2024 Influencer Marketing Predictions From SEED Beauty and Creator, Melissa Murdick

New year, new influencer marketing strategy! ⁠Well, maybe not an entirely new strategy… 

However, this is a great time to re-evaluate how your team is working with creators to engage and grow your audience. 

Thankfully, celebrity makeup artist and content creator, Melissa Murdick, and Alanna Marder, Senior Director of Integrated Marketing and Communications, SEED Beauty, share their insights on how to engage and win over your audience with influencer marketing. 

Watch the full discussion with Alanna and Melissa here. 

Top Influencer Marketing Strategies for 2024

Influencer Marketing Strategy #1: Rely on repetition

Focusing your influencer marketing strategy on long-term partnerships will be key in 2024. 

Why? Creators love them because it provides them with financial stability and continuity, while brands see better ROI results. Those better ROI results stem from your target audience seeing their favorite influencer continually mention your product, propelling them to engage and/or buy. 

“I see people getting frustrated with the one-off partnerships where a creator shares why a product is the absolute best thing in the world and then never mentions it again. Integrating the products into your content multiple times creates a more cohesive and authentic experience for the consumer. You’re not going to buy the foundation brush the first time I mention it, but maybe after hearing me talk about it five times, you’re finally going to go to my TikTok shop and make the purchase.” - Melissa Murdick, Celebrity Makeup Artist & Content Creator

That being said, it’s important to be careful in how you select those long-term partners. Focus on building long-term relationships with influencers who: 

• Reach your target audience. If your brand is heavily focused on reaching a specific audience, like Gen Z consumers in the UK, find influencers whose profiles match that intended audience. An influencer marketing platform, like Traackr, allows you to easily search through influencer content and filter by audience demographics (age, location, interests, brand affinity, etc). Spending more time up front to find creators who will connect with your target audience will ultimately save you more time and money down the road. 
• Mention your brand. Look to the people who are already talking about your brand organically. Listen to their stories of how they found your brand or how they use their products. You might find out a new use case for your product! 
• Drive the most impact. For influencers you’ve previously worked with, use spend efficiency metrics like cost per engagement (CPE) and cost per video (CPV) to help determine which influencers provide the most return on investment. 

“Your audience will start to pay attention when they see your product multiple times from the influencers they trust.” - Alanna Marder, Senior Director of Integrated Marketing and Communications, SEED Beauty

Influencer Marketing Strategy #2: Go back to the basics

If there is one thing in influencer marketing that’s constant, it’s change. There will always be new social platforms to figure out and content trends to jump on. While it can be easy to get wrapped up in the chaos and go after the next shiny object, it’s more important to focus on the actual relationship with your creators. 

This can come in many different forms, but there are a few basic rules to foster trust with your creator partners. 

Avoid creative control. Being overly prescriptive with your creative brief or asking for various revisions will likely cost you more money in the long run, says Alanna. While it’s important to include necessary information like timing, usage rights, and legal language, it’s just as important to let the creator figure out how to integrate your product into their content. Going back to the repetition theme, if a consumer sees the same ad over and over again, they’ll be turned off from making that purchase. 

“When I get a superscripted brief or a brand has multiple revisions, it removes the authentic factor and feels like an ad. You need to let creators do what they do best.” - Melissa Murdick, Celebrity Makeup Artist & Content Creator

Tip: If you’re struggling with how to write one of these, check out the template we created for influencer marketing briefs.

Host meaningful experiences. People are itching to get back out there and meet in real life! Focus on carving time to check in with your influencer partners and invite them to experiences that show them a deeper side of your brand. For example, Alanna invited Melissa out to the ColourPop Cosmetics factory to learn more about how their products are made. 

“People are excited to get off the computer and connect in real life. Whether you’re hosting dinners or taking people out for coffee, find ways to develop time offline that gives more meaning to who your brand is.” - Alanna Marder, Senior Director of Integrated Marketing and Communications, SEED Beauty

Audit your entire creator experience. Put yourself in the shoes of the creator and ask, “Is working with my brand a good experience?” From initial outreach to payment processes, it’s important to think through all the details of the creator’s experience with your brand, so they’ll want to partner with you again. With an influencer marketing platform like Traackr, you can manage all of your influencer partnerships in one space, making it easy to guarantee a seamless experience for your creators.  

“Make yourself available to your creator partners whether that’s through integrating with TikTok shop or having creators opt-in to receive mailers. Ensure that you’re investing in ways that will provide long-term returns.” - Alanna Marder, Senior Director of Integrated Marketing and Communications, SEED Beauty

Influencer Marketing Strategy #3: Find your voice

“It comes across when a brand is trying to be something they’re not or haven’t developed a sense of their own personality online. Whoever is on your social team needs to be actively involved in the community you’re trying to build.” - Melissa Murdick, Celebrity Makeup Artist & Content Creator

Since consumers turn to social media to be entertained and inspired, it’s important to bring your own voice and perspective to the table. The best influencers build an engaged community by providing value to their audience. For example, Melissa shared that she focuses on creating content that comes from her experiences and aims to highlight her perspective versus doing “what everyone else is doing.” Being a copycat won’t fly in 2024.

So how can you stand apart? Focus on:

• Where your brand excels versus comparing yourself to your competitors. Trust your gut!
• Prioritize partnering with a diverse set of creators especially if you’re in a highly saturated market like beauty. 
• Experiment where you can whether that’s a new creator partnership, creative campaign, or platform. Just make sure you have a system for identifying what platforms, content and campaigns get you the most bang for your buck.  
  

Want to hear more from Alanna and Melissa? Watch the full video for more key takeaways!