A shift is occurring in influencer marketing as influencers increasingly rely on artificial intelligence for content creation. Agencies working with influencers are also trying to balance different types of content with new strategies and tools.
In a new AI study on the creator economy, influencer agency Billion Dollar Boy found this month that 92% of marketers use generative AI to commission content from creators, in full or in part. Creators and influencers are also embracing this trend, with research showing that 91% say they use generative AI at least once a week. However, consumers and creators are also increasingly preferring AI-generated content over traditional creator content created without AI.
According to the report, 60% of consumers prefer generated AI content over traditional creator content, and 81% of creators feel that consumer engagement with generated AI content is better compared to the latter.
“I’m not surprised that consumers prefer AI-generated content,” said Mike Nellis, founder of AI content platform Quiller.ai. “This technology will enable creators to rapidly develop content that is more personalized and relevant to a more targeted audience. It just makes sense logically for them to buy our products and participate in our campaigns.”
Additionally, 70% of marketers feel their marketing spend on creator content using generated AI has increased in the past 12 months. The agency surveyed 4,000 consumers, 1,000 content creators and 1,000 senior marketing decision makers in the US and UK.
As more influencers leverage generative AI to drive creativity, this could become the next battleground for “social feed attention,” says Billion Dollar Boy European CEO Thomas Walters. said.
Becky Owen, Global CMO of Billion Dollar Boy, added: “Given the increased demand from brands, increased compensation, and increased consumer engagement that comes with generative AI creator content today, 9% of creators have not yet adopted generative AI in their content.” will be forced to do so.”
But experts say there’s still a place for traditional creator content, such as content that shares skills, lives, and personalities. Owen explained that AI content is a way to cut through the noise, while traditional content adds depth to a campaign. “We found that the magic and effectiveness of the campaign lies in a balanced combination of both traditional creator content and generative AI-driven creator content,” Owen says.
John Geletka, founder of Geletka+, agreed that both types of content are still needed. At this point, AI content is not a threat to traditional creator content, but an “untapped asset.”
“As a traditional content creator, why not take advantage of this innovative technology?” Geretka said. “As an agency, I think we need to be open, honest and clear about our processes and sources of information with our clients. It will be necessary to openly acknowledge the integration of
The report also shows a willingness to shift investment into leveraging AI content. He said 65% of marketers surveyed said they plan to redirect more marketing budget from other channels to generative AI-powered creator content over the next 12 months. Additionally, 70% said they expect more marketing budgets to be redirected from traditional creator content to generated AI creator content.
AI content strategy
Amanda Ferrante, chief growth officer at Code3, cautions that not all generated AI content is the same. When creators use her AI for posts, the content can range from filters and audio captions to images and even concept generation.
“The creator presses the button, [a] New video,” Ferrante said. “But today’s applications are often more sophisticated: using ChatGPT to generate script outlines and concept ideas, using automatic captioning tools, and using Descript to generate transcripts. Edit the video and use Photoshop’s generative fills to add something to the background.
Ferrante advises agencies to understand how their influencer partners are using AI in their processes. Because much of content generation still “requires significant human input.” Safety concerns. Before engaging with creators, we recommend discussing AI usage and processes and including guidelines in contract negotiations. ”
Michael Heaven, co-founder and managing director of digital agency Butterfly 3ffect, says the underlying data is paramount in training AI models, so agencies need to be aware of how that data is used in content output and production. That said, you need to be aware and learn how it is used.
“[While] There should be plenty of room for gen AI to improve project workflows, and plenty of human guardrails to prevent output from being exposed that could be harmful to clients,” Haven said.
As the report points out, as AI content becomes more prevalent in the influencer space, everything from changing compensation and lowering the quality of content, to balancing creator workloads and increasing interest in regulating elements of AI. , many hurdles will stand in the way.
As Chris Jacks, director of growth strategy at influencer agency HireInfluence, put it, generative AI may not be as much of a threat to traditional creator content. Because AI-enhanced content is not “better by default.” Influencers who can continue to create valuable content instead of leveraging AI to maximize their results will be successful in the long run.
“Social media has long embodied the ideology of quality over quantity,” Jacks says.
