Say goodbye to repetitive ad reads and copycat content, and hello to creative control and seamless integrations.
2024 is on the horizon, and now is the time to explore the Influencer Marketing trends that will set the pace for the year ahead in order to put your brand on top.
Our final panel event of the year took place last week, and we invited a group of brand marketers to join us at 180 Strand to hear from expert industry speakers and our Senior Creative Strategist Jennifer about what they think the Influencer Marketing space will look like in 2024.
We were joined by content creators Lara Adkins and Joel Rochester as well as Siôn Elliot, Global New Business Strategy Director at Universal Production Music for Creators, and Katey McElory, Strategic Partnership Manager at TikTok, who each brought a different perspective to the conversation. Here’s an exclusive look at what they had to say…
Lara feels as though throughout 2023, creators like herself who became popular for their short-form content have felt a certain pressure to branch out into long-form content creation. Ultimately, Lara thinks that the creator industry should take a step back from discussing whether long-form or short-form is ‘better’, and instead focus on where the creator thrives, and what their unique audience engages with.
She emphasized the importance of giving creators creative freedom, recommending that brands should collaborate rather than dictate. Lara personally finds that authentic content with seamlessly integrated branded segments resonates best with her audience.
AI was of course a hot topic throughout the panel session. According to Lara, AI tools can be great as a creative outlet but should not overshadow genuine storytelling. More on this later…
Joel is a ‘Booktuber’ and started out creating long-form content before branching out into short-form. Despite his journey being slightly different from Lara's, his thoughts on creative freedom align.
In 2024, Joel would like to see more brands engaging in meaningful discussions with creators, and developing ideas collaboratively. Pre and post-campaign discussions with brands allow for open discussions about ensuring content remains personal and not too heavily sales-oriented.
Creator onboarding calls are something that Digital Voices do at the beginning of every campaign to ensure creators have a clear understanding of the brands vision and to help brainstorm ideas! Creators can put forward any questions they would like to clarify before creating their content to save on post-production edits. Joel loved this part of this process on our Dungeons and Dragons campaign!
In 2023, TikTok Shop broke into the social media space, rivaling the likes of e-commerce giant Amazon. Lara and Joel are yet to receive partnership briefs that require a TikTok Shop integration, however, in 2024, both Joel and Lara see the potential for the ‘dust to settle’ with the social commerce tool growing to be a powerful platform for creators and brands.
Digital Voices is an official TikTok agency partner, meaning we’ve been recognized as an agency that works with brands to develop creative assets, manage ad spend, and measure the impact of TikTok ads. We can also help brands onboard onto TikTok Shop and share how to integrate it into their brand strategy.
Katey works primarily with SMBs in her role at TikTok who often choose to work with micro-creators over macro. She highlighted how this strategy is an efficient use of the budget. Not only do micro-influencers have lower fees than macro-creators meaning you can work with more micro-creators to produce content across multiple niches as their audiences are typically highly engaged. In 2024, Katey would like to see a greater exploration of brands working with micro-influencers to tap into engaged communities.
Katey’s advice for brands who want to optimize their TikTok strategies in 2024 is to first of all, understand where TikTok fits into their customer journey - creator content can then be produced in alignment with targeting the top of the funnel or the bottom. She also emphasized the importance of post-purchase surveys on TikTok. Although you shouldn’t expect to get feedback from each and every customer, having the option to gather more holistic views on your brand's consumer journey is great for future planning.
Siôn spoke positively about the increase of UGC and IGC content being produced by both brands and creators in the Influencer Marketing space, and how this specific type of content aligns with Universal Music for Creators and the music space.
Looking ahead, Siôn envisions influencers merging further into the mainstream celebrity space, with out-of-home placements and AI playing a role in preserving legacies. He encourages brands to closely follow creators' content to build stronger connections with the influencers that align naturally with your brand.
If you want to dive deeper into the trends that will be shaping the Influencer Marketing space throughout 2024 and beyond, you will learn about:
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