Here’s What the Future of Influencer Marketing Looks Like: Powered By Artificial Intelligence
Welcome back to an all-new Head’s Up. This week, we look into what the future of influencer marketing looks like, movements within the startup ecosystem and the latest happenings that you should be up to date with.
So sit back, get that cup of coffee and catch up with us.
Here’s What the Future of Influencer Marketing Looks Like: Powered By Artificial Intelligence
By Cheng Qian Yee, Co-Founder of KOLHUB,
With almost 90% of its 33-million-strong population connected online, Malaysia has one of the highest internet penetration rates in Southeast Asia. This means that some 30 million Malaysians are active social media users — and that platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube are kings of consumer attention.
As the world around us becomes more digitally savvy and e-commerce continues its astronomical growth, consumers now have a world of options when making purchases. Too many options make it difficult for brands to stand out in the race to capture consumer hearts. This has led to influencer marketing rising to prominence, with businesses investing more time and attention in it than ever before.
Tapping into popular users on their respective platforms, influencer marketing enables businesses to market themselves through a figure that their target audience watches, interacts with, and trusts on a regular basis. While it has established itself as a crucial tool for brands in recent years, influencer marketing comes with its own riddle to solve: how can brands ensure they engage the correct influencers?
Enter an evolved version of influencer marketing, powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
Applying precision-based influencer marketing for peak performance
Traditionally, businesses have overspent resources looking for the perfect influencer to team up with: time to trawl through social media looking for profiles, and money to pay influencers with mammoth followings. However, identifying the perfect influencer is far more than just choosing the person with the most number of followers or the showiest feed.
Follower engagement rates, profile growth trajectory, quality of content, size and nature of the campaign — AI-powered influencer marketing uses algorithms to analyse the multitude of factors that go into shortlisting the right accounts. AI not only computes profile metrics but also leverages hashtags and smart text readers to identify the content related to these particular accounts. For instance, AI has the capability to narrow down influencers who might be especially active in a brand’s industry or even single out the kind of topics they post about.
The precision game of AI, applied to influencer marketing, is a huge asset to any brand’s content and editorial plans. By taking the burden of handling and analysing massive volumes of data off manual shoulders, this automated AI matching is well and truly poised to replace traditional ways of connecting with influencers. It even scours the market in a fraction of the time it would usually cost.
In fact, our work at KOLHUB has sometimes seen smaller influencers deliver results just as impactful as any of their mega counterparts. The ideal influencer for a campaign could very well be the neighbourhood nano-influencer streaming out of their bedroom to a small but no less dedicated following. Having this AI-researched knowledge upfront will help streamline who the brand approaches, reducing unnecessary costs engaging influencers solely by number of followers.
This ultimately translates into new, more accurate ways to plan digital campaigns, with more nuanced measures of success. AI can also reliably forecast long-term engagement and a campaign’s return on investment by applying more dynamic, personalised benchmarking.
The promise of AI for brands is better outcomes at scale. Precision-based selection of influencers, though, expands the definition of ‘outcomes’ to so much more! No longer is it limited only to metrics of the present (such as the success of a current campaign), it also informs hiring and content strategies for the future — using data to constantly deliver accurate results, even as the fast-paced world of social media continues to shift around us.
News
Joel Neoh Announces Departure From Fave
Consumer fintech platform, Fave, has announced that its Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Joel Neoh will leave from his role by early March 2023.
For further reading, click here
Gifting Platform Embraces Malaysia’s 1St AI Gifting Curation Tech to Provide Personalised Gift Boxes
Malaysia’s leading one-stop shop for custom and personalised gift boxes, A Little Thing has officially launched its app-based platform providing curated gift boxes using artificial intelligence (AI) Gifting Curation Technology.
Established in 2020, the app utilises the nation’s first AI Gifting Curation Technology to help users to find the right gift based on individual preferences. The app also aims to get rid of gift-giving anxiety and offers a high efficiency and accurate experience for users.
For further reading, click here
Pop Meals Among 13 Enterprises Selected By Endeavor At 33rd Virtual International Selection Panel
Malaysian F&B and cloud kitchen enterprise, Pop Meals has been selected by Endeavor, as one of the 13 entrepreneurs at the 33rd Virtual International Selection Panel (vISP), held January 23-25.
Endeavor now supports 2,415 entrepreneurs leading 1,492 companies in 41 markets around the world, Pop Meals being one of them, representing Malaysia.
For further reading, click here
Fi Life Launches Its First Self-Underwritten Life Insurance Product For Women
Fi Life Sdn Bhd (Fi Life) has launched its FIRST self-underwritten life insurance product, available online. The company is offering the cheapest life insurance for women, guaranteed.
This follows Bank Negara Malaysia’s approval of Fi Life to participate in its regulatory sandbox. Now, any woman below the age of 55 will enjoy the lowest life insurance premium in Malaysia or get the difference refunded – the first such guarantee in the Malaysian market.
For further reading, click here
Grab Appoints Adelene Foo As Managing Director Of Grab Malaysia
Grab, a leading everyday superapp in Southeast Asia, has announced the appointment of Adelene Foo as Managing Director of Grab Malaysia, effective 1 February 2023. In her role, Adelene will oversee the business strategy and operations of Grab’s businesses in Malaysia.
For further reading, click here
Disruptr of The Week
Meet Malek Ali, Founder and CEO of Fi Life
Get to know the serial entrepreneur better as he shares with us on why investors should look his way, his inspiration on starting Fi Life, and some of his biggest regrets in his entrepreneurial journey.
For further reading, click here
Events
The Angel Series Workshop by the Malaysian Business Angel Network will provide a deep dive into the world of angel investing and the opportunities available in the local market.
Register now at https://lnkd.in/ggV9hvDb
Calling all student founders! 💡 Are you ready to take your startup to another level? 🚀
Great news, LaunchX is now open for application! Organised by Sunway iLabs Foundry @ Sunway University, LaunchX is a university startup accelerator programme that turns ideas into fundable startups.
Open to all university student entrepreneurs in Malaysia, participants will be receiving exclusive startup benefits worth up to RM100,000, investment opportunities, mentorships from key industry leaders & venture capitalists and more through LaunchX! 💰
Application closes on 27 February 2023, so hurry and apply now at https://sunway.my/LaunchX 📝
If you would like to work with us in putting your story out there, reach out to us via disruptrpr@gmail.com