When CPG companies think about how they can get their products in front of younger audiences, they tend to focus on online marketing – especially social media. But while sites like Facebook and Twitter have grown into massive platforms, there is recent evidence of a drop-off.
For instance, CPG brands are boosting the number of posts on these social networks, but engagement appears to be declining, according to Apparel Magazine. Between February and October 2016, the average number of interactions per promoted Facebook post fell by 19 percent.
Rather than directly market on these platforms, brands are learning to embrace the “influencer” trend. An influencer is a popular blogger, Instagrammer, or YouTube star. While some are celebrities who accumulated their fame offline, others built followings from scratch on these platforms. Either way, they have the ability to share products with thousands, if not millions, of people every day. And because influencers tend to develop close, personal connections with their viewers – often sharing details about their private lives – these product recommendations carry a sense of authenticity that other forms of advertising lack.
Forbes reported that more than 60 percent of brands implemented influencer marketing strategies in 2016. In 2017, this figure is expected to reach 75 percent.
CPG companies looking to head down this road in 2017 will need to collect a new kind of impactful data that will help them determine which products provide the most value to millennials, and evoke the most interest.
Interactive Edge offers a number of creative ways to get the most out of your data and meet the many challenges that your business will face when it comes to commercializing insights across your customer base. Check out the rest of our website to learn more about the services we offer to our clients.