Boost 1: Finding influencers
AI can greatly accelerate and refine the process of digitally selecting suitable people for a campaign from a large pool of data – 250 million candidates are not uncommon – by analyzing and structuring huge amounts of data. For example, AI tools can be used to recognize the brand affinities of influencers and find suitable other influencers via lookalikes. Has the reach grown organically or have followers been bought in? AI tools quickly find out whether a target group is genuine. Content-based similarities are also recognized by the programs and can – just like engagement rates – make selection easier.
Boost 2: Create campaign ideas
With ChatGPT’s new capabilities, it is now even possible to create campaign ideas. Wasserek recently conducted a test for the coffee brand No Coffee – which stands for a caffeine-free organic coffee. The team had ChatGPT create seven ideas for influencer campaigns – two of which, according to Wasserek, were extremely accurate. Among other things, the AI suggested working with health and wellness influencers who promote decaffeinated coffee as part of a healthy lifestyle. They could share recipes on how to use it in smoothies or as part of a breakfast, the AI suggested. Lifestyle influencers should also showcase decaffeinated coffee as part of their daily routine. Both strategies were already known internally, as they had already been developed before ChatGPT in several months of tests and after numerous analyses in laborious manual work. ChatGPT did not require any complex tests or interviews – the AI only needed a few seconds.
Boost 3: Create briefings and mood boards
Once the right influencers have been identified and the campaign idea has been finalized, it’s time to draft and send out individual cover letters. Finally, it’s time for contract negotiations with subsequent briefings. Wherever individual texts need to be created, generative AI such as ChatGPT can speed up the processes enormously. Mood boards are also common in influencer marketing, which use visual language to make it clear to influencers what a brand stands for and in which situations and environments the products should be presented. Mood boards therefore provide the emotional setting for an influencer campaign. Marketing managers can now sit back and relax. They don’t have to call in graphic designers or, as was often necessary in the past, brief and commission photographers. Kls like Midjourney do this job with just a few prompts.
Boost 4: Pull better reports
AI tools are also ideal for campaign reporting, as they are able to analyze very large amounts of data and summarize the results. For example, in future AI will be able to evaluate comments from the brand community and use them to create sentiment reports. All other results can also be summarized and presented within a very short time with AI support. The integration of AI into influencer software is still in its infancy. The corresponding functions are only gradually being rolled out by tech providers. Wasserek is also cautious. According to the expert, they don’t want to blindly jump on every hype and are thoroughly testing the possible applications of AI. From this summer, it will be possible to search for influencers on Iroin via ChatGPT, with further AI features to follow. However, Wasserek does not only see AI from the US provider OpenAI as an option in the long term. Aleph Alpha’s Luminous AI, for example, is an alternative with European server locations that, unlike ChatGPT, can also be operated in in-house data centers. But regardless of whether ChatGPT, Luminous, Midjourney or another AI is used: “Marketers must be able to decide for themselves whether an AI or a classic algorithm should be used for a certain software function,” says Wasserek, who advocates absolute transparency in the use of AI.
Boost 5: Use virtual influencers
In addition to marketing campaigns with real influencers, marketing with virtual influencers is also being boosted by AI. This opens up completely new options for creative implementation. A good example is Malive, which was created by the agency construktiv. As a virtual influencer, she can travel digitally to any place and at any time. In recent weeks, she has not only traveled to Japan, Hamburg or Miami, but also directly to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. “Some of it worked particularly well thanks to AI technology,” says Jaisha Laduch, Head of lnfluencer Marketing & Social Media Strategy at construktiv. For the team, the technical possibilities are exciting ways to keep creating new things and keep experimenting. But ultimately, there are real people behind Malive who put their creative heads together to write an exciting story. The team then calls in AI to create the content. For example, Midjourney AI is used to create the settings and backgrounds for the visuals. “The procedure is still similar to a real shoot,” says Laduch. Malive also has to be adapted to the light of the environment. The team roughly recreates the environment in a 3D graphics suite and creates a setting for the sun and shadows. Image processing is then used to bring the setting and virtual influencer together. “This gives brands the advantage that they can give their ideas even more free rein and there are almost unlimited possibilities when it comes to the use of location and time, for example,” explains Laduch. This applies to both collaboration with virtual influencers and the development of their own virtual avatars.
Boost 6: Producing campaigns with AI technology
The virtual influencer Malive has already appeared successfully in advertising campaigns. She has been working with streaming provider Paramount+ since the end of last year. Together with real influencer Klaudia Giez (ex-GNTM contestant, aka Klaudia mit K), Malive has produced campaign content for Paramount+, including for the series “Grease”, “Yellowjackets” and “The Chemistry of Death”. She has also worked for Deutsche Bahn. Malive’s latest cooperation partner is the confectionery manufacturer Katjes. Imaginative content was created for a fruit gum mix, which was not only realized via a shoot, but also with AI techniques such as Midjourney, With the enormously rapid development around artificial intelligence, the question arises as to whether AI will soon be able to independently create perfect influencers for brands that automatically post relevant content and independently create beautiful images that optimally match the brand. At the moment, this is not an issue – but ChatGPT was not an issue a few months ago either.
