We scroll when we’re waiting in line or need a break from work. We laugh at memes and type “Congratulations! ” in the comment sections under our friends’ posts when they get engaged or have a baby or get promoted. We DM our friends and stalk our exes.

But how much do we really know about this platform we use every day? As users and as marketers, are we using the app to its fullest potential? After researching this post, I’m willing to bet you aren’t. Because I sure as heck wasn’t, and this is my literal job. So get ready to be surprised as you learn the ins and outs of this popular platform. 

Think of this post as the beginner’s guide to Instagram. We’re here to shed light on everything you need to know about Instagram such as user experience, content creation, and how brands can make the most of the app.

Let’s start with the basics.

What is Instagram?

Right? Because even though for many of us, that question is like asking, “what is water?” it’s still worth laying down some Instagram basics. So, what is Instagram?

According to Meta, Instagram’s parent company, Instagram is a free photo- and video-sharing app available to anyone 13 years of age or older. The app allows you to share images and videos with your followers, a small group of friends, or a larger audience. 

In 2023, there’s way more to Instagram than just pretty pictures (not to say we don’t love a perfectly-curated flat lay). This wouldn’t be much of a guide to Instagram if we didn’t include a few noteworthy Instagram stats.

Today, Instagram features include In-Feed (or Grid) Posts, Reels, Stories, Story Highlights, Live, Filters, Stickers, Quizzes, Interactive Bios, Professional Dashboards, Shops, the Creator Marketplace, a content scheduler, and more.  

Instagram is a social media site and eCommerce platform all in one. It has the ability to connect people all over the world with content, brands, products, and perhaps most importantly, each other. 

Instagram Statistics You Should Know 

We’ll let the numbers speak for themselves. 

• Instagram has approximately 2 Billion users as of December 2021
• Instagram was the most downloaded app of Q4 2021
• 59 percent of Instagram users log in daily
• Over 70 percent of users are under 35 years old
• 55 percent of users are women
• The average engagement rate per post is 0.98 percent
• 91 percent of users watch video content weekly
• The average cost per click in the U.S. is $1.23
• 93 percent of marketers use Instagram for influencer marketing

Instagram Features for Business: 2023 Update

Instagram is constantly evolving. It feels like there’s a new update every week, and it can be hard to keep up. Here are some of the most exciting new Instagram features for business for now. Surely there will be more to come, and we’ll make sure to help you stay updated.

All In on Video

In May of 2022, Instagram rolled out the TikTok-esque full-screen vertical format for a more “immersive viewing experience on the Home feed,” according to Instagram head Adam Mosseri. The 9:16 ratio replaced the old square video format completely.

The change was one of several irons IG had in the fire last year as it moved from being a photo-sharing app to being a full-on video platform. One year later, 91 percent of Instagrammers are watching video on the platform on a weekly basis.  

Instagram Features to Help Creators Earn Money on the Platform

Creator Marketplace

Last summer, Instagram rolled out the Creator Marketplace, a feature that allows brands and creators to connect for branded content partnerships directly in the app. Creators can define their interests and niches within the marketplace. Brands are then able to select creators who align with their campaign goals and send them a message with all the project info (scope, usage, content details, payment, etc).

The selected creators will receive proposals in their partnerships folder. And if they accept, Instagram will process the payments through the app, so brands will pay creators on the same platform. Basically, it’s a one-stop shop for brands and influencers to work together on Instagram. If you’re brand new to the influencer marketing space, this could be a huge win.

The Creator Marketplace will make it easier to see which creators in your niche are available for partnerships and it will keep all your proposals, negotiations, and payments in one place for seamless brand-creator relationships. 

Remember, as of now, the Instagram Creator Marketplace is still in the testing phase, so it may not be available on your account yet. Don’t fret. With the success of TikTok’s Creator Marketplace, we’re fairly certain Instagram will roll out this feature soon.

Badges

Badges are designed to help followers provide a bit of financial love and support for their favorite creators. Eligible US-based creators who have at least 10k followers on the platform can go Live and supporters can purchase badges in increments of $0.99, $1.99 and $4.99. And yes, supporters can buy multiple badges, and spend up to $250 USD during that live session.

Make Your Posts Shoppable with Tags

Post. Tag. Sell. Product tags help make your Instagram feed shoppable, which shortens the path from scroll to purchase. Product tagging is available to all users in the U.S. Previously, only brands and creators had this capability. You might be asking yourself, why should I care that the average user can now tag products? Great question!

Product tagging can work wonders for UGC campaigns. Half of Instagram users say they have gone on to make a purchase from a brand’s website after seeing a Story.

Products that are tagged can also be purchased directly through the Instagram app. So tagging doesn’t just increase the number of eyeballs on your products, it could legitimately boost sales!

Subscriptions

Creators can develop a plan for creating premium content then monetize that content with Instagram’s subscription feature. Subscriptions allow creators to subscribe for immediate access to exclusive content that is only available to a creator’s paid subscribers.

RELATED POST.

An Actionable Guide to Instagram Influencer Marketing

Instagram Features for Connecting

Instagram frequently announces new features and developments with making existing features more robust. And as the platform’s become noisier and busier, the geniuses at Meta have been working to find ways to help creators stay connected with their communities.

Broadcast Channels

Interestingly enough, Instagrammers share more photos and videos in DMs than they do in Stories. And they share more photos and videos in Stories than they do into Feed. This is according to the Head of Instagram. In an effort to provide a formalized feature that addresses this particular behavior, IG launched Broadcast Channels earlier this year as a one-to-many communication feature that’s tied to your DMs. Creators can share text, images, video, and audio in the channel and even invite collaborators for live chats. Broadcasts do not expire.

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A post shared by Adam Mosseri (@mosseri)

Notes

Also accessible via Instagram’s Direct Messaging feature, Notes enable users to create short status messages of 60 characters or less that expire after 24 hours. Think of it as a converation starter.

What’s the Deal with Reels?

We’ve talked a lot about the most recent Instagram updates, but what about Reels? If you still haven’t gotten the hang of the Instagram Reels feature, don’t fret. We’re going to break down everything you need to know. 

Instagram Reels are short-form videos in Instagram’s full-screen 9:16 format. They can range from 3 to 90 seconds on the average user’s page. And Reels ads can be as long as 60 seconds. The videos can be clipped, remixed, and edited together with licensed music available in the Instagram library. Reels can be shared on Stories, the Explore Feed, the Home Feed, and of course, the Reels tab.

The benefit of Reels being featured on the Explore Feed is that each video can be shared to an audience wider than your following. Like TikTok, the Reels algorithm pushes out videos based on mutual followers, content you interact with, and location. Which means more reach for your Reels. Yay!

It makes sense that Reels are the fastest-growing Instagram feature worldwide. Instagram Reels reach nearly 11 percent of the global population over 13 years old. That makes Instagram Reels ad reach net out at just over half Instagram’s total 1.45B users. Short-form videos are all the rage on social media right now as they deliver informal content that is visually appealing, engaging, and lasts more than 24 hours. 

Which has the Edge? Instagram Reels vs. TikTok

It’s no secret that Instagram Reels are basically a TikTok copycat, but there are some differences and advantages between the two platforms. Let’s break it down.

Audience

AGE

TikTok is king when it comes to Gen Z. This is the hot new social that all the kids are talking about, so if you’re marketing to a younger demographic, prioritize TikTok over Instagram Reels. TikTok’s largest age group is 10-19, while Instagram’s is 25-34. So market to the millennials on Instagram and the youngsters on TikTok.

GENDER

Instagram Reels take the cake when marketing to men. While only 43 percent of TikTok users identify as male, 45 percent of Instagram users are men. That may not seem like a big difference, but when it comes to using the Reels feature, men engage much more with video content on Instagram than women do. (Perhaps because women are getting more of their short-form video content on TikTok.) According to Meta, nearly 54 percent of the Instagram Reels ad reach is male.

VIDEO LENGTH

As we know, Instagram Reels can range from 3 to 90 seconds. And Reels ads can have a playtime of up to 60 seconds. TikToks, on the other hand, can now be up to 10 minutes for certain users. The longer 3 and 10-minute features do differentiate the two video-sharing platforms, but all in all, short-form content still performs better across the board.

AUDIO

Because TikTok evolved from Musical.ly, music has always been at the forefront of the app. That’s probably why it has such an expansive audio library when compared to Instagram Reels. Chances are if you’re looking for a particular song to soundtrack your video, you’ll have more luck finding it on TikTok than on Instagram Reels. Instagram business accounts are also not permitted to use copyrighted music in their Reels, so that is one downside of using Reels for brand ads.

ANALYTICS

You know at The Shelf we love our analytics. Show me the numbers! When it comes down to it, TikTok has better analytics for short-form video content. Your TikTok dashboard includes big-picture metrics like geolocation, total playtime, and average watch time so you can get right into the nitty gritty on how each video is performing. Instagram Reels analytics provide helpful insights as well, but they’re limited to total plays, likes, comments, reach, etc. You know, the basics.

AVAILABILITY

Instagram Reels are widely available around the world, already streaming in more than 50 countries. Meanwhile, TikTok is banned in some regions due to privacy concerns and censorship laws. If you’re looking to go global with your video content, Reels is the safer bet. 

Psst… check out some of our other popular posts…

What Is Influencer Marketing?

The 2023 Guide to Influencer Marketing Strategy

Tips for Choosing the Right Influencer Marketing Agency

How to Launch a Product on Instagram

How To Do Blogger Outreach as Quickly and Painlessly as Possible

The Everything Guide to Partnering with Nano-Influencers

The Everything Guide to Partnering with TikTok Influencers!

Wrapping Up

I hope this post helped you get a little more familiar with the ins and outs of Instagram. We’ve got supercomputers in our pockets all day, and they have the ability to make our lives and jobs easier. You might as well know what you’re working with.

 If you’d like some guidance in wielding the power of Instagram to achieve your highest marketing potential, schedule a strategy call below. Our experts will help you get on the right track, boost likes, and maybe even go viral.

Happy scrolling!

About This Author

Ariana Newhouse | B2B Writer

I am a freelance writer and comedian based in Los Angeles, and while making people laugh is my jam, it’s not always the company brand. So, I strive to make people feel something. My writing philosophy is collaborative, empathetic, and humanistic. At the end of the day, no matter the message, there are real people on both ends of the process.

The post The Marketer’s Guide to Instagram Features appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

The influencer marketing industry has grown exponentially in the last few years, and last year, the industry blew past the $15 billion all the talking heads predicted the industry would be worth. By the end of last year, the market was worth $16.4 billion. That’s a lot of sponsored content!

Cute, but why? Hear me out on this one: We’re more than a decade into the Instagram influencer phenomenon and influencer marketing has gone from being a thing most marketers had no idea how to make work to being a digital marketing staple that 9 in 10 marketers are leveraging.

Happy Periodic Table Day!

We created this Periodic Table of Influencer Marketing, yes for Periodic Table Day (Feb 7th of every year), but also because the seven different sections of this particular infographic containing more than 100 influencer marketing elements can help you nail your influencer campaign, from Tweets to Data.

The Blue Section – Influencer Marketing Elements: Packed with jargon, buzzwords and trending terms. This is just the lingo – words you need to know if you’re thinking about running an influencer campaign.

The Yellow Section – Tools: These are the tools of the trade. Of course, we know we need social media platforms. But you also need content schedulers, image and video editing software, platforms like Lumanu for boosting content, Google Adwords for your retargeting efforts, and of course, The Shelf platform for managing your influencer marketing campaign from start to finish.

The Orange Section – Tactics and Strategies: Some tactics make a bigger impact than others, but tactics and strategies are the methods by which you’ll achieve your campaign outcomes. These can include contests, follower growth, greater reach, and hyper-targeting to reach certain buyer segments.

The Pink Section – Platforms: Instagram is still the favorite for running influencer campaigns, but in 2023, influencer campaigns typically incorporate multiple channels. In addition to IG, go-to platforms for influencer campaigns include Facebook and TikTok, followed by YouTube. I’m talking about podcasts, Triller, Amazon (Live), TikTok, YouTube. Each of these platforms offers certain benefits that will be tough to replicate on Instagram.

The Dark Blue Section – Campaign Goals: Your campaign goals determine almost everything about your actual influencer campaign, including the tools you use, which influencers you choose for partners, and the tactics and strategies you use to achieve the goals. Can’t have a talk about influencer marketing without putting the spotlight on campaign goals, man. You just can’t.

The Green Section – Influencer Types: Once you know your goals, you pretty much know what type of influencer you need to accomplish your goal. Different size influencers can offer different campaign benefits. There are some outcomes larger influencers are better-suited to deliver, while other goals would work better with the participation of micro- and nano-influencers.

The Purple Section – Campaign Elements: Our final section deal with the most important aspect of any influencer campaigns. These are the things no campaign should go live without, the elements that are absolutely necessary for a successful influencer campaign.

Copy the code below to embed the table on your site:

 Happy Periodic Table Day! You’re welcome!

The post The Periodic Table Of Influencer Marketing Elements appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

At The Shelf, our creative strategists and content teams document the industry changes that happen in the influencer marketing space on a daily basis. First thing in the morning, we share news, developments, new platform features, and tech news in one of our Slack channels before cataloging those changes in a spreadsheet that we can all access. We know from experience that it’s not easy keeping up with the constant changes.

Why Influencer Marketing Trends for 2023 Matter So Much

The end of the year is always action-packed for brands, marketers, and many influencers. As you focus on rolling out and optimizing your holiday influencer campaigns, you are simultaneously analyzing the results to inform your influencer marketing budget for next year. Even as you zero in on what’s working for you now, it’s super important to keep up to date on changes happening across all the potential marketing channels on which you may post influencer content.

So, we’ve compiled a list of 18 key influencer marketing trends that will impact your 2023 campaigns (and your creative assets, and your influencer marketing budgets, and the contracts, and your ROI).

Let’s talk a bit about some of the features, content, technology, and user tendencies we anticipate will roll out and catch on in the next 18 months. Take a gander, comment below, hit us up on social, whatever. Let us know which influencer marketing trend is kinda your jam right now. These trends definitely have the potential to shape the future of influencer marketing so you don’t want to ignore them.

What Will Influencer Marketing Look Like in 2023? Here Are the Top Influencer Marketing Trends

#1: Audio-first channels will become even more important.

Our first set of influencer marketing trends is all about leveraging those audio-first channels. Last year, we predicted that podcast influencers will crop up in more and more influencer marketing campaigns. #NailedIt

Non-music audio has exploded as a format for consuming content. Notable growth happened during the global pandemic when work commutes vanished for months in 2020. As people flocked to podcasts to find content to keep them entertained and occupied during lockdowns, more influencers and content creators began adding audio as a medium for reaching their own audiences.

Between 2017 and 2021,  the percentage of monthly podcast listeners among 12-to-34 years old grew from 27 percent to 49 percent. There are now more weekly podcast listeners than Netflix account holders. And podcast ad spend hit $800 million in 2020 on a sprint to more than double to $1.7 billion by 2024.

Partnering with podcast influencers affords brands the chance to get their name and products in front of well-informed, high-income consumers, 94 percent of whom are active on at least one social media channel, and 54 percent of whom have thought about buying a product they hear promoted on a podcast.

Veritonic, an audio analytics platform, has added brand lift data to audio campaigns to help brands analyze the effectiveness of specific pieces of audio content. Veritonic’s move to build more robust measurement tools will drive tons more brands to create content and roll out partnerships on audio-only platforms.

As it relates to influencer marketing trends, running campaigns on Clubhouse became a common question for us in 2021. But other social media platforms have added audio functionality, too.

With more brands marketing to audio listeners and better analytics tools available, brands will be able to know for sure if sponsoring podcasts with nano influencers delivers better brand awareness results than partnering with micro influencers or other influencers who have larger followings.

#2: Creators are brands.

Any marketer worth their salt already understands something that is downright critical to seeing creator marketing in the right light – influencers are brands. Brands don’t hire influencers as employees; brands partner with influencers.

Last year, we talked a bit about the nuances we expected to see in how influencers negotiated contracts – with a more critical eye, with more confidence about the value they bring. We predicted that establishing those mutually-beneficial influencer partnerships would take more time, require more vigorous influencer outreach, and require a larger investment from brands. Totally true.

In 2023, expect to not only see more influencers position themselves as valuable brands, but we’ll also see brands stand up entire departments devoted to providing their influencer partners with tons of resources, education, and monetization opportunities. Why? Because it’s become evident, especially in the last two years, that though influencers are typically smaller brands than their brand partners, they are well-established brands.

#3: Equality and inclusion are now requisite for campaigns.

In 2020, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) become a conversation brands could no longer avoid having. It was referred to as a Reckoning, which is apropos. DEI is a necessary policy for brands to install and update, not through the lens of quotas and earmarks, but with the understanding that nearly half of Millennials and Gen Zs identify as racial or ethnic minorities. That’s a truth many industry leaders and political leaders in their 60s, 70s, and 80s frequently miss.

Influencers and consumers are analyzing brands to make sure marketing messages, campaign creative, influencer partners, and even a brand’s employees and agencies of record are actively working to create inclusive cultures.

In recent years, brands have been taken to task by influencers who published the fees brands paid them as a way to shine a light on the pay inequalities that happen behind the scenes in the influencer industry. White influencers were consistently paid more for comparable work than Black influencers who had audiences of similar sizes.

Another Instagram-based campaign that served to spark tons of conversation around racial inequality was #ShareTheMicNow in which influencers of color took over the Instagram accounts of well-known White celebrities to reach larger audiences. Pretty epic.

Equality trends in influencer marketing continue to be a hot-button issue and not something we expect to change come 2023. Or ever.

#4: More monetization opportunities for creators

When we initially predicted this back in 2021, this was something a few social platforms were doing. But now monetization (and the features that make content more visible and accounts monetizable) is the carrot social media platforms hang in the faces of creators to get them to come to their platforms and to stay on their platforms.

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A post shared by Adam Mosseri (@mosseri)

We thought it would be cool for platforms to start some sort of licensing program for creators, even if it’s just a buck or two, that allows choreographers to be paid for their creations every time someone tags a video with a challenge or dance they created.

This one is all about making sure ALL creators have a chance to reap tangible, financial benefits from their creative endeavors. You’ve probably already heard about the controversy that was sparked when Jimmy Fallon invited White TikToker Addison Rae onto his NBC late-night show to demonstrate all the most popular TikTok dances.

When none of the original creators of the challenges Rae demonstrated on network TV were mentioned or credited during the broadcast, Rae’s appearance sparked a conversation-debate-argument-rage monster around cultural appropriation. The Renegade Challenge, in particular, was the creation of Jalaiah Harmon, an African American teenager from Atlanta.

We like our idea better, but this is a start towards equality in influencer marketing.

#5: Live shopping will become a regular part of social commerce and the influencer marketing.

Since being credited with the creation of the Renegade Challenge, Harmon has partnered with several large brands including Prada, and has been featured in Teen Vogue, The New York Times, Oprah Daily, CNN, ABC, and a host of media outlets that were finally paying attention.

This is an influencer marketing trend we’ve seen really taking hold in recent years. In fact, we’ve created posts around social commerce and content 100% shoppable. Social media platforms are pushing for QVC-styled live shopping experiences. Both Facebook and Instagram rolled out live shopping features this year designed to streamline and boost social commerce.

Amazon and Pinterest offer similar features that allow brands to partner with influencers who are great at creating engaging live streams. This has to be one of our favorite influencer marketing trends, and definitely one with the most immediate impact on influencer marketing campaign ROI.

#6: Using real-time posts and live content as community builders.

Beyond just shopping, consumers are searching for more content in real-time, not just pre-recorded content. We talked about this a bit in our post on YouTube user trends.

Pandemic-fueled lockdowns gave rise to live video content in which viewers were urged to participate in synchronized activities. We’re talking about everything from studying with the Lo-Fi girl to watching concerts to family game nights, and even things like weekly worship services.

Influencers have been going live on YouTube and Facebook for a while. TikTok recently added a new “LIVE” feature that allows users to live stream and interact with their followers’ comments/questions in real-time.

Pinterest TV is still relatively new, but it’s popular among the foodies, gardening lovers, religious circles, and beauty influencers.

Real-time content is one of the biggest influencer marketing trends for 2023 and beyond because it’s something we continue to see picking up steam.

#7: Content creators will add longer versions of micro video content to their arsenal.

TikTok now offers its users to create videos up to 10 minutes in length. This is a huge shift from the 60-second max, quick-tempo speed that brought about the app’s popularity. But longer content allows users to share more in-depth entertainment and add a little depth to their storytelling. This influencer marketing trend continues to move people away from traditional forms of entertainment.

Instagram has already made the switch to longer video content versus photo sharing and short clips, and TikTok now allows users to post videos up to 10 minutes long.

#8: The focus on user experience will extend to social platforms.

We want it all, and we want it all in one place. In 2021, Instagram introduced out-of-the-box features that push the platform toward being a more all-encompassing app.

In August 2021 Insta added an “audio” feature that allows users to search, sample, and save songs to use in future content. Instagram also introduced a map search in September 2021. The map search serves as a business directory that allows users to find different businesses like restaurants, bars, event centers, coffee shops, etc.

When a business is selected, Instagram provides more information about that business such as pricing, hours, products/services, contact information, reviews, and more. The goal is to get users to spend more time on the app, and we totally expect other platforms to follow suit with similar capabilities.

#9: Social commerce will be officially a one-stop shopping channel.

You would be hard-pressed to find a social platform that did not offer shoppable features. Over the past few years, all of the major social platforms have installed social commerce features that create seamless, new shopping experiences for consumers. And it’s pretty cool, too: users get AI-driven personalizations that show them the products they are most likely to buy. products can be tagged in posts, users can snap pics of things they see out in the wild and find similar products on social and visual search platforms… it’s a great time to be a consumer with a smart phone.

According to The 2022 Future Shopper Report from Wunderman Thompson, 53 percent of the consumers polled said they’re planning to spend more social commerce this year, 56 percent said they prefer to be able to buy from brands without ever having to leave the social platform.

These little tweaks make it easier than ever for consumers to find product information and purchase directly from the post. 

#10: Consumers will continue to prefer brands with a soul.

Just a little early 2000s vampire humor for you (specifically thinking about Angelus from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff, Angel). But for years, consumers have been increasingly picky about how they spend money and who they spend their money with. Nearly 7 in 10 consumers (68 percent) expect brands to be clear and vocal about their values, and 54 percent expect brands to take an active role in conversations around social issues.

As we saw in 2021, social media influencers possess remarkable sway when it comes to starting those important conversations, and brands that don’t demonstrate consistency between what they say, what they do, and how they behave internally (corporate culture) can quickly find themselves the subject of very public scrutiny. In 2022, the influencer marketing industry saw this hit even stronger.

From campaigns like #BLM and #MeToo, to personal activist accounts to advocate for the environment, key influencers have used their social media content to recruit people to their cause and effect significant change.

#11: Experiential marketing will be the new luxury experience.

Influencer-promoted and influencer-attended live events are a great way to boost visibility and create a host of loyal fans. Experiential marketing allows audiences who may be curious about a brand or product to interact with a brand in a real-world situation.

Experiential marketing (aka engagement marketing) now ranks as one of the top five marketing strategies brands are leveraging, according to HubSpot.

It takes many forms: Pop-ups, co-branding events (we did this with our client DXV by coordinating events with world-renowned design expert (and celeb influencer) Nate Berkus), product demos, product sampling, tours, conferences, classes/workshops, AR/VR, and even metaverse activations.

Think of Apple Stores – customers get plenty of time to interact with devices, play games, click through apps,  and experience the value and utility of the devices. The result? They basically convince themselves that they NEED the phone, tablet, or computer.

#12: Nonprofits rely on social media platforms to drive donations.

Another really cool influencer marketing trend for 2023 is likely to be something most of us never really think about – social giving. But despite the global pandemic leading to an economic downturn, other events that happened in 2020 impacted donation trends in a positive way. If you spent any time on Instagram last year, you may have noticed all kinds of asks – micro-influencers encouraging their followers to patronize local businesses, socially aware real-life influencers sharing donation links to allow their followers to donate to legal funds to help arrested protestors, grocery stores asking customers to “round up” their purchases to support social programs.

What many nonprofits got incontrovertible truth of last year is that creating a platform-based social movement can:

• boost brand awareness (and positively impact brand mentions)
• facilitate deeper connections with their audiences
• drive website traffic, and
• increase donations

Statistics show that there has been an increase in funds allocated to non-profit organizations, including those to aid in the COVID-19. Not only have more people donated, but those donors are also donating more money.

There is speculation that donation trends will drop again as things get better, but nonprofits can implement social media strategies and a click-focused influencer marketing strategy to mitigate this trend! Reaching out to new donors by partnering with internet celebrities, as well as nano and micro-influencers who are talented storytellers.

Organizations can recruit influencers who will help them remind donors just how helpful and impactful their donation was, and encourage them to donate again in the future.

#13: More and more and more and more collabs.

The writing has gone from being on the wall to this one to basically being in the app already. Apps are moving toward enabling multiple accounts to work together to reach audiences, share audiences, share engagement numbers. Instagram has rolled out a nice set of features to help brands amplify branded content through influencer collaborations that can be successfully promoted to targeted audiences as influencer collaborations.

So, we tapped our Strategy team to find out the latest from Instagram:

Collabs. Lets users co-author posts and Reels so that content can reach bigger, untapped audiences.

Add Yours. Allows users to add their own pictures to someone else’s Instagram Stories.

Instagram Reels Play Bonuses. Opportunities for creators to earn money directly from Facebook and Instagram for creating content that their communities love. Creators can make money based on the number of plays their Reel gets. The amount of money earned is based on the performance of the reel and the total number of reels produced.

You’ll select the Reels Play bonus from the Bonuses page and tag the reel within 24 hours. You’re then paid out on all Reels that receive at least 1,000 views over a 30-day period.

Branded Content Partnerships (being tested). This includes a new partnership message folder in the primary inbox, brands can filter through the creator’s details (using Instagram data), like their follower count, location, gender, and age range.  Brands will be able to use data and unique filters to discover and select the best creators for their campaigns. Creators can add brands they’re interested in working with to a “preferred brands list.” 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Adam Mosseri (@mosseri)

#14: Familiar audio, music, and TV shows being used to connect with audiences.

We have never been so engrossed in music. No matter where we turn audio features are being added to social platforms like crazy. Advertisers are starting to look to streaming and trending audio clips to talk to their audiences. Between TikTok, Spotify, IG Reels, Twitter Spaces, Clubhouse, etc. there are tons of options for brands looking to loop audio platforms into their social media marketing strategies. And yeah… this is the way to go if you want to reach younger buyers. Quality content is all about connecting, right?

Spotify stepped into the viral audio world in a unique way. Seeing an opportunity to help connect advertisers with Spotify users and capitalize on their dedicated audience base, Spotify launched their “All Ears On You” campaign, a B2B campaign that – get this – uses neuroscience to help advertisers understand how to reach their target audiences BASED ON the type of audio content they’re consuming.

#BOOM

Burger King hopped on this audio trend recently with its “Questions” ad.

For those who don’t see the big deal (since it basically looks like a regular Burger King commercial), TikTok users will instantly recognize the song as “The Magic Bomb (Questions I Get Asked)” by Hoàng Read. The song’s super popular on TikTok.

Earlier this week, Snapchat announced a second partnership with NBC Universal to allow users to grab audio clips (famous quotes and theme music) from different NBC properties – we’re talking SNL, 40-Year-Old Virgin, Saved by the Bell, 30 Rock, The Office, Shrek, Despicable Me, Seinfeld, The Cosby Show, Friends… #RedRoss #WeWereOnABreak #Pivot

Earlier this year, Snapchat inked a similar deal with Universal to allow users access to the company’s massive library of music.

#15: A rise in ongoing partnerships between brands and influencers.

Influencer selection is such a pain in the neck for brands, and the nuances of influencer contracts will make it tougher to grab up influencers easily for campaigns. So, we expect to see a noticeable rise in ambassadorships and influencer partnerships that go beyond one-off sponsored posts.

Creating content is time-intensive for many brands. And while it’s easy-ish to get access to a content creator, finding one that can create value-driven content that resonates with the specific segment of your target audience you’re aiming to reach can make the effectiveness of brand sponsorships tough to quantify, and even hard to justify.

In order for sponsored posts to be considered quality content, brands have to partner with influencers who understand how to communicate value. We’re way past follower count here, right? Ongoing partnerships will allow brands to consistently work with influencers who have had huge success reaching a brand’s targeted audience segments.

#16: Quality video content – especially short-form video – will remain important as more social platforms expand to bigger screens.

Here’s a really cool influencer marketing trend still in its growth stage: We are seeing mobile apps pushing their way onto larger screens. This will inevitably impact your influencer marketing campaigns because it affects how content is created and shared. Plus, we think it’s going to increase the size of the audience that sees that content.

On the heels of Instagram making it easier for users to post content from their laptops and desktops, TikTok announced a partnership with Amazon Fire TV. Know what that means? the influencer content your creative partners make for TikTok will be watched on the biggest screen in the house.

As a medium, short-form video has the highest ROI of any social media marketing strategy. It’s also fantastic at drumming up engagement. According to the 2022 YouTube Culture & Trends Report, 59% of 18 to 24-year-olds use short-form video apps to discover things they then watch longer versions of.

Instagram, TikTok, and now YouTube are the go-to channels for boosting engagement and visibility with short-form video. Combine this with the longer versions of micro video content and it’s a bonafide win for food and makeup demonstrations!

#17: More social media protections for kids.

We penned a post on this a few years ago, back before Ryan Kaji and his brand of toys took over the homes of many parents of young kids.

But kids influence billions upon billions of dollars in spending. Just a few years ago, many parents retired from YouTube because the platform was slow to react when inappropriate content began showing up in videos meant for children.

Lately, the government’s been cracking down on Facebook and other social media platforms targeting underage users.

This is and should have a major impact on the influencer marketing trends as more and more platforms continue to take steps towards keeping our children safe online.

Instagram ended up halting work on a platform geared toward the under-18 crowd. YouTube (and YouTube now officially qualifies as a social media platform) has begun suppressing low-quality videos that are overly commercial or loaded with branded content designed to push kids into wanting stuff (think unboxing videos and in-store walk-throughs of the toy department).

A Final Word About Influencer Marketing Trends

Influencer marketing trends are ever-changing. Dude, these are just a few of the changes happening. Many of them have been announced just in the last few weeks. But as more and more social media platforms follow suit, they’ll end up being crucial to your influencer marketing efforts and all of your marketing campaigns in the coming year.

There are nuances to reaching your target audience and even more nuances to coming up with effective influencer marketing ideas. Partnering with the right influencers to share the right message at the right time has never been more popular. But to keep your social media marketing campaigns fresh and effective, it’s smart to keep up with the marketing trends that will shape branded content. Each weird, little influencer marketing trend cataloged has the potential to impact your influencer marketing pushes for 2023.

That said, one of the best things about influencer marketing is that content creators earn their keep by staying up to date on the latest influencer marketing trends. So, build out those long-term partnerships with influencers who can help you stay relevant.

To learn more about the latest influencer marketing trends and what you can do to get on board in 2023, schedule a strategy call today!

About This Author

Sorilbran Stone | Content Strategist

I serve as the resident content strategist and the official Head of Content Marketing at The Shelf. Marketing is my happy place. I’m as happy looking at analytics as I am actually creating a thing. I focus on dreaming up and implementing the best ways to create, publish, and distribute content that will build your brand and get your audience to do a thing.

The post 17 Key Influencer Marketing Trends for 2023 appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

A few days ahead of the General Election, we released the report, Real Influence: The State of Influencer Marketing After the Events of 2020. In it, we analyzed the events of 2020 within the context of a social media landscape where, in an effort to serve their online audiences, influencers made the shift from internet lifestyle celebrities to being bona fide web-based community leaders. And I don’t think many brands noticed.

Here’s Why This Particular Shift Even Matters

Historically, brands have made it a habit to stay silent on hot-button topics. So, they have also been reluctant to partner with influencers who take strong stances on controversial issues like religion and politics.

But now that more influencers are taking ownership of their platforms and using them to further causes that extend beyond an outfit-of -the-day post, brands are forced to pay closer attention to the influencer’s values and allegiances as part of the normal influencer selection process. These influencer-led shifts have also normalized this expectation that brands should productively and tangibly participate in the communities in which they do business, which we’ve actually been seeing lately with the events that happened in D.C. and the very public response by companies

Real Influence: The State of Influencer Marketing After the Events of 2020 from The Shelf

We Know Life Changed, But So Did Influencers

We’re all well aware that the pandemic brought with it a slew of changes. Brands and marketers spent much of 2020 adapting to those changes. With supply chains interrupted and consumers staying home, it made sense when brands slashed marketing budgets and converted their KPIs from brand lift and acquisition to conversions and retention.

But as brands paused their marketing spend to figure out how to handle the shift, a provocative idea emerged: would COVID-19 bring an abrupt end to the influencer marketing industry? 

Influencer marketing has traditionally been seen as a brand awareness strategy (pretty much because marketing teams still have a hard time building influencer campaigns to specifically accomplish different goals). That said, it also made sense that with brands shifting away from awareness campaigns, social media influencer marketing – and thus influencers – would be impacted by that shift.

And influencers were impacted, but not in the way the detractors hoped. So, I want to break down the three important shifts that happened in the social media influencer marketing space over the course of 2020 that really helped us all to spot the differences between the influencer marketing vs traditional marketing. These shifts and the supporting data are detailed in The Shelf’s Real Influence report.

BIG SHIFT #1: RESPONSIVENESS

Influencers were the first to pivot their messaging during the early weeks of COVID-19.

When brands silenced their marketing messages as COVID-19 moved across the world, influencers were the first to successfully pivot their own messaging.

Their success incentivized brands to partner with influencers BECAUSE influencers had a better gauge on audience sentiment than most brands had. Seems a small thing, but it’s actually pretty telling:

The pervasive notion is that influencers are creating content strictly to monetize their audiences – making money without getting “real jobs”. But when COVID first started its steamroll over the earth, brands had no way of knowing when things would start getting back to normal and no idea what to say to their consumers. Initially, many brands remained silent.

But influencers – especially nano and micro influencers – are great at listening and responding. So, influencers were able to not only shift the way in which they engaged with their audiences, but they also guided brands into facilitating different types of connections with their consumers. And that kind of real-time feedback and responsive is one of the HUGE benefits of influencer marketing.

BIG SHIFT #2: LEADERSHIP & OWNERSHIP

Influencers took ownership of their roles as bona fide community leaders.

The “normalcy” created by online communities during those first few months of the pandemic’s spread was largely the work of influencers who were creating content around topics that would help people ADJUST to life indoors.

Instagram went from being everybody’s favorite photo-sharing app to being a safe place for people to share their experiences and their feelings. In 2020, Instagram also outpaced Twitter as the primary social media platform for staying up to date on breaking news.

Influencers used hashtags to help people topically identify productive ways to fight back lockdown-induced cabin fever. These makeshift mental health “hashtag hubs” drew millions to Instagram who would otherwise have been separated from their friends, coworkers, and even families during the lockdown and subsequent social distancing guidelines.

During the summer of 2020, influencers used hashtag hubs to organize a global (yes, GLOBAL) social movement to spark action in more than 4,000 cities on six continents. No billboard’s going to have that kind of impact.

BIG SHIFT #3: ACCOUNTABILITY

Influencers gained leverage by demanding transparency, accountability, and action from brands.

One of the most telling shifts that took place in the influencer space was the call for greater transparency and more accountability from brands, which was a first in the history of influencer marketing.

With the global community under the perpetual threat of a seemingly unstoppable pandemic, thousands of small businesses were shuttered, many permanently. Influencers called on brands and local governments to step and behave more like citizens than institutions. And many brands answered the call, providing assistance to help small businesses survive the lockdown, and financial support to community organizations who took it upon themselves to provide food and aid for families hit hardest by the economic downturn.

Influencers also pushed brands to use the worldwide downtime and social movement as the catalyst for brands to install and roll out new policies on diversity and inclusion, such as:

• hiring more people of color as decision-makers
• Implementing more accurate representation in their marketing efforts
• paying minority influencers and contractors the same competitive rates as white influencers and contractors

COPY and PASTE THIS CODE to EMBED THIS GRAPHIC.

The Conclusion of the Matter

Folks, the social media influencer marketing space matured in 2020, and influencers proved their intrinsic value, beyond just landing brand ambassadorships to post sponsored content for brands. The three shifts outlined in this post and detailed in the Real Influence report point to a fundamental shift in the brand-influencer dynamic.

The post What Changed? Social Media Influencer Marketing After The Events Of 2020 appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

There once was a time when I judged my peers, specifically everyone I knew who’d created a TikTok. I cringed at the #basic celebrities promoting TikToks. I mean, based on what I’d heard, TikTok was just a bunch of #2008babies trying to act grown-up on a video app. And anyway, isn’t TikTok just basically Musical.ly? People trying to be stars or whatever?

I was curious, so in December 2019, I finally downloaded TikTok (maybe like, a year after all my friends had it).

Within 5 TikTok minutes (which is about one hour in real-time), I realized I was stuck on the app…. I saw one video that literally said, “Raise your hand if you downloaded TikTok as a joke… and now you’re addicteeeeedddd” and realized I wasn’t the only teen to be sucked into the TikTok vortex. That’s probably what had happened to all my friends – they got sucked in. And we were all pretty much in too deep to turn back (it only takes an hour to be in too deep).

“It’s okay to watch them,” I told myself. “Just like it’s sort of okay to watch those talk shows about DNA tests and baby daddies. This is anthropology 101 – watching people be people. Line-in-the-sand moment: I will NEVER, and I mean NEH-VERR, make a TikTok myself.”

Then BOOM! COVID-19 happened, and I found myself quarantined in my room. And I would literally stay up ALL NIGHT ON TIKTOK. ALL NIGHT. Till day break. Holed-up in my room with an entire day-long supply of junk food and the daily vitamin my mom forced me to take.

The only bright spot — everyone else was quarantined, too, so there was an influx of other users and creators who were also bowing. With nothing better to do in the Spring of 2020, I and the world created some awesome, crazy, super-important, and unique content!!

So, 100 years from now when history asks what we did during quarantine, you should tell your grandkids to tell them we watched TikToks.

Oh, and just so we’re clear… I have no idea what millennials and moms were into on TikTok so…

5 TikTok Trends Born During the Pandemic

#Renegade

Technically, this dance was created at the end of 2019. However, it gained its TRUE fame on TikTok around December. Somehow, through all of 2020, it has remained one of the most popular TikTok dances. It also stirred up a very important conversation about giving black creators their credit. This is probably one that will go down in TikTok history. This dance was created by 14-year-old Jalaiah Harmon to the song “Lottery” by K Camp and gained enormous popularity. You could grab pretty much any Gen Z’er off the street and they would know the dance. Creators from the TikTok Queen, Ms. Charli D’Amelio, to Ashley Tisdale could be found dancing the Renegade. 

Original Creator: @jalaiahharmon

Others Shown: @ashleytisdale @charlidamelio @addisonrae

#OnlineClassesBeLike

Earlier in the year, the coronavirus pandemic hit hard so all students were finishing the spring semester online. One common variation of a TikTok that went around was seeing a student in bed sleeping with captions like “me while my chem teacher is calling me at 8 am for our online class”. Honestly, these are still the most relatable TikTok’s I have seen to this day. 

Creators: @noahschnapp @boclarkeee

#LearningToDog

Huh? Yes… It means exactly what it says. During the pandemic, because of boredom that came to us in its truest form, a lot of TikToker’s started posting videos of themselves sitting and looking out the window with their dogs. While sitting they often ask their dogs questions like, “So do we like, bark at other dogs or just like people walking by?”

 Creators: @briannastorey @tofu_corgi

#CelebrateDoctors

On a more meaningful note, #celebratedoctors became very popular. These videos vary from civilians singing, all the way to doctors telling about how they are handling the outbreak. The whole idea is to give thanks to those that have been working nonstop during these trying times.

Creators: @thebracesguy @dr.tommymartin

#BoredInTheHouse

On TikTok, you can reuse a sound in your video. TikTokker, Curtis Roach made a short song called “Bored in the House” and it fills TikTok with videos of people doing the most random things around the house with that song in the background. Over 4.6 million videos are using his original sound, including famous TikTokers like Charli D’Amelio and ItsMaikko and even pre-TikTok celebrities like Jacob Sartorius. Tyga and Curtis Roach collaborated and made a real song from this.

 Creators: @curtisroach @joealbanese @jacobsartorius

5 Summer/Fall TikTok Trends

Moving on from the TikTok trends that were started in the heart of the pandemic, these are some super recent and very common TikToks from many categories. One thing you should know about TikTok, many users will say “I’m on (insert random category) TikTok. I, for example, often find myself on Fitness TikTok and Country TikTok. What this means is most of the content that I see is related to fitness or country stuff like hot guys throwing bales of hay.

 

#TimeWarp

This one is by far one of the funniest and weirdest trends in general on TikTok. So TikTok released this new effect called the Time Warp Scan, where a line goes down the screen and captures the screen as it progresses. A lot of people had some pretty weird ideas on things they could do with this. One of my favorites was that of Grandad Frank who turned himself into a Christmas tree using the effect. There are also some pretty freaky ones, like the one made by couple Emily and Jessie. There are even cute ones like the one made by Tolly Larson and his now extra long dog. 

Creators: @grandadfrankk @emily_and_jessie @tollylarson6

#WhenILookAtYou

TikTok is also an awesome app to find some VERY talented people. If you find yourself on Singing TikTok this would be all over your feed. The song “When I Look at You” by Miley Cyrus also became a trend. One technique often used by singers to learn to refrain from gathering unnecessary tension in the muscles when singing, is lying flat on your back and singing. If you have ever heard the song “When I Look At You”, you know there are some pretty high belts. In this challenge, singers would lie on their backs and sing the song and just give it their all. Some AMAZING vocalists were doing this challenge and then there was Jimmy Fallon… Keep trying bro. You’ll get there.

Creators: @jimmyfallon @lilhuddyofbelfast @samii.rosee

#Wap

I’m already worried about how this explanation is going to go. I would say this dance is specifically saved for Dance TikTok, but let’s be honest, somehow it became a part of anyone’s everyday life. So, many of us know the hit song by Cardi B and Megan the Stallion… Actually, to protect my mom’s feelings (she edits this blog) I’m gonna substitute in TikTok’s idea of what a KidzBop version would say, “Wings and Pizza”.

One of the immensely popular dances that went around was the WAP dance. Created by Brian Esperon, the dance is a series of flexibility movements including a hitch kick and dropping into a split, and twerking. Oddly enough, we still had EVERYONE from Dance Moms star Nia Sioux, to Addison Rae’s (second most viewed TikTok Creator) mom doing the original.

However, as is the way of TikTok, there were also variations, especially in the formally trained dance/gymnastics community (and kids of parents who drew the line). Instead of the usual dance, there were people like Team USA Rhythmic Gymnast, Elena Shinohara, and dancer, Tre Clements, who put their spin on the dance. And before you ask, yes, this dance was indeed Cardi-approved.

*Please consult your physician before attempting to “WAP”.

Original Choreographer: @besperon

Other Creators: @niasioux @addisonre @sherinicolee @elena_shinohara @treclements

#FitnessShouldBeFun

With a lot of gyms not being open, Fitness TikTok has been booming!! One of the hashtags that became popular recently was #FitnessShouldBeFun. A lot of fitness influencers, or just your average Joe, would post awesome workouts that are fun and usually to some pretty popular TikTok songs. What makes it super cool is that the creator is cheesing the entire time so you can’t help but smile! We’ve even found big celebrities dueting the videos of these challenges. Imagine Kevin’s (@kev.the.nexus) surprise when he saw THE Carrie Underwood was doing his challenge.

Creators: @cailinprice @darrenjacobson @alexandrayaeger @carrieunderwood @kev.the.nexus

#DogDiet

I figured I would save the best for last… Dog TikTok. We all know the majority of dog owners spoil the heck out of their animals so when this challenge went around our pet friends were highly annoyed. The gist of the challenge is to pretend you’re putting your dog on a diet. When it’s feeding time owners would put something like 2-5 pellets (or pieces of broccoli in Eddie Pug’s case) in their dogs’ bowls. The reactions by the dogs were hilarious! We had some that would just stare at the owner, some that ate the few and then went to retrieve more themselves, we even had some dogs that were #hangry and got a little aggressive.

Creators: @itsasmallterworld @mreviatar @eddiepug_pug

CONGRATS!! You are now up to date on all the coolest and most recent TikTok trends. You have earned the approval of one Gen Z’er! Woo! Up top!!

This has been a difficult year for all of us and contrary to what some legislators would like to believe, these top 10 trends of the year have kept us sane in and out of quarantine. So if you take away nothing else from this article, don’t forget… if you are #BoredInTheHouse, remember #FitnessIsFun, but after that workout, you should reward yourself with some #WingsAndPizza ;).

The post Trending on TikTok: 10 Lit TikTok Trends That Got Us Through 2020 appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

Your instincts may be telling you that if you can harness the power of social media trends you can probably boost the bottom line for your ecommerce store, and the statistics agree. A study by Sprout Social found that when consumers follow a brand on social media, 91% go on to visit the brand’s website or app and 89 percent buy from the brand. These customers also bring more customers in, with 85% saying they refer friends and family members to these brands.

 

This method of reaching customers has become even more important as shifts in how people consume content has diminished the effectiveness of traditional advertising. Streaming entertainment options mean radio and television advertising is less likely to reach an audience (though radio has enjoyed a nice little comeback during the pandemic).

As far as online advertising is concerned, one report found that over a quarter of U.S. internet users have ad blockers, and the average click-through rate of banner ads in North America is just 0.08 percent. Clearly, ecommerce brands need to find other ways of reaching their customers, and social media is an excellent way to connect.

Facebook has 1.56 billion daily active users, and the average user spends an hour a day on the platform. Instagram has 1 billion users, and Twitter’s number of monthly active users is 330 million. That’s a lot of eyes that brands can reach, and it doesn’t include the users on niche or up-and-coming new platforms, like Reddit or TikTok.

But social media has more to offer than just an audience. One of its strengths is the ability to target your effort. Whether you’re paying for social media advertising or implementing an organic social media strategy, you can use tools like hashtags and the platform’s research tools to connect with people who want and need your product. With the right strategy that focuses on key social media trends, you can get customers to follow your ecommerce brand and create a ready-made audience for your every sale and product launch.

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6 Social Media Trends That Matter to Ecommerce Brands

#1 Influencers Are Key

Social media influencers occasionally get a bad rap, but the truth is that they’re a very powerful form of word-of-mouth marketing. A now-famous study by Tomoson in 2017 found that businesses made $6.50 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing. In 2020, Influencer Marketing Hub’s Benchmark Reports put that ROI at $5.78 generated for every $1 invested in influencer marketing. Not bad.

Many of the brands that still think of influencer marketing as a way to boost brand awareness are the same ones struggling to launch successful influencer campaigns. In fact, only 25 percent of influencer campaigns actually fail to result in revenue. And marketers believe they get more sales-qualified customers through influencers. These are consumers who are ready to spend money and who recommend products to family and friends.

The best part is that influencer-generated content is the kind of advertising consumers want because even though the sponsored content is, well… sponsored, it’s still perceived as being more authentic than content created and owned by the brand. Authenticity is a big deal to 90 percent of consumers when deciding which brands to support.

It also means that since an influencer’s followers made a decision to follow, you’re reaching exactly the sort of people who want to buy your products — the targeted and enthusiastic audience of your influencer.

To see an influencer campaign done well, check out Skullcandy. Skullcandy’s Mood Boost campaign connects with hot musicians and features videos, performances, interviews, and hashtags. As the influencers promote to their audiences, Skullcandy also introduces the musicians to new fans, creating a symbiotic relationship. As a bonus, each month has a limited edition bundle attached, encouraging fans to buy.

#2 Video Is Everything

You’ve probably heard that video is king in the social media world. Social Media Today found that a third of all time spent online is devoted to watching videos, and 90 percent of customers say videos help them make buying decisions. Companies that use videos on socials have a 27 percent higher click-through rate and 34 percent higher conversion rates than those that don’t.

Video doesn’t have to be slick YouTube creations. There are over 8 billion average daily video views on Facebook, according to Omnicore, and people are also watching video content on Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. (We actually just published a guide to Instagram Reels that has some pretty compelling info about the reach and engagement Reels is getting for brands and creators!)

The types of videos you can produce are endless. Think about product demos, promotions, stories, and testimonials. About Us videos help you create authenticity and connection, and if your history is too long, create more than one, such as the initial idea, the people behind it, and creating the prototype.

Take a look at this chart below from GlobalWebIndex. Three of the five top types of content followers want to see from influencers are video, and the how-to tutorial (which we’re assuming is video as well) is the top choice.

Videos can also help you create authority with your audience. You’re probably already an expert in your field, and you can create How-To videos that educate your customers on a topic. These sorts of videos drive customer engagement and are likely to be shared, helping you connect to a wider audience.

To create successful videos, know your audience and make videos that they’ll enjoy. Test the response, and make more videos like the ones that do well. Lastly, think about how people consume your videos, and make sure viewing is easy for them. People on Instagram prefer a square or portrait format, for example, so they don’t have to turn their phones. It’s the little things…

Mountain Crest Gardens uses their videos to give their customers some insight into the company. The succulent sellers have promotional videos across their social channels but also use short stories, particularly on Instagram, to show behind-the-scenes life, such as sorting seeds and watering. This video we actually found on the homepage of MountainCrestGardens.com.

#3 Use Social Media for Customer Service

Just as phone calls took over mail, instant messaging is overtaking phone calls, and ecommerce brands need to take this into account when setting up customer service channels. Customers prefer to communicate via messaging, as it’s convenient, easy, instantaneous, and often available around the clock. Messaging options also make people feel more comfortable about the brand, as they can easily see that service is available.

Instant messaging on Facebook is one option for customer service, but brands also need to be able to respond to customer service queries in other forums. Conversations about your brand on a social media channel can help or damage you, depending on how you respond. Make sure you have people monitoring your brand so you know when you’re mentioned. They can boost the positives, answer questions, and resolve or address complaints. A dedicated customer support profile can help you quickly find customers who need assistance, and chatbots can be established to answer easy questions quickly.

Remember to always be transparent with customers. People expect quick responses, so if you don’t have staff available 24/7, list your hours clearly. Establish social media best practices early, so customers receive consistent service when interacting with your brand. Finally, remember to respond to positive comments as well as negative. A personalized thank you helps your happy customers feel valued and increase your customer retention rate. Check out Skullcandy’s active Facebook page to see this in action. Customers are welcomed with a chat box in case they have any questions. 

#4 Have a Solid Social Commerce Strategy

Social commerce refers to any activity that relates to buying and selling on social media – shoppable posts. Although more social media companies are introducing native checkouts within the platform, social commerce can also include promoting products, providing customer service, and answering questions.

As platforms have seen the potential in selling through social media, the options for promoting within them have grown. There are buy buttons, shoppable posts, dynamic ads, and more being offered to businesses that want to use social media to sell products. These methods work. One report shows that in 2018, 55 percent of consumers made a purchase through social media channels. For platforms like Pinterest where more than 8 in 10 users on the platform come to the platform with the intent to buy, that percentages shoots to 85 percent of users have made a purchase based on something they saw on the platform. (We also published a guide to Pinterest over the summer that includes a breakdown of the new shoppable functions, local search capabilities, and Story Pins.)

Think about how you can use social media to sell your products, and set up a strategy that takes advantage of each channel’s strengths. Spearmint Love has a presence on multiple platforms and uses each to their advantage. Instagram has pictures of adorable babies in their clothes, while Facebook has videos and plenty of interaction. Each post includes links to their ecommerce store. They haven’t neglected Pinterest and use the platform’s shop feature to direct customers to curated collections.

Although built-in ecommerce is rising in social media, don’t neglect your own ecommerce store. Your own space online gives you complete control over your customers’ experience, allows you to collect better customer insights, and helps insulate you from the impact of platform changes, such as algorithm updates.

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#5 Adopt an Omnichannel Social Presence

Thinking about a social presence can be overwhelming. There are so many platforms, and a new one seems to become popular every day. It can be tempting to decide on one platform and stick to it, and this isn’t a bad strategy for plucky startups that are trying to get ahead. But to get the most from social media, you should have a presence on multiple channels.

Each social media platform has its own strengths and weaknesses, so each gives you different opportunities to connect with customers. Instagram and Pinterest are the platforms of choice for visual marketing, while Twitter lets you have witty conversations and Facebook is great for videos. Each platform also attracts different users. TikTok is popular with Gen Z, and Facebook is used by millennials and Gen X.

Choosing the right platforms to reach your target audience makes your social media effective, but understanding who uses each platform can also let you create unique content for each channel based on the users. An omnichannel strategy not only lets you reach different types of audiences but it also protects you from the vagaries of changing algorithms and popularity. If you’d built your entire business around Myspace, there would have been a lot of rebuilding required when Facebook came along.

Camelbak is one company that does omnichannel well. It has a presence on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook, with numbers of followers ranging from 26K on Twitter to 632K on Facebook. They use relevant, timely content that suits the platform, utilizing video, hashtags, and user-generated content to create engagement and continue to build their brand.

#6 Curate User-Generated Content to Satisfy Customers

User-generated content, or UGC, is one of social media’s biggest strengths. It’s defined as any content that’s created by your customers, including videos, images, and reviews. One Nielsen study showed that 92 percent of consumers trust recommendations from people they don’t know over branded content. This makes UGC super valuable, because your customers are going to listen to people they consider peers more readily than they will listen to you.

UGC has the added benefit of being memorable content that is abundant and free. Consumers are eager to be featured by their favorite brands and this helps you build relationships with your passionate customers who are generating the content. In addition to marketing, UGC can give you insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your products.

If you’re wondering how to generate the content, it’s as easy as asking. Send follow up emails that ask for reviews, and include social sharing links. Use hashtag campaigns to encourage social sharing, and add your favorites to your website. Also remember to keep an eye on social media sites, including third-party review sites like Yelp, and publicly address concerns. A well-crafted response to negative feedback can win over a dissatisfied customer and attract new attention.

Furniture company Burrow makes great use of UGC. Yes, they have customer reviews on their website, but on their Instagram, they have dogs. There are dogs lounging on their couches and dogs relaxing on their rugs. Although their account features more content than just dogs (what more do you need?!), including other UGC, the dogs encourage likes and comments, and each one links back to the creator’s Instagram so people seeing the images know that they’re genuine.

Conclusion

Social media marketing can seem like it has a large learning curve, from deciding on the right platforms to having a strategic content marketing plan and figuring out when to post. But the benefits far outweigh the time and money that most companies spend learning the ropes. Social media has the ability to build relationships with customers, which leads to trust, authenticity, and more money spent on products. Keeping an eye on the trends and integrating them into your social media strategy can help you make the most of your social media platforms.

The post The Social Media Trends ECommerce Stores Are Adopting appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

As we do our best to minimize the spread of COVID-19 by self-isolating and working from home, I think a growing number of us are finding out that it takes some legitimate planning and forethought to work from home and STILL get stuff done. (Whoda thunk it, right?)

Well, we’re pretty much experts on this subject. At The Shelf, about 80 percent of our team members work remotely, and even the staff members who typically work from our Brooklyn office work from home twice a week.

So, we thought who better than our team of remote working veterans to create a game plan for the people who are working from home for the first time?

The Most Common (and Fixable) Challenges of Working From Home

Just a couple of weeks ago, working from home used to be this elusive, magical perk few were able to get their employers to agree to. Yeah, working remotely is more common than it used to be, but working from home is still kind of fraught with challenges, like:

• Employer oversight – Many employers prefer to keep an eye on employees during regular business hours.
• Productivity – Newly-remote team members can find it hard to get “in the zone” in their new, non-Starbucks environments.
• Tools – Work tech is different from home tech.
• Routines and mindset – An interruption to your regular morning routine can make it tough to jump into your workday.
• Work space – If remote workers don’t have space allocated at home specifically for work, it could be tough to make that recliner, bed, or cafeteria-style dining room set work for 8 hours.
• Work hours – Employers worry about team members not working long enough, but the reality is a lot of remote workers struggle to effectively make the shift from their workdays to their home life, even after 5PM.
• Distractions – There are going to be a TON of distractions in the house. Remote workers watch up to 3 hours more television per week than those who work outside the home (Nielsen).

AND…

If you happen to have kids, your workday is likely to be a little more challenging (let’s just agree to disagree on whether that’s an understatement).

So if you’re newly working from home or looking to make it a full time thing, here are a few tips on how to minimize stress as much as possible. I’ll be including a separate option for moms whose kids will be joining them 24/7 for the next few weeks. (Or months maybe? Eeesh.)

Here’s How to Work Remotely and Still Get Things Done

Get Up Early

Trust me on this one. You’ll be tempted to get every last bit of sleep you can, but don’t. Just… don’t. Now is not the time to mess up your routine. Get up at the same time you usually do, make some coffee, and have a nice breakfast. This simple act will keep you energized throughout the day. You no longer have the excuse that you don’t have time to make yourself some eggs. Also, maybe you don’t want to mess with your circadian rhythm. #justsayin

If you’re a mom: I know you get up early enough as it is, but make sure to squeeze in at least 15 minutes to have your coffee hot and in one sitting. Then you can make everyone breakfast.

Shower and Groom

You have no idea how easy it’ll be for you to drift into showering once every three days when working from home. Don’t do that. Keep showering. And ladies, if you wear makeup to work, keep putting makeup on. There’s nothing like not showering, staying bare-faced, and staying in your pjs all day to send you into a depressive state quick af. Don’t believe me? Ask a mom. Just pretend you were going to work outside your home.

If you’re a mom: You already know what I’m talking about. Maternity leave, am I right? This may be great for a week, maybe two, but after that, you know how horrible it feels. This is a friendly reminder: shower and groom

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Repurpose That Commute Time for Something More Productive

That’s right. You know how you always complain about having to drive an hour to and from work, and how that’s two hours of your day, which is kind of like working 11 hours but only getting paid for nine? Well, you still won’t get paid for it, but at least you’ll be able to do something more productive than listen to podcasts.

Podcasts may entertain you on the road, but it’s not like you’re able to take notes or anything. I don’t know about you, but if I want something to stick, I gotta take notes, so listening to podcasts on my commute that contain information I actually want to retain is a waste. (Although, now you’ll have the time for taking notes, so…listen to podcasts.)

You now got yourself 30 minutes to an hour (unless you live a block away from your job, in which case, lucky you) to do whatever you want! Can you imagine? Here are a few ideas:

1. Work out. Ugh, I know. The dreaded workout. But honestly, so, so important. Even if it’s just a brisk walk. Get up, get moving and get the blood flowing. This doesn’t have to be CrossFit or whatever the cool kids are doing these days. It could be stretching, yoga, cardio, whatever floats your boat. (Tickles your pickle? Ok, I’m out.) 
2. Journal. I know not everyone likes to do this, and it’s becoming the equivalent of reading horoscopes with how much people claim it has magical powers, but journaling has been proven to reduce anxiety and set the tone for the day. I personally wish I would remember to journal, especially with a deadly virus going around. There’s nothing like a good virus to send anyone’s anxiety into overdrive. And maybe all we need is a good brain dump to make it through the day.
3. Read a book. Yeah, you know, that book you bought months ago and it has yet to be cracked open? Most people’s excuse for not reading more is not having the time. Well, now you do! And try to stick to something you enjoy reading for the sake of reading. Stay away from work-related reading. Reading relaxes you and can take you to other worlds, so pick something mind-blowing, not Karen’s umpteenth email about HR policies.
4. Just pick anything that makes you happy!

If you’re a mom: Take this time to explain to everyone in the house how the day’s going to go. And then go do one of the four things listed above. You may be interrupted 100 times, but hey, at least you tried. You can take a walk outside with the kids, especially since we’ll all be quarantined pretty soon (probably). Also, you may be surprised how willing kids are to do yoga with you. There’s a great YouTuber who does yoga for kids, and they love it. You can also make this art time for kids, while you journal or read. You can do it!

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Have An Office, Even if You Don’t!

I know not everyone has the luxury of having a whole room to use as an office, especially if you have no need for one. But since you’ll be home for some time or indefinitely (if that’s your chosen route), having a designated space with everything you need can make all the difference. Look, it’s totally fine to work from your bed for a day or two (good to get it out of your system), but doing this everyday, will not only give you back pains that will never go away, it’ll also make you lazy af. Here’s what you should do:

1. Have a desk and chair. Duh. But, seriously, I don’t care if it’s one of those food tables used to eat while watching TV. Have something you can sit in front of comfortably. And definitely get the best chair in the house. ‘Cause having the wrong one will also give you back pains that’ll never go away (ahh, the joys of getting older).  
2. Find a good spot. If you’re into natural light like me, find the spot in your space that has the most. You also want to take into account any video calls you’ll have to take. So good lighting is not only for your mental health, but also so Karen doesn’t talk shit about your video quality (aka apartment). 
3. Get your essentials. Again, pretend you’re at work. What do you usually keep on your desk or in the drawers? Airpods? Glossier Balm Dot Com? Almonds? Whatever items you use on a daily basis at work, make sure to have in stock at home, too. This will reduce the stress of having to get up and see the pile of laundry sitting in the corner of the room.

If you’re a mom: This is where shit gets real. Your kids (depending on their ages) will most likely not leave you alone for very long (mine sure don’t), so try to schedule any meetings during their usual nap times. Otherwise, you can put your “office” anywhere. Also, you probably already have back pains that will never go away (I know I do), so sorry I can’t help you with that one.

Have a Set Time to Work (and to Quit Working)

Do you work 9-5 in an office? Then work 9-5 at home, too. It’s tempting to wipe your drool in the morning and open your laptop or stay hooked into the wee hours of the night, and you may be able to sustain that for a couple of days, but trust me, by day three, you’ll be throwing in the towel. Timing is everything. So keeping your work hours the same will reduce some serious stress. I know this can be difficult to do, so willpower is a must with this one. Also, you want to make sure Karen doesn’t overstep by expecting a response at 9 p.m.

If you’re a mom: If you’re working from home temporarily due to the coronavirus, your kid’s school has probably closed by now, and they are with you all day. This is stressful af. So, guess what? They also need a tight schedule. It’s best to try and stick to the routine they have at school or daycare, that way, when they go back, they’re not all wacky. This will relieve some stress for you and them. 

How About That Lunch Break?

Being able to make whatever you want at home for lunch and having all the ingredients is the best thing ever. I don’t know how many times I’ve forgotten one item for my salad, which totally kills it for me. And there’s nothing I can do ‘cause I’m an hour away from home. #FirstWorldProblems, I know, but seriously, take advantage of this. And if you finish eating in 30 minutes, you still have 30 minutes to take a walk, phone a friend, or, oh yeah, take a walk. Since you’re probably not getting enough vitamin D, getting some sun is one of the best things you can do during your workday. And I’m sure Cujo won’t mind a walk either now that you’re home all day.

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If you’re a mom: You will have to make lunch for your kids, so make sure you eat something other than their leftover bread crusts. Plus, it will give you a much needed boost to make it until dinner. If you finish lunch early, spend some time having dessert with the kids. They’ll get their dose of mom, and you’ll take a mental break from work. 

Drink Water

Speaking of healthy stuff, whatever cool tumbler you bought ‘cause you were influenced by your favorite influencer…keep that around. You need to hydrate. Water helps with literally everything in your body, so try to drink at least 8-10 (8 ounce) glasses of water or four (16.9 ounce) bottles of water. 

If you’re a mom: Drink water yourself, but make sure your kids drink enough, too. Between the chocolate milks and juices, water can be forgotten. Make sure to always offer them water throughout the day, and purposefully offer them only water as their drink for at least one meal a day.

Disconnect at 5 PM

That means it’s time to disconnect. And I don’t just mean from the computer. Put your phone to charge and walk away. I know I already talked about work hours, but this is more about work/life balance. Since there’s no commute home, it’ll be hard to disconnect, but Cujo (or your kid) needs you. Take your would-be commute time home to prepare a nice family meal. If it’s just you, taking the time to actually cook something can reduce stress, too, and you’ll feel better for doing it. A healthy meal = a healthy body. You can follow it with a bath and some time to read a book or watch some mindless TV. 

If you’re a mom: I know all about throwing something together quickly for dinner ‘cause the kids are hungry, and I’m tired. But now you have time to do something a little more elaborate than chicken nuggets and mac and cheese. You can eat together as a family and then maybe play a board game before it’s time for baths and bedtime. 

Let’s Put It All Together Now

A stress-free workday from home! Okay, maybe not totally stress-free but stress-lite. Working from home isn’t for everyone, but given the situation at hand with the current pandemic, it’s important to keep your sanity and make the best of the situation. If you follow the steps above, it could seriously reduce the stress you may feel of being home all day, especially if you got children running amok. Sticking to a routine and taking time for yourself can make all the difference. So much so that you may never want to go back to the office (at least once the kids are back in school). 

Now go wash ALL the hands in your house and call your mom!

The post Working from Home? Here’s Our Stress-Free Guide to Working Remotely appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

They’re not all eye shadows. Yay! We found products from across different verticals – beauty, fashion, pets, crafts, agriculture, fitness, education.

Pretty stoked about this one. Let’s get to it. 

#1 Gift Card to Shop The Crayon Case $50

Raynell Stewart (@supa_cent) is a new mom (congrats, girl!), a popular social media influencer, and the CEO of The Crayon Case, a cruelty-free makeup line for amateur MUAs. What’s cute about The Crayon Case is each product in Raynell’s line is packaged to have an elementary school theme. The flagship product, called Box of Crayons is a bold, beautiful palette of shadows to make those eyelids pop.

Why a gift card? Why not just promote the Box of Crayons? Well, because products come in, Raynell promotes them on social to her millions of followers, and products sell out. Fast. So, if you don’t want to spend this week sitting with your thumb poised over the screen of your phone ready to hit Buy Now, do the gift card. After diamonds and free stuff, gift cards are an MUA’s best friend.

#2. Huda Beauty Sleigh All Day Set $27

Just for holiday kicks and giggles, beauty icon Huda Kattan is offering this limited edition Huda Beauty gift set that includes a mini Liquid Matte lipstick in Crush and 1 Topaz Obsessions eyeshadow palette. Huda has 1.8 million followers on her personal Instagram page. Impressive, right? Until I tell you that the Huda Beauty page has 40 million Instagram followers. Want to be more impressed? The @hudabeautyshop page adds another 6.2 million to that total. So, yeah… pretty much a beauty icon. Mind you, that doesn’t include the 3.6 million YouTube subscribers, her 7.9 million likes on her Facebook page, or the 192k accounts following Huda Beauty on Twitter.

#3. Pydana Collection Healthy Hair Treatment Bundle $54.99

The Pydana Collection is a line of natural hair care and skin care products from scientist, mom, and budding influencer Rochelle Pydana Buckner (on Instagram @naturallife1). This Treatment Bundle set is the one that caught my eye. It includes Pydana Thermal Cap,   Avocado & Babassu Deep Moisture Treatment, Rhodiola & Baobab 2in1 Protein Treatment, Luscious Locs Hair Oil – for hot oil treatments,  reusable eco-friendly storage bag. And the brush. Don’t wanna forget that brush.

#4. Megababe Underarm Faves Set $44

Blogger Katie Sturino (@katiesturino) has come up with something brilliant with Megababe, a line of simple, effective, non-toxic (yay!) feminine products specifically designed to “take the ouch and the ugh out of being a woman”. 

Cuz a real one needs real solutions for real things that are happening with real women. Like that weird, slightly unpleasant period when you’re transitioning to an aluminum-free deodorant and your body’s still in that stinky detox phase. #reallife 

Megababe actually put together a collection of holiday sets where you can bundle different products. But be fast because the holiday bundles are only available until December 20th.  

#5. LaurDIY Fleece-Lined Joggers $34.90

Popular crafter Laura Riihimaki DIY (on Instagram @LaurDIY) has more than YouTube 9 million subscribers. And she has pretty nice collection of items for the crafter in your household. I saw an illuminating lamp raft kit that looks like a salt rock, a DIY letter board craft kit, and even plushies. But the thing I saw that resonated most with me was the DIY merch. The DIY Babe joggers featured below can be ordered on Ardene. And if you buy two OR grab the sweatshirt with it, you can take advantage of the Buy 1, Get 1 50% off deal. 

If this gift is THE ONE, buy this one today. The cut-off date for holiday shipping is Dec 10th, 2019.

#6. Jaclyn Cosmetics Accent Light Duo Highlighter Palette & Brush Set $59

Jaclyn Hill’s (on Instagram @Jaclynhillcosmetics) rise to social media fame came by way of YouTube makeup tutorials and reviews. Since launching her channel in 2010, Jaclyn has garnered more than 530 million views ad 5.8 million subscribers. This year, it’s all about getting the right light, and the Accent Light Duo Highlighter Palette & Crush Set is a gorgeous set created specifically to help us all increase our luminescent glam factor. It comes with Accent Light Highlighter Palette and the J02 Accent Light Highlighter Brush.

#7. Ryan’s World Deluxe Mystery Fig Set $39.99

If you have younger children, you probably know this little titan of the influencer world already – Ryan Kaji. At just eight years old, Ryan’s already a veteran YouTuber whose toy review show (that he started when he was pre-school aged kid influencer) has more than 22 million subscribers (including my household) and 33 billion views (and I wouldn’t be surprised if our contribution was in the tens of thousands of views across devices).

One of the top-rated products in this kid’s MASSIVE branded product line is the “14-Piece Deluxe Fig Set, which includes Red Titan, Kung Fu Ryan, Scientist Ryan, Racer Ryan, Robot Ryan, Moe, Gus, and Combo Panda, this deluxe set also includes a working egg blaster and three eggs and one surprise ULTRA-rare figure.” Got that from the product description.

If you can find them at Walmart, you can get this set for about half the price. This particular toy isn’t for toddlers because it comes with small parts that pose a choking hazard, but your school-aged kids should be okay.

#8. Hot Tea Eyelashes from Eyeris Beauty $19

From Manal Shaikh, the beauty wonder who brought you the @WakeUpandMakeUp Instagram account comes a collection of eyelashes to really help you glam-up any look. The Hot Tea Eyelashes create that 3D look with a thick, full-looking bed of long and short lashes that bring the drama.

#9. Halo Beauty Hair, Skin & Nails Booster $39.95

Tati Westbrook’s obsession with makeup has made her one of the biggest names in social media. With more than 1.3 billion views and nearly 10 million YouTube subscribers, Tati’s unbiased product reviews, tips, hauls and tutorials on drugstore and luxury beauty products has made her a trusted expert in the beauty space.

Tati has two popular product lines – Tati beauty (makeup) and Halo Beauty (skincare). Halo Beauty is vegan, cruelty-free, gluten-free, sugar-free (I don’t get sweet supplements!), and soy-free. Nice, right? The feedback on her Hair, Skin & Nails Booster supplements have been really good.

You can find Tati on Instagram @glamlifeguru.

#10. Noelle Celestial Bikini $69

From Noelle Downing (one of our favorite Instagrammers – her feed is GORGEOUS), Noelle by Noelle Swimwear is for every body. The line includes these amazing-looking gold tone and bronzey two-piece sets that are HOT! – The Celestial Bikini is a great-looking bikini that provides the support without killing your sexy.

#11. We Wore What Navy Pinstripe Blazer Jumpsuit $218

A cool idea from popular fashion blogger Danielle Bernstein (@weworewhat). This tuxedo-inspired Navy Pinstripe Blazer Jumpsuit is described as having a “second skin fit”. Whoa. With a plunging neckline and removable shoulder pads, this is what you wear when you want to make sure you’re the only one in the room wearing it.

#12. AmandaRachLee Doodle Planner $45.90

If you’re trying to get a jump on your 2020 organization purchases (I LOVE shopping for a new planner), PRE-ORDER this blue Doodle Planner from Amanda Lee (@amandarachlee) by December 15th to receive it just ahead of the New Year. Amanda is a Bullet Journaler and popular Creative whose YouTube channel has more than 1.3 million subscribers. We included the blue Doodle Planner, but it also comes in black, pink, and gray.

#13. The Perfect Travel T-Shirt or The Perfect Travel Dress $35 – $40

Raise your hand if you do your holiday traveling in the closest thing you can possibly find to pajamas WITHOUT actually going out in your PJs. Yeah, me too. It’s sweats and tees, which is why The Perfect Travel T-Shirt from travel bloggers The Bucket List Family (on Instagram @thebucketlistfamily) is such as yes moment. You can get these tees for men or for women (and there’s a perfect travel dress that’s looks AMAZING). I imagine it’s like swiping your big brother’s soft, comfy, well-worn Metallica tee that made its way into your closet from the 1990s.

#14. Chiara Ferragni Collection Red Vinyl Pants $305

Italian fashion blogger and influencer Chiara Ferragni has amassed more than 17 million followers on Instagram. In 2017, she made Forbes’ Top Fashion Influencers list and her blog, The Blonde Salad, has become a staple of the fashion world. The Chiara Ferragni Collection is an ecclectic collection of pieces, some quirky and casual while others are bold and edgy. I do believe these red vinyl pants fall into the latter category.

#15. Everyday Detox [A Cookbook] $4.99 – $33

Megan Gilmore @detoxinista is the creator and recipe developer behind the blog Detoxinista. She’s also the best-selling author of a series of cookbooks and healthy living guides designed to simply the process of starting and maintaining a healthy diet. Megan published Everyday Detox: 100 Easy Recipes to Remove Toxins, Promote Gut Health, and Lose Weight Naturally in 2015 and have received some really great reviews on Amazon for that book. Mega uses her Instagram feed to share healthy recipes with more than 147k followers. This is a great.

#16. Song of Style Louisa Coat in Ivory $278

Aimee (rhymes with Mommy) Song is a fashion and interior design blogger who has been a staple in the influencer community for years now. In fact, with about 10 years of creating content under her belt, she’s more like an OG. Aimee has more than 373k YouTube subscribers to her popular channel Song of Style, and tops 147k Instagram followers for the Song of Style account (plus the 5.4 million followers on her @aimeesong account). Her Song of Style brand is a collection of mid-priced fashion that does a pretty good job of mixing trends with classic looks. The Louisa Coat is that mix I was talking about.

#17. Love, Nala Chicken & Pumpkin Dinner in Gravy Adult Cat Food (Case) $14.19

Show the kitty in your life some love with a little Chicken & Pumpkin holiday dinner. Love, Nala from pet influencer Nala the Cat (on Instagram @nala_cat) is a line of premium wet and dry cat food made from delicious recipes, quality ingredients and the nutrition cats need for healthy, active lives… which Nala has. Nala entertains and delightsmore than 4 million Instagram followers with her daily adventures… assuming your interpretation of an adventure is a lot of napping, chilling, being dressed up, and looking right at the camera.

#18. Ambrosia Mind, Body, Soul Collection $112

I’m going to go ahead and list vegan bodybuilder, pro boxer and popular YouTube Mike Rashid here because most of his current popularity is the direct result of his bodybuilding and nutrition YouTube channel. Mike is a well-known member of the fitness community, growing his YouTube subscriber list to more than a million accounts and his Instagram following to more than 900k accounts. Most of his content centers around three things: discipline, nutrition, and going really REALLY hard in the gym.

The Mind, Body, Soul Collection is a nutrition stack from Mike Rashid’s Ambrosia Collective line of nutrition supplements. I’m going to skip running down the list of what’s in the stack because the description includes language like “Planta also contains SunBCAA amino acids at a full 2:1:1 ratio and is crafted from organic brown rice protein and organic pea protein.” But suffice it to say, Nektar promotes heart health, metabolism, cholesterol, prostate, and brain. Mental Jewels enhances mental focus and concentration. Night Owl reduces the effects of blue light from phones, TVs, and other devices that can disrupt sleep. And I Planta is a vegan protein.

#19. Millennial Farmer Tractor Tee $25

Zach Johnson, is a 5th generation family farmer from West Central Minnesota whose YouTube channel, Millennial Farmer has more than 395k subscribers and 76 million views. He creates content about living the life of a farmer – the ups and downs, the hard work and backaches. And he’s pretty funny, too.

His MN Millennial Farm merchandise is the kinda stuff I’ve discovered you actually NEED if you’re going to head to the barn – sweatshirts, vintage-looking baseball cap, a thermal cup that keeps your drink hot forever.

So, if you’re about that farm life, the Millennial Farmer Tractor Tee may resonate with you. It certainly does with me. Not that I’m super-duper deep into farm life. I live in an apartment. And I cling to my Detroit roots. But… real talk, now that we live in the sticks of North Georgia, I can admit without feeling weird that my kids do take care of a show pig as a school project. We named him Dr. Schmidt.

And my daughter is VP is her school chapter of the Future Farmers of America…

And Blake Shelton’s “God Country” does make me feel some type of way…

So, this shirt is something I would rock while wearing “Detroit” beanie, just so I don’t forget my roots.

#20. Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick Bundle $75

Time for a little color and a lot of glamour. YouTuber, makeup artist, model, entrepreneur, and singer-songwriter Jeffree Star has been creating content for social media since the MySpace days. Like, pre-YouTube. Definitely considered social media royalty. Star has amassed a HUGE following of 16.7 million YouTube subscribers, two billion views, and 15.3 million Instagram followers.

For this Fifth Anniversary edition of the Velour Liquid Lipstick Bundle, it’s a throwback to the original five shades included in the very first holiday lipstick bundle Jeffree Star Cosmetics ever put out. #genius

Final Words

Here’s something funny: I intended to include something from Virgil Abloh’s Off White Homewares collection, but EVERYTHING WAS SOLD OUT. Smh. Technically, Virgil’s isn’t an influencer who became a designer, but social media is the main reason his luxury streetwear label’s done so well, so… yeah.

Anyway, this is our list. It’s growing. I think it would be cool to add to this list for the remainder of 2020 and see how many products we can add from different influencers across different verticals. Because you know what? It wasn’t that easy putting this list together, but it was a heck of a lot of fun.

Happy gifting!

The post Last Minute Gift Guide: Influencer Brands, Products & Merch That Made our Wish List appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.