Sectors of the retail industry have been hit especially hard with many businesses unable to open their physical doors. These brands are left to rely on big name retailers or pivot their approach to increase reach visibility to convert consumers digitally. To do so, many are seeking inspiration from the direct to consumer model to engage directly with their audiences and make their products more widely available. While retailers and brands have both incrementally invested in digital platforms more and more, year after year, these challenges show how the need to digitally transform has accelerated to keep up with shifting user behaviors.

At a time when consumers are craving entertainment and connection while at home, livestream commerce—evoking the idea of home shopping TV programs, but made more interactive—is an intriguing solution for brands to directly and authentically engage with audiences. As a response to increased video viewership of at-home audiences, the strategy builds on recent trends in shoppable social content and the rise of influencer partnerships.

China is No Stranger to Livestream Commerce

While it may be having a moment right now, livestream commerce isn’t new; Taobao Live, the largest ecommerce streaming platform in China and owned by Alibaba, made $2.85 billion in sales on Singles Day (the country’s biggest shopping event) last year. The COVID-19-induced lockdown in China has increased the popularity of the platform even further; in February, merchants on the platform raised by 719%, according to Glossy.

Much of the appeal of livestreaming commerce is its ability to mix engaging, interactive content with brand stories. JD.com, another ecommerce platform in China, hosted online “e-clubbing” events featuring musical performances and DJ sets—and the ability to buy liquor in a few taps, replicating the social experience of being at an actual club.

How Western Brands Are Experimenting with Shoppable Content

In the west, Amazon has similarly mixed commerce and content with its “Twitch Sells Out” event for Prime Day, enlisting influencers and content creators in the gaming space to showcase items on sale that are relevant to the content they typically put out—for example, listing their streaming setup, gaming equipment or merchandise for a favorite game franchise. More than just a one-off event, Amazon employees livestream commerce on its Amazon Live platform, where brands and influencers broadcast content with shoppable listings underneath.

Elsewhere, other platforms have begun experimenting with shoppable advertisements. Instagram Checkout, lets users discover and purchase products right within the feed, and Levi’s has had success with a similar feature on TikTok. In the linear TV space, NBCUniversal has introduced NBCUniversal Checkout, making content across the brand shoppable. Emarketer’s Q1 2020 Digital Video Trends report notes that NBC’s Peacock streaming service will include shoppable content among the ads that it serves.

While these examples aren’t live, their development suggests there is a general growing demand for content that converts. MediaMonks Founder Wesley ter Haar notes that for many brands, conversion-based content remains top of mind as they consider ways to pivot existing strategies or continue to engage with audiences digitally.

“Brands are asking themselves if they need to keep the ‘content machine’ running,” he says. “If ecommerce and conversion-based content is an essential bucket, we can help fill it faster and more effectively by shifting from traditional production to tapping into influencers and livestreaming.”

While Social Distancing, Video is King

Over the course of the pandemic, at-home users have flocked to video content. According to data from WARC, 38% of consumers are watching more online video content now than they had before the pandemic. Out of that group, 73% say they expect to maintain that higher amount of viewing time. Among the most popular video content that people want to watch are how-to and tutorial videos, according to data from Hootsuite, a category that lends itself well to influencer content and B2B stories.

In fact, influencers are ideally situated to engage with new and existing customers with creative and livestreamed content. They are adept at using their voice and authority to recommend products to audiences and have built loyal followings through tutorial content—for example, the lucrative beauty space on YouTube that has catapulted popular vloggers into full-fledged business owners.

In response to the challenges that brands and retailers have felt due to the ongoing pandemic, our influencer activation team IMA recently offered a few solutions, including multichannel influencer campaigns that amplify voice and awareness across communities, as well as partnering with existing product advocates to carry business momentum on social media. Such strategies enable brands to reach consumers authentically, backed by a consolidated effort to ensure working teams can easily continue production safely at home and produce the stream remotely.

Build Value Through Assistive Content

While brands and retailers are focused on solving the “now,” they must also look ahead into how they will serve consumers throughout what may be a difficult year ahead. As consumers seek out content and connection that helps them understand and make the most of a new normal—whether that means staying sane while social distancing or stretching the value of a dollar—livestream commerce offers a great opportunity to build a brand relationship.

Despite being a vehicle for commerce, it doesn’t have to be too salesy—think about a retailer offering a live cooking show focused on recipes using ingredients that are already in the pantry, for example, or a makeup artist giving tutorials featuring “dupes,” or greater-value versions of popular cosmetics.

“This is the new family dinner, this is how we watch movies together,” says ter Haar on the innovative ways that people are connecting. “We’re building traditions now that we don’t yet know are traditions. User behavior is being built that will change how we use these tools and how we create and connect together.”

Now more than ever, brands and retailers must be there for their audiences. Through livestream commerce, brands can accommodate new user behaviors that have emerged and engage in authentic, informative ways with video content. Accommodating a need for connection and entertainment, the format is well tailored to building strategic relationships into the year ahead.

Through local shelter-in-place policies and the cancellation of entire professional sporting seasons, COVID-19 has disrupted athletics to the dismay of fans and gym-goers. This is because sports and athletics revolve around community; whether it’s a fitness class you attend regularly or a regional sports team you root for, athletics are as much about gathering and competing with others in addition to one’s own personal development.

With a sudden shift from the field to digital platforms, consumers are craving that sense of connection—and looking for inspiration to get moving while staying at home, often without equipment they’d find at a gym. Below, we look at a couple of ways that sports-focused brands can fill the void and continue to support restless audiences.

Get People Moving Without Leaving the Home

With consumers staying home, it can be difficult to keep active and get proper exercise. Realizing this opportunity, gyms and fitness influencers have retained connection with audiences through fitness-focused livestreams (kind of like the good old days of Richard Simmons workout tapes—who’s also putting workout routines online). Such broadcasts offer a relatively simple way to keep connected with audiences by supporting their need to keep moving.

One brand with a digital advantage here is Nike; the brand had capped off Q4 in APAC with impressive numbers—only about a 5% decrease in sales during the worst of China’s COVID-19 crisis, with 75% of its retail stores closed—thanks to its strong digital ecosystem and network of elite trainers. As part of its “Play Inside” campaign, which offers content, gear and workouts to keep healthy at home, MediaMonks partnered with Nike and Wieden+Kennedy to livestream weekly community workout sessions via YouTube, bringing viewers and fitness fans together.

The livestreams—which are intentionally lo-fi, informal and broadcast from trainers’ homes—make Nike’s existing network of trainers more accessible to audiences, than ever giving them a chance to interact directly. “It’s about people tuning in together. The chat is wild, and there’s a Q&A at the end of each workout,” says Ciaran Woods, EP Experiential & Virtual Solutions at MediaMonks. “There is a sense of community, that we’re in this together and people just want to make it work.”

There’s also value in having a weekly routine for audiences to stick to. “In many conversations, we’re asking ourselves: what does it mean to have an experience online?” says Travis Craw, Executive Producer at MediaMonks. “One of the interesting things about livestreams is having something to put on your calendar and look forward to.”

Despite the casual feel of the livestream, the production remains professional: disinfected equipment including a camera, tripod, lighting and a LiveU (a live video transmitter) are packaged in cardboard, delivered to trainers with zero contact. Because COVID-19 can only survive on a cardboard surface for 24 hours, the trainers set up the equipment the following day.

With foolproof diagrams and stickers added to equipment to show what goes where, this process enables anyone to build a professional livestreaming setup—and during the stream itself, a remote crew enables production by serving questions from the live chat, mixing audio and more. “With live switching and live editing, we’ll see these livestreams look more like how a news or sports broadcast works,” says Craw.

Fuel Competition Through Digital Alternatives

Getting people moving is just one side of tackling sports and athletics within a world of social distancing. Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of interesting ways that sports organizations and resourceful fans have adapted to the new normal: Formula 1 is launching a Virtual Grand Prix series to entertain audiences as they wait for postponed races, and some NBA players have joined fans in NBA 2K20 video game tournaments. Basically, esports is extending outside of its niche—and viewership on Twitch, a livestreaming site that focuses primarily on videogame content, has risen since stay-at-home orders were put in place throughout different regions around the world.

While these digitized competitions offer an interesting alternative now, there’s no permanent replacement for the excitement of entering a stadium, being surrounded by fans and watching a game played right before your eyes. How might sports organizations experiment with emerging digital behaviors today and pay those learnings forward into a post-COVID-19 world?

The Red Bull 3×3 Online Basketball Contest serves as a possible example. We built an arcade-style browser game that lets fans compete in a virtual 3×3 basketball contest, learning about the game format and racking up high scores. The game leans into the fast-paced excitement of 3×3 basketball and fuels a sense of competition online, building excitement for the eventual live tournament.

“A while back, LeBron James said he didn’t want to play without fans present,” says Olivier Koelemij, Managing Director at MediaMonks LA, noting that the reality has changed in the global pandemic. “Whether you fight or embrace that outlook, be creative by leveraging the power of digital platforms.” Koelemij suggests diving head-first into the unique offerings of a given digital platform, and aligning content with user behaviors there.

“Another interesting aspect is the ability to combine channels and platforms to make content more relevant,” he adds. “You want to consider the whole experience journey: from buying a ticket to the lead-up, to the experience itself and the aftercare.”

Critical to tailoring such an experience is having the data needed to engage at the right place and time, as well as an understanding of what makes a given platform unique. By considering what sets one digital medium apart from another and why fans gather there, brands can apply those learnings and discover new ways to engage with customers through value-added experiences.

A focus on customer obsession is key to delivering assistive digital experiences.

A principios de febrero John Donahoe, CEO de Nike, platicó en CNBC de los esfuerzos de Nike para volverse más sustentable. “Al consumidor cada vez le importa más la sustentabilidad,” comentó en la entrevista. “Es importante para Nike y sus consumidores… [Los consumidores] están buscando a compañías como Nike para que lideren este esfuerzo.” (Puedes encontrar este artículo en inglés aquí)

La sensación de que debes evolucionar a la par de los cambiantes valores y necesidades de los consumidores es algo familiar para las marcas y sus CMO, quienes han adaptado un mayor sentido de propósito en la forma en que se posicionan en el mundo. Y el propósito de la marca es cada vez más importante para los consumidores actuales: de acuerdo a datos de eMarketer, 59% de los consumidores en EU son más leales a las marcas que apoyan causas que les importan a ellos. Pero a pesar de esto, 61% de los consumidores creen que muchas marcas usan estas causas como estrategias de marketing en su propio beneficio, de acuerdo al mismo estudio.

Al mismo tiempo que las marcas buscan compartir sus valores y contar sus historias, los influencers sirven como un excelente herramienta para hacerlo de manera más auténtica de forma que resuene con los consumidores actuales, haciéndolos un factor importante dentro de la mezcla de marketing que busca crear una conexión genuina con los usuarios. Dada su relevancia para para audiencias de nicho y la participación en comunidades sociales cerradas, asociarse con influencers le da a las marcas la oportunidad de ser congruentes y tener una papel más activo dentro de culturas que representan algo y que guían el cambio, así es cómo.

Capacidades Aumentadas de Storytelling

Los creadores de contenido conocen a sus audiencias mejor que nadie. Han establecido relaciones profundas con sus seguidores y espectadores al crear un flujo de contenido regular de calidad y próximo; es precisamente este contenido y la cercanía con la audiencia lo que les ha ganado seguidores.

Esta habilidad es invaluable para las marcas que buscan hacerse más cercanas; sin embargo, es importante que las marcas entiendan hacia qué tipo de contenido gravitan los consumidores. Primero, las marcas no deberían enfocar toda su atención en el número de seguidores y de likes; Instagram está experimentando en deshacerse de los dos, y además no son una medida realmente exacta de qué tan influyente es un usuario en la plataforma.

Pero no hay que desesperarse; esto no significa que el marketing de influencer sea algo gratuito con poca atribución o en la que no haya forma de investigar socios efectivos. De hecho, datos de nuestro equipo IMA de activación de influencers apuntan a que la calidad es la verdadera medida de valor: lo que importa más que el número de espectadores que pueda traer un influencer a tu contenido, es cuántos de esos espectadores van a interactuar, buscarán y explorarán tu marca. Viendo más allá de los cifras duras y con miras en la calidad y el engagement también permite que haya contenido más genuino y auténtico. 

Contenido Shoppable Irresistible

El contenido shoppable está ganando tracción con los consumidores. El año pasado, según datos de Adobe, el porcentaje de tráfico de referrals de redes sociales a sitios de ecommerce creció de 3.1% en 2016 a 9.1% en 2019. Con el creciente interés de la Generación Z en la compra a través de redes sociales como Instagram, los influencers presentan una excelente oportunidad para que las marcas impulsen esta tendencia generando contenido shoppable o inspiracional que resuene con los consumidores.

¿Qué es el marketing de influencers?

De hecho, la confianza en los influencers es alta: otro estudio de eMarketer señala que el 25% de niños y adolescentes entre 6 y 16 años de edad en Estados Unidos y el Reino Unido, los citan como una de sus principales influencias a la hora de tomar decisiones de compra, poco abajo de los amigos (28%) y arriba de familiares (21%). A pesar de esto, es fundamental que las marcas no traten a los influencers como otra compra de medios; son socios creativos de principio a fin, y deben ser tratados como tales.

“Cuando encuentres influencers que empatan a la perfección con tu marca, debes confiar en que conocen a sus seguidores mejor que tu. Así que cuando estás accediendo a su comunidad, tendrás resultados más sólidos, dándoles libertad creativa para crear contenido creíble ligado a tu marca,” dice Emilie Tabor, Fundador y CMO de IMA. “Por supuesto, siempre le damos un brief muy preciso al influencer y el contenido siempre es aprobado por la marca antes de publicarse.”

Mayor Enfoque en la Obsesión del Consumidor

Finalmente, las alianzas con influencers le permiten a tu marca obsesionarse más con el cliente con relativa facilidad. ¿Qué es una marca obsesionada con el consumidor? La obsesión por el cliente viene en varias formas: “Forrester identifica tres expresiones comunes en la obsesión por el cliente: ‘Cuenta con nosotros’ (confiabilidad), ‘A tu servicio’ (servicio), y ‘A tu lado’ (apoyo); dependiendo de la fortaleza de la empresa y de lo que valoran sus clientes,” escribe Shar VanBoskirk, VP y Principal Analyst de Forrester, en el reporte “How To Build Your Company’s Customer Obsession Strategy.”

Los influencers encajan en este modelo al construir una relación cercana con sus audiencias de acuerdo a sus necesidades, por ejemplo, un creador de contenido de belleza que ayuda a sus espectadores a entender qué cosméticos son mejores para ellos, y cómo usarlos. La autoridad y la defensa de la comunidad como fuentes de conocimiento son dos grandes atributos que vemos en acción en este caso.

Wesley ter Haar, Fundador de MediaMonks, señala que “La creatividad diferenciada combina un entendimiento de la cultura con impacto de negocios de gran altura que genera un valor final real.” Para lograr esto, los influencers deben conocer a fondo a sus audiencias; elegir al mejor influencer para llegar a tu público objetivo requiere que también los entiendas a ellos y a sus necesidades.

Esto significa que invertir en social listening y en insights de mercado es un buen lugar para empezar tus esfuerzos de marketing de influencers, vamos a profundidad en todos los datos: analytics, social listening, engagement, percepción, calidad de contenido y la alineación con la marca,” dice Tabor. “¿Quiénes son los followers? ¿Dónde viven? ¿Cuáles son los rangos de edad y sus interes? ¿Han trabajado con tus competidores? Hay mucho más por debajo de la superficie.”

El punto anterior ilustra algunas de las formas en que los influencers pueden ayudar a las marcas a estar siempre a la vanguardia en el marketing de redes sociales. Los influencers pueden beneficiar a las marcas siendo expertos en diferentes áreas, figuras inspiracionales y talento, y además son clave para mejorar y fortalecer sus relaciones con los consumidores.

The FTC recently released a set of guidelines informing influencers of how they should disclose branded content. They range from some of the more obvious points (definitely disclose that you’re being paid to promote something) to more stringent ethical concerns—for example, influencers can’t talk about an experience with a product you haven’t tried, nor can they praise a product that they don’t think is good.

These guidelines are not only useful to maintain transparency with consumers. In fact, they remind us how brands and influencers can—and should—form more meaningful partnerships that benefit them both. Doing so achieves a truer sense of authenticity, authority and integrity, exactly what a brand seeks to infuse in their story when working with influencers. Here’s how to make that happen.

Adopt a Community-First Mindset

The surest way to build authenticity into an influencer campaign is to center the story around the community you hope to connect with. Consider, for example, how many leading content creators interrupt or introduce their content with a scripted spiel about a product that doesn’t have anything to do with the content itself. For many in the audience, these ad reads might have a “it’s what pays the bills” kind of vibe, rather than a reliable endorsement from the influencer.

While such a tactic might increase reach and awareness, it doesn’t go far enough in creating a meaningful connection with the audience. “A lot of companies think about influencer partnerships like they would a media spend,” says Claudia Cameron, Head of Digital Marketing at IMA, a digital influencer agency that merged with MediaMonks in August. “Get at the heart of what the influencer means for their audience, rather than focusing on getting in front of as many people as possible.”

In an ANA presentation on how brands can retain relevance through influencer partnerships, Hot Wheels Sr. Marketing Director/Head of Brand Marketing Ricardo Briceno discussed the toy brand’s strategic, long-term partnership with vlogger Tanner Fox. As an automotive enthusiast, it was clear how Fox’s content overlapped with the brand’s mission to ignite a challenging spirit in children through cars. “What is the shared value between what Hot Wheels stands for and what the creator stands for?” Briceno asked rhetorically, demonstrating key questions that brands should consider in forming their approach to partnership.

Allow Creative Control for Added Authenticity

Defining this shared value and goals does more than ensure a brand’s goals and influencer’s audiences are aligned. It can also help build confidence and comfort in giving the influencer freedom to create content how they choose. Cameron advises that brands provide influencers this flexibility.

This enables the brand to achieve authenticity and relevance by building the story around the influencer’s audience. “Set the campaign to fit the feed, rather than the other way around,” Cameron says. “You can give influencers parameters in how you want to position the brand, allowing them to connect strategically with the audience.”

And no niche is too small or obscure to make a meaningful connection. In promoting its new navigation device, electronics company TomTom faced a challenge: how could they reach an audience of truck drivers, who are notoriously hard to reach with so much time spent on the road? Inspired by the insight that truckers combat loneliness through social media connection, IMA tapped into an online community of drivers and discovered 18 of its most influential users, paving the path for TomTom to engage with the community in a genuine way. It shows how the value of influencers extends beyond the glossy image that the term “influencer” commonly conjures up—and that even those without big followings can earn big user engagement.

Build Lasting Relationships and Trust

Brands can do more than give up some creative control to maintain authenticity. Cameron suggests they achieve a higher quality relationship with influencers by moving away from short-term campaigns and cultivating longer-term partnerships instead—at least six months at minimum. “You need an understanding of how the influencer talks with their audience, then apply that with your strategy,” says Cameron. “When connecting with niche audiences, this becomes very specific.” Nurturing a longer-term relationship helps build that understanding.

This also helps influencers feel more involved with the brand. “If you’re a makeup brand and there’s a new release, make sure your influencer gets it before anyone else,” says Cameron. She notes that gifting products alone is no longer an effective strategy for building social buzz, though brands can build involvement by offering influencers—and their communities—with an exclusive experience.

Keep Up with Evolving, Cross-Border Guidelines

Regardless of how deep your relationship is with an influencer, it’s important to keep abreast of regulations and guidelines like those recently released by the FTC. But this offers a challenge to global brands: each market has different rules to follow. A global partner like IMA can help brands and influencers alike ensure their message is within local guidelines while maintaining a global brand standard.

Cameron also notes that disclosure is quickly getting better on social platforms like Instagram, which offers a paid partnership tag that clearly labels branded content. Far from harmful to branded content’s effectiveness—“We don’t see any negative ramifications yet,” says Cameron—the tag offers greater visibility for the brand by highlighting its role in creation of the content.

With greater visibility for the brand, added authority for the influencer and transparency toward the user, it’s easy to see how improved disclosure offers a net positive for everyone and builds stronger relationships. And that’s what influencer marketing is about: forging a meaningful connection and offering real, relevant value to the audience.

With brands speaking directly to audiences in the same channels where they socialize with friends, the pressure is on for brands to speak more transparently and authentically to their audiences. But while “be authentic” sounds like it should be the easiest advice to take to heart, it’s anything but—especially for brands wading into a new market or showcasing a product without high market awareness.

The good news is that authentic messaging typically boils down to providing an honest portrayal of what consumers should expect from your brand, products or services. A Forrester report on customer experience highlights the importance of keeping your promises with what it calls the customer experience (CX) vision: “The CX vision should be an honest representation of the promises that a company makes through its brand image and messaging,” in terms of its values or its role in people’s lives.

A trendy solution for brands seeking a more authentic relationship with consumers is to forge partnerships with influencers: influencers showcase their relationship with the brand and its products, thereby providing an authentic CX vision to their audience who’s often heavily engaged on digital channels. While this method is effective, it may leave brands feeling wary about entrusting others with their brand image.

Ensure CX Vision is Accurate with Production Guidelines

L’Oreal faced a unique challenge when it sought to integrate influencers into its omnichannel campaign celebrating the launch of its Unbelieva’brow line of makeup in Italy. With no substantial eyebrow market in the region, the team used this white space to their advantage by focusing on regular, everyday interactions between consumers and the product.  While the overall campaign leveraged L’Oreal’s international reputation, the inclusion of influencers helped localize the content across the Italian market and provide viewers with a way to relate to the brand.

The four influencers—who each portrayed a different lifestyle like beauty guru, fitness expert or travel enthusiast—were given creative control over the scenes they would shoot themselves. Because portraying the eyebrow makeup was key, there were a lot of ways this could go wrong, like using improper lighting or putting the brows out of focus. That’s why we implemented a series of specific guidelines to ensure deliverables would remain authentic yet fit seamlessly into the overall campaign.

Guidelines were both general (stick to a neutral color palette to match the international campaign assets) and specific (shoot on an iPhone X to maintain the look and feel of a social media video, avoid artificial light which makes the makeup hard to distinguish). Content-wise, the influencers had relatively free rein outside of needing to shoot a horizontal and vertical video demonstrating each of the product “proofs”: that it’s waterproof, smudge-proof, transfer-proof and workout-proof.

From there, we were able to put on the finishing touches to optimize each deliverable for each channel, offering different glimpses of an overall narrative. “It was like a reverse-project,” says Willemijn Jongbloed, Project Manager at MediaMonks Amsterdam. “Usually you get the assets first and do the design after, but this time we produced while we were still getting the footage. Creative was never ‘done,’ it was a very intertwined process.”

Because of the guidelines in place, the influencer-produced work could be implemented with little rework and fast turnaround time. “It would have felt staged to ask them to reshoot,” says Madina Paulig, Creative at MediaMonks Amsterdam, “so we just focused on minor tweaking to keep that authentic feel.” The process, which required smart coordination between designers and editors, resulted in a relateable and eyebrow-raising campaign that clearly focused on the product value.

Provide Controlled Flexibility with Content Frameworks

The Unbelieva’brow campaign used an unorthodox approach, but it worked: “In order to get the full concept across in a manner that speaks best to our audience, we gave our influencers the freedom to communicate this in their own, authentic way using their personalities to resonate with our audience,” says Paulig. This is the crux of what organizations must tussle with in the social-infused, influencer-dominated environment that’s transforming the customer-brand relationship.

While the process outlined above worked well for a single campaign, a longer-term need for assets likewise requires a new creative framework. Inspired by the rise of direct-to-consumer brands’ leveraging of social, Avon (the direct-sale business) saw a need to empower its representatives to tweak and optimize digital content while safeguarding a consistent brand image and style.

“What we’ve got on the other hand is the advantage of 133 years of history and more than five million people’s worth of scale and therefore we’re trying to learn to move at the same kind of pace as those insurgent companies, while recognizing we’re a very scaled business,” James Thomspon, Chief Brand and Beauty Officer at Avon, told Marketing Week.

Partnering with Avon, we’re working with them to develop an always-on content studio that will deliver feed-ready assets on a weekly basis, amounting to over 12,000 a year. With the need for localized content at front-of-mind, deliverables will be available in multiple languages and tailored for specific channels, with space available for reps to customize the messaging to their local audience. This last point is key for ensuring that representatives can engage with their audiences authentically while maintaining a centralized design process.

Leveraging an online community of representatives or hiring influencers are just two ways to enhance marketing with authenticity. By rethinking creative and production processes, brands can safeguard themselves while placing greater trust in influencers and partners to accurately represent their CX vision to consumers. A well-defined process ensures that everyone involved can have fun with the freedom to express the brand’s relevance in their lives—and what more authentic message is there than that?