Singapore – On 8 November, marketing leaders from APAC gathered in an industry discussion to share expert insights into the continuously evolving channel of influencer marketing, and the creator economy that’s sprung from it.
Influencers – whether macro, micro, or nano – have long been used by brands alongside other more traditional forms of advertising, as a means to build authentic and relatable engagement between audiences on social. As the industry continues to develop, the important question on everyone’s mind is, ‘what can we expect next from influencer marketing?’.
In a recent event hosted by MARKETECH APAC in partnership with influencer marketing platform Vamp, the What’s NEXT 2023: Influencer Marketing in APAC webinar brought together leaders representing the brand, tech, and agency side. Our experts imparted their top tips for influencer marketing, highlighting what trends we can expect to see moving into 2023.
The webinar began with a presentation from Aaron Brooks, co-founder and president of Vamp, who later joined a panel discussion that included Ruben Ahmed, director of marketing for HP Australia & New Zealand; Isabel Falco, chief digital & marketing officer of L’Oréal Philippines, and Jonathan Gerard, the head of production of VaynerMedia Asia Pacific.
In his presentation, Brooks gave an overview of the influencer marketing landscape. He discussed the forecasted growth and investment expected into the channel, the key factors powering the creator economy, and how creator content is being activated to drive outcomes at each stage of the marketing funnel. In addition, the presentation touched on the different elements critical to deploying a successful influencer marketing strategy such as the essentiality of video, recruiting creators with a ‘squad’ mentality, and the importance of representation and advocacy.
The panel discussion—moderated by Shaina Teope, regional editor of MARKETECH APAC, gave the industry experts an opportunity to share how influencer marketing is being leveraged from the perspective of their brands, and how they’ve been involved to date in the creator economy.
Ahmed, Brooks, Falco, and Gerard discussed how the demand for key opinion leaders (KOLs) is moving brand engagement into co-creation and collaborating on social strategies. The panel explored ideas around how brands can stand out in their content direction amidst the growing saturation of ‘me too’ content.
Important takeaways for marketers emerged such as the best approach to managing and maintaining brand-creator collaborations, moving away from creating inauthentic ‘ads’, using influencer marketing for advocacy-driven initiatives, as well as understanding the purpose of each social platform in delivering creator content. Our experts rounded up the discussion with examples of how influencer marketing has become a vital part of an always-on performance marketing channel strategy for their brand.
Overall, the webinar drew 168 attendees out of 598 registrations. Those who participated came from a variety of industries, including retail, e-commerce, travel & hospitality, consumer products, financial services, F&B, and media & entertainment.
The top markets represented were Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, India, as well as the US. More specifically, those who took part were from brands and companies Danone, Electrolux; Love, Bonito; Netflix, Ninja Van, OPPO, Philippine Seven Corporation, Pomelo Fashion, RedDoorz, and Summit Media.
Teope commented, “We may think we’ve exhausted the best out of influencer marketing, but with the emergence of popular content formats such as short-form video, we’re attracting new audiences towards creator content. With this industry discussion, we had a diverse and well-represented panel who gave us actionable insights into how the influencer marketing landscape will continue to evolve. The webinar is an essential guide to helping us all prepare for what’s to come next in this exciting space.”
“In a challenging economic climate, brands should approach influencers as a scaling mechanism to help you reach every consumer type and every sub-niche audience,” says Brooks. “Find those creators who are advocates of your brand already. Don’t be afraid to be bold and go outside of the confines of conventional advertising as you start building out your influencer marketing strategies for 2023 and beyond.”
If you missed out on the live session, there’s still time to dive into the content presented by our industry experts. As we enter a brand new year, don’t miss out on this insight-filled industry discussion. Register HERE to access and watch the on-demand version.
