Influencer Marketing Trends: In August 2022, Julia Estacolchic, Sr. Director of Brand Marketing at Match, told Portada that she had seen the effectiveness of influencer marketing decline in terms of conversation rates. We recently caught up with Estacolchic, who confirms that she used to see immediate conversion through e.g., a link to an app download placement. But it has become much more complicated. “We no longer look at influencer marketing as a direct conversion tool. It no longer has a significant impact on conversion,” she notes.
However, Estacolchic maintains that there are many fruitful non-conversion-oriented influencer marketing trends. They include “moving campaigns from online to offline, and from the small screen to the big screen.” “These are ways to engage and build brand affinity. They have become more branded content like, more like hashtag content,” she adds.
Match’s Latin dating app Chispa’s first brand campaign, “Fluent in Amor,” includes examples of new influencer marketing trends. The campaign was created by Estacolchic’s team and creative agency Majority. Leading influencers used include beauty and fashion Instagram influencer Daisy Marquez; actress, singer, and advocate Amara La Negra (big on TikTok); life coach and RuPaul Drag Race Pit, Crew member Bruno Alcantara; and top Gen Z content creator Pau Torres. They all participated in the Chispa-supported “Fluent in Amor” film directed by April Maxey, a Latina & LGBTQ+ advocate.
Influencer Marketing Trends: Transcending the Social Sphere
The new influencer marketing trends used in the “Fluent in Amor” campaign ” include having the above influencers participate in the film “Fluent in Amor.” “We take influencers into streaming platforms. They transcend the social sphere into offline streaming platforms,” Estacolchic notes. “All the actors, who are also influencers, are happy about participating. There has been lots of commentary on social about some of the spots,” she asserts.
“Influencers participated in the film transcending the social sphere into offline streaming platforms.”
The 6-second, 15-second, 30-second, and 60-second spots directed by April Maxey are aired in English (Spanglish version) and Spanish. Streaming platforms included in the campaign include Hulu, Viacom, E!, Telemundo, and Univision, paid social platforms (Meta, Tik&Tok, and Youtube), and organic influencers. In addition, the campaign has an OOH component (billboard, wall art, and posters) in the Miami Wynwood area.
One early campaign metric that Estacolchic is happy about is the increase in female engagement. The creative is targeted to females as, generally, in the dating app category, it is harder to have females signing up for dating apps.
Creator Content for Performance Marketing
Another significant component of new influencer marketing trends is using creators and influencers to create content for performance channels; Estacolchic explains: “We see creator content as performance marketing assets and creative.” Similarly, Jaime Keller, Brand Director of Bombay Sapphire Gin for North America, recently told Portada that influencer campaigns help her create “contextually relevant content, which bodes well for distribution in paid and earned media.”
“We see creator content as performance marketing assets.”
Hispanic Influencer Marketing Trends: Spanish and Spanglish
The Chispa-commissioned recent Latina in College Research Study study validated that for 18-34 years old U.S.-born or U.S.-based Latinos, the language preference will tend to be English with some Spanish. In other words, ‘Spanglish’ is more important than English or Spanish. “We have spoken Spanglish since our brand launched,” says Estacolchic. Among the influencer marketing trends used in “Fluent in Amor” is the utilization of Spanglish and not pure English. Chispa uses creative (e.g., the above spots) in Spanish and Spanglish to engage this audience segment and never 100% English. Furthermore, ‘Fluent in Amor.’ is an ode to love in the age of biculturalism; the campaign provides an intimate window into the distinctly beautiful world of modern Latino dating. By showcasing the 200% Latino Identity, ‘Fluent in Amor’ honors the duality uniquely felt by millions of bicultural singles equally proud of their Latinidad and American identities. “No matter what you speak or how you identify, the language of love transcends all. We created this anthem to capture the authentic romance of two worlds coming together without inhibitions,” Estacolchic concludes.
