Marketing
Should Your Brand Hire a Virtual Influencer? - Sun and Planets Spirituality AYINRIN
Lil Miquela earns an average of $2 million a year posting content for leading brands.
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Summary.
Followers respond more favorably to sponsored posts by virtual influencers versus those by humans, costs are lower, and creating an influencer from scratch allows marketers to introduce more diversity.
When the meal-kit delivery company HelloFresh wanted to promote its latest line of healthful menu items, it made an increasingly popular choice: It hired an Instagram lifestyle influencer. Jenna Kutcher is a Minnesota-based mother of two who has more than a million followers, and as part of a 21-day challenge, she and 15 other influencers hired by the brand posted recipes and photos of meals they made using HelloFresh, each tagged #RefreshWithHelloFresh. The campaign produced 461 influencer posts and generated 5.5 million impressions, with 20% of the influencers’ followers mentioning HelloFresh on Instagram—a clear success.
Results
like that helped influencers earn some $21 billion in 2023. But such
partnerships are not without potential pitfalls. Influencers’
credibility is built on trust, which can prove delicate. Sometimes a
post is perceived as inauthentic, or the influencer exhibits
off-platform behavior that’s not aligned with the image or values of the
brand being promoted. And as influencer marketing grows, so do examples
of promotional relationships that caused disillusionment and regret.
In
2017, for example, Adidas Originals created an Instagram ad featuring
Kendall Jenner as its brand ambassador. Detractors argued that there was
nothing “original” about Jenner: “[Has she] really faced it all? What
could a bourgeois like [her] have possibly faced?” In late 2023 China’s
“Lipstick King” Li Jiaqi, a pioneer among fashion and cosmetic
influencers with 76 million followers, publicly lost his temper with one
who complained about the price of eyeliner, excoriating the commenter
for not working hard enough to grow his income. The incident prompted a
backlash and a tearful public apology by Li. When Chriselle Lim, a
fashion and beauty influencer, collaborated with Volvo on posts
promoting the carmaker’s eco-friendly product line, critics highlighted
the disconnect between the green promotion and Lim’s high-consumption,
materialistic lifestyle.
Those
incidents raise a question: Can you hire an influencer whose careful
behavior and reliable image limit the risk of undercutting the
promotional message? Yes, you can.
Lil
Miquela is a social media influencer who has 3.5 million followers on
TikTok and another 2.7 million on Instagram. Since her debut, in 2016,
she has earned an average of $2 million a year posting content on behalf
of brands including Dior, Calvin Klein, and BMW. Lil Miquela is far
less likely than traditional influencers to say or do something
scandalous, because she’s a computer-generated image, programmed and
controlled by a marketing company.
Although
human influencers still vastly outnumber virtual influencers, the
latter are becoming more common. According to one survey, 52% of U.S.
social media users already follow a virtual influencer, and that
percentage is higher globally. Brands including Prada, Cartier, Disney,
Puma, Nike, and Tiffany use virtual influencers to promote their
products. In this article we draw on our academic research and studies
by others to examine how brands should choose between a human influencer
and a virtual one. We also offer insights that brands can use when
developing their influencer marketing strategy.
Measuring the Pros and Cons
To understand the advantages and disadvantages of human influencers and virtual influencers, we focus on five factors: engagement, reach, diversity, reputation risk, and cost.
Engagement.
To learn how consumers react to virtual as opposed to human
influencers, we conducted research on the way followers engage with
posts from each type. We collected marketing content posted by 551 human
influencers and 13 virtual influencers, all sponsored by 112 brands.
Most of the brands are in the fashion and beauty segments, with a
handful representing technology, travel and lifestyle, health care, or
other industries. The content, which included more than one million
posts, was put online between June 2014 and December 2020. Some of it
was sponsored, and some was organic. We measured how much followers
liked and commented on various types of influencer content.
To learn how consumers react to virtual as opposed to human
influencers, we conducted research on the way followers engage with
posts from each type. We collected marketing content posted by 551 human
influencers and 13 virtual influencers, all sponsored by 112 brands.
Most of the brands are in the fashion and beauty segments, with a
handful representing technology, travel and lifestyle, health care, or
other industries. The content, which included more than one million
posts, was put online between June 2014 and December 2020. Some of it
was sponsored, and some was organic. We measured how much followers
liked and commented on various types of influencer content.
Prior
studies have shown that when a virtual influencer (whether anime-like
or humanlike) creates organic Instagram posts, they tend to receive more
likes and more positive emojis than do the posts of human influencers.
Research by Chen Lou of Nanyang Technological University and colleagues
identified what drives consumers to engage more with virtual
influencers, including the novelty of interacting with
computer-generated imagery (CGI) and the different aesthetic it
represents. In addition, consumers exposed to virtual influencers’ posts
show greater willingness to share their favorable experiences with
others.
In
our research we focused on sponsored posts—the kind marketers arrange
and pay for. When we compared paid posts by virtual influencers with
their organic content, we found that followers showed 13.3% more
engagement with paid than with nonpaid posts, whereas sponsored posts by
human influencers garnered 2.1% less engagement, on average, compared
with the same influencers’ organic content. Among the industries we
studied, the fashion and beauty sector was especially hospitable to
sponsored posts by virtual influencers—and also showed more resistance
to sponsored posts by human influencers: Virtual influencers’ paid posts
in that sector drew 16.3% more engagement than did their organic
content, on average, while human influencers’ paid posts drew 2.3% less
engagement than their unpaid postings.
The engagement data shows a clear upside to using virtual influencers.
Reach.
Brands choose to use big-name celebrities as influencers for a reason:
Celebrities have lots of followers, which increases exposure for their
products. In December 2020 the average number of followers for human
influencers in our study was about 2.8 million, whereas the average
number for virtual influencers stood at about 1.1 million.
Brands choose to use big-name celebrities as influencers for a reason:
Celebrities have lots of followers, which increases exposure for their
products. In December 2020 the average number of followers for human
influencers in our study was about 2.8 million, whereas the average
number for virtual influencers stood at about 1.1 million.
In
academic research about influencers, the number of followers and
consumer engagement have an inverted U-shape relationship—that is,
influencers with relatively higher or lower numbers of followers create
less engagement than influencers with moderate followings do. That
suggests that brands needn’t necessarily be put off by virtual
influencers’ smaller audiences. Our research found that when a brand is
not widely known, the number of followers an influencer has doesn’t play
a big role in how much engagement a piece of sponsored content sparks.
Among the fashion brands in our sample, for instance, we found that
lesser-known brands such as Misbhv and Moschino achieved greater
engagement in response to sponsored virtual-influencer posts than did
more-established brands such as Burberry, Chanel, Dior, and Louis
Vuitton.
Diversity.
Modern brands want to be inclusive, and that requires partnering with
influencers who represent a variety of demographics. Human influencers
are not a particularly diverse group. Marketers in certain segments,
such as fashion and beauty, say the majority of influencers in their
field are female and white. When we used an AI program to try to detect
the racial background of the 551 human influencers in our study, it
estimated that 68% were white, 11% were Latino/Hispanic, 10% were Black,
8% were Asian, 1% were Middle Eastern, and 1% were Indian. In theory,
brands could try to hire from those shallow pools, but they may face
other complications: The influencers may already have deals with
competing brands, or be promoting so many other brands that they’re not
taking new clients, or be so geographically distant that it is
logistically challenging to work with them, or have an aesthetic that
doesn’t align with what the brand wants, or have accents or speak
languages that may be difficult for the brand’s target market to
understand. Thus brands have begun looking to virtual influencers to
achieve diversity.
Modern brands want to be inclusive, and that requires partnering with
influencers who represent a variety of demographics. Human influencers
are not a particularly diverse group. Marketers in certain segments,
such as fashion and beauty, say the majority of influencers in their
field are female and white. When we used an AI program to try to detect
the racial background of the 551 human influencers in our study, it
estimated that 68% were white, 11% were Latino/Hispanic, 10% were Black,
8% were Asian, 1% were Middle Eastern, and 1% were Indian. In theory,
brands could try to hire from those shallow pools, but they may face
other complications: The influencers may already have deals with
competing brands, or be promoting so many other brands that they’re not
taking new clients, or be so geographically distant that it is
logistically challenging to work with them, or have an aesthetic that
doesn’t align with what the brand wants, or have accents or speak
languages that may be difficult for the brand’s target market to
understand. Thus brands have begun looking to virtual influencers to
achieve diversity.
Studies
have shown that organic Instagram posts by a virtual influencer tend to
receive more likes and positive emojis than do the posts of human
influencers.
When
marketers are creating an influencer with computer graphics, they have
no constraints on race, gender, or other characteristics. As an example
of how extreme the diversity can get, one virtual influencer, named Blu,
is fashioned as an extraterrestrial creature orbiting Earth in his
spaceship, the Xanadu.
Companies show imagination in building their own influencers by seeking
the optimal combination of demographics, behavioral traits, and
personality characteristics.
Ralph
& Russo, a British fashion house, successfully used a virtual
influencer to launch its 2020–2021 couture collection. The company
designed Hauli, a tall Black virtual model. Her name comes from the
Swahili words for strength and power. The campaign showed images of her
posing at the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall, and other wonders of the
world—places where conducting a photo shoot with a human influencer
would be difficult (and expensive). The combination of an African
influencer and a global context proved successful. The promotion
achieved 19.4 million views worldwide, and the company estimated the
value of the media exposure at $65.1 million.
Reputation risk.
Human influencers periodically become embroiled in scandal or
notoriety. Brands try to manage this risk, but it is ever present.
Virtual influencers, devoid of the autonomy that typically accompanies
human behavior, mitigate it.
Human influencers periodically become embroiled in scandal or
notoriety. Brands try to manage this risk, but it is ever present.
Virtual influencers, devoid of the autonomy that typically accompanies
human behavior, mitigate it.
Nars,
a French cosmetics and skin care company, turned to virtual influencers
after such a scandal. In 2018 the YouTube beauty influencer Manny Mua
and others were featured in a group photo giving the finger to and
denigrating a rival beauty influencer named Jeffree Star. The post
created a backlash that the influencer media labeled Dramageddon. Mua
lost a large portion of his followers, and Nars severed ties with him.
The following year Nars launched a trio of virtual influencers—Maxine,
Chelsea, and Sissi—who behaved the way their computer handlers
programmed them to. Not surprisingly, their content has been drama-free.
Cost.
Put simply, human influencers are more expensive than virtual
influencers. For instance, a human influencer with a million-plus
followers might charge a brand more than $250,000 per post. The company
that created Lil Miquela, currently the most popular virtual influencer,
charges only $9,000. Because virtual influencers are cheaper—and don’t
have travel expenses that must be covered—brands can hire larger numbers
of them.
Put simply, human influencers are more expensive than virtual
influencers. For instance, a human influencer with a million-plus
followers might charge a brand more than $250,000 per post. The company
that created Lil Miquela, currently the most popular virtual influencer,
charges only $9,000. Because virtual influencers are cheaper—and don’t
have travel expenses that must be covered—brands can hire larger numbers
of them.
Making the Choice
The
concept of virtual influencers is just a few years old, so academic
research is only beginning to understand how and why consumers react to
this form of marketing. Nonetheless, our research and close observation
of the field’s evolution suggest four principles to help guide brands in
their choice.
Recognize consumers’ desire for novelty.
When it comes to endorsers and influencers, some brands find value in
stability and longevity. For example, Tiger Woods’s recently dissolved
relationship with Nike lasted 27 years. In the social media era,
however, many consumers crave something new and different. Brands that
rely on familiar celebrities risk being perceived as stale or
uninteresting. People scroll social media quickly, and it takes
something unusual to make them pause. Indeed, research has shown that
one reason consumers follow virtual influencers is that they are
unexpected and previously unknown. Although betting on a virtual
influencer may require a leap of faith, marketers should realize that
human influencers may be perceived as overexposed or past their prime.
Look at the data.
Our research involved studying more than a million pieces of content
over six years and doing statistical analysis. That level of research
may not be feasible for every brand, but a fundamental analysis of
social media data is both achievable and essential. Are your
competitors’ brands using virtual influencers? If so, how do consumers
appear to be engaging with that content versus posts by human
influencers, and how is that changing? Are brands in your industry using
more virtual influencers over time? Engagement data is public and
easily accessible on Instagram and other platforms. Brand managers
should collect and study the data relevant to their category.
Embrace a portfolio approach.
Brands typically do not rely on either human or virtual influencers, or
on any individual within either category. Instead they choose a mix of
influencers. In a recent study we looked at whether human influencers
are being replaced as brands find success with virtual influencers. We
discovered that brands that embrace virtual influencers continue to use
human influencers as well, but they typically switch to different ones.
Brands typically do not rely on either human or virtual influencers, or
on any individual within either category. Instead they choose a mix of
influencers. In a recent study we looked at whether human influencers
are being replaced as brands find success with virtual influencers. We
discovered that brands that embrace virtual influencers continue to use
human influencers as well, but they typically switch to different ones.
Experiment, measure, and learn.
Because virtual influencers represent a lower-cost marketing
opportunity, brands can treat the choice to hire them as an experiment.
They can deploy a virtual influencer or two and then closely watch
engagement and results. They should calculate the return on investment
and compare it with alternatives, including other virtual influencers,
human influencers, and other kinds of marketing. The influencer industry
is mature enough to have standard KPIs and metrics for judging
performance, and brands can embrace this methodology as they evaluate
decisions about influencer marketing.
Because virtual influencers represent a lower-cost marketing
opportunity, brands can treat the choice to hire them as an experiment.
They can deploy a virtual influencer or two and then closely watch
engagement and results. They should calculate the return on investment
and compare it with alternatives, including other virtual influencers,
human influencers, and other kinds of marketing. The influencer industry
is mature enough to have standard KPIs and metrics for judging
performance, and brands can embrace this methodology as they evaluate
decisions about influencer marketing.
. . .
As
consumers spend less time on traditional media and more time on social
media, influencer marketing is likely to become even more important for
brands. Because it remains fairly new, fewer rules and established
practices exist, which creates opportunities for innovation. Our
research suggests that virtual influencers offer distinct advantages
over traditional influencers. The success brands are having with them
should inspire companies to be open to additional innovations as they
embrace social media marketing.
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