05 September 2022 Marketers increasingly look to influencers for sales Influencers, KOLs E-commerce & mobile retail More than a third of marketers already include selling products or services as a measurable objective within their influencer marketing and one in ten now allocate more than half of their influencer marketing budget to social commerce campaigns, according to research* from Influencer Intelligence. Why it matters The influencer industry has matured from a brand promotion and storytelling avenue into an important operational and sales function for many businesses. Takeaways ● Three quarters of marketers (74%) believe the growth of social commerce will drive better practices in ROI and measurement within influencer marketing ● Six in ten marketers (61%) regard shoppable links as the way to integrate social commerce into influencer strategy. ● Half (51%) agree that shoppable live streaming will become a ‘must’ for all brands within the next year ● Four in ten (43%) have seen the most success with micro-influencers as part of their social commerce strategy. ● The main barriers to social commerce success in influencer marketing remain obtaining sufficient data from influencers to measure ROI (24%) and identifying talent who can deliver sales objectives (21%). Key quote “As social commerce becomes increasingly embedded into brands’ influencer activity, there are signs that marketers will grow more experimental into the future, exploring new formats, features and technology. However, certain pain points continue to pose challenges and the platforms and marketers will need to identify new ways to optimise their social commerce activity to get the best out of their increasing spend” – Sarah Penny, Content & Research Director at influencer marketing platform Influencer Intelligence. *The Role of Influencers in Social Commerce is based on a survey of 150 marketers across the UK, US, Asia, Australia, Europe and the Middle East as well as a series of in-depth interviews with a range of influencer marketing experts. Read more on the evolving relationship between marketers and influencers in WARC ’s new report, produced in partnership with Impact.com: Aligning marketers and influencers: Shifting perspectives on influencer marketing across the funnel. Sourced from Influencer Intelligence LIVE COMMERCE IS NOT NEW. IT’S JUST GOT MUCH MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE Popular social platforms including Facebook, Instagram & TikTok have been introducing and innovating live shopping features. This new modernised format is growing fast and could change the shopping experience forever... 70% of consumers in Europe reported being interested in Live Shopping PEOPLE ARE INTERESTED - Statista Companies are reporting 30% conversion rates . Up to 10x higher than in conventional e-commerce AND IT’S WORKING - McKinsey & Company SO, WHAT IS ACTUALLY INVOLVED? HUMAN FIRST INFLUENCER HOSTS The host of the live stream will be sharing, demonstrating and selling the products so its essential they are: ➔ Reliable & brand safe ➔ Personable and comfortable with talking to camera ➔ Trusted and knowledgeable within their niche / vertical PRODUCT LOGISTICS (BORING, WE KNOW) The influencer hosts need the product, but you also need to ensure that customers can purchase & receive them efficiently, think about: ➔ Where your fulfilment warehouse is, this only works if it is in the (UK) ➔ The product focus, logistics & any technical setup → Store management, live discounts, working links, updated stock THE MAIN EVENT LIVE STREAM To make sure that the live show goes smoothly from start to finish consider: → Setting, props and staging → Tech (cameras, mics, lighting, internet connection) → Community & crisis management DRIVING VIEWERS (& SHOPPERS) There’s no show without an audience, so how do we get them involved: → Influencer pre-live content → Countdowns → Timing & algorithms → Paid media amplification → CTAs (e.g. share, comment, tag) WHY DO I NEED AN INFLUENCER HOST? CAN’T I JUST DO IT MYSELF? ➔ Tap into an existing and relevant audience of potential customers ➔ Influencers can create pre-event content, driving viewership ➔ Followers are notified when they go live (on some platforms) ➔ Influencer audiences are hyper-loyal, increasing stream engagement ➔ They understand the audience and how to talk to them AUDIENCE You need a real person to host the live event, but influencers bring... ➔ Partnering with credible experts within their niche (e.g. Beauty, Interiors) ➔ Audience respects their opinions and are open to their recommendations ➔ A recognisable face adds credibility to the stream, brand and products AUTHORITY ➔ 3rd party recommendation, rather than the brand selling to you ➔ Influencer is more relatable to the audience, more likely to use the products ➔ Ability to answer specific questions from their audience ➔ Seeing the real products being used / shown in real time by someone you trust AUTHENTICITY THE MARKET IS GROWING FAST BUT THERE IS STILL TIME TO BE A FIRST MOVER IN THE WEST In 2023 Live shopping market projected to be worth $50 BILLION IN THE US emarketer 2022 $3.3 BILLION IN THE UK Target specific audiences with relevant products Highly trackable, easy to attribute sales Increased conversion rate due to smooth checkout experience, live Q&A and product demonstration High level of curated product control WHY SHOULD YOU ACT NOW? FIRST MOVER ADVANTAGE WHO IS BENEFITTING FROM FIRST MOVER ADVANTAGE? Target have been utilising live shopping features across YouTube and even building an innovative live shopping landing page on their own web page. The YouTube Live Shopping series, named The Target Challenge, takes place every couple of weeks, with the brand choosing a new theme and enlisting 2 creators with an established presence across YouTube to host the event. The aim of the series is to make products shoppable on stream, whilst the hosts discuss a trend and get viewers involved to vote, comment and shop throughout the stream. The live streams hosted on their website follow the same structure, with a content creator hosts who talks the audience through how to shop and highlights that the stream won’t be disrupted if a user clicks on a product, situated in a specific area of the screen on mobile and desktop/tablet. The creator interacts with products that are shoppable in the steam, whilst interacting with the chat box to answer questions which are moderated by a Target representative who pins products in the chat when hosts are running through the product on stream. The streams are regularly scheduled, focusing on different themes and switching between hosts, depending on the theme of each stream, e.g. using experts or creators who are credible voices in specific field such as a professional interior designer for kids rooms for a shoppable stream about refreshing your kid’s room Ellesse put the experience back into shopping by launching a live shoppable TikTok concert featuring the musician Zara Larsson. The e-commerce functions of TikTok meant that while audiences were watching the concert, they could purchase any of the Ellesse looks being showcased by Larsson and her back-up dancers. The concert was promoted in advance using the hashtag #BeBold, by which users could submit videos of themselves dancing for potential inclusion in the concert video. MediaCom also enlisted nine TikTok celebrities – all garbed in Ellesse clothing – to promote the live event. The results In the run-up to the gig the campaign received over 700,000 dance video submissions, while the actual live experience generated 4.2bn hashtag views and 92m engagements, which the team noted far exceeded all its success metrics. The campaign was also a proof point for shoppable livestream concerts on shortform video platform, opening up new ways for users to interact with the Ellesse brand. BUT I’M WORRIED ABOUT LIVE CONTENT DON’T WORRY, WE’VE DONE THIS BEFORE We are part way through delivering an innovative 6 month live shopping strategy for homeware giant Wayfair, who are on a mission to become market leaders within the Live Shopping space. This kicked off with the celebration of Wayfair’s 20th Anniversary. With influencers hosting TikTok live streams over the anniversary weekend, promoting the top 20 best selling products over the last 20 years Our latest live was around back to college dorm essentials with hero influencer Cori Hepsworth featuring her daughter, which drove over 19.7k live views Influencers were briefed to create teaser content ahead of the lives to build hype & excitement. Content was posted across both their TikTok & Instagram Stories. The TikTok lives consisted of a 60 minute live stream , with the aim of driving as many concurrent viewers as possible. 6.8M Impressions 27.7K Total Live Viewers 5% TikTok Follower Growth HOW HAVE WE DONE IT BEFORE? *sales data confidential We partnered with Mattel to host a Scrabble live stream on YouTube with gaming royalty Vikkstar. Leveraging the 7.5 million subscribers on his main channel, Vik hosted a live game of Scrabble, playing against fellow YouTubers Lazarbeam and Lachlan. The trio played 3 games of scrabble over a 3 hour stream where they engaged with the audience by offering prizes and asking for clues and tips from the audience. The sentiment was amazing from the audience and they remained engaged through out with viewers staying with the stream for the entirety. To ensure brand safety we collaborated with Mattel to compile a list of pre agreed Do's and Don'ts in a thorough briefing document for Vik, the document detailed the brand values and allowed him to effectively guide the conversation in the comments and engage & educate users about the rules of the game Goat staff were on hand throughout the entire stream to handle any requests in real time from both the influencer and the audience. 285,000 Views: 4,179 Peak concurrent viewers whilst live: 7,579 Live messages during the stream: Source Presenters / Influencers Manage Production & Delivery Drive Viewers & Shoppers WE CAN HELP GET IN TOUCH! Talk to us about a bespoke live commerce strategy!