For the second iteration of our ‘Publishing POV’ fireside chat series, we tapped Deanne Kaczerski, Editor in Chief & Global VP of Digital of Travel Curator. With over 500,000 high-net-worth subscribers, Travel Curator offers readers a highly-curated, inspirational set of destinations, hotels, and experiences. We learned about how data shapes editorial decisions, the art of creating emotionally engaging content, effective strategies for crafting compelling pitches, and more.
The takeaways:
While long-term strategies are key to marketing success in general, keeping up with sometimes-fleeting trends is an integral piece of the puzzle. We asked influencer marketing experts for their intel on leveraging trend-driven content and building genuine engagement to drive success.
Trend-Based Content
“Community-led trends continue to dominate social feeds. Leveraging them can help brands reach audiences in a relatable way that can also drive impact through creator partnerships, too. Our new research reveals that 92% of creators say their trend-based content performs better than their non-trend-based content - not only in terms of driving awareness and engagements, but also in terms of generating sales. One in five (18%) consumers said they would be more likely to make a purchase or consider making a purchase as a result of seeing brands publish trend-based social media content.
“It’s no surprise therefore, that we’re seeing the rise of trend-based social media content from both brands and creators, with 94% of marketers committing at least one in five posts to trends, and a further 77% planning to increase trend-based content over the next 12 months.
“However, brands face common challenges to trend hijacking - including the increasingly short lifespans of trends, cumbersome legal and internal approval processes, and finding a unique interpretation of a trend which is authentic to the brand’s identity.
“As brands increasingly incorporate trend hijacking into their social media strategies, they must create structures to streamline the approval process. Finding trusted creator partners can help brands to seamlessly integrate into fast-moving cultural conversations with original creative ideas that resonate with audiences.” -Ed East, Global CEO and Co-Founder, Billion Dollar Boy
Authenticity is still king
”Right now, top players in the industry are banking on the rising emphasis on hyper-authentic content, especially from diverse influencers. Audiences are increasingly gravitating towards influencers who share genuine, unfiltered experiences that reflect their unique cultural backgrounds and personal journeys. This trend highlights the power of authenticity and diversity in fostering deeper connections and trust with audiences, as people seek relatable and real-life content. Embracing this approach allows brands to connect more meaningfully with their target demographics through influencers who truly resonate with their followers.” -Chrissy Walker, Founder & CEO, Chrissy Walker PR
“Not necessarily ‘new,’ but organic storytelling has always been a successful avenue for content creators to build audiences and dedicated communities. Creators and representation alike have tried to pitch organic storytelling as an approach to paid partnerships as well, but sometimes it misses the mark if there's too many talking points and it doesn't feel aligned with the creators' voice. When creators are given maximum creative freedom and the brands truly trust them to speak openly how they would speak to their audiences, chatting with their bff's, and going on about a funny moment or story, they're actually creating super engaging videos for branded content.” -Haley Henning, Senior Director of Talent, Social, YMU
“In today’s influencer landscape, authenticity is crucial for building meaningful connections with audiences. Not only are audiences highly discerning but they seek genuine connections and relatable content from the influencers they follow - especially during the rise of TikTok.
I always advise influencers to keep their authenticity at the forefront as it fosters trust and deeper connections with their audience. Whether it’s taking your audience along the journey of wearing makeup for the first time like Linet Chege or educating your audience about having Vitiligo like Amber Nicole, being genuine is truly part of the key to success as an influencer.” -Michelle Benjamin, Beauty Talent Manager, Agency Cliquish
“When working on creator campaigns on the brand side, the biggest indicator of success is always authenticity. It’s a word that gets thrown around a lot, and it can be tough to figure out how to achieve it. At Cleo, we drive authentic content by making sure that creators have a say in their work— it makes the end result feel much more real. It’s important to our process to trust the creator to be the creative brain behind producing the content rather than trying to control what they create. If creators are excited about what they’re making, chances are their followers will be too.” -Blair Mlotek, Co-Founder, Cleo Social
Paid Social is on the rise
“In the US market, we have continued to see a rise in Paid Social Usage – whether that is Boosting on Instagram or Sparking on TikTok. Consumers are now well-versed in spotting inauthentic partnerships and showcase fatigue when it comes to overly produced ads, thus we’ve seen this demand to utilize more organic content that showcases brands and products through a different lens that drives interest – whether that is due to creativity of the piece or relatability to the Creator. This approach is also multi-beneficial, as it allows for Creators who aren’t on the macro or mega level to monetize their content, while providing Brands with content that offers increased ROI, with a longer life-cycle and further usage.” -Isabella Palmer, Senior Director, Advocacy & Partnerships, SEEN Group USA
Community building at its best
“We’re seeing a lot of content creators hone in on their community building through tools like Instagram’s Broadcast Channels and Substack newsletters that allow them to speak directly to their most dedicated followers. Brand marketers should recognize that this is a valuable place to reach an influencer’s engaged followers, and we encourage brands to consider creative ways to partner with content creators on activating within these spaces. While these spaces may not see as great of reach as, say, a traditional Instagram post partnership, it could be beneficial to brands seeking sales conversions.” - Ali Grant, Co-CEO and CMO, The Digital Dept.
Creators use LinkedIn audio to grow their community and connect with potential collaborators. Influencers like Jayde I. Powell, host of “Creator Tea Talk” and Mark Travis Rivera of “The Shift” are leveraging the platform's audio feature to connect with their followers, hosting virtual events lasting from 15 minutes up to 3 hours. This tool helps in reaching out to potential clients and partners on a global scale. The audio format creates a more personal connection, akin to listening to your favorite podcast, and the best part is that there is no need for a camera. We’ve leveraged this tool to host extended episodes of the Main Character Energy Podcast or to discuss current events in real-time as they unfold with my media counterparts. -Tiffany Knighten Founder Brand Curators
The new UGC
“Whilst UGC is continuing to thrive, brands who are tapping into new forms of UGC are winning in the space, specifically on TikTok this year. Integrating their usual UGC (user-generated content), with IGC (influencer-generated content) and EGC (employee-generated content) gives brands more personality, authenticity, and relatability to audiences. Take the recent Marks & Spencer TikTok reactive social campaign for example which saw many brands following suit such as Matalan and Primark using their own store teams to create fun and engaging content. With the rise in TikTok Shop flooding our FYPs audiences are craving the entertainment side of the app more and more and less traditional more subtle forms of advertising such as this are drawing audiences in once again.” -Emma Alsop, Senior Advocacy & Partnerships Director, SEEN Group UK
Being the brand ambassador
“One of the best trends we see brands leveraging right now on social media is turning their ambassador programs up a notch by truly treating their customers like influencers. This is not necessarily a new concept, but some brands are perfecting this way more than others. While we have been privy to ambassador programs for customers to share and gain commission, the idea of creating influencers out of a brands customer base is really new age. Brands are inviting their customers to exclusive events, giving them access to behind the scenes content and launches and tapping into user generated content to post on their platforms to really make them feel a part of the community. One brand that does this really well is Heaven Mayhem, founded by Pia Mance. This jewelry and accessories brand is ahead of the game, engaging with their consumer audience in ways other brands are not. It’s leading to these ‘fomo marketing’ results where everyone wants to get in with the brand and form a relationship. Now, this type of digital marketing may be a little more difficult for a larger corporate brand to execute versus a founder-made brand who has the ability to lead the charge and be nimble with their social strategies and digitally befriending their customers, but there are ways to incorporate this notion into any social media strategy.” -Cristina Gordon, Founder, CB Communications
“One piece of advice (intel from brands/agencies for creators) is to organically incorporate brands and tag them as often as possible. This can catch their attention and open the door to future deals. Plus, sharing why you love certain items makes your content more relatable and can further help these companies visualize how you'd interact with and sell their products in your content. Another tip would be to focus on series (photo or video). Pick a topic and stay consistent. This will keep your audience coming back for more and can help grow your channel over time!” -Lauren Chriqui, Founder, Jabberhaus
Thoughtful Gifting
Gifting programs have been an important part of PR and influencer relations for a while now, but we encourage brands to consider approaching gifting programs with thought and care in this time over overconsumption. A well-curated PR package of a few hero products, or even just one stand-out product, with care taken into the packaging, and that is sent to a thought-out list of trusted influencer fans and partners, is more likely to result in content creation than a haphazard mailer. Our recent Crocs Getaway influencer program, for example, saw us gifting their Getaway Sandals in carry-on suitcases, a sleeping mask, and a travel pillow, along with the hero sandals, to a curated list of influencers that generated organic content and increased interest in their sandals. -Sarah Boyd, Co-CEO and CRO, The Digital Dept.
Photo: @fayyeezy
SEO, search and product discovery are here
“Over the last few years, we’ve seen big shifts in the way creator content is being used not only by brands but within the industry at large. Platforms like TikTok and Pinterest are being taken seriously as search facilitators rather than just drivers of search behaviours – earlier this year TikTok started its OOH campaign “It Starts on TikTok” which spotlighted search and discovery on the app.
“This shift doesn’t end with TikTok though, last year we saw Google announce and begin to roll out SGE, its generative AI solution that has plans to change the way we utilise the search engine. Their aim with this product innovation is to try and put consumers at the heart of the search process again, so that when we search on Google, we’re getting useful results rather than a load of ads strategically placed by SEO heads across the industry.
“A major part of the innovation that Google is working towards is its “Perspectives” feature which aims to spotlight real people’s perspectives within the search results – looking for restaurant recommendations? Outfit styling tips? Skincare reviews? The results to your search query will be content served from various sources including, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit and TikTok. Essentially its goal is to become a major an explore page that serves creators content from all social platforms.
“What does this mean for brands? It’s time to get ahead of the curve by putting SEO strategies in place with your social and creator content, ensuring that each piece of content is optimised for search both in platform and beyond – so that when SGE starts to roll out across more territories our brand has a head start in having content ready to be served based on search queries.
“It’s no secret that consumers are more than ever relying on platforms like TikTok and Instagram for their product discovery - over 92% of Gen Z are driven by social media for brand discovery and purchase consideration (*data from GWI). When you pair this to the “search for authenticity” we’ve been talking about since the pandemic it’s important to understand how best to utilise creators as brand advocates, rather than just talking heads for your marketing messaging. This comes full circle when we’re looking at the bigger picture of how creator content can be served beyond the platforms themselves and show up in traditional discovery like the Google SERPs.” -JR, Senior Account Director, SEEN Connects UK
Compensation renovation
"One of the trends that we're seeing is more creative payment structures. Influencer isn't restricted to only flat fees, hybrid or CPA models are also great options. Not only is this opening up new opportunities for advertisers and creators, but adding in tracking links helps to measure the performance of the partnership, can extend the life of the campaign, and provide ongoing compensation for influencers." -Emma Tett, VP of Agency Innovation, impact.com
