The Rise of AI Influencers, Creating Killer UGC Content at Scale, Audio-Enabled Logos, and More

The landscape of brand marketing is rapidly evolving, as usual, but with AI and human creativity forming a powerful new alliance. This fusion is rapidly reshaping choices brands have for how to connect with audiences, blurring the lines between digital innovation and authentic human touch in an industry now valued at $21 billion.

Non-human influencers aren’t new. Lil Miquela, an AI influencer that began as an Instagram profile in 2016, now with over 2.5 million followers. The account has featured collaborations with luxury brands like Prada, Dior, and BMW.

But given how rapidly new generative AI tools have changed how people create content over the last year alone, a surge in AI influencers seems inevitable. A few weeks ago, TikTok launched new tools that brands can use to easily create ads featuring AI-generated avatars that look like real people. AI influencers offer brands a more affordable and controllable alternative to collaborations with human counterparts. 

And, predictably, this shift makes many consumers and marketers nervous. Over 12,000 parents have petitioned TikTok to clearly label AI-generated influencers, worried about the impact on beauty standards and potential for misinformation. Claire Leibowicz from the Partnership on AI has issued warnings about the technology's potential misuse. Human influencers are feeling threatened by their AI counterparts, even while AI's ability to replicate the nuanced human engagement of skilled influencers is still evolving.

About 35% of American consumers have already interacted with virtual influencers, and that number will surely grow fast, and soon, as AI technology advances and these digital personas are more capable of replicating emotional intelligence, offering consumers more satisfying experiences, and providing brands innovative options for how to reach and engage with audiences. How the landscape might look even a year from now, for better or worse, is anyone’s guess.

Read more about AI influencers:

• The AI Influencer Ads Are Coming
• What Are AI Influencers? And Should Your Brand Care?
• The Growing Dystopian AI Influencer Economy

The Case for Outsourcing Content, or Not

The gig economy has prompted many brand marketers to reinvent how they create content. These days, many brands and agencies rely on a mix of in-house and contract content creators, outsourcing work when it makes sense.

Outsourcing has its benefits:

• It lightens the load: Content outsourcing can refocus a team’s resources by reassigning non-essential tasks to freelancers. 
• Cost-effective: Because companies don’t need to pay for benefits for freelancers, outsourcing content can mean big savings. 
• Flexibility: Outsourcing content lets companies choose creators with expertise in more niche areas and adapt their content more efficiently.
• Increased diversity: Hiring creators from different backgrounds with different experiences results in more and more useful perspectives on projects.

And outsourcing has its downsides:

• Unexpected costs: Depending on their experience or the project scope, content creators’ fees may end up being more expensive than expected. 
• Lack of company integration: Outsourced creators don’t get to learn the daily, sometimes subtle, ins and outs of the company or create connections the way in-house creators do.
• Lack of business-specific knowledge: Creating quality content about your industry can be challenging for outsourced creators, who may need style guides, internal documentation, and other extra support.

Find out how to know when outsourcing is the right move, what types of content to outsource, and how to create a plan to successfully do it.

How to Create Killer Content at Scale

Today’s brands demand ad producers be data driven, results oriented, agile, and able to handle creating a steady supply of fresh, top-notch content at scale. 

Consumers want authenticity, especially where they spend so much of their time—on social media platforms. They are increasingly suspicious of anything that feels like ad content or a hard sell. User-generated content creators are the new celebrities for a reason. 

Read about how one social media ad agency has embraced the new model of using legions of content creators to produce platform-native content at scale.

Have a Backstage story to share? Contact us!

What Else You Should Know

• Get ready to be surprised by wanting to add audio to your brand logo [Marketing Brew] 
• Post-bankruptcy Joann’s plan to win over younger consumers [Marketing Dive]
• Instagram trying new chat widgets to increase engagement [Social Media Today]
• For inspiration: Explore ad designs [Dribble]

Unlock Your Brand's Potential with Backstage

Looking for a one-stop shop to find all the talent you need to crush your next branded project? With tens of thousands of talent profiles, Backstage’s vast talent marketplace has all the successful actors, models, creators, and more you’re looking for. And thoughtful workflow tools mean you can easily find right-fit candidates in a fraction of the time. Find out how Backstage empowers you to create better content faster and tell your brand story.