TikTok x Influential.
Challenger brands are putting more money into digital performance than ever before, as social and influencer growth triumphs.
TikTok and Influential’s ‘Enter The Group Chat’ event addressed how creators and social-first thinking are shaping how brands show up.
Speaking on a panel, automotive brand Omoda Jaecoo Australia general manager – marketing ANZ Nariné Salmasi said that social and influencers can help build trust for an unknown brand in a saturated market.
“We're a challenger and a car brand that's been in the market for just over a year. So for us, building trust is the key and the biggest challenge," Salmasi said.
“Buying a car is one of the biggest purchases you are going to make in your life. So, if you don't trust us, we're not going to be considered.
“Having our normal marketing channels is really important, but the creator channels are really integral to our strategy.
“So instead of seeing an ad for 30 seconds, you're putting these cars to the test with influencers and creators who are building that credibility with their audience.
"It is really integral to be part of that audience and to build within that culture.”
Salmasi said that the split between traditional and digital has changed dramatically.
“The consumer journey is not linear. It's all over the place, event for automotive,” she saud.
“They're very well researched, and a lot of the time, the research is on socials.
“Traditional media is going to trump budget because it's so expensive. Unfortunately, that's never going to change unless TV takes a bigger dip than it already has.
“The above-the-line normal channels still take the majority. We do have a very healthy budget for digital first. Performance is a real key driver for us, and then social fits in that sphere.
“Five years ago, I would say the split would have been 70/30. Now it's probably more like a 60/40, if not sometimes 50/50.”
Mars ANZ content & experience lead Jules Lau said the split for the pet food brand was becoming 70/30.
“Coming from a legacy FMCG, we see ourselves as a manufacturing first business, so we put products on shelves, and while traditional media still matters a lot to us, I'm lumping in digital and social just the way we have always run media,” said Lau.
“Creative marketing has really accelerated. The spend in there has also accelerated a lot in the last two years. We're spending about 20% and we're projected to spend about 30% all up next year.”
Lau said that being part of the digital culture is important for the brand, due to the disinformation around pet food.
“We almost feel like it's our responsibility to go out to market and make sure that we are seeding out the right messaging around pet nutrition,” she said.
“We do market mix modelling across a lot of our markets. The program is still relatively young in Australia for us, but we're already seeing really encouraging ROI come out of our influencer marketing.
“we do know that in our European markets, influencer marketing is at about 40% ROI over for just running your paid ads on social.
“It is not just taking all your money from reach and putting it into influencer marketing. It's about having that balance.”
Contiki global strategic creative lead Jayesh Kesry said that part of the job is educating your business of where social fits in the budget.
"Social is not always going to do everything at the same time and at the same rate, but it is an important lever," Kesry said.
"And depending on what our campaigns are trying to do, if it's an education piece, there becomes more of an engagement on social.
"If it's traffic driving, we're looking at links and bios. For a brand like ours, where travel is generally a larger expense, it takes a lot longer for us to build community and revenue without social."
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