Why does a decoration business really care about the latest video trend? Well, influencers are trying to monetize their exposure to thousands or even millions of followers. As the promotional industry is well versed at tracking the best items to promote, it lends well that t-shirts could be a primary topic for these influencers! What better vehicle to move our decoration industry into modern marketing efforts? Let’s explore the overall definition who an influencer is, how their audience relates to sales and simplify how we can support this growing market.
What is an influencer?
A social media influencer or internet celebrity is someone who has established a personal brand with a level of credibility with an online audience. Influencers tend to partner with retail brands in a similar way that celebrities do. Brands that are looking to capitalize on the influencer’s social audience are paying attention to both reach (number of followers) and the level of engagement for their return on their marketing spend.
We continue to see an evolving list of platforms where these influencers share their stories. This could be a photo, short video (less than one minute) or a longer live-streamed event. Some of the more popular platforms used are TikTok, Twitch, Instagram and YouTube.
Something that I didn’t expect is that all generations are participating in social media…just in their own ways. Millennials are social media’s original target and they have some of the greatest buying power. However, Generation Z and younger are now becoming the most important influencers.
In case you weren’t sure, here’s the breakdown of those generations. One generation that you may not have heard of yet are the Xennials – young Gen Xers and older Millennials who share general traits with both generations but do not fully identify with either.
- Baby Boomers: Born 1946 -1964
- Gen X: Born 1965-1980
- Millennials (Gen Y): Born 1981-1996
- Gen Z: Born 1997 – 2010
Engagement
There are many metrics to gauge success for these influencers. You want to pay attention to the interaction or engagement by the audience that views the content or ad. Are people liking, sharing, commenting, tagging or adding hashtags and clicking through to other pages? How long are those videos watched before people move on to another influencer’s content? The click-through rate and longer viewing sessions allow for an opportunity to make a sale.
To Grow Your Business
A simple way to view influencers are as young entrepreneurs. They are trying to develop and promote a personal brand and ethos. Like any small business you work with, funds are limited, speed to market is everything, and if the market likes the product it will sell fast. Work to understand an influencer’s audience and provide your decoration experience to deliver the trends they need.
In future blogs, we will look at a few popular influencers and the specific decoration techniques they love that you are already producing or that you could quickly start offering to their merch stores.