An influencer can create appetite even while the path to your product is a mystery.
An influencer tears into a magnificent sandwich, and suddenly your lunch plans change.
You dab away the drool, open the caption to find the restaurant, scroll through the comments for an address… but no joy.
By then, the leftovers in your fridge are looking pretty convenient.
A new study in Digital Business surveys 449 social media users about food influencers.
Platform user-friendliness had the largest direct association with their intention to follow influencers’ suggestions, ahead of perceived credibility, content appeal and promotional offers.
The questions about user-friendliness covered whether the app ran smoothly and helped users accomplish tasks quickly.
Most respondents were 18–23, and the survey measured stated intentions. It couldn’t establish that easier platforms caused more purchases.
My takeaway for product teams: ALWAYS include the customer’s next step in the influencer brief.
If someone wants the sammy, give them the specific location (unless it’s from a Subway). If they want the blender used to make a smoothie, link to that model.
If a creator demonstrates a recipe, make the ingredients and quantities easy to retrieve.
Folks are busy and lazy. They choose video because it’s supposed to baby-bird them.
These are practical applications, beyond what the study directly tested. But they’re worth checking before payin’ for another round of attention.
Creating products people are compelled to buy, the premise of I Need That, includes thinking through what happens once the customer wants one.
An enthusiastic recommendation can still leave a willing buyer to do detective work.
Before approving the campaign, hand the post to someone unfamiliar with your product and ask them to get what’s shown.
Watch where they get stuck. That’s part of your marketing brief, too.
If you’d like help creating and marketing products people feel compelled to buy, the product marketing consultants at Graphos Product can help.