Forget the top 1%, it’s all about the ‘middle class’ of influencers

Would you rather fight a duck the size of a horse or a hundred horses the size of a duck? It’s a silly and subjective question that comes up at parties without the right answer…but when applied to influencer marketing, the hundred duck-sized horses is the right answer. To understand why, you need to look at the broader landscape of customer acquisition.

Many brands are starting to see the shift in effectively reaching audiences as the cookie approach begins to crumble. Pixel tracking, the old-fashioned cookie technology and mobile tracking (IDFA, AAID) are waning after a solid decade of outraged users. Safari and Firefox have already implemented some blocking of third-party tracking cookies, while Chrome, by far the most popular desktop browser, will begin their cookie blocker in the middle of next year.

These are all signs that they’re just not in the future for marketers.

As a result, a pressing question that big brands must answer in the short term is how can they understand the appetites, desires, wants and needs of future consumers if they can’t follow them the way they once did?

The answer is simpler than you might think. The real opportunity in marketing – which few people are talking about right now – is influencer marketing on a large scale, especially creators, live streamers and podcasters. I’m talking about the class of creators with stable, strong community relationships who know and love their fans — fans who have mutual adoration based on authenticity and respect.

These aren’t just the giant influencers; creators of all sizes have robust symbiotic relationships with their audiences. This relationship is formed by trust with sufficient feedback should that trust be violated.

Therefore, if maker Y doesn’t like brand X, they won’t advertise brand X. Why? Because creator loyalty is the same as brand loyalty. And if the audience supporting Creator Y feels betrayed, even just a little, they will support another creator instead. The risk of elevating something that doesn’t live up to the hype isn’t worth the reward of getting a paycheck to stop it. That’s why creators should always believe in, or at least connect with, what they’re advertising.

In addition, because of the relationship with the audience, creators are more likely to select offers that their fans will appreciate and offer them in an attractive way. This means marketers don’t have to work so hard on targeting and messaging, and they don’t have to try to push through one-size-fits-all slogans.

Rethinking your live streaming strategy

Building awareness by linking big-name influencers to brands has been the primary approach for brands trying to break into the live streaming space. Having an established maker drinking a brand-name sports drink is a tried-and-true strategy for getting eyeballs on a product. But with more brands selling directly to customers, there is a strong shift to drive sales growth directly. This is where performance marketing comes in.

Today, as brands and marketers rethink their performance marketing strategy, there is a tendency to view the top 1% of streamers as the “be all, end all” for their campaigns. In reality, it is the mid-level (torso) and micro-creators who connect with their audience on a personal level. Although they have a smaller audience, they are able to forge that intimate connection, engage with their community on a personal level, and foster real engagement with the brands they promote.

In total, these campaigns deliver a more powerful message that finds a better purchase among target groups.

The living mentality

Nobody likes pre-roll. It’s one of the successful video standards but everyone despises it, but brands are targeting a generation with no attention span and expecting them to go through a canned ad assuming they haven’t blocked it.

Providing content creators with the tools to promote products and interact with brands they like, while engaging their audience live, is significantly more elegant and a powerful addition to other ad inventory around creators. It is also more competitive compared to acquisition costs on the major ad serving platforms.

Influencer marketing has been able to evolve quickly and adapt to the dynamics of its audience. The ground is always shifting beneath our feet. That is the time we live in. Massively matching creators and their audiences with the right brands and tools to participate in live settings will be the next big evolution in creator marketing.

Gil Hirsch is co-founder and CEO of StreamElements.