3 Reasons to Use Influencer Marketing for Mother’s Day

Mothers are hard to shop for, there is no doubt about that. Especially if your mom is anything like mine and the only response you get when you ask her what she wants for Mother’s Day is “oh…nothing” or some vague response about just hanging out with the family for the day. Sometimes moms themselves don’t even know what they want for Mother’s Day. Since mothers are always on the go and constantly busy taking care of an entire family, they can be hard to reach. Getting the attention of moms, especially millennial moms, is a task all in itself. Women in general aren’t responding much to old fashion mediums such as television or print ads. It is all about social media for them, so here are three reasons why influencers are especially perfect for Mother’s Day.

 

1. Women dominate as influencers

In nearly every category of influencer marketing, women are dominating. Lifestyle, travel, motherhood, fashion, beauty, home, cooking, etc, all have expert women leading the way. They learned how to create successful careers in blogging, so of course they learned how to succeed as influencers too.  In fact, in 2017, 83.9% of #ad posts were posted by women. And it’s not hard to notice. Mommy bloggers, especially millennial moms, are everywhere you look on Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram. They are impacting mothers of every age in every niche. Young moms, working moms, traveling moms, all are there to connect and relate to the women who follow them.

 

 

2. Mothers are one of the most active groups on social media

Although we think of Instagram as a platform for Gen Z, mothers make up a huge portion of the app. In fact, Instagram’s research shows, of their users, one in four women over the age of 18 in the US are moms. And it is not just Instagram. Facebook and Pinterest have a large group of active mom users, and we know now that influencer marketing on Facebook is getting bigger than ever. So not only are mothers influencing others on the platform, they are also active and following others as well. The average mom checks Instagram roughly six times a day and checks social media around 15 times a day.

 

3. Women respond better to influencer marketing

So we know there are great mom influencers and we know there are mothers that actively follow them. But what about engagement and conversion? Would these influencers actually have influence over the women that follow them? Yes! 56% of moms say Instagram is the place they learn about products and  86 percent of women turn to social networks before making a purchase. Studies have shown that women have more aspirational tastes, particularly where they can see other women depicted in strong positions. They like like seeing happy situations with people to whom they can relate. Influencers are just that–someone to relate to, someone to aspire to be like. Because of this, women, particularly mothers, respond to ads on social media when they come from people they follow and whose opinions they trust.

 

Conclusion

Influencer marketing is not just for millennials and gen z. Mothers are on social media, and not only are they making an impact as influencers, they are also being impacted by those they follow everyday. So if you’re looking to drive sales for Mother’s Day, use an influencer marketing campaign so Mom has an answer when she’s asked what she wants — you’ll succeed not just in your sales goals, but in promoting family happiness as well!

 

About MATTR

MATTR is the only full-service influencer marketing provider with detailed audience insights from PersonaMesh™. We go beyond demographics into psychographics such as values and interests so that your influencer campaigns align with your campaign targets.

Awareness Is No Compromise for Pharma Influencers

The Long Game

What’s Pharma doing with Influencer Marketing? Based on the number of inquiries we receive, Pharma is fast-tracking toward the pre-clinical research phase. Marketing executives are seeing more articles about influencer marketing pop up on their phones and thinking, “Yes! We need to generate awareness among younger consumers – and social influencers are literally our only channel.” Will they take the time to research and experiment? Well, yes; Pharma is uniquely suited to play the long game. It’s in their culture.

And yet, the decision cycle for experimenting with influencers has more facets than what you’d find in Melania Trump’s gold plated jewelry room/house. But can an influencer actually endorse and promote a prescription drug brand legally? Would it be worth the trouble if they could? Or does there exist a track to legally gain awareness without the stifling regulations and commensurate low engagement? We talked to the very responsive and nice FDA’s Office of Prescription Drug Promotion and learned some details.

Why Now?

Pharma is certainly on a roll; Merck’s stock price, for example, is soaring to its all-time high and others are nearing their highs from the mid-90s. Consumers of all ages are turning to social media for news and entertainment. And people are living longer. The outlook for Pharma is tracking with healthcare – positive.

Pharma may be conservative, but they’re inventors and rely on the rigor of process. Look–even my mom knows that kids today don’t trust what comes out of the brand’s agency. Pharma CMOs certainly realize this, too. So to keep the momentum Pharma realizes the need to start marketing to younger consumers via influencers even if the payoff is a decade or two from now.

RELATED: Brands vs Influencers: The Fight for Creative Control

An intelligently-composed image and caption by an trusted influencer can be enormously effective for most industries. Speaking of trust, according to the FDA the influencer will be required to take the medication they’re endorsing. It’s an all-in exhibition of authenticity that will surely lift eyebrows with their audience.

But this, and other FDA requirements for product promotion can quickly dull the shine of the influencer channel – at least in this manner of promotion.

“Contraindications”

Influencers are just getting used to the idea of conforming with FTC regulations. Now we have to worry about the FDA, too? For just one of scores of rules, the caption or image must clearly show the “proprietary name” in close proximity to the “established name”. So a caption would have to read something like this:

“Lastacaft (alcaftadine ophthalmic solution) works wonders relieving my itchy eyes during allergy season! #ad”

Not horrible, but we’re not done. The promoter is required to provide side effects and risks. Here’s what a mocked up post could look like on Instagram:

And remember the influencer will be required to take the medication throughout the life of the endorsement. Depending on the drug, this may make repurposing the content even a few weeks after the campaign impossible.

The most critical question we need to answer is this: will the audience respond? Even though the influencer is putting the product in their body, the post will have to be so junked up that “counter-influence” could rear its brand-killing head. Counter-influence is more than passive shrug to a discerning young consumer; hamfisted product placement is viewed as the brand clumsily and contemptuously trying to “slip one by” the millennial. The price? A lifetime of that consumer megaphoning how godawful your brand is at every opportunity. Your brand becomes the mechanic who screwed them over.

Good influencers aren’t dumb; they’ll know all the ad-heavy text will numb the engagement, which will affect their overall averages and reduce their marketability. To sum, we have reluctant influencers, extensive and costly legal review, and the considerable possibility of an audience backlash. Yes, Pharma definitely calls for a more subtle and skillful hand with influencers. More pointillism than realism – Seurat instead of da Vinci.

Pharm-art

Although Influencer Marketing is moving inexorably from impressions to engagement to conversions, awareness remains paramount to the marketer, especially those defending their brand. With an artful approach, Pharma can double their marketing yield by gaining awareness for the conditions which drive the sale of their drugs all while improving their reputations.

Every month has several “awareness” campaigns for a health condition. Sometimes it’s the whole month, or it may be one week or one day. Pharma can do fruitful work with these awareness campaigns. Here are three campaign ideas for March, for example:

  1. Brain Injury Awareness Month: Popping one low dose aspirin per day minimizes the severity of stroke. Bayer could sponsor a series of posts from lifestyle influencers on the necessity of wearing a helmet when riding a bike or motorcycle. The association isn’t obvious, which is the point, but the consumer will feel that Bayer cares about their brain health when it comes to buying a commoditized product such as low dose aspirin.
  2. National Nutrition Month: Novo Nordisk, the leading provider of insulin, could commission Tasty-like videos from foodies on cooking delicious, low sugar meals that are well-balanced. This campaign may also infer a smackdown of the homeopathy industry, which is the bane of legitimate drug companies and a tangible danger to patients foregoing treatment scientifically proven effective.
  3. March 30 is National Doctor’s Day: Merck, the Pharma behind Mevacor, a cholesterol treatment medicine, could sponsor a number of posts encouraging you to set up an annual physical and thank your physician while you’re being jabbed repeatedly. You may not need the drug now, but statins are increasingly prescribed to younger patients with moderate cholesterol levels.

Conclusion: Awareness Is No Compromise

Although influencers are essential for many industries looking to lock in younger consumers for life, a direct brand endorsement is almost certainly a terrible tactic for Pharma. Regulations are probably not going to be reversed; it will be difficult to recruit influencers who must actually ingest the drug, and audiences will most likely rebel.

However, health awareness campaigns offer an adroit sidestep. And they may be optimal for an industry with the patience to take 12 long years to bring a drug from inception to your medicine cabinet.

 

About MATTR

MATTR is the only full-service influencer marketing provider with detailed audience insights from PersonaMesh™. We go beyond demographics into psychographics such as values and interests so that your influencer campaigns align with your campaign targets.

Brands vs Influencers: The Fight for Creative Control

If you have ever worked as the middleman in an influencer marketing campaign, as we do here at Mattr, then you often see the fight–the brand vs the influencer. Who gets creative control? Who gets the final decision? On the one hand, the brand knows marketing and their brand, but on the other hand, the influencer knows their audience. These two sides need each other, and the key to success is to strike a balance. But before deciding what that balance should be, it is important to understand both sides of the debate.

The Influencer

The first thing to know is that not all influencers are created equal, which is ok! Macro influencers have made this their career and tend to be more compliant to the brand’s needs. Mid-level influencers may do this as a side job and don’t necessarily need these sponsorships because they aren’t depending on this money. Therefore, they see the brand as needing them more than they need the brand. Micro influencers, who may enroll for free products or with programmatic influencer platforms are completely at the beck and call of the brand but typically have little passion about the product.

Mid-level influencers are the most sought-after now because their content is so rich and authentic and they can have engagement rates over 5%. Because of their high quality and their semi-pro status, mid-levels comprise the bulk of the back-and-forths with brand teams we work with. So we’ll focus on them.

Now, before you can truly see things through the lens of the influencer, you have to know that they, like you, are a brand. They have created their image from the ground up and have earned an audience who have trust in them. This is why the influencer will always work their hardest to have control of the content they create. They will do their absolute best to work the product seamlessly into the aesthetic of their page, a look and feel they have worked very hard to have as their own. And this is not just to benefit them but to benefit you as well. Influencers know what gets good engagement on their page and what doesn’t. Right away they can tell if an image is going to connect with the audience. And everyone, including the influencer, the agency, and the brand, all know that if done inauthentically, a sponsored post is can receive lower engagement than an unsponsored post. That is why an influencer will do their best to make this #ad not so much, well, like an ad.

Influencers and bloggers are learning quickly how big influencer marketing is getting. They know that brands need them to reach that niche audience they already have at their fingertips. So nine times out of ten if the brand dictates every part of the content, the influencers push back. After all, isn’t the point of influencer marketing to be marketing from the influencer’s point of view? If it’s meant to be authentic and real then it should come from the mind of the creator themselves. If you as a brand are wanting the ad to look like a print ad, it may be best to just advertise through a print ad. Dictating every part of the content means you could lose their audience and if you lose the audience in influencer marketing you lose what makes it so great.

 

The Brand

Okay brands, it’s your turn. The influencer may know the audience, but you know the whole game. The influencer’s argument is always going to be about engagement. What image or video is going to get you the most ‘likes’ or views. And don’t get me wrong, engagement is obviously important. But what good are those likes or comments if they have nothing to do with your product? As I mentioned before, when an influencer takes control of the content they are going to make it fit with the rest of their page and not look like an ad. This might mean putting the product in the background or in the corner, basically making it not the focus of the image. And sure the final product might get 1,000 comments, but do those comments even matter when most all of them are talking about the influencer’s new outfit instead of the product sitting on the desk beside her?

Becoming a full time blogger, YouTuber, or travel writer have become some of the most sought after jobs, and a lot of people will do whatever it takes to win projects. This is where brands gain back some power. If someone wants to make a living as a full time influencer, sponsored posts are a part of the deal. You are providing them with what they need to continue having a job that many people dream of. Looking at it that way, you should be able to have most of the control. Influencers must also understand that these campaigns are a big deal for marketers, especially for brands new to influencer marketing. Therefore brands need to have some of the say in the content that is being created for them. It is going to take some time to let go and completely trust these influencers. Until then, many influencers need you and are willing to give up that control to continue their profession.

 

Conclusion

Creative control is in the hands of the side in power. Does the brand need this influencer more than this influencer needs the brand? Who is willing to bend the rules for their brand? The answer is not a simple one. Control is going to vary depending on the campaign, the brand, the influencer, and the ultimate goal. One thing to keep in mind is your target audience could help determine how much creative control you should give away. Older generations are used to seeing ads, and they respond better to traditional looking ads–even on social media. But if your audience are millennials, you need to be open to the idea of letting the influencer take over. We all know millennials hate ads and you’d be surprised how stubborn we are when we see one. It’s like product placement in a film; if it is so up front and in our face, not only are we less likely to engage, I know young people who will go out of their way to make sure and never buy that product. We don’t connect with in-your-face blatant advertisement, and it makes us feel like you don’t know us at all. You don’t need to necessarily hide the fact that it is an ad, but know that millennials appreciate the the art of subtle advertising, which many influencers are experts in.

Again, the important thing is to understand both sides and to know that brands and influencers ultimately want the same thing. You both want that authenticity that comes with influencer marketing, you just see different ways how to get there. Be willing to be flexible and open when deciding what is truly best when connecting to your audience. The key is balance. When an influencer can focus on your product, send your message to their audience, and do it in their own voice, that is the sweet spot.

 

About MATTR

MATTR is the only full-service influencer marketing provider with detailed audience insights from PersonaMesh™. We go beyond demographics into psychographics such as values and interests so that your influencer campaigns align with your campaign targets.