Meltwater's Ross Candido on the evolution of influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is now a reflection of the digital age, having significantly evolved since its inception, says Ross Candido, vice president ANZ and SEA at Meltwater.

Candido and the team at Meltwater were the winners of the Best Creator Discovery & Marketing Platform for 'Meltwater Klear' at the 2022 AiMCO Awards. Entries to this year's awards are now open. 

As influencer marketing has matured, various trends, challenges, and opportunities have emerged, notes Candido.

He believes it has become essential in many brands' strategies due to its impactful outreach. 

"There is enhanced metrics to track ROI, where brands can now focus on deeper engagement metrics beyond just 'likes' and 'followers', as well as the rise of micro and nano Influencers," he said.

"Smaller-scale influencers offer targeted marketing and often higher engagement. Their audiences generally are more trusting and offer opportunities for impulse priced products to introduce new customers lower in the buyer funnel improving attributed conversion."

Authenticity also matters, said Candido. Genuine partnerships are crucial, as audiences can detect inauthentic endorsements. 

"As well as platform diversity. Emerging platforms provide fresh opportunities for influencer marketing. Key is to meet your audience where they are - Australia has the highest monthly usage of TikTok globally with users spending more than 29hrs per month on the platform."

Regulatory guidelines also ensure transparency around sponsored content, and there's a growing emphasis on long-term partnerships, he said. 

"Brands seek lasting relationships with influencers for more organic content, managed via influencer CRMs for transparency and lasting endorsement," said Candido.

Influencer marketing's evolution reflects the digital age's transformation, emphasising authenticity, technology integration, and continued focus on delivering genuine value to audiences, said Candido. 

“In its complexity the need for better tooling, whether that be in the discovery process to ensure you’re identifying the right audience, not influencer. Then you need to be able to measure and manage that relationship in a way that is directly attributable to spend and ongoing improvement as an ambassador for your business,” he said.  

Agencies have adapted to this as a key stream of work in a number of ways, notes Meltwater, including specialised divisions. 

“Many larger agencies have established dedicated influencer marketing departments or even entirely new subsidiary agencies focused solely on influencer campaigns,” he said. 

“They partner with us, to take advantage of advanced analytical tools that can provide in-depth analytics on influencer campaigns. This includes measuring engagement, reach, ROI, audience demographics and dollar attribution.” 

Training and development has also been adopted, he said. To stay updated with the latest trends and best practices, agencies are training their staff in influencer relations, contract negotiations, and content co-creation in an expanding space. 

“As well as long-term relationship building. Agencies act as intermediaries to foster lasting relationships between brands and influencers, moving away from one-off campaigns to create consistent brand narratives,” said Candido.  

For brands embracing creators and what’s on the horizon for them, the scope stems from amplifying content; be that paid, or user generated to diversification of content types (traditional, social, podcasts, or VR experiences), to ethical alignment, to the importance of reporting, KPI management and attribution, said Candido. 

“The reality is we are going through an age of content explosion, plus a shift in generational behaviour on how that content is consumed and drives behaviour. Having an earlier presence and understanding on how you can generate more value for your business in this space is key,” he said. 

What’s exciting now about influencer marketing, said Candido, is that there is a broader recognition of influencer marketing's significance within the market. 

One significant advancement has been in measuring ROI, he said. 

“Traditionally, determining ROI has been a challenge, especially with the move toward a cookie-less digital landscape. This shift necessitates that marketers innovate in terms of reporting and attribution. 

“Monitoring influencer performance over time is an aspect that can be meticulously managed and refined.” 

A recent example from Meltwater involves a vegan vitamin drink brand. For its inaugural campaign, it pinpointed the most relevant mothers and health & fitness influencers whose audiences closely mirrored the target demographic, said Candido. 

“After integrating its Shopify store, they engaged 52 influencers, supplied each with a unique discount code, and permitted them to choose their preferred product from the website,” he said. 

“These 52 creators subsequently posted content showcasing their selected product and shared their unique discount codes, inviting their audience to try the product. The campaign directly attributed 1,800 conversions to the influencers, generating a total revenue of $132k.” 

This revenue far exceeded its expenditure on product production and the Meltwater Software license, said Candido.  

“The brand benefits from unlimited campaigns they can launch during the license term. This initial campaign has also provided them with a roster of proven ambassadors that they can manage through the CRM, laying the groundwork for cultivating long-term brand champions,” he said.