Social media influencers are becoming more and more experience-based experts. Themes and channels are fragmenting and the real-time is a topic, explains the Blog Barometer survey by PR agency Manifesto. For the 9th time the survey explores, among other things, how bloggers and content producers experience their own role and how they see content production evolving in the future. A total of 201 bloggers and social media influencers responded to the Blog Barometer survey in 2017.
The Blog Barometer 2017 included bloggers, vloggers, instagrammers and snapchatters from a wide variety of categories.
The most popular main theme of the survey was food, beverages and baking (15% of the answerers in both 2016 and 2017). Within a year, interior and design had clearly increased their popularity (6% in 2016, 13% in 2017). Travelling as the main theme had lost popularity within a year (11% in 2016, 6% in 2017).
The most popular side themes, like previous years, were food, beverages and baking (43% of the answerers), travelling (41% of the answerers) and health and well-being (36%)
‘’It’s becoming increasingly common that bloggers and social media influencers no longer want to concentrate on a particular theme but rather deal with multiple topics in their channels. The fragmentation of themes can be seen especially in the channels that revolve around food, culture and interior design. Other themes are mixing together more easily and naturally’’, says Manifesto’s partner Jonna Varhama.
The channels are fragmenting
The survey reveals that, in addition to the topics, the channels are also fragmenting. With real-time, blogging is increasingly becoming to multichannel influencing in social media. Typically, different channels are created for different purposes. This helps the bloggers and influencers to serve the followers more widely when the content can be displayed in the most optimal channels.
‘’It is very common that, for example, blog collaboration with companies runs in various channels – especially in YouTube and Instagram. The popularity of Snapchat is slightly declining. This is most likely because Instagram nowadays offers Instagram Stories service that is very similar to Snapchat. Several influencers have already an audience in Instagram,’’ says Varhama.
Multi-channeling is a topic among the bloggers. The real-time requirements are especially important for long-term bloggers. For example, the quality of video content is a hot topic – what is good content like, how much time is spent on making videos and what kind of devices are needed.
Experience-based expertise is a common trend – the role of social media influencers is growing
More and more social media influencers are maintaining several social media channels for both commercial purposes and leisure. Most of the answerers (57%) maintain the channels as a hobby, almost one third (32%) are entrepreneurs and the rest are employed for example in a media house. 16% of the answerers were full-time content producers, while last year the number was 13%.
The Blog Barometer clarifies how the answerers see their own role. For several years, sharing own experiences and feelings has been ranked the highest (70% of the answerers). The second most important role was sharing expertise and knowledge (55%). The role of open and honest information was ranked as the third important role (53%).
‘’The social media influencers of the Blog Barometer are doing their work more and more seriously and with a clear vision. They see themselves as experts sharing information based on their own experience to the followers. The increasing importance of the influencers is in line with the trend of experience-based expertise. In contrast, the significance of self-expression as part of their own work has faded, perhaps due to the increased commercialism,’’ says Varhama.
Collaboration with companies is evolving
The majority of the Blog Barometer answerers believe that the professionalization of content will continue, and, in the future, the importance of blogs and other social media channels will increase in marketing.
Companies are using social media influencers nowadays more inventive than in the past and they are increasingly involved in the planning. This has contributed to the fact that the influencers are highly motivated to enter into paid collaboration and are happy to be involved when planning the new campaigns.
‘’The social media influencers are doing their work more and more seriously and with a clear vision’’
However, a very small number of the influencers see themselves primarily as commercial actors. Instead, they want to be in charge of the content in their own social media channels. Quality is expected also from business inquiries.
‘’The companies want to keep in touch with the influencers – and the influencers are interested in the collaborations that are tailored and suitable for them. In order to ensure that the collaboration is satisfying to all parties, it is important to understand the special features of the influencers, such as their values and style. At its best, the collaboration creates a win-win situation for both sides,’’ Varhama sums up.
Manifesto’s tips for successful influencer collaboration
- Understanding the importance of the background research: identify the social media influencers that are important to your organization. Learn about their values and content.
- Find out the influencers who are relevant for your organization, for example, by arranging meetings or organizing events
- Appreciate the bloggers and vloggers – they are important and trusted referees, opinion leaders and conversation openers.
- Provide blog-friendly content: easy-to-share photos, linkable content and videos
- Encourage the audience interested in your brand to create something new and different with you, for example, through competitions!
- Remember the nationwide reach. The blogs and YouTube channels are held – and followed – nationwide around Finland. On the other hand, someone may be a particularly important influencer in, for example, their own hometown.
- Stop staring at the number of followers – other factors, such as expertise, are also reflecting the influencer’s importance.
- Be interested and enthusiastic. By creating good relationships from the start, you can create a fertile soil for a long-term collaboration.
PR Agency Manifesto has been following the development, trends and change of Finnish blogs with the Blog Barometer since 2009. The research has grown from lifestyle blogs to cover more and more different categories. Video blogs were included in the survey in 2015. The Blog Barometer 2017 included also instagrammers and snapchatters for the first time.
Want to hear more about the results of Manifesto’s Blog Barometer 2017? Contact us to arrange a meeting or order a PDF report for €62 (including VAT)