Influencer Marketing and the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on almost every part of our daily lives, but especially on our buying habits and screen time. Influencer marketing has always been relevant, in recent years, at least, but is the pandemic making influencers more influential? Given that more people are going on their phones more, and spending more time on the Internet and on social media, it would make sense that influencers are more powerful now than perhaps ever before. Influencer marketing touches upon chapters 16 (information cascades), 17 (network effects), and 19 (cascading behavior in networks).
A survey by A&E used in this Forbes article discussing the influence of influencers in the pandemic indicates an increase of viewing of social media content on meditation (55%), cooking (110%) and fitness (100%). Another study done by Kantar shows that traffic for Facebook and Instagram has increased by 40% for users under 35. NBCNews states in an article that Youtube reported 500% jump in views on March 15, when the pandemic (initially) blew up in the US. The A&E also analyzes ad prices in relation to social media traffic. It points out that “As the prices rose by 3.1%, and the likes and comments surged by 67.1% and 51.3% respectively, brands are able to receive a lot more ‘bang for their buck’ so to speak” (A&E). With this increase in influencer engagement comes the potential of reaching more users in the influencer’s audience, especially compared to before the pandemic. Moreover, this slight increase in pricing per advertisement post signifies that brands can reach a higher percentage of their target consumers without paying a significant amount more than before. The 3.1% ad price increase is, according to the survey, due to influencers basing their post prices on their audience size rather than the posts’ engagement. So, going into the future, the concept of “homefluencers” will become extremely important for marketing and consumerism, as we continue to stay at home.
Celebrity influencers or celebrity endorsements for products are another important concept to consider when thinking about influencer marketing. Using celebrities in advertisements can boost viewing, purchasing, and credibility. Consumers also may associate brands with certain celebrities and/or vice versa. An interesting consideration that has gained great relevance recently is using celebrity endorsement for the COVID-19 vaccine. Though this article may not be as credible or extensive as the studies discussed earlier in this blog post, City A.M. poses a question worth thinking about: “In response to skepticism, it has been reported that the NHS is looking to enlist ‘sensible’ celebrities to help convince the public to get vaccinated. But is this really a smart idea?” (City A.M.). Perhaps that when vaccines are readily-available for the general public, the publicizing of getting vaccines can be normalized by celebrity and influencer advertising. Will it be regarded at similar levels as posting about voting (in general, sharing a celebrity’s candidate pick), standing against police brutality, or openly supporting the rights of marginalized peoples? The City A.M. article poses the question of whether celebrity endorsement is the way to go, or if the government (of Britain in this situation) should turn to aspects of behavioral science. I think it would be interesting to see how celebrity endorsement for the vaccine would play out over time, and to consider a vaccine as a product to be sold.
During these past few months, I have thought about my own browsing and buying habits as well as my family’s in relation to the pandemic and staying at home for longer periods than before the pandemic. I live in New York City, and have witnessed and experienced waves of panic buying, standing in very long lines for Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, and more Amazon orders than maybe ever. Though influencer marketing has little direct effect on panic buying and long lines at grocery stores, the “panic” that spreads seems similar to diffusion/cascading behavior in a network. Amazon has not only been a major source of essential goods, such as cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment, but also non-essential goods. I have seen numerous Tik Toks about “Amazon products I never knew I needed,” and though I have not been particularly influenced by these types of posts, my mother has. It seems like every week a new Amazon package is delivered to our house containing a new gadget or item that our house definitely does not need. Lighting fixtures, Christmas decorations, window shades, baking tools, beauty products–all in a cardboard box or signature Amazon bubble mailer. Most of these Amazon deliveries are from Instagram influencers my mom follows, most of which are lifestyle and/or beauty influencers. My mom has shared her purchases with her friends, who have also purchased these items. Working from home has had a significant impact on my mom’s buying choices, and it is interesting to think about the changes that come with spending more time in one’s own home.
Amazon and other popular shopping sites makes it easy to order items that other people suggest online, with the ease of posting direct links and wishlists, touching upon diffusion and cascading in networks, but what about returning items? How does stopping a certain behavior, in this case, no longer using a product or service, have an affect on diffusion in an influencer’s audience? Does it have a negative effect on the overall behavior of the larger audience network? If I am inclined to purchase an item or adopt a behavior after seeing an advertisement on social media, use the item, decide to stop using it, then that would have an affect on my friends with whom I might want to share the success or failure of the product with.
Because influencer audiences can be significantly large, it can be hard to trace diffusion and spreading of adopted behaviors. However, the concept of weak ties and perhaps even a smaller “influencer” circle with me, for example, being the influencer among my group of friends, can be taken into consideration, too. Are people more willing to try things out now because we have more free time, fewer daily obligations, and/or are getting tired of their sedentary/solitary lifestyle? I wonder how much influencer culture and consumer behaviors will change within the next few months, as the holidays pass, a new vaccine, and as COVID-19 cases rise.
Citations:
“Effect Of The Pandemic On Influencer Marketing Study.” A&E, www.amraandelma.com/effect-of-pandemic-on-influencer-marketing/.
Hanmer-Lloyd, Will. “Celebrity Vaccine Endorsement? Try Behavioural Science Instead.” CityAM, 10 Dec. 2020, www.cityam.com/celebrity-vaccine-endorsement-try-behavioural-science-instead/.
Hashaw. “The Effect of Celebrities in Advertisements.” Small Business – Chron.com, Chron.com, 29 Mar. 2019, smallbusiness.chron.com/effect-celebrities-advertisements-56821.html.
Taylor, Charles. “Is COVID Making Marketing Influencers More Influential?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 30 July 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/charlesrtaylor/2020/07/30/is-covid-making-marketing-influencers-more-influential/?sh=51f02d1b4200.