Communities and creators will help your advertising technique in 2022

In the 4th century BC In his book Politics, Aristotle wrote: “Man is by nature social animals”. Many other philosophers throughout history supported the truth behind what Aristotle said. LS Vygotsky confirmed this in Sociocultural Theory of Human Learning and Marshall McLuhan said that new communication technologies are a “global village“.

We live in communities. From birth we learn to read the world through others and we are heavily influenced by the people with whom we associate on a daily basis.

In the face of immense global changes, people are spending more and more time online. In 2021, communities will grow and form organically through social platforms where people connect every day around the world.

These communities tend to be formed around passions and lifestyles. From politics, music, travel, technology, food, work and more, we are increasingly drawn to one another in digital interest groups. We are wirelessly and digitally connected and have taken our preferences for “social animals” to a whole new level.

But where do marketers and brands fit in? In this blog, we examine how brands can grow organically and intuitively along with digital communities.

Communities and Creators are the second subject in the Rock Content blog series created in partnership with Hootsuite and the results of Hootsuites Report on Social Media Trends 2022.

Communities and Creators

With so many communities, brands can now find existing communities to increase brand loyalty or they can build their own community around the brand.

The second option is much more laborious and takes many years to consolidate. Coca-Cola, Harley-Davidson, and Converse have spent decades building and growing their following.

This doesn’t mean that you should give up on this idea, but there is a high possibility that a community is focusing on topics that are strongly related to your brand already exists. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center 90 million Americans engage in online groups.

All you have to do is buy your ticket to get into these communities. But who is selling it? Creator.

In 2022, the key to opening up online communities (regardless of the size of your business) will be in the hands of digital creators. Whether amateur chefs or Fortnite fanatics, creators add wealth and value to these pre-existing interest groups

As the social tide shifts away from shiny mega-influencers to smaller and more authentic communities, brands that work smartly with creators are joining new audiences, gaining their trust and gaining cultural capital.

Understand the Creator’s Influence

YouTubers acting as brand ambassadors are not a new concept. It’s been done for decades.

For example, in the 1980s, Pepsi hired stars like Michael Jackson and Madonna to promote its product among young people. The campaigns were a success. Many other brands have done the same over the years – including Nike with Michael Jordan and Calvin Klein with Justin Bieber.

But you no longer have to hire big celebrities to humanize your brand and connect it with the public. And that’s special ideal for small and medium businesses who don’t hang around millions of dollars on a campaign like this one.

Indeed, it can be a partnership with small and medium-sized creatives much more effective (and cheaper, of course) than dealing with celebrities.

Digital creators are ordinary people who create video content on myriad topics. People tend to identify with creators and trust their opinion more than celebrities and brands.

Working with digital creators can build trust in brands and make them reach more audiences.

As Amanda Wood, Head of Social Media Marketing at Hootsuite, told us in a recent interview, “Communities are at the heart of any successful social strategy, and content creators and influencers have built networks where their visibility and influence are really strong. But it’s not the size of the audience that brands should be distracted from; it is that Quality of interactions and engagement that matter. If brands can work with the influencers who fostered these kinds of unique relationships, they really have a chance to connect with a whole new audience on social media who are already very observant. “

However, it can be tricky figuring out which YouTubers to work with and what platforms to find them on. Before entering into a partnership, you must first Understand your audience’s preferences. Are you on TikTok or do you prefer to watch videos on Youtube? What are their demographics? Which tone of voice should be used? This report from Hootsuite is a great resource to help you figure out these preferences.

When the fashion tech startup WANT advertised their new augmented reality app “Wanna Kicks”, they were clearly aimed at Millennials and Gen Z. That’s why they teamed up with creator @josephwsj, which became one of their first collaborations.

Victoria Fedorova, Brand Marketing Manager at WANNA, said via email: “Since the sneaker culture these days is more geared towards statement pieces and status than just athletic performance shoes, we wanted to reach our potential audience in their daily lives, instead of going to fashion or sports -oriented creators ”.

WANNA wanted to drive app installations, increase brand and product awareness, and expand its app community through a partnership with TikTok creators, which seemed like a great strategy.

Ultimately, creatives need to keep pace with cultural trends, social change, and anything that affects a consumer’s daily life.

Brands are already seeing impressive results

This is exactly what BigDUG had in mind when they teamed up with the TikTok creator @ TheP00lGuy. BigDUG is a UK shelving, shelving and warehouse company that typically sells to large and medium-sized businesses.

But when the pandemic broke out, they shifted their focus to a more domestic customer. As more people spent time at home, there was one Increase in DIY online sales in the country. In the USA, the situation is similar.

@ TheP00lGuy (aka Miles Laflin), a pool cleaner and home improvement developer at TikTok, was the perfect match for the brand to reach out to this new audience. He made a video of using a BigDUG shelf to organize his belongings before cleaning a dirty pool. More than 1.5 million viewed this and received more than 150,000 likes. Based on these results, they decided to work with Miles on four more projects.

This is not an isolated incident. Many brands think so Creators are the gateways to consciousness within communities.

One of the best things about branded video creators is that they are very different from traditional marketing. And that’s especially great for Generation Z (ages 9 to 24), who really Don’t pay attention to traditional marketing.

Branded content created by digital creators can take the form of a dance, prank, comedy, and goofy antics Create ads that don’t look like traditional ads.

Another example of a partnership between Newton Baby and the three creators @tayandthetwins, @thecarlinfamily, @mollythemom proves this point. Known for their high quality crib mattresses, the company wanted to reach audiences on TikTok for a relaxed and fun way to raise awareness.

The result was a series of pranks the creators made with their partners to highlight how easy it was to clean the mattresses. The engagement rate across all videos was almost 20%.

Partnering with YouTubers is a long-term strategy

The digital creator market isn’t all about TikTok or isolated campaigns.

In November 2021, Creating Culinary Communities (C3), a global food tech platform, started an entire department within the company with the help of creators, youtubers and gamers. This platform is dedicated to promoting delivery-only restaurants.

C3 already has more than 6 million subscribers, but with the new division, that’s what they expect reach more than 165 million Gen Z Consumers by 2025, according to Restaurant Dive. Her goal is to build a community of YouTubers to raise awareness and reach out a wider audience.

The food tech company is not alone as the creator economy is already showing quantifiable results. Study by Youtube and Oxford Economics stated that the YouTube ecosystem “contributed $ 20.5 billion to the US economy and supported 394,000 full-time equivalent jobs in 2020”.

Given the enormous amount of money that is invested in digital creation and the numerous possibilities that are available, creative people are also on the move.

Digital creators take their steps

The eSports organization FaZe Clan is one example. They have a sizeable following on their Youtube channel (8.6 million subscribers) and on Twitch (405k followers), where they stream contests and publish a wide range of content. You plan to be a publicly traded company at a valuation of $ 1 billion. This will allow your organization to find more lucrative content deals.

Some other digital creators, like the D’Amelio family, made a half hour show on Hulu, and TikTok star Addison Rae, who starred in the film He’s all on Netflix, are starting to get their places in the streaming business.

Creators expand their reach and becoming more aware of their potential as personalities who can be a strong bond between brands and customers.

The market for digital creators is hot and already moving a lot of money. It’s a trend that has the potential Shape the future of marketing, especially since GenZ is entering the labor market and becoming decision-makers in their organizations.

Marketing is becoming more personalized. Businesses recognize the value of developing communities and creating connections across a variety of platforms.

Want to learn more about what social media marketing has in store for 2022? cashbox Hootsuite‘s social trends 2022 interactive report. There you will find everything you need to know to shine on social media in 2022!