July 28, 2023
Influencers can cash in through affiliate links via sites like Amazon or LTK, which make the avenue all the more lucrative — LTK alone has driven over $4 billion in sales since July 2022, according to Ms. Lake. Additionally, functions such as these grant marketers more data than ever, bringing in concrete numbers for a return on investment.
“The community that influencers have built across these different social media platforms is a tremendous opportunity for brands to get in front of these audiences through a very trusted voice,” said Ms. Lake
“We follow influencers because we align with their aesthetic, but they’ve also done the hard work for you, shopping around a product… they do a lot of work on behalf of the audience.”
With the home furnishing market growing due to more visibility in online media, Gen Z is also spurring progress as they age up into home buying and apartment living, leading to overall spending increasing with the demographic.
This is important, as the three experts note how difficult the group is to market to.
Gen Z is an audience that is less interested in being sold to in a straightforward way. This means that more subtle means are necessary, such as showcasing the product being used without outright advertising it.
Platforms of focus
The final portion of the webinar delved into how the marketing industry has changed thanks to influencers, social media platforms and targeted audiences.
In the beginning, brands sought out the biggest creators on each platform, hoping the number of eyes would translate to more sales.
As time has gone on, specifically in the previous three years in the wake of TikTok’s popularity rise, companies are looking to smaller influencers with distinctly cultivated audiences that are uniquely interested in a particular product or line.
This is how the home furnishing boom occurred.
The $643BN home design and furniture goods market has many nuances and with it comes longer lifecycles.
So, how can homeware brands capitalize on growth?
All answers in our blog, Home design and furniture brand lifecycles: How to measure marketing success( https://t.co/wgOPQA9nG0 ) pic.twitter.com/q6lkk8SJyL
— Launchmetrics (@Launchmetrics) May 19, 2023
With these creators, brands are forging long-term alliances and partnerships rather than one-off agreements.
“It’s more today about building a long-term partnership than 'who’s the biggest influencer today and how can I work with them?'” Ms. Bringé said.
This prolonged association grants front-row access to major events in a creator’s life, such as a wedding or birthday, creating free opportunities to plug a product.
Strategies are changing almost as fast as the platforms they are being applied to, sometimes even faster. Pinterest, despite falling off in the eyes of marketability, is regaining traction in the current value freefall of “X,” formerly known as Twitter, according to the speakers.
“We’ve seen the rise and fall of so many platforms over the last decade, from blogs to, now, Twitter with its rebranding, RIP,” said Ms. Lake.
Advertisers are moving away from the platform en masse, with half of its top advertisers leaving soon after his acquisition in October 2022, according to USA Today
