An Effective Replacement for Influencer Marketing on Instagram

Influencer marketing is a fairly common way of promoting products and services today. In this case, people who are also called opinion leaders are involved. Often, this category includes various celebrities, such as singers, actors, presenters, athletes. Also widely represented here are experts in a certain field, such as economists, psychologists, teachers, doctors and many other people who have become popular and famous thanks to their profession, their own achievements. But recently, the influencer marketing market has seen a significant increase in the share of popular bloggers — those who became famous on the Internet solely due to their creativity, original ideas, and constant work.

As a result, a direction such as influencer marketing has emerged. It is assumed that here companies select a suitable blogger for themselves and agree with them on mutually beneficial cooperation. In particular, they ask to post a publication about their business or a certain product on the personal pages of the opinion leader or to record a video or conduct a stream. As a return of gratitude, a monetary payment, free provision of business products, etc. can be used. Due to the fact that the information in such publications is presented natively, is of a recommendatory nature, comes from a person who already has a certain weight and authority, the audience perceives it more positively, and not as classic advertising.

So, in recent years, a tendency has emerged that most of the bloggers who are attracted by business in influencer marketing work with the social network Instagram. Thus, according to data for last year from the Unified Register of Internet Advertising, Russian advertisers invested almost 1 billion rubles in promoting their goods and services through Instagram. And this is despite the fact that today this platform is blocked in the Russian Federation at the legislative level. Yes, there are now many tools to bypass such restrictions and prohibitions. As an option, you can use proxy servers, VPN. But still, we must understand that the ratification by the State Duma of the Bill, which proposes a ban on advertising in the banned social network, may lead to the fact that even effective campaigns launched through Instagram can be closed at any time.

Can we say that this is a reason to panic? No, since you can always find a backup. We will talk about such solutions in today's review. In particular, we will talk about launching advertising campaigns on other relevant platforms that continue to actively work and develop in the Russian Federation, attracting more and more audiences every day. As many of you have probably already guessed, we will talk about the Telegram messenger and the VKontakte social network.

Now we will tell you in more detail about what current advertising formats and alternative platforms for influencer marketing can be applied in practice today, what advertising formats can be used on each of the platforms. We will tell you about the main ways to increase the effectiveness of advertising campaigns launched through Telegram and VKontakte. The information provided will allow you to get acquainted in detail with the available solutions, as well as choose the most suitable solution for promoting goods and services.

What is the specificity of influencer marketing on Telegram and VKontakte platforms

After the Instagram social network was blocked, the user audience coverage indicators in the Russian-speaking segment significantly decreased. Thus, if we compare with the indicators of 2021, the effectiveness of advertising fell by about 50%. First of all, this is due to the fact that targeted advertising stopped working. This is the key tool that was previously widely used to achieve high conversion rates and target actions in general.

It turned out that literally at one point all the strategies developed by the business, which had proven themselves excellent in practice, stopped working. This led to the fact that it was necessary to adapt to new realities. That is why today many brands are trying to rebuild their strategies, launch work on other communication platforms. And at the same time, modern business places quite high bets on working with opinion leaders. Here, even the Instagram social network has begun to fade into the background. Firstly, the cost of contact with the target audience here has increased approximately 2 times in recent times alone. Secondly, there is a high risk of a complete ban on advertising tools on this platform. Thirdly, the reach has significantly decreased, since not everyone uses tools to bypass regional restrictions. Agree, the arguments in favor of finding alternative solutions are more than weighty.

That is why the attention of many business representatives has systematically shifted to the closest analogues - the Telegram messenger and the VKontakte social network. By the way, the latter is actively conquering the user market today, offering many solutions to both ordinary users and business representatives: VK Advertising, VK Video, VK Like, VKJust, VKAccountsManager, etc. On such platforms, you can easily launch influence marketing, attract the attention of new subscribers and retain the attention of regular ones. Moreover, there is a chance to set up work, the effectiveness of which will not be inferior to the same Instagram.

Features of influencer marketing in Telegram

To understand how influencer marketing will work in the Telegram messenger, it is important to have a good understanding of the specifics of the platform itself. So, the first thing I would like to draw your attention to is the absence of an algorithmic feed here. This means that all the principles that are typical for organic promotion will not work here at all. But do not rush to write this feature down as a disadvantage. The fact is that such a solution, on the contrary, opens up many opportunities for working with the target audience. Your actions will be more individual and high-quality. Here you can launch news hooks of any scale, from new products in the catalog to the launch of a new brand on the market.

If we talk directly about influencer marketing in the Telegram messenger, then the following points should be highlighted:

• the highest coverage rates and, accordingly, efficiency are achieved by advertising from bloggers launched in the format of video messages;
• the user audience watches live broadcasts that bloggers conduct on their channels with a fairly high interest, including such a format as “blogger day”, when the influencer shows one day of his life, so to speak, behind the scenes;
• the ability to additionally use targeted advertising, which involves the publication of advertising materials in the personal channels of opinion leaders without their direct interaction: the blogger will receive money for this, and you — access to its audience.

All these features allow us to confidently say that the capabilities of the modern Telegram messenger will be quite sufficient to attract new clients to a business through opinion leaders.

Features of influencer marketing on VKontakte

If we talk about the VKontakte social network, then there is already an algorithmic feed, which automatically makes the coverage of the target audience wider. This means that publications will not be limited only to the place where they were originally posted. Alternatively, these are the same posts in the blogger's personal accounts, his communities. Reposts are already present here, that is, a chain of transferring interesting material between subscribers and the opinion leader is launched. In practice, there have already been multiple cases when such publications went viral, passing from one user to another. Also, we must not forget that a huge audience has left Instagram, choosing a worthy replacement for it - the VKontakte social network. That is, advertising here opens access to a huge number of people: a solvent audience of the fashion segment, trusting the opinion of bloggers.

When working with this platform, you can use different advertising options:

• classic integration of material into thematic communities;
• VK Clips;
• various challenges;
• live broadcasts;
• scientific entertainment formats of horizontal shows with the participation of bloggers.

Considering that the platform is developing at an accelerated pace today, other strategies and formats of interaction with the user audience are also being developed. And they will be launched in the foreseeable future. This means that you can be sure that your advertising will be delivered to the audience in the most effective, extraordinary way, which will definitely arouse interest and ensure good results.

Now we will tell you in more detail about the advertising formats that can be used in the Telegram messenger, as well as in the VKontakte social network. This is what will allow you to navigate through possible solutions, as well as choose the platform for work that will best suit your personal wishes, feelings, and preferences.

Advertising formats for influencer marketing when working with Telegram

Along with classic solutions, when launching influencer marketing in the Telegram messenger, you can also use other more modern and interesting solutions for the target audience. Here are the main points:

1. Video unpacking with an advertising note.
2. Seed.
3. Announcement in the form of storytelling.

Now let's take a closer look at each of these three strategies so that you understand what we are talking about and can evaluate their effectiveness.

Video unpacking with an advertising note

In this case, you should understand that Telegram is, first and foremost, a messenger. It was created so that users could receive information literally “here and now”. This is what makes it ideal for posting announcements. But here you can also additionally use other formats, including activities, including streams. And often in practice there are combined solutions, as an option, the broadcast itself is held on the brand page, while the event advertising is launched in the corresponding Telegram channel.

One of the best solutions in this area is unpacking the brand's products. Alternatively, it can be optimally used in advertising food, cosmetics, clothing, shoes, accessories, gadgets and much more. The main thing here is to attract the opinion leader whose pages contain your target audience.

The advertising itself in this case will consist in the influencer revealing the products you offer and trying them on himself. If these are clothes and accessories, then you can practice creating stylish images. If we are talking about food products, then the blogger will have to try them and express his own opinion about tastes and associations. In this case, you can launch clickable banners with the products that are currently being discussed during the live broadcast. Thanks to this, people who are interested in the products will be able to immediately go to the official website of your business and order this or that product.

To further stimulate interest, you can additionally inform that you are currently running an advertising campaign that allows you to purchase such products with additional discounts. We are sure that the number of people willing to make such purchases will increase sharply.

You should also understand that in this case, views will be generated not only by the unpacking itself, but also by:

• event announcement;
• post-announcement;
• left comments;
• reposts.

Thanks to this, coverage of the widest possible user audience is ensured, as well as a fairly long interaction process. This is what allows you to attract new customers, as well as retain the attention of those who are already familiar with your products and have already managed to see their quality.

Seeding

Despite all the restrictions and blocking by whom that currently affected Instagram, the social network has not lost its potential. It is widely used as a basic tool when launching large-scale advertising campaigns. This is especially true for fashion brands. And the fact that a ban on advertising from bloggers, which is being actively discussed today, is unlikely to lead to a decrease in the audience. This is what allows us to say with a fairly high degree of confidence that seeding, aka mass sowing, will not lose its relevance. That is, brands will continue to use them in their practice, although they will have to make certain adjustments to the upcoming work. And here, the Telegram messenger will also be an excellent solution for attracting the attention of the user audience.

As a result, they get a combined solution that involves the implementation of the following stages:

• The brand contacts the blogger to develop a joint advertising campaign. Here, the specifics of cooperation are discussed, the most suitable format and the products that will participate in the promotion are selected.
• The blogger posts an advertising post in his community in the Telegram messenger. Both the classic text and video formats can be used here.
• At the same time, the blogger publishes a native post in his stories or in his Instagram feed, containing information that the brand has given him a gift. Those who want to learn more about this can go to the Telegram channel.

It turns out that in this case, the blogger's maximum audience is involved. The one that he collected both on the social network and in the messenger. And these are already reposts, comments, asking questions and other options for interacting with potential clients.

Announcement in the form of storytelling

Bloggers who have been working in the market for a long time, those who are actively developing, improving, adapting to all possible advanced technologies, actively use the storytelling format in the process of launching a campaign with native advertising. This is what allows many brands, especially those represented in the fashion industry niche, to launch announcements of their products and new collections on the market. As an additional motivation for purchase, a discount promo code is mainly used, which can be used by all subscribers of opinion leaders. That is, in practice, such a solution will look like this:

• let's assume that your brand launches hats, scarves, mittens, gloves, fur earmuffs on the market, and in anticipation of the cold weather, you want to launch advertising through a blogger.
• you find an opinion leader who is interested in your cooperation and has the audience of subscribers you need: let's say these are people under 35-40 years old;
• the advertising itself is developed, presented in the form of a post in a messenger, where the blogger puts on your hat and scarf, talks about how he is ready for the cold weather, indicates what brand of things he has and that subscribers can find a discount promo code in the description;
• along with the promo code itself, the post also leaves links to the purchased goods (hat and scarf);
• the blogger's subscribers who liked the products go to your official website via the link, get acquainted with other products at the same time and, with a high degree of probability, place an order.

In this case, views, likes and comments will be caused by both the storytelling itself and the video, photo, post, where the blogger talks about your product. At the same time, he does not call for clicking and placing orders. He simply says that he has this item, that he liked it and offers his subscribers to take advantage of an additional discount.

Advertising formats for influencer marketing when working with the VKontakte social network

If you decide to launch influencer marketing through the VKontakte social network, you can also use several options for advertising formats, as well as their combinations. In particular, the following solutions have found the greatest practical application:

1. Integration of opinion leaders into VK shows.
2. Integration of opinion leaders into VK Clips.
3. Conducting live broadcasts by bloggers.

Let's consider both options in more detail.

Integration of opinion leaders into VK shows

At the beginning of the review, we already talked about the fact that the modern social network VKontakte is actively developing today, new directions are being launched, designed to cover as many spheres of human activity as possible. One of such solutions is VK shows. This is horizontal and vertical entertainment content, where opinion leaders and other celebrities discuss various topics with each other. As an option, this could be the world of beauty, fashion, health, humor, sports, music events and much more.

Such events can be presented not only in the format of direct communication, but also various challenges. As an option, with native clothing advertising, you can pull out cards with different accessories and talk about how they can be combined to get a stylish, effective look. There are a lot of options here. Just choose the option that will best suit the characteristics of your business and the products that you plan to advertise.

Integration of opinion leaders in VK Clips

VK Clips is a vertical format of short videos, which is very often used by modern bloggers to get into recommendations. This format has every chance of success if the influencer approaches the implementation of this issue as comprehensively as possible and works out the concept to the smallest detail. The challenge format is most often used in such clips. That is, the user audience is stimulated to create UGC content. Reviews are also recorded quite often, recommendation content is prepared, and product unpacking is performed. That is, the whole principle here is to captivate the audience, to stimulate it to contact the brand.

If we are talking about fashion and beauty, then VK Clips are very often used by bloggers to demonstrate new collections. There are many options for preparing such video content. Here, first of all, it is worth giving the initiative to the opinion leader himself, since he already knows his audience, understands what materials are most popular with them and provide the highest rates of views and likes. That is, your task at this stage will be simply to provide your products for advertising.

Conducting live broadcasts by bloggers

This format of interaction with the user audience always causes a huge number of views and increased interest. First of all, this is due to the fact that participants in such events can directly communicate with their idols, ask them questions. Such formats are launched by bloggers live on VK Video. If you analyze the content presented here, you can see that successful releases receive more than a million views. This means that the audience reach is very, very large. Often, such events are accompanied by raffles, launching promotions. Most of the special offers have a limited period of validity, which is designed to stimulate the consumer market to place orders, literally here and now.

The success of such an idea directly depends on which opinion leader you have agreed to cooperate with. Here it is worth choosing really bright, public figures with large audiences. Often, narrow-profile specialists are also additionally involved. Alternatively, a professional stylist can be additionally involved in a live broadcast where new clothing collections will be presented. He will tell not only about fashion trends, but also about how to properly combine individual items, how to complement the image with accessories, etc. All this will ensure more active communication, create a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere, and add a touch of expertise to the content.

How to evaluate the effectiveness of advertising: basic methods

Before launching a specific advertising campaign, brands set their own performance indicators. They will be guided by them in the future, assessing the correctness of the decision made and how well the idea has justified itself. So, all such metrics can be divided into 2 separate categories:

1. Image. This includes coverage indicators, the number of likes, saves, reposts. Feedback is also taken into account. It is measured by counting comments and personal messages that the brand receives during the advertising campaign and in the immediate period after it.
2. Performance metrics. This category includes parameters that have a direct impact on the efficiency of business processes. In particular, we are talking about traffic to the site, the transformation of target actions into purchases, the return of funds invested in advertising and other similar characteristics.

But here we want to draw your attention to the fact that in the process of working with bloggers, all those metrics that relate directly to sales are more of an additional effect than the main goal. Here, the focus is always on achieving all those goals that are provided for at the very top level of the sales funnel. We are talking about increasing the company's recognition in the market, presenting certain products, forming the image of a stable and popular brand. That is, this is exactly what will contribute to the formation of an impressive circle of loyal audience around your company. This will be the key to stable, successful development, and along with this, constant sales.

But again, the effectiveness of the implementation of this idea directly depends on which opinion leaders you start working with. Recognition, the presence of a sufficiently large audience of subscribers, as well as professionalism are important here. In particular, one of the most important parameters here will be the nativeness of the advertising. If all your publications, videos look like direct advertising, you will not get the desired effect. The fact is that modern consumers are already tired of the constant imposition of goods, services, and this has led to the fact that the effectiveness of classic solutions has significantly dropped.

That is, when launching influencer marketing, you must initially understand that all your actions will be aimed at generating demand in the market, including deferred demand, and not at direct sales. Although the possibility of the latter should not be excluded either. Experience shows that the first orders can come directly during the same live broadcast or immediately after posting.

How to increase the effectiveness of influencer marketing in Telegram and VKontakte

During the time that influencer marketing has existed on the market, it has already proven itself to be extremely popular, in demand, and at the same time effective. It really influences the decision-making process of the user audience to make a purchase. Despite the fact that in many cases the tangible result may be delayed, and for quite a significant period of time, it still continues to work and gives excellent results in practice.

A significant role in this is played by the direct impact on a younger audience. Those who spend a lot of time in messengers and social networks, who easily contact opinion leaders, make purchasing decisions based on their authoritative opinion. Therefore, you, as business representatives, should think about developing a strategy for mass communication through bloggers with the target audience today. In this case, you should focus on the most relevant platforms, in particular Telegram and VKontakte. In order for all your work to be as effective as possible, so that you can fully implement your ideas within such advertising campaigns and get a stable user audience, use our recommendations:

• Get away from statics. Within each company, it is necessary to test various market mechanics that are relevant here and now. You need to form hypotheses, test them in practice, optimize. If you see that the key indicators you are focusing on have begun to decline, then you should optimize them. The main stage of support should be transferred directly to the start of the company. It is worth allocating an average of 40% of your resources for this, while everything else is evenly distributed over the entire remaining period of the company. To get peak coverage, a useful tool can be attracting opinion leaders from related fields, narrow-profile specialists, launching targeting, email newsletters to your relevant base. At the same time, you can additionally publish advertising posts in the same Telegram channels, including news ones.
• Develop individual solutions tailored to your business. Here, it is worth focusing on three key aspects of influencer marketing, namely the blogger, creative, and the chosen mechanics of interaction with the audience. The success of your idea as a whole directly depends on how correctly each individual element is selected, as well as the harmony of their combination. It is also very important to understand what goals and objectives you set for yourself at this stage. Be sure to select several possible options for opinion leaders at once, and then make preliminary calculations, which will help you assume the possible result of the entire company. Based on this, you can choose the most suitable blogger for yourself. If during the work you see that the target indicators you are focusing on do not justify themselves, then you may have to change the strategy, and in some cases, the opinion leader.
• Bet on such a format of cooperation as ambassadorship. This is what will ensure the longest possible period of cooperation. In this case, you will be able to launch regular integrations of native advertising, which will look as organic as possible within the framework of your blogger's traffic. Also, always keep in mind that the product that your opinion leader will demonstrate is just a part of the creative. First of all, this is aimed at increasing the effectiveness of the campaign. But your task will be to create a commercially successful product. We are talking about the relevance of the product, its quality. To choose such a product, it is important to carefully monitor the market, to identify which products cause the most discussions among the audience. This will help the analysis of blogs, social networks and other platforms where the audience is represented.
• You should not experiment with new methods. It will be better to use proven working formats that have already proven themselves well. Even if you have an original idea, no one will say in advance how the market will react to it. This means that you will have to implement all this literally from scratch, train the audience and the market at your own expense. And even if your idea works, your closest competitors will immediately take it up. It will turn out that the expenses were on you, and the result may go to someone else, more agile. Also, do not forget to announce the future event in several stages, thereby stimulating the interest of the audience, warming it up. Demonstration formats are perfect here. You can set their conditions yourself or entrust the selection to your opinion leader.

As you can see, these recommendations are quite simple and implementing them in practice will not be difficult. But still, in parallel with this, you get the highest possible efficiency and can be sure that your strategies will work great and give good results in practice.

Summing up

Everything we talked about in today's review once again confirms the fact that influencer marketing continues to work, develop, attract new clients to the business, and retain the attention of regular ones. Despite the fact that today one of the most popular platforms among opinion leaders has been seriously blocked, this strategy has not lost its effectiveness. A worthy alternative to Instagram has become the Telegram messenger, the VKontakte social network. Follow all the recommendations that we have given above, choose the most suitable formats of interaction with the audience in order to increase the effectiveness of your idea and ensure excellent results in practice.

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