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Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Guide

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Media monitoring helps organizations stay informed about what’s being said across online news, print, broadcast, podcasts, and other media channels. Whether you're tracking brand mentions, measuring PR performance, monitoring competitors, or identifying emerging trends, our expert guides, best practices, and industry insights will help you build a smarter media monitoring strategy and make more informed communications decisions.

Discover expert media monitoring guides, best practices, and industry insights to track brand mentions, monitor competitors, and stay ahead of the news.

Media Monitoring: Guides, Best Practices & Industry Insights

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.

Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?

The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

How do customers interact with my newly launched product?

How do I increase the productivity of my employees?

How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?

We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.

So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.

But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!

But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.

We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

Kim Cattrall takes the lead in a campaign celebrating the intelligence behind confident brand decisions.

Intelligence is always in style: Kim Cattrall stars in Meltwater’s new campaign

AI adoption is no longer the challenge—trusted context is. Most organizations have AI tools, but many still rely on disconnected, stale, or unverified data, limiting the quality and trustworthiness of AI-generated outputs. Meltwater MCP brings trusted, real-time intelligence into AI assistants.

Your Best Context is Already in the Room

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIn to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

There’s no doubt TikTok is on fire right now. Brands who align themselves with TikTok influencers can drive interest to their business and tap into an audience they may not have access to otherwise. If you're ready to branch out from Instagram, TikTok has a lot to offer marketers.

You don’t have to understand how TikTok became so successful as a social media platform. You don’t even have to produce your own TikTok videos to leverage the success of a TikTok influencer for your brand. Instead, partner with top TikTok creators and leverage their audiences to drive interest in your brand.

Essential TikTok statistics assists in building a business case for using TikTok as part of your overall strategy. It can supplement your Instagram influencer activities or stand alone as a new way to go to market.

A single endorsement from an Australian TikTok star can be all you need to supercharge your marketing efforts. But, knowing who would be a good fit for your brand isn’t always easy to figure out. Evaluating the best Australian TikTokers can show what results can be achieved when you collaborate with the right talent.

Not every business is going to benefit from working with Hannah Balanay or Rory Eliza. The Rybka Twins could be a perfect match for what you’re trying to achieve, or they could be a complete mismatch. Being able to analyse performance beyond the most popular Australian TikTok influencers is a critical step.

So how do you decide which TikTok accounts are going to be best for your brand? This list has tips to help you get started.

Look beyond the most-followed TikTokers in Australia. It’s important to align your brand with TikTok accounts that have skills to complement your company offering.

Look for TikTokers who have high levels of engagement for their videos. You’ll want to make sure they have true reach for their posts.

Keep in mind an Instagram influencer might not be as effective on TikTok. Even a YouTuber or vlogger can struggle. Being popular on one social media channel doesn’t automatically make you an influencer on another.

Take time to review the content of TikTok influencers before deciding who to work with. Videos that appeal to a Gen Z audience might not be interesting to Gen X or Baby Boomers.

Make sure the video content for each TikTok influencer is safe for work, to avoid embarrassment.  

Determine what kind of videos your audience wants to see from TikTok influencers. Australia has a lot of great talent producing comedy, fashion, how-tos, business advice, and recipes. The choices are limitless.

Many Aussie TikTokers have influence in other markets. This can be especially useful if you’re doing business outside of Australia – or want to expand internationally.

Our advice is to find out who is successfully driving influencer marketing ROI on TikTok through brand partnerships. Before you pay a TikTok influencer for a sponsored post, you’ll want to know who is attracting the most notice with content and, potentially, driving the most business for their sponsors.

Tip: Learn how to find the right influencers to partner with your brand, check out the best Australian YouTubers, and take a look at the top Australian (Instagram) influencers.

This is our list of 20 Australian content creators on TikTok with the most influence:

Sarah Magusara ~ Best of TikTok Dance Compilation (2021)

Handyman Racing!

How to trim dog paws 👩‍🚀🐾 

Spiderman, spiderman... #vr #comedy #gaming #spiderman #funnygaming #lol

I ENDED HER EXISTENCE 🤣 #foryou #foryoupage #prank #comedу #viral #public 

Funniest comment wins 😃 #parkour #brisbane #competition #training #athlete #tiktok #explore #foryoupage #escape #foru #4u #viral #risky #spiderman #tiktokau #aussie #missionimpossible 

What happened when a wave breaks on the sand.. 😮💦  #gopro #australia #satisfying #theoceaninslowmotion

A tip to be successful!💩🤣

The 20 Best Australian TikTokers

Influencer marketing on social media has skyrocketed in popularity over the past few years. With that rapid growth, however, has come the inevitable dark side of fake influencers. Businesses looking to partner with influencers need to be aware of this trend to make sure the people they're working with are who they say they are, and that their followings are genuine. In this blog we'll explore what a fake influencer is and how to avoid fake influencer pitfalls. 

Who Are the Biggest Fake Influencers on Social Media?

The idea behind the social media influencer industry is essentially scaling word-of-mouth marketing from social media personalities who have engaged followings, of anywhere from 500-over a million. They promote your products or company to their networks, who trust their endorsement, thereby creating a quick way to reach wider audiences and potential new customers. In return, influencers are compensated either monetarily or with free products and perks from the brand.

There are a few key attributes that successful influencers possess that make them a strong asset for promoting your brand:

What really sets social media influencers apart from other types of endorsers is their relatability. Despite their often large followings, influencers are typically perceived as "ordinary people" that their followers can easily relate to. They post about everyday life, are easy to get hold of – some reply to every single comment and DM – and they often have age group, interests and demographics in common with their target audience.

It’s part of human nature to be swayed by our circles. Consumers are 92% more likely to trust their peers over traditional advertising when it comes to purchasing decisions. So, seeing your peer, colleague or someone from your ‘hood speaking highly of a brand, is likely to make you remember it, and agree with it. The large numbers of followings, likes, comments and shares add social proof to the equation — this gives audiences the impression that it is already validated and trusted by many.

A fake influencer is a person, or a bot designed to interact like a human, on social media whose following is padded with fake followers. Thus it follows that they do not have a genuine relationship with their community — an essential ingredient for influencers to make an impact. These accounts typically buy followers to inflate their numbers and make it appear as if they have more influence than they actually do. 

In some cases, a fake influencer might be someone posing as someone else, using a fake bio, fake profile picture, etc. This is a slippery slope, sometimes employed by brands to make it appear like an influencer is promoting them, when in fact the profile has been created by the business itself. Another way this could be used is by participating in forums or comment threads as a fan or brand ambassador. Fake influencers in this guise could be considered a form of guerrilla marketing, but there is a high risk factor. You don't want to accidentally destroy the trust you've built with your audience.

Did you know? By conducting a social media audit you can spot fake followers. Check out this post to learn how to spot fake Twitter followers and conduct a Twitter audit.

Encouraging engagement and the ability to grow a community of loyal followers is one of the hallmarks of a great influencer. If their following is simply a bulk purchased number, it means they have no actual connection with the people they're speaking to. Not exactly the kind of representative you want from an influencer who's promoting your products or services. Because it also means they're promoting it to an empty void of bots who have no way of actually making a purchase. 

This is why it's always so important to vet influencers carefully before partnering.  

If an influencer claims their following is all real, when in fact a substantial percentage of their followers are purchased, and therefore fake, that amounts to influencer fraud. Even worse, influencer fraud can also mean fake purchases on the part of the influencer, a way of tricking their partners into thinking they're getting positive ROI from their relationship with the influencer. This is also sometimes called affiliate fraud.

It's a real problem that many businesses are facing, given the sheer amount of influencers out there. In fact the concern about fake influencers has been steadily growing, with 67% of brands saying they're worried about influencer fraud (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2022). 

An easy way to spot influencer fraud is if they have a massive following but either very low engagement or mostly spam comments. Thousands of likes but only 3 comments on a post? Probably not a real influencer. Are the comments all the same? Probably a bot and not a real follower. 

You can also keep an eye at follower growth rate. If an influencer achieves 2K additional followers in one day, that's a sign that they are buying followers.

The Kardashian name is frequently thrown around in the influencer marketing discussion. But they actually fall into the category of "fake influencer", as do a number of other celebrities and public figures. Which is not entirely fair; due to their stature, it's not unusual that these profiles would have bot-heavy followings, in addition to their actual fans.  

It's when they commit influencer fraud, claiming their followings as genuine as a selling point for an influencer deal, that probing into their actual numbers becomes important for brands. 

Read more about why you should consider working with micro-influencers.

Curious who some of the biggest social media fake influencers are? This list is from a social audit run by UK based company fasthosts.com:

<table class="table-primary">

<thead>
<tr>
<th class="bg-teal text-center font-bolder">Name & Handle</th>
<th class="bg-teal text-center font-bolder">Following</th>
<th class="bg-teal text-center font-bolder">Engagement Rate</th>
<th class="bg-teal text-center font-bolder">% of Fake Followers</th>
</tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Kylie Jenner (@kyliejenner)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">223.5M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">3.50%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">40%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Kendall Jenner (@kendalljenner)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">157.6M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">3.58%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">37%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Blake Lively (@blakelively)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">28.3M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">7.55%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">37%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Justin Bieber (@justinbieber)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">168.7M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">0.37%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">37%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Rihanna (@badgirlriri)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">92.8M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1.75%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">36%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Zayn Malik (@zayn)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">39.8M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">6.56%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">35%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">212.3M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1.32%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">34%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>LeBron James (@kingjames)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">81.7M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1.70%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">34%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Kourtney Kardashian (@kourtneykardash)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">115M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1.14%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">34%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Bad Bunny (@badbunnypr)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">31.7M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">8.90%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">33%</td>
</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

The success of any influencer marketing campaign depends primarily on your brand’s ability to identify and collaborate with the right influencers. Ask yourself these questions to help optimize your search.

Be sure to check out our full blog post on finding the right influencers! 

What to look for when researching influencers to partner with for your next campaign:

https://meltwater-experience.pages.dev/meltwater-blog-micro-content/mw-fake-infleuncers-tab-module/

As we've established, the rise of fake influencers and influencer fraud is of concern among marketers today, and with good reason. So, when choosing influencers, you need to ensure they have credibility and are trusted by their fans. 

Tip: Google their name and see how they’re known both on and off social media. Check if they’ve ever been invited to speak at an event, received awards or been recommended by anyone in the industry etc to gauge their level of expertise on certain topics.

Before choosing influencers, you should also be taking note of whether the influencer engages with their community. If they have a large following but are talking into a vacuum, it’s a red flag. 

If there are comments, be sure to check them. Remember, if engagement numbers are high, it doesn't always mean those engagements are valuable or authentic. Avoid working with a fake influencer by spot checking the caliber of their post comments.  

It’s all well and good choosing influencers who have an engaged community, but if their audience won’t care about our products, we may as well not bother as ROI will be minimal. Deep dive into the demographics of the community to ensure your brand is relevant to them. 

Choosing influencers who have worked with other brands isn’t a no-no; in fact, it can be helpful in a few different ways. Looking at who they’ve worked before is a good way to gauge if your products are likely to appeal to their following. You can also observe how they treat their sponsored segments and content. Lastly, if other brands have chosen to work with them, particularly look at if they've worked with them more than once, it's a good sign that they are legit.

Look for someone who posts multiple times a week. Frequency will have a direct impact on other metrics such as engagement rate, reach, loyalty etc. 

Ready to reach out? Make a good first impression with our 4 rules of engagement for influencers!

An influencer marketing platform like Meltwater's Klear helps brands discover relevant influencers, establish relationships, and manage campaigns. Our clients are able to search through over 500 million profiles in 60,000 different categories, no matter the niche making the process of choosing influencers a whole lot easier! The tool analyses and locates influences on various platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, YouTube in one go. 

Ready to get started? Schedule a free demo using the form below.

How to Quickly Spot Fake Influencers

South African fashion is conversational and ever-evolving, thanks to consumer preferences and global shifts. Worldwide, we’ve been seeing an ongoing interest in the innovative use of sustainable and eco-friendly materials, while in South Africa, there is an additional trend towards locally produced clothing and bold African-storytelling designs.

Local South African fashion moguls create or promote these trends, using their influence on social media platforms to bolster their fashion-forward viewpoints and convert hundreds of thousands (sometimes even millions) of followers into trend-following fashionistas.

This means that South African fashion influencers on Instagram and other social media channels offer one of the most effective ways to gain credibility for your South African brand.

Using our social influencer platform, we've picked 5 of the top fashion influencers in South Africa (in no particular order) for you to check out and, of course, to follow:

Reading tips: Here's our list of the top global fashion influencers and the top fashion influencers in Singapore. Take a look at the top global beauty influencers, and the top South African beauty influencers to inspire your brand and learn more about Consumer Insights for Fashion. We also have a blog about the media landscape in South Africa and detailed South African social media statistics for you.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjc4zfbsZb0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

With over 1,9 million total fans across all channels, Kefilwe Mabote is one of South Africa’s biggest fashion influencers, best known for her luxury lifestyle.

Her posts on beauty, fashion, and her day-to-day lifestyle, which most South Africans aspire to, are what keep followers enticed. She is continually redefining herself, has written an autobiography, starred on TV in Savage Beauty and Smart Money Women, and is also a developer. She’s hard not to love, and her large following and high engagement rate, and influence is the proof.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CP_WqnLDowy/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

This ‘skinny girl, fat dreams’ influencer has over 137K followers across channels. She is one of South Africa’s biggest influencers in the modest fashion space, with her husband being her manager and photographer.

Beautiful clothing and makeup, quirky captions, and top-notch photography keep wannabe fashionistas following Nabilah for inspiration. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CjJBHaijz3z/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Rich Mnisi has been referred to as one of South Africa’s most beautiful men as well as one of South Africa’s top male influencers.

With a total fan base of 266K, Rich is the founder of the South African-based contemporary multi-disciplinary fashion brand named after himself.

He is known for his gender-fluid fashion, with his fashion brand rooted in his South African heritage.

 60% of his audience is from South Africa

Thuli Mola is a South African fashion influencer known for her focus on modern vintage clothing and passion for women's wear.

Thuli is the founder and creative director for the fashion brand STYLE ALERTSA. She has also launched Style Masterclasses to address the fashion-conscious and women who want to dress in a befitting manner.

Thuli Mola is a great example of how fashion brands can successfully use social media.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CiCrYFNsWrQ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Nadia Jaftha is been crowned the Queen of content at the latest DStv Content creator awards. She took home three awards, including the DStv Content Creator of the Year Award.

Nadia is known for her funny and oh-so-relatable content as a South African female, with a focus on fashion and her daily life. 

42.6K engagement/post* (excluding YouTube)

* A true reach: The Klear True Reach technology uses machine learning to predict the number of real views an influencer gets per post. 

* Influence score: Klear's 1-100 score represents how influential the influencer is on social networks. It is calculated by machine learning algorithms that take into account thousands of features such as engagements, audience demographics and skills.

Tip: Are you looking for the right influencers to partner with? Check out the top South African Instagram Influencers, the top South African TikTokers, the top sports & fitness influencers on a global scale, and this list of the top South African fitness & sports influencers.

How Meltwater Can Help You Optimise Your South African Influencer Marketing Strategy

If you love these influencers as much as we do, why not work with them? Working with local content creators can supercharge your marketing; exposing your company to large networks of people who can discover you on social channels.

Sponsoring content and social postings with people who influence your target audience is a great way to attract and engage consumers who might not know about you or don’t respond to industry advertising.

Developing partnerships with the right social influencers can continue to deliver returns for your influencer marketing initiatives for years to come. We recently launched a report highlighting the top trends in influencer marketing to help solidify your influencer marketing strategy.

To find the trending South African Fashion influencers to work with your brand, get in touch with us at Meltwater Africa by filling out the form below to learn more about how the Meltwater Social Influencer Marketing Platform can find the best South African social influencers to drive engagement and deliver a great ROI.

List Of The Top South African Fashion Influencers

Over the past several years, influencer marketing has grown from a social media novelty into a multi-billion dollar industry. But as influencing and content creation for brands has become more professionalized, some major pain points have emerged. 

The fact is, if brands want to have recurring, successful influencer marketing campaigns, influencers need to want to work with them. And as more influencers and content creators are pulling back the curtain on the industry, brands that drop the ball can easily develop reputations for not being worthwhile to work with.

An Explore query of mentions of #influencerproblems, #contentcreatorproblems, #creatorproblems, and #branddealsbelike shows that, though these conversations are niche, they contain insights that are especially valuable for brands. The most engaged-with piece of content, reaching 1.8 million people, had this lesson to share: There’s no bigger waste of everyone’s time than when brands reach out to content creators without doing their research first. 

When RANDOM brands strike again 😳 #branddeals #creatorlife #creatorproblems #makeupart

When attempting to begin a partnership with an influencer or content creator, make sure that what you’re offering is relevant to them. Most importantly, make sure you’re reaching out to the correct person. The second-most embarrassing email for any influencer marketing manager to receive is one telling you you have your influencers mixed up.

The most embarrassing response to get from an influencer? One reminding you that you have worked together before. So, after your brand has worked with someone, make sure you remember them. Look through your interaction histories before reaching out to ensure this never happens to you.

Rule 2: Let Influencers Take the Creative Lead

Our Explore query found that, over the past year, there have been about 22 social media mentions a day about influencing and creating content for brands. One of the most engaged-with pieces of content is one influencer’s YouTube video about the things brands do that annoy him most. The most relevant section for brands explains how excessive content guidelines and micromanaging stunt his creativity and result in unsuccessful posts or campaigns. It’s a great point. The main reason brands choose influencers in the first place is because they like the creativity of their content. 

Things Brands Do That Annoy Me PT2 😅

If you hire an influencer or content creator but take away their creative license, they can’t deliver the kind of work that they know gets results. On the other hand, when brands trust creatives they can create something beyond what your brand’s marketing team could imagine. Offering examples and light direction is fine, but ultimately you should only work with influencers whose creativity you’re willing to trust.

Another top-performing #influencerproblems video, by the same creator as the above TikTok, makes fun of brands that go silent only to resurface demanding deliverables with an overnight turnaround. Doing this is a surefire way to ruin any potential, long-term partnerships. Avoid this faux pas by staying in regular communication with your marketing partners, even if it’s just a heads up that you’re waiting on more information. Staying in sync this way pays off down the line with top-notch deliverables and positive experiences for all involved.

Mentions of influencer pay gaps have spiked numerous times since summer 2021. This is thanks to a combination of more influencers speaking out about their experiences, more media coverage of their stories, and more studies confirming that brands pay white content creators more than Black content creators. 

The issue has gained so much attention that, this spring, UK advertisers’ organization ISBA updated its Influencer Marketing Code of Conduct to include added guidelines on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Multiple major brands publicly committed to following the Code, which urges them to “recommit to the principle of equal pay for equal work – and to be allies in addressing the unacceptable pay gaps in influencer marketing.” As more influencers continue to call for pay transparency, this conversation will only grow. Stay ahead of the curve and do right by your marketing partners by making sure you are compensating them fairly.

Influencer marketing is a great way to grow your customer base and tap into new audiences, but it does take some time and intentionality to get right. Follow these four rules and watch as your influencer marketing outputs yield higher ROIs. 

With tools like Meltwater's influencer marketing solution you can confidently scout, vet, and collaborate with influencers without overlooking crucial details. Schedule a demo to learn more about how Meltwater solutions can help you become a brand that influencers jump to work with.

4 Rules of Engagement for Influencer Marketing

Have you ever found yourself stuck in the endless loop of watching TikTok videos for hours on end? This TikTok time warp can be forgiven as there is no denying the limitless amount of content available online. Interestingly, people have also adopted the platform as their go-to source for news, entertainment and social updates.

Brands and organizations are recognizing this and exploring opportunities on the addictive social media platform to amplify their messages. Play and entertainment company, Hasbro, even hired its first Chief TikTok Officer recently, to curate special content for its range of Nerf blasters. If you are seeking a channel to launch your next influencer marketing campaign, then read on!

Why Brands Should Use TikTok For Influencer Marketing

The Difference Between TikTok & Other Social Apps

Embarking on Your TikTok Influencer Marketing Campaign

Tips to Find The Right TikTok Influencers

Notable TikTok Influencer Marketing Campaigns

Consumer behaviors have evolved and reaching out to them requires innovative ways to get their attention. Mobile penetration rate is at the highest rate ever in the history of telecommunications as smartphones become much more affordable than ever before. And a large part of these users are Millennials and Gen Z consumers who are highly aware of what they want to experience. Many brands are understandably adapting their strategies to go mobile and apps such as TikTok are the way forward.

Schedule and post TikTok videos using Meltwater! Find out more about TikTok scheduling tools.

A McKinsey report highlighted that the newest generation of consumers - and spenders - are changing the ways how the retail industry innovate their interactions with them. Gen Z and millennials demand much more in their retail experience - they discern every choice that they make about the brand before proceeding -  and mobile apps such as TikTok give them the interaction that they want with the brands they follow. These changes in values and how Gen Z and millennials spend their money will ultimately affect how brands reach out to them and differ from traditional methods such as advertising.

And we have seen that shift from how brands are reaching out to consumers - people are no longer just consuming, but they want to participate in their experience. Many brands are adapting to include influencer marketing into their strategies and rolling out campaigns on TikTok to interact with their audiences. This shift is a growing trend that highlights that advertising needs a revamp. Brands are repositioning themselves to tap into the influencer marketing scene.

Due to the tactile nature of mobile apps, consumers are instantly skipping ads on various platforms. The advent of ad blockers and the intrusive nature of ads in the mobile space further add to the problem. This method of using ads in the mobile space is not working as well as brands want due to the more discerning nature of consumers.

This changing attitude towards ads, reiterates the importance of influencer marketing. Ng Chew Wee, TikTok’s Head of Business Marketing (Southeast Asia), says social media has transitioned from the Age of Consumption to the Age of Participation. Consumers are no longer just consuming the content from brands on social media, but they want to participate and engage with them.

TikTok is the hottest social app right now. With almost a billion downloads last year, the social media app has created thousands of influencers within their ranks -  from Charli D'Amelio to Michael Le to Khaby Lame - and this makes the platform perfect for brands to incorporate an influencer marketing campaign. Its short form video format as well as the collaborative nature of its creators on the platform foster communities and build connections. With more than 41% of users being in the Gen Z demographic, marketers looking to connect with the younger generation audience should not ignore TikTok.

For example, French cosmetics brand Avene have used a global influencer marketing campaign to generate awareness and interest in their brand. Using influencers on TikTok, the brand rolled out an awareness campaign on the company’s mantra of being eco-friendly and its action plan on protecting the environment in its production. Using #skinprotectoceanrespect, the brand enlisted influencers across the world to promote their products.

Interested in using Meltwater to schedule and post your brands TikTok videos? Request a demo to learn about our social publishing suite.

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Influencer Marketing

The 20 Best Australian TikTokers

How to Quickly Spot Fake Influencers

List Of The Top South African Fashion Influencers

4 Rules of Engagement for Influencer Marketing

Using TikTok for Your Influencer Marketing Strategy

The Top 5 TikTok Influencers in the Philippines

Top Female Influencers From Ukraine

Influencer Marketing on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook & YouTube

The Rise of Influencer Marketing in the UAE and Saudi Arabia

Why Your Idea of Influencer Marketing is Outdated

7 Ways You Can Do Better at Recognizing Your Influencers

Boost Your Influencer Marketing with Our Top 5 NGO Influencers

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