How AI is Changing Influencer Marketing

Does AI pose a threat to creators? Or will creators and brands leverage AI for collaboration?

Photo Source: DeepLobe

As artificial intelligence takes the world by storm, we can’t help but wonder how it’s affecting a niche industry: influencer marketing.

In 2022 alone, the market size for influencer marketing reached $16.4 billion, according to Influencer Marketing Hub. Although this market is expected to increase, the introduction of AI has sparked a unique conversation about how it will do so. 

Does AI pose a threat to creators? Or will creators and brands leverage AI for collaboration?

Just like in any industry, AI can be leveraged to complete tasks in a quicker manner, brainstorm ideas and write prompts. Not to mention, technology is already improving AI that can create images, videos, music and voices.

First, let’s look at the simple ways influencers can leverage AI. They can use AI, such as ChatGPT, as a virtual assistant to organize emails, summarize deals and create contracts for those deals. Once the influencer has a brand deal and needs to make content, they can use AI to create scripts and write engaging captions optimized for SEO.

The next part is slightly more difficult to carry out - literally and legally. Influencers can use generative AI, such as DALL-E-2, to create images and videos. By typing in a description, AI can bring their imagination to life. However, it’s yet to be determined whether or not content produced by AI can face copyright issues. For a creator to maintain their branding style and avoid legal issues, they should produce their own content, but leverage AI for efficiency.

Now, let’s evaluate the pros and cons of brands leveraging AI to work with creators versus replacing creators with AI.

With thousands of creators posting online and working with multiple brands, it’s hard for brands to seek influencers who match their niche and can appeal to their target audience. Through the use of AI-databases, advertisers at brands can sort through specific variables that pair them with a selection of influencers. These influencers are found through keywords they use, if they mentioned the brand, how often they post and other variables.

Once a brand has influencers to collaborate with, they have other concerns to address. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, “around 67 percent of brands are concerned with influencer fraud, and almost 30 percent of marketers have difficulties measuring the ROI of their campaigns.” AI can combat influencer fraud, such as buying fake followers and likes, by evaluating the profile’s engagement metrics. AI can also scan followers to reveal demographic data.

Beyond these benefits, brands can leverage AI for marketing without the help of influencers. According to Influencer Intelligence, “brands will be able to brainstorm ideas for campaigns, discover the latest trends, find suggestions for viral content and create engaging copy for social media captions or scripts for vlogs and ads – all without the fees associated with influencers… The technology can also be used to analyze audience behavior or preferences.”

However, we don’t think creators will be replaced, at least not any time soon. The main reason brands use influencers in campaigns is to reach an engaged, loyal audience. Followers trust and admire influencers enough to purchase the products they use or recommend. AI is not developed to share opinions or reviews and definitely not personable enough to build connections with an audience. Influencers have a level of authenticity and character that AI can’t compete with, so we believe AI will only be used to leverage collaborations between brands and influencers moving forward.

Best,

Ariana for the Don’t Count Us Out Yet Team

For Further Information: