Should Marketers Make Use of Online Influencers?

Consumers and marketers appear to agree that computer-generated virtual social media accounts, whether they are more cartoonish or human-like, are the newest trend in influencer marketing. At Territory Influence, I have observed a considerable rise in brand demand for virtual influencer partnerships in 2022, as well as a steady stream of new social media identities and accounts being launched. Let’s look at some of the most prominent virtual profiles, as well as the major advantages and hazards of this new sort of social media collaboration, to assist marketing experts in navigating the maze of virtual influencers.

Benefits Of Collaborating With Virtual Influencers

1. Endless creative opportunities — Since virtual avatars may be completely customised to a brand’s needs or even be created to reflect a brand’s personality and values, the creative possibilities feel nearly infinite. Every aspect of a person may be customised by brands, including their personality, looks, attire, pastimes, age, gender, content style, and so forth.
2. Complete brand control — Since virtual avatars may be completely customised to a brand’s needs or even be created to reflect a brand’s personality and values, the creative possibilities feel nearly infinite. Every aspect of a person may be customised by brands, including their personality, looks, attire, pastimes, age, gender, content style, and so forth.
3. Potential cost savings — Virtual influencers do not have the hectic schedules of their actual celebrity counterparts because they are totally digital. In fact, they are able to “travel” simultaneously to several picture session locations. Additionally, once they’re established, their content creation costs won’t increase along with their fan base (as long as the brand owns the avatar). Additionally, they may be used indefinitely since they never “wear out” or alter.
4. Transition to the metaverse — Virtual influencers provide companies the chance to engage a younger, more tech-savvy, digital native audience. A Hype Auditor research found that more than 50% of their audience is under 24 years old, and over 15% is between the ages of 13 and 17. Virtual influencers may also be able to help firms smoothly transition into this new digital environment because these younger Gen Z viewers may be the first to enter the metaverse. Virtual influencers may be readily included into any virtual setting since they are 100% computergenerated 3D personalities. Since they may join their favourite influencers there, users of the metaverse may be more inclined to believe them.
5. Engagement Rate — Compared to influencers in the real world, they appear to have better engagement rates. Given that there isn’t a lot of information available and since virtual influencers are still very new, we need carefully analyse this information. However, according to the same Hype Auditor research, computer-generated influencers had roughly a threefold higher engagement than conventional influencers.

Summary and Verdict

Virtual influencers may garner millions of followers on social media much like their real counterparts, giving marketers exciting options to engage with largely younger target audiences. Virtual characters are seen to be able to supplement influencer marketing techniques and provide companies with a smooth transition into the metaverse, even if we do not yet see them displacing real content producers right now.

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