalized, engaging, and convenient shopping experience that meets the needs and expectations of modern consumers.
How social commerce is shaping online shopping
Social commerce is having a profound impact on online shopping behavior, driving increased sales and customer loyalty. Here are some of the key ways is shaping online shopping:
Increased conversion rates
One of the primary reasons is that social commerce allows customers to shop in a more relaxed and social environment, where they can connect with friends, family, and other shoppers—not feeling the pressure of deciding and allowing them to ask for familiar people’s opinions easily.
Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest offer a range of features that enable customers to browse and buy products directly from their feeds. These platforms also provide social proof through likes, comments, and shares, which can influence customers’ buying decisions.
For example, when a customer sees that a product has been liked and shared by many people, they are likelier to trust and buy it themselves.
Another way leads to increased conversion rates is by providing customers with a more personalized shopping experience. Social media platforms collect data on users’ browsing and purchasing habits, allowing them to show customers products and ads more relevant to their interests and preferences. Social commerce can significantly increase conversion rates and drive sales by offering customers products they are more likely to buy.
Higher customer retention rates
Social media platforms offer numerous opportunities for businesses to interact and engage with their customers, which can lead to stronger relationships and increased customer loyalty.
By leveraging social commerce, companies can create a more personalized and interactive shopping experience for their customers, improving their overall satisfaction and likelihood of returning to make future purchases.
One way that helps in customer retention is through social media marketing campaigns that focus on building brand awareness and engagement.
By consistently providing valuable content and responding to customer inquiries and feedback, businesses can foster community and trust with their audience. This, in turn, can lead to increased customer loyalty and retention.
Additionally, social commerce allows businesses to collect valuable data about their customers’ shopping behavior and preferences.
By analyzing this data, companies can gain insights into their customers’ needs and want and tailor their marketing and sales strategies accordingly. This can help create a more personalized shopping experience for each customer, increasing their loyalty and likelihood of returning to make future purchases.
Improved customer engagement
Social commerce can also enhance customer engagement, vital for building long-lasting customer relationships.
Businesses can interact with customers in real-time by leveraging social media platforms and creating a two-way communication channel. This allows businesses to address customer concerns and queries, offer personalized product recommendations, and respond to feedback promptly.
Additionally, social commerce allows customers to share their purchase experiences and product reviews on social media, which can increase brand visibility and credibility.
Social media platforms also effectively create a sense of community among customers.
Businesses can build a loyal customer base invested in their brand.
They can create exclusive social media groups or pages for customers to share their experiences and connect with other like-minded individuals.
Furthermore, businesses can use social media to run contests, quizzes, and other interactive campaigns to keep customers engaged and interested in their brand. These efforts can lead to higher engagement rates, stronger customer relationships, and increased sales.
Emergence of new sales channels
Social commerce has given rise to new sales channels, such as live streaming and shoppable videos, which are becoming increasingly popular among consumers.
Live streaming enables retailers to showcase their products in real-time and interact with customers through live chat. This creates a sense of urgency and excitement, encouraging customers to purchase.
Live streaming also allows retailers to build a deeper connection with their audience, which can increase brand loyalty and drive repeat purchases.
Shoppable videos, on the other hand, allow customers to shop directly from the video they are watching.
This creates a seamless and engaging shopping experience where customers can discover products while watching their favorite content. This type of content is highly shareable on social media platforms, which can help drive brand awareness and attract new customers.
By leveraging these new sales channels, retailers can increase their reach and revenue while providing an innovative shopping experience for their customers.
Use of augmented reality and virtual reality
Social commerce has also paved the way for using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in commerce.
AR and VR are technologies that can provide customers with an immersive shopping experience, allowing them to virtually try on products and see how they would look or fit before making a purchase. This creates a more engaging and interactive experience for customers, which can increase their likelihood of making a purchase.
AR and VR technology can also be used to enhance product descriptions and give customers a better understanding of the product they are interested in.
For example, a furniture store could use AR to show customers how a particular piece of furniture would look in their home, while a fashion retailer could use VR to create a virtual fitting room where customers can see how different outfits would look on them.
This technology provides customers with a more personalized shopping experience and increases the likelihood of a successful purchase. As a result, more and more retailers are incorporating AR and VR into their social commerce strategies to stay ahead of the curve and provide a unique shopping experience for their customers.
Rise of social media marketplaces
Social commerce has also led to the rise of social media marketplaces. With the popularity of social media platforms, users increasingly want to use these platforms to discover and purchase products. Social media marketplaces provide consumers with a convenient and seamless shopping experience, enabling them to browse and purchase products directly on the platform without leaving the app.
Social media marketplaces provide businesses with a new avenue for reaching their target audience and driving sales.
By listing their products on social media marketplaces, businesses can tap into these platforms’ massive user base and leverage social media advertising’s targeting capabilities to reach their ideal customers.
Moreover, social media marketplaces often offer built-in tools for businesses to manage their inventory, track sales, and handle customer service, making it easier for them to manage their online presence and grow their business.
Overall, the rise of social media marketplaces represents a significant opportunity for both businesses and consumers in the social commerce landscape.
Learn more about influencers and e-commerce trends in our deep-d ive article.
Influencer marketing and social commerce
Influencer marketing is a crucial driver of social commerce, as it involves partnering with influential individuals on social media to promote products and services. Influencers are typically individuals with large followings on social media platforms, such as Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
By leveraging their influence and reach, brands can reach new audiences and build brand awareness more authentically and engagingly.
One of the critical advantages of influencer marketing is that it allows brands to tap into the power of social proof. By partnering with influencers who have established trust and credibility with their followers, brands can leverage their influence to promote products and services more authentically and engagingly.
This can increase brand visibility, higher engagement, and more sales.
Another advantage of influencer marketing is that it allows brands to reach niche audiences that may need help to target through traditional advertising channels.
By partnering with influencers who have established themselves as experts in a particular niche or industry, brands can reach highly engaged audiences more likely to be interested in their products or services.
In addition, influencer marketing allows brands to create more engaging and shareable content. By partnering with influencers with a strong creative vision and a deep understanding of their audience, brands can create content that resonates with their target audience and encourages sharing and engagement.
Overall, influencer marketing is critical in social commerce, providing brands with an effective way to reach new audiences, build trust and credibility, and drive sales. However, it is important for brands to approach influencer marketing with a strategic mindset and to choose which creators to partner with carefully.
How to find the right influencer with CreatorDB
Head to the CreatorDB app and on the main page select “Advanced Search”.
On the left of the search page, you can customize all the parameters you need to find the perfect influencer. Most commonly you may want to narrow done the geography and language of a the creators shown as well as their content category.
After hitting search you will obtain a list of all the creators fitting your criteria. You can click on each one of them to see their page, there you will find detailed analytics, historical trends, and their content sentiment analysis among many other useful information.
Once you found an influencer that fits your brand you can save it in a group and go ahead and look for more to contact and pitch your campaign to.
Conclusion
In conclusion, social commerce transforms how we shop and interact with brands. Provides customers with a more personalized, engaging, and convenient shopping experience while offering numerous benefits for brands, including increased customer loyalty and retention, improved conversion rates, and new sales channels.
Influencer marketing is a crucial component of social commerce, allowing brands to tap into the power of social proof and user-generated content to build trust and credibility with customers. As this trend continues to grow, brands that successfully leverage the power of influencer marketing will be well-positioned to succeed in the modern retail landscape.
Davide
August 9, 2023
Industry Trends
Emotions, Influencer Marketing Strategy, Instagram, Macro-Influencers, Micro-influnecer, Social Commerce, TikTok
AI Influencers: What They Are And How To Use Them
Introduction
AI influencers are here, but they are not going to take over and completely replace human influencers. Still, if you are a marketer, is important that you keep up with this trend and know how working with virtual influencers can boost your marketing results.
AI influencers, sometimes referred to as virtual influencers are a particular type of influencers that emerged in recent years.
Their appearances are virtually generated and their posts are curated by a team of experts.
With AI tools becoming an integral part of our lives and making it easier and easier to generate entirely synthetic content, AI influencers are becoming increasingly common.
In this article, we will discuss the history of AI influencers, their impact on influencer marketing, and their future trajectory.
What Are AI Influencers?
AI influencers are an improper term in the sense that as of now none of them is AI-powered: their images are generated using AI technology or good old CGI but their interactions are managed by a human team.
Nonetheless, many of these influencers use AI as part of their narrative: LilMiquela and many others include AI in their name or bio to create a narrative of high tech and sophistication around their character.
Currently, the closest to a true AI influencer is Kuki which is integrated with an advanced chatbot and offers the possibility to talk with Kuki herself.
What’s the history of AI influencers
The concept of AI influencers can be traced back to the early 2010s, with the creation of virtual characters for gaming and entertainment purposes. As AI and computer graphics advanced, these characters became more sophisticated, leading to the birth of virtual influencers.
The above-mentioned Lil Miquela is considered the first hyperrealistic AI influencer and at the time of her release in 2016, there was a major debate about if was a real person or not.
Many brands have developed their own AI influencers starting from their mascots. The most successful is CB de Casa Bahia, the face of a major retail brand in Brazil with over 10 million followers.
While initially AI was just in the name while the images were CGI creations in the past year, with the explosion in popularity of stable diffusion and generative AI, have emerged profiles like Milla Sofia whose images are generated by an AI model.
With the advancement of generative AI, virtual influencers will become more and more integrated with the real world and offer a more engaging experience to fans.
Why Some Brands Choose AI influencers over human content creators
According to Influencer Marketing Hub data, 59.8% of marketing professionals have worked with AI influencers, and another 15.5% are planning to do so in the future. Over 60% of the ones that had collaborations with virtual influencers consider themselves satisfied.
These data are encouraging for the future development of AI influencers and show how brands are interested in experimenting with new and innovative ways to reach their customers.
virtual influencers offer a unique appeal to brands as they allow brands to maintain complete control over the messaging and branding. Also since they don’t have an existence outside of social media they are very unlikely to be caught in scandals or controversies.
Since AI influencers don’t exist as people outside of their social media feed but they are managed by a team of professionals it is easier to have them allying with the specifics of a marketing campaign.
How to use AI influencers in your marketing campaign
The data about the effectiveness of AI influencers are still non definitive but what can be seen is that similarly to human influencers the fit with the product is the most important factor for a successful campaign.
Audiences enjoy the innovation of AI influencers but they often still find human influencers more relatable and are more likely to be purchasing an ad involving a human influencer.
Still, virtual influencers are a great way for brands that want to show an innovative image and place themselves at the forefront of a trend that is not going to stop.
Hugo Boss Rebranding (2022)
In the spring of 2022, the 98-year-old brand Hugo Boss underwent a huge rebranding effort in order to increase its appeal to the younger generations. The campaign included many traditional influencers like Kendall Jenner and Hailey Bieber.
Along with them, they partnered with Nobody Sausage and Imma two of the largest AI influencers around. Integrating virtual influencers in the rebrand was a powerful signal that the future of Hugo Boss is going to be focusing on tech and innovation.
Showing themselves embracing new and emerging trends even older and more traditional brands can showcase a vibrant spirit that is going to appeal to the young crowd.
Miquela for Samsung
Miquela Sousa has collaborated with prestigious brands such as Calvin Klein, UGG, Prada, and many others. Among her exceptional work, one particular paid sponsorship stands out her collaboration with Samsung’s #TeamGalaxy.
The fusion of Miquela’s self-proclaimed robotic identity with advanced technology, like the latest Samsung phone, is a match made in digital heaven. Miquela Sousa’s presence as a virtual influencer has redefined the concept of brand ambassadorship.
With her captivating persona and futuristic identity, she brings a unique allure to the brands she collaborates with. By leveraging Miquela’s influence, Samsung has effectively connected with a tech-savvy audience and embraced the essence of modernity, ultimately enhancing their brand image.

Noonoouri for Dior
In 2018 Noonoouri substituted Natalie Portman in the Dior “Rogue” campaign. With her cartoonish appearance and exaggerated eyes, Noonoouri was a huge break for her predecessor.
The commercial copied the original, with Noonoouri dancing while applying makeup. While it would be a standard ad for the cosmetics industry the use of an AI influencer is creating a sense of novelty and unexpected that allows the ad to be much more striking.
The Future of AI Influencers
AI tools like Midjourney, and ChatGPT are becoming integrated with many other services to provide a more personalized and effective experience for the users. With these tools becoming more precise and reliable we can expect to see them integrated with virtual influencers soon.
If the first generation of AI influencers had AI only in the name, the second generation is going to be fully backed by AI technology. Soon we will be emerging influencers whose story arc is completely decided by an AI model.
The integration of “true AI” tools in AI influencers is going to allow these influencers to better connect with their audience. As in the case of Kuki, AI models can be tailored to chat with users while keeping in character.
Once this kind of implementation will be proven reliable we can expect many brands to start developing their own AI influencers and relying on them as brand ambassadors while also including them in much of the online material of the brand.
Conclusion
In conclusion, AI influencers have opened up a new frontier in the world of social media marketing. While they present exciting opportunities for brands to engage with their audience in novel ways, they are still in the early stages of development. As AI technology progresses, AI influencers will become more and more common while also providing better value to brands.
Davide
August 3, 2023
Industry Trends
Advanced Influencer Strategies, Influencer Marketing Strategy, Mid-Level
Social Proof Marketing, how to Gain Trust and Credibility
In today’s digital age, businesses are constantly seeking effective marketing strategies to gain an edge over their competitors. One such strategy that has gained significant attention is social proof marketing. Social proof, a concept deeply rooted in human psychology, has the power to influence consumer behavior and drive conversions.
In this article, we will delve into the psychology behind social proof marketing, exploring its various forms and how businesses can leverage its power to attract and retain customers.
How Social Proof Works?
Definition and Importance
Social proof refers to the psychological phenomenon where individuals rely on the actions and decisions of others to determine their own behavior. It is a powerful tool in marketing as it taps into the innate human desire to conform and seek validation from their peers. By showcasing social proof, businesses can establish trust, credibility, and influence over their target audience.
Evolutionary Roots
The concept of social proof can be traced back to our evolutionary history. In primitive societies, conforming to the behaviors of the group was crucial for survival. Individuals who deviated from the group’s actions risked isolation and potential danger. As a result, our brains have developed a deep-rooted inclination to follow the crowd, which manifests in modern-day consumer behavior.
What are the Types of Social Proof?
Expert Social Proof
Expert social proof involves leveraging the authority and expertise of credible individuals or organizations to influence consumer decisions. This form of social proof is commonly seen in endorsements by industry experts, professionals, or renowned organizations, providing validation and credibility to a product or service.
Celebrity Social Proof
Celebrity social proof relies on the influence and popularity of well-known personalities to endorse products or services. By associating their brand with a recognizable figure, businesses can tap into the emotional connection that fans have with their favorite celebrities, increasing trust and generating interest.
Influencer Social Proof
Influencer social proof stands in the middle between expert and celebrity social proof. While in a sense influencers are celebrities themselves more often than not they are catering to smaller audiences that follow them because of the nature of the content they produce. By associating with the right influencers a brand can show to understand and value the input from the community around their products.
User Social Proof
User social proof involves leveraging the experiences and opinions of existing customers to influence potential buyers. Testimonials, reviews, and ratings play a significant role in this form of social proof. Positive user feedback can build trust and credibility, while negative feedback can raise concerns or prompt improvements.
Wisdom of the Crowds
The wisdom of the crowds is based on the belief that a large group’s collective opinion or behavior can be a reliable indicator of what is popular or desirable. This form of social proof is often seen in social media metrics such as the number of followers, likes, shares, or comments. The more significant the numbers, the greater the perceived value or quality of a product or service.
The Psychology of Social Proof Explained
Cognitive Bias: Informational Social Influence
Informational social influence occurs when individuals conform to the actions or decisions of others because they believe that others possess more knowledge or information. This cognitive bias often leads to the assumption that “if many people are doing it, it must be the right thing to do.” Businesses can leverage this bias by showcasing the popularity or widespread adoption of their offerings.
Emotional Impact: Normative Social Influence
Normative social influence taps into the human need for acceptance and belongingness. When individuals observe others engaging in certain behaviors or making particular choices, they often feel compelled to conform to fit in. By highlighting how a product or service aligns with social norms or trends, businesses can trigger the emotional desire to be part of a larger community.
How to use Social Proof in Marketing?
Testimonials and Reviews
Displaying authentic testimonials and positive reviews from satisfied customers can be a persuasive form of social proof. By sharing real-life experiences, businesses can showcase the benefits and quality of their offerings, easing potential customers’ concerns and building trust.
Influencer Collaborations
Partnering with influencers who have a strong following in a specific niche can significantly impact consumer behavior. When influencers endorse a product or service, their audience perceives it as a recommendation from a trusted source, leading to increased interest and potential conversions.
User-Generated Content
Encouraging customers to create and share content related to a brand or product can amplify social proof. User-generated content, such as photos, videos, or testimonials, not only showcases genuine experiences but also creates a sense of community around the brand, strengthening brand loyalty and attracting new customers.
Social Media Engagement
Active engagement on social media platforms allows businesses to showcase real-time interactions with customers. Responding to comments, addressing concerns, and sharing user-generated content can create a positive perception and generate social proof by demonstrating that others find value in the brand’s offerings.
Expert Endorsements
Identify influential experts or industry leaders in your field and seek their endorsements. This can be done through collaborations, guest blog posts, or interviews. Expert opinions provide a valuable stamp of approval and can significantly enhance your brand’s reputation and credibility.
How Does Social Proof Impact on Consumer Behavior?
Building Trust and Credibility
Social proof plays a vital role in building trust and credibility among potential customers. When they see others actively engaging with your brand and expressing satisfaction, it alleviates doubts and reduces perceived risks. Trust is a critical factor in the decision-making process, and social proof provides the necessary reassurance to potential customers.
Influencing Purchase Decisions
The power of social proof lies in its ability to influence consumer behavior. When individuals observe others purchasing or recommending a product, they feel compelled to follow suit due to the fear of missing out (FOMO) or the desire for social acceptance. By strategically showcasing social proof, businesses can influence potential customers’ purchase decisions and drive sales.
Enhancing Perceived Value
Social proof marketing can enhance the perceived value of your products or services. When potential customers witness others positively engaging with your offerings, it creates a sense of desirability and exclusivity. By associating your brand with satisfied customers, influencers, or industry experts, you elevate its perceived value, making it more attractive to consumers.
Examples of Successful Social Proof Campaigns
BYDFi and Customer Reviews
BYDFi effectively utilized customer reviews on third-party platforms to establish credibility and trust. By promoting reviews of their platform they were able to create a solid track record that new users investigating the platform could easily find.
Read the full Case Study
Fraîcheur and Social Proof
Fraîcheur partnered with popular celebrities, media companies, and influencers in their target market to endorse their new product line. The association with the brand generated significant buzz and social media engagement, resulting in increased brand awareness and a boost in sales.
Read the full Case Study
Surfshark and Social Media Influencers
Surfshark collaborated with influencers to showcase their product’s unique features and benefits. Through genuine and authentic content, they were able to reach a highly engaged audience and generate social proof, leading to increased product adoption and brand recognition.
Read the full Case Study
How to Overcome Challenges in Social Proof Marketing
Authenticity and Trust
Maintaining authenticity is crucial in social proof marketing. Businesses must ensure that the social proof they showcase is genuine and reflects real customer experiences. Faking or manipulating social proof can lead to a loss of trust and credibility, ultimately damaging the brand’s reputation.
Balancing Quantity and Quality
While social proof relies on numbers and metrics, businesses must strike a balance between quantity and quality. Displaying an overwhelming amount of social proof without considering its relevance or impact may dilute its effectiveness. It is essential to curate and showcase the most compelling forms of social proof to drive meaningful engagement.
Mitigating Negative Social Proof
Negative social proof, such as publicized customer complaints or low ratings, can undermine a brand’s reputation. Addressing and resolving negative feedback promptly and transparently is crucial to mitigate its impact. By actively engaging with customers and demonstrating a commitment to improvement, businesses can turn negative experiences into positive ones.
What are the Future Trends in Social Proof Marketing?
Artificial Intelligence and Personalization
Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) allow for personalized social proof experiences. AI-powered algorithms can analyze user behavior and preferences to provide tailored recommendations and social proof content, enhancing the overall customer experience and driving conversions.
Gamification and Interactive Experiences
Incorporating gamification elements and interactive experiences can boost engagement and social proof. By creating interactive quizzes, challenges, or contests, businesses can encourage customer participation and generate user-generated content, fostering a sense of community and authenticity.
Conclusion
Social proof marketing taps into the fundamental aspects of human psychology to influence consumer behavior. By understanding the psychology behind social proof and leveraging its various forms, businesses can build trust, credibility, and generate interest in their products or services. Authentic testimonials, influencer collaborations, user-generated content, and social media engagement are powerful tools that can drive conversions and foster long-term customer relationships.
FAQs
1. Does social proof marketing work for all industries?
Social proof marketing can be effective across various industries, but its impact may vary depending on the target audience and the nature of the products or services. It is essential to understand your target market and tailor your social proof strategies accordingly.
2. Is it better to have a few influential testimonials or many testimonials from regular customers?
Both influential testimonials and testimonials from regular customers can be valuable forms of social proof. The choice depends on your target audience and the message you want to convey. Influential testimonials can provide immediate credibility, while regular customer testimonials showcase widespread satisfaction.
3. How can I ensure the authenticity of user-generated content?
To ensure the authenticity of user-generated content, encourage customers to provide honest feedback and experiences. Implement moderation processes to filter out any irrelevant or inappropriate content. Engage with customers and respond to their content to show genuine appreciation for their contributions.
4. Can negative social proof be turned into a positive?
Yes, negative social proof can be turned into a positive if handled effectively. Address negative feedback promptly, empathize with customers’ concerns, and take visible actions to resolve the issues. By demonstrating your commitment to improvement and customer satisfaction, you can turn negative experiences into positive ones.
5. How can businesses stay ahead with social proof marketing in the future?
To stay ahead with social proof marketing, businesses should keep an eye on emerging trends and technologies. Incorporating personalization through AI-driven recommendations and creating interactive experiences can help businesses stand out and provide unique social proof experiences for their customers.
Yi
July 19, 2023
Industry Trends
C-Level Executives/Business Owners, Influencer Marketing Strategy
Social Search is Soaring: Enormous new Opportunities for Marketers
Gen Zers are abandoning Google and using social media to find new products, opinions, and reviews. This phenomenon is called Social Search. But why is this happening?
While Google, and search engines in general, are powerful tools to find information, they come with a price. A few established companies that are heavily invested in SEO, thanks to good backlinking strategies, can dwarf other smaller or less tech-savvy competitors.
For these reasons, many users may consider Google results less reliable and not as able to provide true unbiased information.
Social media, on the other hand, provide less sophisticated search tools, and much smaller results pools mostly comprised of user-generated content that resonates with users as genuine and less biased. Marketers need to keep in mind these kinds of changes and adapt while they are happening to avoid rushed hard pivots when is too late.
The evolution of SEO, search engines, and social media is changing where consumers discover products and search for information before buying. For brands is crucial to keep an open mind about integrating marketing efforts that aim to strengthen their position on social media through paid and earned media.
What is social search?
Search engines have been one of the leading forces that shaped the internet into what it is now. They made it possible for anyone to find websites without knowing the exact domain address. Without them, we will be browsing the same handful of websites we are familiar with, and we would rely on organic linking between websites as the main avenue to discover new websites.
But while they allowed much easier and faster internet navigation, they brought the birth of Search Engine Optimization. To gain more visits and, potentially, customers brands started applying strategies to improve their ranking in search engine results. While SEO is not inherently bad, it allows a few dedicated companies to de facto monopolize results and gain a dominant position in their field.
Social media on the other hand exists as a separate internet universe from search engine results. Content published on social media does not rank high in search engine results and is actively avoided by many of the algorithms to prevent fake news and dubious sources from ranking. But is often searchable inside the social media platform itself through various ways, most commonly simple word queries or hashtag searches.
While not as intuitive or efficient as searching through a search engine, social search gives users organic results and unfiltered access to other users’ experiences. This is especially important if considered along the growing trend of researching reviews and first-hand accounts of product use before making a purchase.
The influence of social search on consumer behavior
While the full social shopping experience may have to be put on hold for a bit longer, social media platforms are becoming the first and most trusted platform for product discovery. By allowing users to interact with one another they are becoming the main way to find out if something is worth buying or not. Just by following and interacting with other users and influencers with your same interests, you will be able to organically discover products and services catered to you.
Social media not only allows one to join communities and find other users with the same interests but also deploy fine-tuned algorithms that can understand which kind of content one is looking for and provide personalized recommendations. By combining user-generated content, organic discovery, and personalized suggestions social media creates a more authentic and trustworthy experience than search engine results.
Compared to professionally created content like blog posts, branded communication, and landing pages social media posts feel more authentic and genuine working towards establishing a stronger social proof for the user.
Social media also host most of the influencer-generated content that can be a great bridge between fully brand-owned content and user-generated social media posts. Influencers can target highly specific audiences and have one of the highest levels of trust in any marketing channel, with studies showing 61% of users trust the recommendations of other users on social media compared to only 38% trusting brands. While in most countries branded content created in partnership with influencers needs to be disclosed as an advertisement it still benefits from the trust and expertise that is around the influencers themselves.
As of now is difficult to directly track the impact that social search have on purchase decision and conversion rates since many of the users will passively engage with posts and discussions about products long after they have dried up. But for brands is important to realize that fostering online discussion around their product and pursuing creative ideas to generate organic and influencer content on social media is going to be a long-term winning strategy not only to sell today but to establish a positive track record that users will be able to come across in the future.
How can influencers boost social search?
Social media influencers and content creators will be an essential part of any campaign that wants to harvest the benefits of social search. Even if not explicitly included they are going to weigh in and influence the outcome.
Influencers are internet personalities who have been able to create a substantial following by posting content in line with their interests and expertise. They function as thought leaders towards their audience and they can stir the attention of the audience toward specific topics and brands.
Any brand that is interested in developing a successful social media presence should consider collaborating with influencers and other key opinion leaders in their market segment. Being separated from the brand itself and having reached notoriety thanks to their ideas and opinions influencers are the perfect medium to establish brand visibility and credibility on social media.
When partnering with influencers brands are not only gaining exposure to the current audience that they currently have but also leaving a track about the brand and their feeling towards it for future searches. Influencers are also a great way to start the discussion around a brand, prompt user-generated content, and frame the brand in the best light possible.
While using direct sponsorships is the most common way to collaborate with influencers there are alternative ways like product seeding or interacting with organic discussions around the product that can yield great results in promoting a brand and enhancing its visibility on social media.
How to get the best out of social search
Exactly like with SEO, there is work to be done to optimize the social search results for a brand. But should keep in consideration that unlike SEO here there isn’t complete control over the material that is published and a too-polished approach may backfire by giving the curated vibe social searchers are trying to escape in the first place.
Spark discussion
If there are no mentions of a brand on social media there is no possibility to use social search in the first place. Work towards getting the brand name out there in the first place. Collaborate with influencers, engage in viral stunts, or just provide an incentive program for customers to post reviews and impressions on social media.
Monitor the discussion
When there is a bit of movement about the brand going on social media, people are posting reviews and opinions. That is a good start. But is no time to rest. While there is no way to control what gets posted, and some of the things that get posted may be negative, a good practice is to engage with those posts, interact with the users that mention your brand, help the posts to gain traction, and show how much your brand cares about its customers. Being able to interject in the right conversations and be helpful and insightful is going to improve the brand image, even if the initial post is negative or critical of your product.
Focus on the language
Social media are not search engines and they are much less helpful to stir users towards adjacent terms that may be more used. This means that if the messaging has an unusual choice of terms it will be more difficult to find compared to someone who is using common terms. Try to maintain your brand uniqueness and identity by focusing on a few distinctive traits and special choices of words but also coopt and include widespread terms of your industry. Similarly, do not change hashtags too often but focus on the ones that can be repeated across multiple campaigns.
Use influencers correctly
Influencers are going to be the strongest ally in improving social search results. By partnering with various tiers of influencers you are going to reach different segments of the target audience. But how you include influencers in your plan is going to make the difference between a forgettable campaign and one that will leave the mark. As we said before influencers are highly valued by their followers due to their genuinity and authenticity, and these are the characteristics you should go after when planning your collaborations. Organize ways in which not only they can endorse the brand and the products but so it from a genuine perspective. This is often achieved by having them do reviews and relate the product to their daily use.
What are the challenges in social search?
But social search is not free from challenges. While for the moment is a relatively underdeveloped part of most companies marketing efforts are likely to see an increase soon and with it a steeper entry barrier.
Compared to other ways of doing marketing optimizing social search results is at high risk of being overdone and creating a “too corporate” feeling for the users who are just trying to escape from the too-institutionalized search engine results.
Social media, especially smaller ones with little to no moderation measures, may be vulnerable to brigading and fake reviews. Determined keywords and profiles may come at certain times under the attack of adversarial actors that would use bots and fake profiles to spread false and misleading information about certain topics. Most large social media have already in place ways to prevent and mitigate the effect of these actors it can be a very difficult issue on smaller and less established platforms.
Conclusion
Search engines have brought a great change in how we can access information, but they are also more and more doubted when it comes to purchasing information. Concurrently social media have created new ways people can communicate and get exposed to each other experiences and opinions.
In recent times we are assisting to a shift by the new generations which are abandoning search engines in favor of social media when it comes to pre-purchase information. With this shift, it emerges the possibility for marketers to turn social media into their frontline for customer acquisition and conversion.
These trend fits in perfectly with the growth of influencer marketing since both nurture the feelings of honesty and authenticity in high demand by customers making a great choice to pursue both concurrently.
Davide
June 12, 2023
Industry Trends
C-Level Executives/Business Owners, Influencer Marketing Strategy, Social Search
#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt
With over 50 billion views combined across hundreds of thousands of videos, #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt is the latest trend in social commerce and something every marketer should be aware of. In brief, under the hashtag, you can find almost infinite videos showcasing some of the purchases the users made because they saw them on TikTok. That is great social proof for your product, but it is also a fantastic opportunity to organically, or maybe not, reach a wider audience.
Hashtags like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt show how social media and retail platforms are blurring one another. This is happening fast. Just think about how Instagram now offers the option for shops to list their products and will show the prompt “shop now” under sponsored posts providing users the chance to access the offer without leaving the platform.
1. What is social commerce?
Social commerce is a form of e-commerce that uses social media platforms or social networking sites to facilitate online transactions. It uses social networks to create, share, and promote products and services, enabling direct transactions between buyers and sellers.
Social commerce leverages the power of social media to drive sales, increase brand awareness, and improve customer engagement. It includes various activities, such as social media advertising, influencer marketing, customer reviews, and social shopping.
Social commerce seeks to create a seamless buying experience by combining social media with traditional e-commerce.
Social commerce is growing in two main directions: from social media and e-commerce sites.
While platforms like Instagram are implementing ways to incorporate shopping into their platform and give the user an attrition-free experience from the moment, they discover the product on an influencer post to the moment they buy from the seller’s page. Shopping platforms are doing the opposite: adding social features, like photos and live streams, and allowing users to share their opinion about their purchases. Amazon is leading the charge with its Inspire app.
2. How TikTok is driving social commerce
The success of #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt is primarily due to how the TikTok algorithm works and how powerful and precise it can be in targeting a specific audience.
Videos using the hashtag often play to the platform’s strengths: being user-generated or similar to user-generated content featuring exciting products and catchy tunes to garner attention and attract views.
TikTok has in 2022 have worked hard to position itself in a better position in social shopping: rolling out the Shop feature in the US and a partnership with TalkShopLive to include live-stream commerce were two essential steps to make the platform ready to cash on the#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt phenomenon.
And the trend keeps going in 2023 with the testing of in-app checkout to prepare the platform for an end-to-end shopping experience. Thanks to these improvements, the number of buyers on TikTok in the US alone grew by 72.3% in 2022, bringing the total to 23.7 million.
Even if TikTok is expected to have fewer social buyers for the next couple of years than Facebook or Instagram, the steps taken make it evident that the platform is pushing to become the dominant player in the field.
3. Understanding the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt phenomenon
With #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt, we can see how the platform can blend organic content and ads almost seamlessly: marketers and advertisers can generate creatives that are simil-User generated content and leverage the robust TikTok algorithm to target users that are most likely to decide on a purchase while browsing content. Concurrently non sponsored users would also generate organic content about the product and use the hashtag just because of personal choice, and because is a trend. This double approach shows that this is not just a trend pushed by marketing spend but is a type of content users enjoy and look for organically.
The #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt trend leverages social influence by combining paid promoters and organic fans to present and explain how a product has been a great addition to their life and, indirectly, invite the user to make the same purchase.
TikTok users are interested in genuine content and ways to express themselves or see other people express themselves, which should be kept in mind if wanting to leverage the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt trend effectively.
Interested in e-commerce and want to be on top of the cycle? Check out our 2023 Retail/E-commerce Industry Report
4. How to craft a successful #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt campaign
To successfully run a #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt campaign you will have to use the TikTok native format, be entertaining, encourage users to post their content, include strong CTAs, interact with the engaged users, and repurpose the content your userbase creates.
Use the native TikTok format
Vertical orientation, with dimensions of 1080×1920 with a ratio of 9:16. This way, your content will have the best quality and occupy the full screen for the viewer. It has also been shown that users will engage 30% more with TikTok native formats.
Include a strong call to action
Strong calls to action should be a part of your strategy and will translate into a solid conversion of those users that came to TikTok for entertainment and will get inspired to purchase.
Keep it entertaining
TikTok users are on the platform to express themselves and be entertained. Therefore you should keep it in mind when planning your creatives, and if you want to bring it to the next level,
Encourage user content
Consider introducing an aspect of challenge. Something users could latch on to create organic content.
Interact with the audience
Not only do your creatives need to be in line with TikTok etiquettes, but your way of interacting with users on the platform needs to be up to par. Be ready to like and comment on the replies and videos of the user that engage and create content around your product. Show the fun side of your company.
Repurpose the content
Use user-generated content you earned from the campaign as social proof, repurposing it for other social media or your website.
5. The future of social commerce and TikTok
Social commerce is projected to break over 1 Trillion dollars in revenue worldwide by 2024 and, by 2030, be over 6 Trillion. While countries like the US are lagging a bit behind in this trend China and other Asian countries, lead the charge.
From these countries, we can see how social commerce can achieve a conversion rate of almost 30% or ten times higher than other forms of e-commerce, presenting a great opportunity for brands and companies ready to delve into it.
Influencers and KOLs will play a central role in the success of many brands’ social commerce strategies. With the audience and credibility they built around their persona, they will become a fundamental part of the consumer journey for social media users.
One of the main avenues by which users will discover and build trust towards brands and a further incentive to purchase the products since is going to help the creator.
Due to this ongoing shift toward social commerce, developing a comprehensive influencer marketing strategy will become of central importance for any brand that is seriously interested in going down this path.
Users are shifting from discovering products and brands from owned channels to influencers’ suggestions and recommendations. To keep on top of that is necessary to identify and nurture relationships with influencers that are active in your market niche and have access to audiences you want to tap into.
To effectively identify relevant KOLs and keep track of them, you can rely on services like CreatorDB. With our large influencer database, advanced search tools, and niche identification technology, you can pinpoint all the influencers adjacent to your product and start contacting them immediately. CreatorDB is available as an online SaaS for ease of use and immediate results and as an API service to be integrated with your existing workflow and provide you with all the data you need to make the right decisions regarding influencer marketing.
6. Conclusion
Social media and e-commerce platforms are racing to create a hybrid where users can access entertainment and purchase simultaneously. This formula has already been shown to bring higher than average conversion rates in the Asian markets where it first gained popularity. While Facebook and Instagram are leaders in social commerce in the Western world, TikTok is positioning its structure to overtake them soon.
Social media campaigns like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt can blend advertisement and organic content to drive user engagement and amplify the potential virality of a paid campaign.
With the rise of social commerce, influencer marketing will become essential for any business that wants to take this opportunity seriously.
Davide
May 3, 2023
Industry Trends
C-Level Executives/Business Owners, Influencer Marketing Strategy
Is TikTok’s De-influencing Trend Disrupting the Influencer Economy?
Influencers have gained power and fame because of the rise of social media. These individuals have millions of followers, and with their massive audiences, they can make or break brands, quickly turning an unknown brand into a viral sensation. However, as the influencer industry has grown, so have concerns about the credibility of the reviews and recommendations they give.
Recently, a new trend has emerged on TikTok: “de-influencing.” The trend encourages people to think critically about the products that influencers promote and to be more mindful of their purchasing decisions.
In this blog post, we will delve deeper into the de-influencing trend, examining what it is, why it’s important, and how it’s changing the way we approach social media.
What is de-influencing?
As the word indicates, de-influencing is a new trend on TikTok which encourages viewers not to purchase or use certain products, often as a way to combat overconsumption and challenge the credibility of influencers.
This trend has gained popularity on TikTok, where videos with the #deinfluencing hashtag have garnered millions of views.
@honestphoebe
#stitch with @Meredith Duxbury can we just stop with the gasping now does it really still work as a sales technique??? (No hate to Meredith btw a lot of people do this) #deinfluencing #meredithduxbury #makeup #beautytok #influencer #influencerinthewild
♬ original sound – Honest Beauty

While some people in the industry may find this trend concerning, it reflects a desire for authenticity in a world of curated content and allows for a broader range of voices to be heard on social media. Ultimately, the de-influencing movement helps people, particularly Gen Z, to question who to trust and make more informed purchasing decisions.
Why is de-influencing trending now?
According to TODAY, de-influencing is currently on the rise on TikTok for several reasons:
1. Influencer controversies
Recent controversies involving influencers have led to increased scrutiny of their credibility. For example, TikToker Mikayla Nogueira was accused of wearing fake eyelashes in a video for a L’Oréal brand deal, causing people to question the trustworthiness of influencers.
@mikaylanogueira
THESE ARE THE LASHES OF MY DREAMS!! @lorealparisusa never lets me down 😭 #TelescopicLift #LorealParisPartner #LorealParis @zoehonsinger
♬ original sound – Mikayla Nogueira

2. Desire for authenticity
The trend also reflects a growing desire for authenticity and relatability on social media. People are starting to crave content that feels more real and attainable, rather than the lavish and unattainable lifestyle often portrayed by influencers.
3. Response to #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt
The de-influencing trend is a direct response to the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt trend, where content creators would promote products that viewers would then purchase. Many people are now pushing back against this trend and urging others to think more critically about their purchasing decisions.
Click here to learn what is #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt
4. Economy and functional purchases
Lastly, the current state of the economy may be a factor in the rise of de-influencing. As people become more mindful of spending, they shift from aspirational and expensive purchases to more functional and affordable ones.
De-influencing is still influencing
Although the “de-influencing” trend is gaining traction on social media, some experts argue that “de-influencing” is another form of influencing, as influencers still offer alternatives to the products they advise their followers to avoid.
Some influencers may promote products purely for income or connecting with sponsors, many genuinely enjoy the products they recommend, and the popularity of certain products often stems from authentic enthusiasm.
In short, while “de-influencing” is a fun trend, it is unlikely to spell the end of the influencer industry.
Will de-influencing affect brands and the influencer economy?
With a rising social media trend like de-influencing on TikTok, it’s still uncertain whether it will affect the influencer economy, which has grown from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $14.6 billion in 2022.
But still, brands are now becoming more considerate about whom they hire to promote their products and are assessing the risk of sending products to de-influencers who might negatively review them.
As a consequence, influencers may turn down brand deals that don’t align with their interests. Influencers may also need to adapt by showing a deeper look into their passions and interests beyond just selling and promoting products.
Some content creators are already exploring other creative outlets, such as in-person collaborations and shoots with brands, to prepare for potential changes in the industry. We may also see more diversity and unfiltered moments in social media feeds. After all, the future of influencers will depend on their ability to adapt and provide value to their followers beyond just promoting products.
Yi
April 4, 2023
Industry Trends
C-Level Executives/Business Owners, Influencer Marketing Strategy
TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, which Platform has the Highest Growth Rate?
In DB Insight, we extracted the following metrics from CreatorDB’s database to address the most pressing question in the influencer marketing industry:
“Which social media platform has the highest growth rate?“
What does growth rate mean for social media?
When we talk about “growth rate” in the world of social media, we’re looking at how fast an account is gaining new followers. This can show us how well a person or business is doing online.
For example, if a company’s Instagram account has 1,000 followers at the start of the month and gains 200 more followers by the end of the month, we can say it’s seen a 20% growth rate for that month (because 200 is 20% of 1,000).
This growth rate helps us understand if the content being posted is interesting and engaging to followers. A rising growth rate means you’re doing well, and people like what they see.
On the other hand, if the growth rate dips, it might be time to shake things up and try a new strategy.
Read more:
Social Media Algorithms, how they Work in 2023 (+ Tips)
Do different social media platforms have different growth rate?
Different social media platforms do have different growth rates, they depends on several factors:
- The platform’s popularity
- Its user demographic
- The type of content shared
- How the platform’s algorithms work
For example, a vibrant and visually engaging platform like Instagram might be a better fit for a travel influencer or a fashion blogger. Here, stunning visuals can attract more followers quickly, resulting in a high growth rate.
On the other hand, a thought leader or a tech influencer might find a platform like Twitter or LinkedIn more suitable, where text-based posts and industry-specific content could lead to steady follower growth.
So, it’s essential for influencers and content creators to understand their audience, the nature of their content, and the unique characteristics of each platform.
Why growth rate matters for influencers and content creators?
The “growth rate” is a big deal for influencers and content creators because it’s like a pulse check on how well they’re doing. A steady or increasing growth rate means their content is hitting the mark—it’s engaging, exciting, and it’s getting people to click the ‘follow’ button.
Think of it this way, every new follower is a potential fan, customer, or supporter:
- For influencers, a higher follower count can lead to more lucrative partnerships with brands because it means a wider audience for those brands’ products or services.
- For content creators, a growing follower count can mean more views, likes, and shares for their work, increasing their visibility and chances of monetization.
So, which social media platform has the highest growth rate?“
From our database, we’ve found:
Followers
Social media platform 10.000
to 100.000 100.000
or more 1.000.000
or more
IG 4.7% 3.1% 1.1%
TikTok 189% 151.9% 2570.0%
YouTube 4.2% 1.3% 1.3%
Key takeaway
According to CreatorDB’s own detailed database, there is a weak correlation between engagement rate and growth across all social media platforms and follower categories, suggesting that engagement rate is not a reliable predictor of growth.
To learn more:
CreatorDB influencer marketing platform fuels your success
Explanation
Based on the provided data, it is clear that TikTok has consistently shown the highest growth rates among all the platforms analyzed. Specifically, TikTok’s growth rates range from 189% for creators with 10,000 to 100,000 followers, to a staggering 2570.0% for creators with 1,000,000 or more followers.
This is a clear indication that TikTok has been able to provide a platform for creators to reach a wider audience in a short amount of time.
In comparison, YouTube has shown the lowest growth rates among all the platforms analyzed. With growth rates ranging from 4.2% for creators with 10,000 to 100,000 followers, to just 1.3% for creators with 100,000 or more followers and 1.3% for creators with 1,000,000 or more followers, it seems that YouTube’s algorithm and policies may not be as conducive to rapid growth as TikTok’s.
To learn more:
Influencer Analytics Explained
Instagram, on the other hand, has shown moderate growth rates compared to TikTok and YouTube. With growth rates of 4.7% for creators with 10,000 to 100,000 followers, 3.1% for creators with 100,000 or more followers, and 1.1% for creators with 1,000,000 or more followers, Instagram seems to be somewhere in between TikTok and YouTube in terms of providing a platform for creators to grow.
Overall, these metrics suggest that TikTok may be the most effective platform for creators looking to rapidly grow their audience, while YouTube may be better suited for creators looking for more stable and consistent growth over time. Instagram, meanwhile, appears to offer a middle ground between the two.
However, it is important to note that these metrics may not necessarily indicate long-term success or sustainability for creators on these platforms, and other factors such as content quality and audience engagement may also play significant roles in determining success.
To learn more:
CreatorDB’s AI data-driven approach to identifying influencers for your business
Yi
March 16, 2023
DB Insight
C-Level Executives/Business Owners, Influencer Marketing Strategy

Is Engagement Rate a Reliable Predictor of Social Media Growth?

We extracted the following metrics from CreatorDB’s database to address the most pressing question in the influencer marketing industry:

“Can engagement rate predict social media growth?“

But first of all, what is engagement rate?

In social media, engagement rates can help to measure the level of interaction between influencers and their followers.

If the engagement rate is high, meaning that influencer’s audience is willing to engage with the content, which allows the influencer to build trust and connection with their followers.

The engagement rate in social media refers to the percentage of people who saw a piece of content (like a post on Instagram, a Tweet, or a Facebook update) and interacted with it in some way. This can include actions like

liking the content
sharing it
commenting on it
clicking on a link within it

It’s calculated using the total engagement (likes, comments, shares, etc.) divided by the total number of impressions or followers (depending on the method you choose), then multiplied by 100 to get a percentage.

To know more about how engagement rate works in influencer marketing, you would have all the answers you need here.

How to drive high engagement rates?

To have high engagement rates on social media, you could pay attention to a fews things:

Quality Content: High engagement begins with high-quality, relevant content. Photos, videos, and captions should be compelling and resonate with your audience.
Frequency and Timing: Consistency is key. Regular updates keep you top-of-mind for your followers. Moreover, finding the optimal times to post can ensure maximum visibility.
Audience Interaction: Social media is a two-way street. Encourage audience participation through questions, polls, and contests. Don’t forget to respond to their comments to foster a sense of community.
Strategic Hashtags and Location Tags: These help boost your visibility by getting your content in front of a larger audience, including those who aren’t already following you.
Well-Crafted Profile: Ensure your profile is complete, cohesive, and contains a clear message about who you are or what your brand is about. Include a call-to-action to guide your followers on what to do next.

Can we predict social media growth with engagement rate?

To answer this question, we’ve pulled the data from our database to find out whether the engagement rate is reliable to predict social media growth.

As we can see below, where 0.0 is truly random and for some sort of correlation we would need < -0.5 or > 0.5, and -1 or 1 means perfect correlation. And we use followers/subscribers to represent growth:

	10.000 to 100.000	More than 100.000	More than 1.000.000
YouTube	NO, Correlation: -0.005	NO, Correlation: -0.015	NO, Correlation: -0.03
TikTok	NO, Correlation: -0.002	NO, Correlation: -0.001	NO, Correlation: 0.004
Instagram	NO, Correlation: -0.02	NO, Correlation: -0.02	NO, Correlation: -0.009

What have we found?

The analysis indicates a very weak correlation between engagement rate and growth (represented by followers/subscribers) across all social media platforms and follower categories, suggesting that engagement rate is not a reliable predictor of growth.

Explanation

The data analysis conducted on the correlation between engagement rate and growth across various social media platforms has provided some interesting insights.

The results indicate that there is a very weak correlation between engagement rate and growth, which is represented by the number of followers or subscribers. This weak correlation was observed across all social media platforms and follower categories.

Upon examining the correlation coefficients, it was observed that for most platforms and follower categories, the correlation is close to zero or slightly negative. This indicates that there is almost no relationship between engagement rate and growth, and in some cases, there may even be a slight negative correlation.

This suggests that engagement rate alone may not be a reliable predictor of growth on social media platforms.

However, a slightly different trend was observed for TikTok accounts with more than 1,000,000 followers.

In this case, a very weak positive correlation between engagement rate and growth was observed. Although the correlation coefficient was not significant, it does suggest that there may be some relationship between engagement rate and growth for highly popular TikTok accounts.

Overall, while engagement rate is an important metric for measuring audience engagement and content quality, it may not be a good indicator of growth on social media platforms.

Other factors such as content type, audience demographics, and platform algorithms may play a more significant role in determining growth on social media platforms.

Therefore, it is essential for creators and brands to focus on a holistic approach to social media marketing rather than relying solely on engagement rate as a measure of success.

March 4, 2023

DB Insight

C-Level Executives/Business Owners, Influencer Marketing Strategy

Analysis: the Growth Rates of top vs. Bottom Social Media Creators at 100,000 Followers
We extracted the following metrics from CreatorDB’s database to analyze the difference of the growth rate of top vs. bottom social media creators at 100,000 followers.
100,000 = the range 75.000 to 125.000
Youtube
- 10th percentile growth = 0.0%
- 90th percentile growth = 21.2%
- Difference = 21.2%
Instagram:
- 10th percentile growth = 0.0%
- 90th percentile growth = 1319.8%
- Difference = 1319.8%
TikTok:
- 10th percentile growth = 0.0%
- 90th percentile growth = 53223.1%
- Difference = 53223.1%
Key takeaway
Based on CreatorDB’s own database, it can be concluded that TikTok has the highest growth rates across all follower categories, followed by Instagram and YouTube.
Explanation
The given metrics describe the difference between the top 10% fast-growing and bottom 10% slowest-growing creators at 100,000 followers on three different social media platforms: YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
For YouTube, the 10th percentile growth and 90th percentile growth are 0.0% and 21.2%, respectively. This indicates that the top 10% of creators with 100,000 followers on YouTube grew their audience by 21.2% while the bottom 10% of creators did not experience any growth.
For Instagram, the 10th percentile growth and 90th percentile growth are 0.0% and 1319.8%, respectively. However, the difference between the two is 1319.8%, which implies that the bottom 10% of creators with 100,000 followers did not experience growth while the top 10% of creators with 100,000 followers on Instagram grew by 1319.8%.
Lastly, for TikTok, the 10th percentile growth and 90th percentile growth are 0.0% and 53223.1%, respectively, which indicates that the top 10% of creators with 100,000 followers on TikTok grew their audience by an enormous 53223.1% while the bottom 10% did not experience any growth.
Overall, these metrics suggest that the difference in growth rates between the top 10% and bottom 10% of creators varies significantly across different social media platforms. While TikTok seems to have the highest growth potential, Instagram appears to be a more level playing field where both the top and bottom 10% of creators have similar growth rates.
Learn more:
CreatorDB’s AI data-driven approach to identifying influencers for your business
Yi
March 4, 2023
DB Insight
C-Level Executives/Business Owners, Influencer Marketing Strategy
The Ultimate Guide to Gen Z Marketing
Gen Z is here to stay! There is a new audience in town, born between the mid 90s to mid 2000s, who, despite being young and fresh off the boat, no doubt spends the most time online alongside millennials and baby boomers.
Today’s Gen Zers have come of age in a fully connected world. They are digital natives who see no distinction between online and offline reality. Gen Zers are the first generation to grow up with social media as a primary means of communication, which means they also have unprecedented access to information about virtually anyone and anything.
With the rapid growth of Gen Z, businesses are paying more attention to this emerging segment than ever before.
This generation is extremely tech-savvy, sophisticated, independent and collaborative.
These young people prefer experiences over things, collaboration over competition, and authenticity over artificiality. When it comes to marketing to Gen Z consumers, you need a solid strategy that goes beyond the traditional tactics.
With the right marketing strategies for Gen Z, you can reach this group in an authentic and convincing way that benefits your business while also supporting their needs as customers. Here are some ideas on how to market to Gen Z effectively.
Act like a digital native
Gen Z audiences gravitate towards brands with a fresh perspective and who can think outside of the box. To do this, your brand must embrace the digital native culture and be at home on digital platforms.
Gen Z are digital natives so marketers must act that way too. Gen Z expects brands to move as seamlessly around digital devices as they do, and therefore, they feel that brand engagement should be constant, not one-off.
They want to get information when needed, in the right place, and at the right time. No matter the device, Gen Zers have a constant expectation of smooth interactions with brands.
Utilize emerging marketing channels
Social media can be a powerful tool in the marketing mix. It allows both companies to reach potential customers directly, as well as allow customers to interact with brands and provide valuable feedback.
Social media platforms offer a way for brands to reach an audience that is specifically interested in your messaging. By using these platforms, you can reach this audience in a very targeted way.
This allows you to establish a connection with them that they may not have had before. When done right, social media can be a powerful tool for any type of business.
However, it’s also important to know which platform is best suited for each type of business.
You need to know whether your target audience uses a certain social media platform, as well as if a particular platform is right for your campaign. Gen Z are likely to use Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, so you should start there.
Authenticity over artificiality
Marketers and experts tend to throw the word “authenticity” around a lot when it comes to Gen Z – without really elaborating on what it means.
Gen Z is all about authenticity — they want brands that they can trust.
This means being honest about what your brand has to offer, even if it’s not yet perfect or complete. Be honest about how you’re going about fixing any problems within your brand and show them how it makes a difference in their lives by showing them results from your product or service.
Gen Z also want the brands they shop with, the organizations they frequent, and the people they surround themselves with to reflect their way of viewing the world. Marketing to Gen Z means matching their values and beliefs.
You need to be able to engage them on their terms, and show them that your brand understands who they are.
That said, if you can master the right way to reach out to Gen Z, they can be loyal and passionate customers—just remember that being genuine is more important than being flashy.
Trust matters to Gen Z
For every brand aiming to create and build relationships with Gen Z, a good place to start is by building trust on and off of your platform. In an increasingly fast-paced world, businesses need to pull double duty in order to keep Gen Z’s attention.
They need to instill in this generation a sense of stability and trust, while at the same time providing them with opportunities to feel more empowered on their own turf. Your business needs to be more than just a usable utility for those in Gen Z—it needs to be reliable, an inspiration, and something cool for them if you want your brand to really make a splash. If you want to connect with Gen Z, then you must be a trustworthy brand.
The current generation wants to feel connected and affirmed by the brands that they choose to follow.
Gen Z consumers appreciate honest marketing and advertising and are not as easily swayed by false or exaggerated advertising.
Therefore, when marketing to this group, it’s important that you’re honest about what your product or service does and how it benefits them directly instead of trying to make them believe something that isn’t true about your brand.
Personalize your brand for a diverse audience
When marketing to a Gen Z audience, you have to be open to diversity. Gen Z is a highly diverse generation that encompasses many different types of people, with various goals and aspirations, and when it comes to marketing to this audience, one size does not fit all.
There are a number of different ways to sell to Gen Z, and being able to easily adapt your marketing campaign based on the way that they prefer to be marketed to will pay off in the long run. To reach them, you’ll need to be able to adjust your strategy to accommodate that.
Gen Z is a large group of people with different tastes, and they will not be swayed easily. The more personal a brand can make its marketing efforts seem, the better chance they have at winning over this demographic of consumers.
As long as you’re willing to meet them on their playing field, you’ll find them a receptive audience—and they just might help turn your business into the next big thing.
Be straight to the point
There are countless ways in which Gen Zers communicate. They’re talkers, texters, FaceTimers, Snapchatters, direct messengers and so on.
This can be taken positively or negatively when it comes to advertising – they are very reachable on nearly all platforms, but marketers also have to compete with the constant information being pushed their way, along with their short attention spans.
Gen Z appreciates straightforward communication and want to be served information this way.
The average Gen Zer has an attention span of about eight seconds.
They’ve grown up constantly being served enormous amounts information, and are accustomed to quickly filtering through it.
When marketing to Gen Z they prefer to be addressed in a straightforward way in a manner that they can understand, they are a generation looking for real answers and fast.
Transparency is critical
Today’s Gen Zers have grown up in a world of perfect information. They have been able to find answers to most of life’s questions at the push of a button.
They have grown accustomed to having everything at their fingertips, from directions to restaurant, reviews and even the best price on products they want to buy. As a result, they expect that same level of ease when it comes to making purchase decisions.
This generation has grown up with technology and understands how quickly things change and is already used to having instant access to information, so do not try to hide anything from them.
Gen Z is a generation that demands transparency in everything they do. They want to know what they’re getting into, how much it will cost, and what exactly they’ll be getting out of it, they want to have a clear understanding of the job before they take it. Gen-Z dislikes hidden agendas.
They want to know the game plan, and they don’t like surprises.
This generation is not only the most cynical but also the most skeptical. If you want to market to Gen Z, you need to be transparent about what you’re offering because they want the freedom to make an informed decision about whether or not it’s right for them.
Add some flavour to your brand
Gen Zers have a very clear idea of what they want in the brands they buy from. They don’t want bland or boring, but rather something that is interesting to them and their friends. Gen Zers want brands that are bold, have a strong voice and personality — and they will push back if a company doesn’t live up to their expectations. Here are four attributes that Gen Zers want from brands:
Boldness
Gen Z has grown up in an environment where companies were bold and took risks. They aren’t afraid of having opinions or sharing them publicly on social media sites like Facebook or Instagram. They expect brands to be just as bold as they are. Take a look at Honey’s collaboration with Mr. Beast to see how providing a space to share opinions and experiences freely opens brands up to new audiences.

Strong voice
Gen Z want brands that stand for something beyond just selling products or services. They want companies that speak out on issues related to society and the planet we live on. Check out Absolut Vodka’s collaboration with Jess Bowen to see an example of how to align your brand’s values with influencers that share a similar vision.
Personality
Gen Zers don’t like blandness; they want companies with personalities that they can relate to while still being relatable to other people in general. If a brand comes off as too boring or stiff, then it won’t stick out among all the other options out.
For a good example of bringing personality to influencer marketing, check out Dunkin’s long-term sponsorship with Charli D’ Amelio — one of the biggest stars on TikTok. Alongside content from Charli which showcased products from Dunkin with Charli’s signature flair, Dunkin launched a campaign under the hashtag #CharliXDunkinContest, and released a new beverage named “The Charli.”
Community
If you want to market effectively to Gen Z, it’s important to understand who they are and what they want from their brands. To do this, you need data on their preferences, behaviors and attitudes — which is why building a community is so valuable.
By collecting information from members of your community, you can learn more about them than ever before. This kind of insight will help shape your future campaigns and content offerings for Gen Zers.
A digital community also helps build trust between brands and consumers through authenticity. Gen Z aren’t interested in being marketed to; they want real connections with real people who understand them. Building an authentic relationship with Gen Zers is essential to getting them on board with your brand or product.
About CreatorDB
If you’re excited about your brand reaching out to a younger audience, what better way than to use influencer marketing? With CreatorDB, connecting with the right influencers is a breeze. Make the most of our ever-growing influencer database and platform, advanced data packages, and dedicated influencer marketing agency to connect with the influencers that Gen Z follow on a daily basis.
Davide
November 22, 2022
Guides
C-Level Executives/Business Owners, Gen Z, Influencer Marketing Strategy

Followers Social media platform	10.000 to 100.000	100.000 or more	1.000.000 or more
IG	4.7%	3.1%	1.1%
TikTok	189%	151.9%	2570.0%
YouTube	4.2%	1.3%	1.3%

Influencer discovery

Audience targeting

Content analysis

Competitor analysis

Market insights

Case Studies

Reports

Guides

FAQ

Blog

What is social commerce?

The growth of social commerce

Social commerce platforms

Social commerce VS e-commerce

How social commerce is shaping online shopping

Increased conversion rates

Higher customer retention rates

Improved customer engagement

Emergence of new sales channels

Use of augmented reality and virtual reality

Rise of social media marketplaces

Influencer marketing and social commerce

How to find the right influencer with CreatorDB

Conclusion

Introduction

What Are AI Influencers?

What’s the history of AI influencers

Why Some Brands Choose AI influencers over human content creators

How to use AI influencers in your marketing campaign

Hugo Boss Rebranding (2022)

Miquela for Samsung

Noonoouri for Dior

The Future of AI Influencers

Conclusion

How Social Proof Works?

Definition and Importance

Evolutionary Roots

What are the Types of Social Proof?

Expert Social Proof

Celebrity Social Proof

Influencer Social Proof

User Social Proof

Wisdom of the Crowds

The Psychology of Social Proof Explained

Cognitive Bias: Informational Social Influence

Emotional Impact: Normative Social Influence

How to use Social Proof in Marketing?

Testimonials and Reviews

Influencer Collaborations

User-Generated Content

Social Media Engagement

Expert Endorsements

How Does Social Proof Impact on Consumer Behavior?

Building Trust and Credibility

Influencing Purchase Decisions

Enhancing Perceived Value

Examples of Successful Social Proof Campaigns

BYDFi and Customer Reviews

Fraîcheur and Social Proof

Surfshark and Social Media Influencers

How to Overcome Challenges in Social Proof Marketing

Authenticity and Trust

Balancing Quantity and Quality

Mitigating Negative Social Proof

What are the Future Trends in Social Proof Marketing?

Artificial Intelligence and Personalization

Gamification and Interactive Experiences

Conclusion

FAQs

1. Does social proof marketing work for all industries?

2. Is it better to have a few influential testimonials or many testimonials from regular customers?

3. How can I ensure the authenticity of user-generated content?

4. Can negative social proof be turned into a positive?

5. How can businesses stay ahead with social proof marketing in the future?

What is social search?

The influence of social search on consumer behavior

How can influencers boost social search?

How to get the best out of social search

Spark discussion

Monitor the discussion

Content
analysis

Market
insights