The creator economy market size is already valued over $100 billion and predicted to reach half a trillion dollars by 2027. This shows how shopping is evolving, what people think about authentic voices, and how the people that most influence shoppers’ lives has changed. 

Let’s take a look at what the creator economy is, why creator content is valuable, how brands can leverage the creator economy, and the current and upcoming trends we’re seeing in the market.

Chapters:

1. What is the creator economy?
2. Benefits of the creator economy
3. Creator economy trends
4. How brands can succeed in the creator economy
5. Getting started in the creator economy

What is the creator economy?

The creator economy refers to the highly valued market of content creators — every day social media users who make content on social platforms. Really it’s any monetized form of content creation.

When we talk about the creator economy, we’re talking about a system of people who create content that’s shared and consumed by their peers, their friends, and in the media space. It used to be you’d only find a very small community that was engaged in a niche topic. But now that niche content finds a bigger community through these networks.

This is really changing how we think about what content is, and how you get your message to audiences that were never before possible. Some stats to put the creator economy into perspective:

• There’s over 200 million global content creators — these creators are typically operating on at least two platforms
• 44% of advertisers plan to increase spending with creators in 2024
• Brands are anticipating increasing creator content budgets by 25% in 2024
• 39% of consumers watch more creator content now than the year prior

This shows how quickly the creator economy is being legitimized. For example look no further than Addison Rae, one of the most popular influencers out there, who just starred in a Super Bowl commercial. It’s a huge opportunity for your brand to work with creators!

Benefits of the creator economy

The digital space is competitive and it’s getting harder to reach audiences purely with digital ad spend. Working with creators gives you an opportunity to connect with consumers, with more relevant and cost-effective content.

Hear Bazaarvoice’s own Global Head of Community Growth & Engagement, Terry Hurlbutt, outline some of these opportunities below in this short clip from her Bazaarvoice Summit presentation on creator economy trends and social shopping strategies.

Expanding on from Terry’s expertise, let’s look into other benefits of the creator economy.

Boost authenticity

Creators build their brand(s) on making genuine connections with their audiences. They’re bringing their followers into their success, pitfalls, and even their stories of vulnerability in their daily lives. And that builds real connection. A connection strong enough that when they do offer a product, even in a paid partnership, their audiences are still really interested in learning more about the product their favorite creators share with them.

100% of shoppers we surveyed have purchased products based on a creator’s recommendations, which circles back to that trust that the creator has built with their audience. If you follow someone who posts daily and you enjoy their content, you’re more inclined to go and get a product they enjoy.

So there’s a real authenticity (and sales!) boost when you partner with creators.

More relevant content

By its nature, the creator economy makes content more relevant to shoppers. What’s so helpful here is that this user-generated content, content created by creators, helps consumers see how products look in a “real world” setting versus branded content, which still has a place but doesn’t necessarily show you that same real-world experience. 

We tend to see higher engagement when visual UGC is integrated with branded content. According to our research, the majority of shoppers want to see both branded photos (83%) and shopper photos (76%) to make a confident purchase on product pages.

There’s also the amazing opportunity for creator content to help you increase your audience engagement and reach. Shoppers are more likely to follow their favorite brands. And so the more creator content you have in your social mix, that’s more likely to pay off because they’re already following you on social. 

Keep up with content demands

We need a lot of content.

Everyone working in the creator economy realm and social sphere knows how much time and effort is spent really trying to beat those pesky algorithms and stand out in a crowded social marketplace.

Over 500 hours of content is uploaded to YouTube every minute, 34 million videos uploaded a day on TikTok, and on Instagram there’s over 66,000 photos uploaded per minute. By comparison, those couple of pieces of branded content you upload per week aren’t even a drop in the ocean.

Rather than increasing investment to produce more content in-house, partner with creators who can pack your content supply chain with a steady flow of authentic content for you. Tapping into existing communities of creators like the Influenster community ensures your brand benefits from an always-on source of fresh content.

Creator economy trends

The creator economy will continue to evolve, such is the nature of working in the social. It’s important to in the loop. With that, as experts in the creator partnerships space, these are the latest creator economy trends we’re most excited about!

Brand storytelling 

Do you ever find yourself a little worried sometimes because social media algorithms are just too good? Let’s say you’re a parent so you check out an account talking about parenting hacks. The next thing you know your whole Explore page is full up of parenting hacks and ideas.

Your Reels are full of tips and tricks for parenting, cooking, and staying organized in the midst of child-rearing. Whether it’s through memes or people sharing their tough moments of the day, they really resonate with you. You feel grateful for that connection. They make a significant impact on your life, and you’re deeply thankful for them.

This is brand storytelling in action. These trends that speak directly to your audience’s personal experiences and connect them to your brand. The power of social media and the creator economy recognizes the diverse voices and perspectives that contribute to your sense of community.

Video content

First it killed the radio star, now video is coming for your static images. 89% of consumers want to see more videos from brands this year. What video does that static images can’t is really show shoppers your products actually in use. Whether it’s how to build something, how a jacket looks in motion, how to assemble something, etc. Video provides a whole new avenue.

Let your analytics decide for you whether static images or video works best, but between IG Reels and TikTok’s boom, video is a trend that can’t be ignored for much longer. TikTok shops intend to grow the business 10x this year, hoping to get to about $17.5 billion revenue, so video provides commerce opportunities also.

Livestream shopping

Another potentially lucrative angle for the creator economy is livestream shopping. Still in its infancy, it’s one of the most closely followed industry trends. Already big in China and other parts of Asia, livestream shopping has been gradually making its way stateside and consumers are taking note.

Livestream shopping provides brands with a new, engaging way to get products in front of shoppers — who can purchase them instantly! 

How brands can succeed in the creator economy

Do you want to work with creators but you’re not sure where to start? Or maybe you’re experienced with influencer outreach and need a refresher? Here’s the best practices to follow.

Work with the right creator(s)

Not every creator will be the right fit for your brand. When you’re choosing creators to work with, influence (reach, engagement, brand values, and audience relationships) is more important than just their number of followers — 72% of consumers don’t actually care about follower counts and smaller audiences tend to see higher engagement anyway.

There’s a lot of different creators out there who may have smaller follower counts, but who will align more closely with your brand, and would make more impact. The priority should be finding creators who align with your brand values and style, and letting them go and create.

@bazaarvoiceofficial PSA: leverage the Creator Economy! Let creators create in their own authentic style #socialmediaweek #smw #smm  #creatoreconomy @adweek ♬ Taste It – TELL YOUR STORY music by Ikson

Lean into the expertise of your creators. You’re partnering with them because they know exactly the best way to connect with their audiences. And because they put out content every day, they have their finger on the pulse of what works best.

When you reach out to them, just be very honest and clear about what you’re looking for and what your expectations are. Working with high-quality, brand-safe creators is really important. Tools like Bazaarvoice affable.ai can help you find, identify, reach out to, and manage relationships and campaigns with these creators on a long-term basis.

Pick the right platform

TikTok is an entertainment platform first and a social platform second. So be entertaining. Brands can reach new audiences by engaging with this form of entertainment. A good example is Prose. The hair care brand went outside of their traditional creator demographic and partnered with a comedic TikTok influencer to endorse them, and they reached a whole new audience through this.

And large gaming communities already exist, which provide a natural platform for digital expansion.

For example, clothing giant Gucci teamed up with Rook Vanguard, a creator for online game platform Roblox. Together, they built the Gucci Garden Experience which allowed users to explore various boutiques of virtual items.

Use your everyday creators

Regular people are creating every day. If you have a phone and an Instagram account, you’re a part of the creator economy. Which is why at Bazaarvoice, we always advise that the most effective change you can make is using this user-generated content from everyday people.

Not only is UGC considered more trustworthy and influential, it also supports stronger brand storytelling as we mentioned earlier. Something a lot of brands struggle with on social media. Storytelling with UGC naturally leads to the community because you’re highlighting end users, and oftentimes those who were not paid, but just simply love your products.

And UGC doesn’t just tell a story, it drives sales too. 54% of shoppers say they’d be more likely to buy a product on social media if they could click the post and get product info right on the platform. Before, if you scrolled past a t-shirt you liked on Instagram, you’d then have to Google the brand and try and find the t-shirt manually. Now though, with an effective social commerce solution, shoppers can go directly from app to checkout. No fuss!

Sharing community content helps grow your social media presence and builds positive relationships with your customers. Leading to better advocacy, repeat customers, and increased sales. Creator-generated content is out there, you just need to go out and find it.

Have a budget

When you’re just starting out with creator outreach, budget can be as big or small as you want. It just depends on what you’re ready to do from an investment standpoint. If you’re treating it more like a pilot, maybe try to look for five, six creators and learn from that.

But there’s no benchmark answer. It depends on where you are in your creator marketing cycle and also just what your overall marketing budget for the year is. But 75% of brands and retailers spend over 60% of their budget on branded content — free up some space and costs with UGC creators.

Sample your products

If you want everyday shoppers posting content about your brand (reminder: you do!) you need to get your products in their hands. Product sampling is how you do it. A hyper-targeted product sampling campaign ensures you:

• Launch products with a bang by collecting reviews and imagery from your community pre-launch
• Give life core products by generating fresh reviews
• Learn valuable customer feedback to improve messaging and identify new market opportunities

Getting started in the creator economy

In the consumer-to-consumer era we’re living in, it’s creators who are your new storefront. They’re not only creating original content, but they’re influencing other shoppers. Consumers no longer rely on content or marketing from brands, they rely on authentic UGC created by their fellow shoppers. That’s what’s going to influence them to make a purchase, not you.

The creator economy is not a passing trend, it’s essential for the success of your business.

The first step to getting started with the creator economy is to leverage UGC, and those who are creating it. But not all content is created equally. You’ll want to make sure you find the right creator(s) for your brand and team up with a platform that can combine the power of creators with social commerce solutions.

LEARN MORE

From pixels to profits: Creator trends and social shopping strategies

Watch here

Simply put, content reigns supreme. Every day, week, month, and year, the amount of content created nowadays — by brands and individuals — is pretty staggering. It’s the backbone of retail and digital marketing strategies, driving engagement and influencing purchasing decisions. And it’s what consumers demand.

Among this sea of content, user-generated content (UGC) has steadily gained influence over the years, mainly due to the trust people have in recommendations from their fellow shoppers — to the point that 78% of shoppers feel more confident purchasing when UGC is involved.

But as the sheer volume of content continues to skyrocket, navigating this terrain requires a better understanding of the new relationships forming between brands, consumers, and content creators.

This shift in influence towards creator- and user-generated content has prompted brands and retailers to rethink their content strategies, focusing more on authenticity and relevance to better engage with their target audience. Which is why mastering content distribution and refining your strategy is essential.

Chapters:

1. What is content distribution?
2. How you can refine your content distribution strategy
3. How to balance multiple content distribution goals
4. Get a fresh perspective on the content ecosystem

What is content distribution?

Content distribution is the process of publishing and sharing your content, like social media posts, blogs, videos, etc, to reach a wider audience through your various channels and platforms. There are three main types of content distribution channels:

1. Owned is the content channels your company owns, like your blog(s), newsletters, and social media pages
2. Earned channels are third parties promoting your content, including PR, mentions, guest publications, and UGC creators.
3. Paid is where you pay to promote your content on an external channel, whether that’s paid ads, sponsored content, or paid influencer collabs

Content distribution matters because without the ability to promote and share your content, it’s unlikely anyone will see it. Imagine writing the world’s most spectacular book and then just leaving it on your bedroom floor, gathering dust. What’s the point?

But now, with countless platforms and formats to navigate, the challenge for brands is getting their messaging — their content — in front of the right audience.

How you can refine your content distribution strategy

As we look to tomorrow, the way we distribute content today won’t be enough. Enter the concept of the Content Penetration Model. Coined by Bryan Gildenberg (reminder: CEO at Confluencer Commerce), the Content Penetration Model (CPM), a decentralized content generation model, marks a paradigm shift in how content is distributed and consumed.

Content distribution has traditionally been measured by reach-based metrics to get content in front of as many eyeballs as possible at the lowest cost possible. Not anymore!

The new CPM model emphasizes what Gildenberg calls content penetration — the ability to deeply engage with consumers through relevant, authentic content that resonates with their interests and values. 

It’s needed because the shift towards UGC and the rise of creators has reshaped the traditional content landscape. For example, the creator economy was valued at just under $130 billion last year and is expected to grow another 22.5% by 2030. Brands no longer have full control over the conversation.

As Gildenberg puts it, “the content that is most meaningful to a shopper’s awareness of, and decision for, buying a particular product is increasingly not coming from brands themselves, but from other individuals.”

Instead, rather than solely relying on mass distribution channels, you’re better off cultivating relationships with UGC creators and influencers who can effectively convey your brand’s unique message for you.

How to balance multiple content distribution goals

The question now is this. How do you create content that cuts through the noise and piques your audience’s interest? By recognizing the dynamic nature of content consumption and adapting your strategies accordingly. 

According to Gildenberg, the critical element is balancing long-term brand assets with current assets. Sure, some aspects of branding will almost always remain constant (example: Coca Cola’s logo), but others need to evolve to stay relevant in a rapidly changing market (Coca Cola’s ads).

But brands must continuously refresh their current assets with fresh content that resonates if they want to stay relevant with consumers.

You do this by building out a content supply chain. Taking a holistic approach to content creation that leverages data insights, consumer feedback, and market trends to inform your content strategies. 

It’s not just about creating more content. Not at all. It’s about coordinating efforts across your different teams and workflows to ensure brand consistency and relevance. Shoppers expect consistency — 75% globally say that regardless of the channel they use (website, in-store, email, social media, etc) they expect to get the same experience.

When you understand the different types of content and their impact on your business, you can better develop a holistic approach to content creation and distribution that resonates.

Why better collaboration means better content

On that note, in the CPM era we’re shifting towards, collaboration is one of the main drivers of success. Brands can’t operate in silos. Instead, it’s all about forging partnerships with the right content creators, influencers, and other stakeholders who can get your message in front of shoppers where they are.

This content allows brands to tap into the creativity and expertise of external partners with niche audiences, all while maintaining control over their brand identity and messaging.

It would be amiss to ignore AI here, too. It’s everywhere lately (ChatGPT, anyone?!) and has become a powerful tool in content creation and distribution. But Gildenberg warns AI can just as efficiently produce irrelevant, misleading, or inauthentic content if not appropriately guided.

The Content Penetration Model provides a framework for navigating these complexities, by focusing on effectiveness rather than efficiency.

Get a fresh perspective on the content ecosystem

Essentially, the new CPM model offers a fresh perspective on how brands should approach content creation and distribution. By prioritizing relevance and authenticity, brands can forge deeper connections with consumers.

As the conversation unfolds, it becomes clear that success in the content ecosystem requires a multifaceted approach that balances creativity, strategy, and adaptability. Embracing the CPM model and adopting a collaborative approach to content creation will enable you to navigate the tricky digital landscape and forge deeper connections with your audience.

Looking to learn more? Watch the full conversation between Bryan and Doug (sneak peek above!) to hear first-hand how redefining content distribution can increase effectiveness, drive sales, and enhance your content supply chain. 

FEATURED RESOURCE

The future of content distribution: In conversation with Bryan Gildenberg

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According to our recent survey of 1,000 U.S shoppers, asking their opinion(s) on private label brands, 43% of respondents say private label quality has significantly improved, offering comparable or even better quality than national brands in many categories. 

Some of the biggest names in retail like Target, Sephora, and Walmart all invest in the development and marketing of their private label products — and see massive success. 

The retailers that push the limits of their private label branding will be the ones that continue to elevate their status and change the generic stereotype. To do that, you’ll need to focus on branding, value, quality, and insights. Discover what your retail business stands to gain from offering store brands and how to develop a winning strategy.

Chapters:

1. What are private label brands?
2. The private label branding opportunity
3. How to create a thriving private label brand in 6 steps
4. Private label brand strategy examples
5. Improve your private label branding with customer insights

What are private label brands?

Private label brands, also known as store brands, are products owned by retailers and sold along with other brands in their product catalog. The retailer is often the sole developer of the brand and its products, or it may come from a third-party wholesale partner.

Some of the most successful private label brands include 365 by Whole Foods Market, Amazon Basics, and a ton of Target brands. 

The private label branding opportunity

The newfound interest in private label brands directly correlates with a struggling economy, an influx of higher-quality store-owned products and options, and an increase in private label-based rewards programs.

Consider these stats from our private label research:

• 40% of respondents say their perception of private labels is positive, they offer good value and they trust the store branding — another 42% haven’t noticed any significant differences in quality between private labels and national brands
• 36% of respondents plan to purchase more private label products next year compared to previous years
• Over half of respondents (56%) have switched their preferred brand for a private label product based on a loyalty program or reward

That’s to say, when it comes to the private label branding opportunity, it’s no longer a “nice to have.” The overall increase in positive sentiment, value, and quality, have made them difference makers for any retailers bottom line.

In terms of specific industries, the most popular categories for private label products are:

Besides a thriving private label branding market, there’s other business benefits for retailers who offer store brands. Some top advantages include:

• Product ownership: In addition to literally owning private label products, retailers also have control over the product design, materials or ingredients, and other manufacturing details
• Higher profit margins: Because retailers own their private label brands, they don’t have extra supply chain fees or higher cost of products from a national brand. This makes their product costs lower, allowing a bigger profit margin — not to mention the added benefit of keeping customers happy with lower prices
• Branding: Just as it owns the product design, the retailer also has creative control over the private label branding, from the aesthetics to the voice and promotion

Leading retailers are leaning into the private label apparel category specifically and partnering with luxury designers, like Walmart’s collaboration with Brandon Maxwell.

How to create a thriving private label brand in 6 steps

Now that you know the potential of private labels, find out how you can breathe new life into your owned brands, or successfully launch new ones, with the following tactics.

1. Build a strong retail brand identity

To have a thriving private label brand, first, you need to have a strong overall retail brand. 

When you earn brand loyalty and the positive public perception that comes with it, consumers will naturally trust and gravitate to your owned brands. 67% of the respondents to our private label research strongly or somewhat agree that the quality and range of a retailer’s private label products positively affect their overall perception of the retailer’s brand and reputation.

So, how do you build brand trust and loyalty to attract customers to your private label products? Some essential methods include:

• Appealing to your target audience’s values and interests
• Providing great customer service
• Offering deals and discounts

But, of course, these community-building efforts will only work if your products are unique, valuable, and serve customers’ needs. Our own research validates this approach, given that the top two reasons shoppers gave for selecting private label products are that they love them and they are well-priced. 

With the right practices in place, your customers will come for your retail experience and stay for your private label brands, creating a sustainable cycle that propels your business forward.

2. Devise a smart product strategy 

Once you have a solid foundation for your retail brand, you can begin to develop your own private label products. Your products need to meet the essential criteria to hook shoppers from the beginning and keep them coming back for more. To make your store brand the preferred alternative to the national name brands, make sure its value proposition is unique.

a) Develop your concept(s)

The formula for creating your store brand concepts is simple. Find the gaps in your inventory selection — what missing products could fulfill a customer need, price point, or variety? That white space will determine what and how many private label products to develop. This will guide your entire product strategy. The process could look something like the following steps:

1. Start by sorting your target customers into different segments and define the needs of each one
2. Research the price points and product features that make sense for each industry category
3. Research your competitors’ products in each category
4. With those insights, analyze your current product catalog to find what’s missing
5. Determine what alternative products your retail business can produce at a lower cost but that are equal to or better quality than the name-brand options

If your business is new to private label branding, you might want to start small with one to a few options within your bigger product categories to test the performance. Once you’ve decided which products to pursue, define the guidelines for your supplier and company stakeholders to follow.

This will ensure that your costs are accurate to fit your price point and profit margin — and that the materials used, functionality, and quality all meet expectations. 

b) Pricing and variety

Since value is the top consumer driver of store brand sales — lower price compared to national brands is the main purchasing influence for 72% of shoppers, according to our private label research — the key is to offer a price that is lower than your competition, while maintaining your target profit margin.

Identify the leading competitors in your store-brand product categories to base your pricing and quality criteria. 

In addition to pricing, variety is a key component of your product strategy. What flavors, pack sizes, format sizes, and other differentiators can you offer in each category? Use an internal system to keep track of your pricing and variety architecture so you can gradually fill in gaps with your store brand offerings.

c) Packaging

Early private label branding strived to mimic the presentation of its national brand rivals. But now, the industry leaders are aiming to stand out rather than blend in. Packaging plays a huge role in purchase decisions, so this is an important area to focus on. The design should ideally be distinct and include the unique and attractive features of the product, whether that’s easy functionality, sustainable ingredients, or something else. 

For example, the packaging for retailer ShopRite’s store brand, Bowl & Basket, stands on its own with a prominent font, clean design, striking product photography, and a pleasant and soft color palette. It has a simple and clear product description that draws the consumer in. 

d) Innovation

The best way to generate interest in your private label brands and be a progressive outlier in the space is to consistently innovate. To pull this off, you need to leverage your store brand as the solution to your customer’s wants and needs.

If you look at leading private label brand retailers, many of their owned products are “value-added lifestyle items.” This is a niche to focus on that will lead to innovation, like Trader Joe’s iconic Everything But the Bagel seasoning.

Sourcing is another point of leverage for innovation. For example, locally sourced ingredients that benefit underserved communities can help your products stand out and satisfy consumer preferences.

3. Collect authentic reviews of private label products 

Product reviews are one of the most effective ways to win consumers’ trust. According to the 2022 Bazaarvoice Summit, 94% of shoppers report needing at least 10 reviews to “consider the product credible.

The recency of reviews is also a top decision-making factor for most (85%) of shoppers. So, you need to actively source reviews to grow your volume and keep them up to date. Luckily, there’s a variety of different ways you can generate authentic reviews. Just ask your customers!

• Request a review with a review request email
• Send an SMS message after a customer’s order is delivered
• Direct customers to leave reviews via your social media channels
• Offer customers a discount on a future purchase in exchange for a review
• Utilize a sampling campaign and exchange free product samples in exchange for honest reviews 

Ratings and reviews don’t just have a huge impact on e-commerce but on in-store sales, too, based on the 40% of shoppers who claim to read online reviews before buying offline. Helpful, descriptive, and substantial reviews are essential, but those featuring media can go even further. Customers’ photos and videos of product purchases make 62% of shoppers more likely to buy.

Reviews also have great search engine optimization (SEO) value because they contain a lot of the same descriptive keywords that shoppers are searching for. So, not only will reviews increase conversions when shoppers land on your e-commerce site, but they can also be the vehicle that gets them there. 

Reviews communicate the value that customers find in your products and the features that are important to them. They give your customers a platform to express their own opinions about your brand, which resonates with other shoppers.

4. Grow awareness and interest with targeted product sampling

Whether you’re launching a new private label brand or product or rebranding an old one, product sampling can help it take flight. We’re not just talking about a taste of kombucha in a paper cup or a cheese cube on a toothpick, but a custom product sampling package delivered to your target audience.

Renowned brand Petco recently rolled out a sampling campaign specifically to bolster review volume for its private label brands and increase SEO impact.

To date, the campaign has led to a 48% increase in revenue per visit (driven by a 28% increase in conversion rate and 15% increase in average order value) for sampled products and an 80% increase in clicks from organic search. Not to mention, that data that sampling provides.

We’ve really seen a positive impact on visits, conversions, and improving the discoverability of new products. From a results standpoint, it’s been a positive experience to see that we can get 10-15 reviews for new products quickly

Hannah Kredich, Category Specialist at Petco

First-party customer data also provides tons of useful information you can use to plan a product sampling campaign. Let’s say you notice customers buying a lot of the same national-brand products in one category, you could send them a sample of your store-brand alternative or a complementary product from your store brand. 

And if you’re starting from scratch with a brand-new product launch, sampling is a great upfront investment. In a survey of over 6,000 Influenster members who have been recipients of a product sampling campaign, 63% purchased the product they sampled. Many also reported buying additional products from the brand and recommending the product to family and friends.

Lastly, another huge benefit of product sampling is the user-generated content (UGC) it can produce in the form of product reviews, images, and videos. This is especially important for new product releases so you can be equipped with the customer reviews necessary to give other shoppers confidence right from the launch. 

5. Optimize your product pages for conversions

One common concern for retailers is the lack of rich content, including product reviews, across all of their product pages on their e-commerce websites. This can be particularly challenging for retailers with an extensive product catalog. This is why it’s crucial to encourage customers to write reviews so you can enhance your product pages with UGC. 

You can set up those reviews to post directly on the product pages they correspond to, which will make a huge difference in sales — nearly 40% of shoppers won’t make a purchase if UGC is absent from the product page. And that includes visual UGC too. As part of our recent Shopper Experience Index, we asked 7,000 shoppers:

Additionally, almost half of shoppers specifically look for customer photos on product pages when considering purchases. Encourage customers to upload their own photos and videos of their purchases to your product pages with a hashtag campaign.

To optimize your private label product pages to their full extent, include: 

• Star ratings 
• Review categories based on product features, positive reviews, and negative reviews
• Detailed product descriptions that highlight your product’s best attributes
• Professional product photos
• Customer-submitted product photos and videos 

6. Attract more customers on social media

Whether it’s Gen Z on TikTok, millennials on Instagram, or older demographics on Facebook, social media is a critical marketing tool for your private label growth. 

Social media content supports a more modern, cutting-edge, approachable, and innovative perception of your store-brand products. Consumers come to social media to discover brands and be entertained, and there’s a ton of features and content types you can leverage to appeal to them. That includes short-form video like TikTok and Instagram Reels, quick and temporary content like Instagram Stories and Snapchat, and even livestream shopping on a number of different channels. 

Influencers have proven extremely successful for brand marketing, and social media is the perfect platform for an influencer partnership. Collaborating with influencers to promote your store brand is another way to drive demand through a public figure whom consumers trust. 

You can also use social media as a tool to generate more visual UGC that you can feed to your product pages. Encourage your followers to share their purchases on social media and tag your brand profile. This will supply you with more content and introduce your products to a wider audience.

Not only can you market your private label products on social media, but you can also sell them, too. With social commerce features such as Like2Buy and social media shops, you can upload your products and sell them directly on your social media channels. 

Private label brand strategy examples

As private label brands have evolved over the years, there’s plenty of retailer examples to draw inspiration from. Take notes from some of these trailblazers who are shaking up the store-brand category. 

Target’s Future Collective

Target might just be the pinnacle of store-brand potential, neck and neck with Amazon. Target has multiple private label brands, but as the retailer says, their Future Collective brand is the “first of its kind.” This fashion-forward apparel brand is “co-designed with a rotating roster of style and cultural influencers with diverse points of view in fashion.”

This innovative approach enables Target to leverage different guest designers and influencers to bring in different perspectives on fashion, while offering a continuous stream of fresh variety for customers. The brand is dedicated to inclusivity, offering something for everyone.

Thrive Market

Thrive Market is a successful e-commerce retailer that specializes in health-conscious products, including name brands and its own store brand. 

Not only is Thrive an excellent private label brands example, but also a great example of how to develop products that meet the needs of target customers. For example, one of its best-selling private label products is its coconut milk. What makes its particular coconut milk unique is that it leaves out a commonly used ingredient, guar gum, which isn’t Paleo diet friendly.

This solved a problem for its Paleo customers, who make up a big chunk of its clientele. 

Foxtrot

Foxtrot, a fast-growing specialty convenience store chain, is another example of a retailer going above and beyond with its owned products. Foxtrot’s goal for its store brands is to beat the well-known national brands in all categories, not just price. 

Just as Target partners with influencers for Future Collective, Foxtrot partners with industry leaders for its food and beverage products. As an example of this, the company has a hot chocolate mix developed by an acclaimed pastry chef and a bourbon made in collaboration with a beloved local Chicago cocktail bar. According to the Washington Post, Foxtrot’s profit margins for its private label products are 10 – 15% higher than those of its external brands.

Improve your private label branding with customer insights

One of the most important steps you can take as a retailer to grow your private label brands and business as a whole is to listen to your customers. Pay attention to the insights revealed in your product reviews, customer satisfaction surveys, customer support conversations, social media interactions, and anywhere else you can find them. 

What do your customers like and not like about your products? What are they saying they need that you don’t currently offer? This invaluable information can help you make store-brand product modifications and improvements that will provide more value for your customers. 

Once you’ve established your private label branding, it’s time to take it to the next level. Learn how to position your private label for continued market success with our new on-demand masterclass: How to leverage new customer insights for private label success.

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4 strategies to achieve private label success

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If only things were that easy…

The fact is, understanding usage rights is a must for every brand that wants to collaborate with influencers and other creators. Nearly 80% of people tag brands in their social media posts at least sometimes, creating lots of opportunities to leverage user-generated content (UGC) and influencer content. 

In this guide, you’ll learn how to repurpose creator content without landing in hot legal waters — or getting (gasp!) “canceled” by a creator.

Chapters:

1. What are usage rights?
2. Why do usage rights matter
3. Types of licensing agreements for usage rights
4. Best practices for securing usage rights
5. Streamline creator partnerships with Bazaarvoice 

What are usage rights?

Usage rights determine how someone — a business or individual — is allowed to use a piece of content they didn’t create or own the rights to. 

When you partner with an influencer or UGC creator, you need a usage rights agreement (often called a licensing agreement) that will define where and how you’ll use the content. The agreement also defines how long you’re allowed to use the content. Some agreements grant usage rights “in perpetuity” (meaning forever), while others set a limitation.

For example, an influencer could grant usage rights to their video review of your product in perpetuity on all digital platforms and also allow you to repurpose the video material for other types of content.

Why do usage rights matter

Agreeing on usage rights is important to set expectations for your influencer collaborations. It puts everyone on the same page regarding your partnership and lowers the risk of legal issues as a result of copyright infringement.

If someone sues you for copyright infringement, you could be on the hook for financial damages. What’s more, you’d have to shelve any marketing campaigns that use the content, adding to the cost. 

In addition to lawsuits, your brand could suffer reputational damage — and reputation is everything. Many content creators have loyal followings who might no longer buy your products if the creator goes public with their bad experience. People are drawn to controversy. Coming back from a scandal can take you years and cost plenty of dollars.

Be aware that you also need a licensing agreement for any other copyrighted material a creator uses in their content, like music. Failing to do so could lead to expensive lawsuits.

Just recently, Sony Music Entertainment sued beauty brand OFRA for not getting permission to use copyrighted music when collaborating with influencers. In Sony’s view, the popular music added to the impact of the influencer videos, so OFRA was supposed to compensate them for their use. A similar lawsuit took place between UMG Recordings and Vital Pharmaceuticals.

You might wonder why brands are liable for copyright violations committed by influencers they partner with. After all, you didn’t do anything wrong. Well, the reason is that it’s the brand’s responsibility to verify that the sponsored content doesn’t infringe on copyrighted materials.

So, your usage rights agreements should make it clear that creators aren’t allowed to use content they don’t own.

Types of licensing agreements for usage rights

When you partner with a creator or influencer, or source UGC from social, you’ll establish usage rights using a license agreement.

Creative Commons

A Creative Commons license allows you to use a piece of content as long as you give credit to the copyright owner. There’s seven kinds of Creative Commons licenses, some more restrictive than others:

• CC BY: Allows commercial reuse, distribution, adaptation, and remixing across formats and mediums with attribution to the original creator
• CC BY-SA: Same conditions as the CC BY license, but you must also license the modified content you created under the same conditions
• CC BY-NC: Same conditions as CC BY, except it doesn’t allow for commercial use
• CC BY-NC-SA: You must give credit to the original creator and use the same license for the modified content. Commercial use isn’t allowed
• CC BY-ND: You’re not allowed to adapt the content, but you can share and copy it across formats and mediums with attribution. Commercial use is permitted
• CC BY-NC-ND: The content can be shared only in its original format, with attribution, and for non-commercial purposes

Remember that once a creator applies a Creative Commons license to their work, they can’t revoke it.

Royalty-free

Under a royalty-free licensing agreement, the creator gives you permission to use their content for a one-time payment. You won’t need to pay royalties every time you use the image or video, and the license is granted for an unlimited time period.

This is a common license on stock photo websites, where you can purchase a piece of content and then reuse it as many times as you want. Typically, you don’t have to credit the creator, and you’re allowed to change the content to suit your needs.

Keep in mind that a royalty-free license doesn’t grant you exclusive rights to the content. Other brands can purchase the same image or video and use it in their campaigns.

Rights-managed

In terms of reuse, a rights-managed license is more limited than a royalty-free one. It permits you to use the content in a single project, but it doesn’t cover additional usage in other campaigns. 

On the plus side, a rights-managed license can give you exclusive rights to the content so you can be sure your competitors won’t use it (and you rake in brand authenticity points).

Best practices for securing usage rights

Follow these best practices to get your creator partnerships off on the right foot and avoid litigation. Happy legal team = happy life. 

1. Do your research

Not all types of content have the same usage rights, which is why you should first research where the content came from. 

Note: This applies only if you want to use existing content, not when you’re collaborating with an influencer who has yet to create content for your brand. In this case, jump down to step two, “Get the creator’s permission.”

Let’s say you found an image that would work perfectly on your website’s product page. But there’s no attribution, so you have no idea where the image came from. To find out, try doing a reverse Google Image search, which will pull up all the websites featuring the same image.

If the image came from a stock photo library like Shutterstock, then it’ll be easy to determine usage rights. On Shutterstock, for example, there are “Standard” and “Enhanced” licenses that depend on your subscription type. Each license specifies how you’re allowed to use the content.

What about videos on Instagram or TikTok that you want to reuse? The first step is to double-check if the account owner actually created the video and didn’t just repost it from somewhere else. Then, contact the creator to get their written permission.

2. Get the creator’s permission

If you’re partnering with an influencer who will produce UGC for your brand, you’ll also need a contract to establish usage rights.

Written permission can be in the form of a formal licensing agreement that describes where and how you’ll use the content. You might also specify compensation and how long you intend to use it.

If you just want to share a creator’s content to your profile, then a simple message asking their permission could suffice (the kids call it sliding into their DMs). However, make sure to clear this with your legal team first, especially if you’re not sure if the creator has used someone else’s copyrighted material in their content, like music.

Remember to archive these communications in case any legal issues arise. The more receipts you have, the better.

3. Be ready to negotiate

Some creators are happy to share their content for free. Others want to be compensated for their time and effort, so you might need to negotiate their rates.

Compensation depends on many factors. If someone grants you an exclusive, perpetual license to their content, then they might ask for a much higher fee. Consider limiting the duration of the license to six months or a year to get a lower rate.

The scope of usage also influences compensation. If you only plan to repurpose a creator’s video on your website, it could give you some room to negotiate their fee.

Be upfront with any compensation limitations. For example, some brands prefer to pay first-time collaborators in merchandise. Mentioning this at the very end of your negotiation could frustrate the creator and put them off from working with you.

4. Use digital asset management software

As your influencer marketing partnerships grow, you’ll need an easy way to manage your digital assets and ensure you aren’t violating their usage rights.  

With digital asset management software, you can track usage rights for all of your assets in one place. It will prevent you (and anyone else on your team) from using content with an expired license.

Streamline creator partnerships with Bazaarvoice 

Strategic partnerships with the right creators will put your brand in front of the right audiences. But finding the right creator, securing usage rights, and ensuring they produce on-brand content is a lot to juggle at once. Bazaarvoice’s Creator Partnerships does the heavy lifting for you with our community of trusted creators.

You just need to set content goals and define your audience and messaging. Then, a Bazaarvoice Strategist will take over to find the right creator and negotiate the terms. Any content they create can be repurposed on your other channels so you can make the most out of the partnership and bask in the benefits of influencer marketing.

Okay, okay, maybe we’re being a bit hyperbolic. Nothing’s as bad as trying to find a half-decent potato while your least favorite Christmas song blares over the store sound system. However, we do know customers love the convenience offered by online shopping. Nearly 70% of consumers factor site speed into their willingness to purchase from an online retailer. And a majority of online shoppers expect a page load time of 3 seconds or less.

If you haven’t given your website a performance checkup lately, it’s well past time. Here’s how to evaluate your current performance, plus some steps anyone can take to optimize an e-commerce site for a speedy shopping experience. 

Chapters:

1. Why website performance matters
2. The 7 main website performance metrics
3. How to measure your website performance
4. How to improve your e-commerce website performance
5. Website performance is all about the need for speed

Why website performance matters

Does it really matter if you don’t hit that 3-second load mark? Yes, it does. Failing to prioritize website loading speed decreases the quality of your user experience, and that’s bad in multiple ways.

First and most obvious, higher load times mean an increased bounce rate. Even users who stick around through the first few slow page loads may give up on your site before making a purchase.

Lower initial conversion rates are likely to be matched by lower loyalty overall. Customers who remember their suboptimal shopping experience are less likely to return for another try — and they won’t want to follow links that direct them to your site. 

Bad website performance also affects your Google SERP rankings. Because the search engine’s algorithm prioritizes user experience, pages with a slow loading speed are pushed down in the search results. Smaller outlets competing for attention might lose out to their faster competitors. 

The 7 main website performance metrics

Page load time isn’t a standalone website performance metric. It’s an overarching assessment that rolls together multiple metrics. Four of these metrics are Google’s Core Web Vitals:

• Largest Contentful Paint measures the loading speed of the largest page element users can see “above the fold” — that is, without scrolling down
• Interaction to Next Paint measures a page’s responsiveness to interactions, such as clicking an “add to cart” button or typing information into a form
• First Input Delay measures the time gap between when a user interacts with your website (say, clicking that “add to cart” button) and when their browser starts to process that request
• Cumulative Layout Shift measures how often page content moves while a page is loading

Google considers these aspects most important because they have the biggest effect on user experience. However, there’s four other metrics that also capture important parts of the user experience: 

• Time to First Byte measures the speed at which your DNS provider starts delivering your website content after receiving the request
• Total Blocking Time measures how long it takes for a web page to load enough that a user can interact with it (as browsers that are in the middle of loading pages cannot process interactions)
• First Contentful Paint measures how long it takes for the first of your website content to render

If you want to dive deep into any of these metrics, Google’s web.dev site explains more about why each one matters and how to measure them. Or, you can just keep reading as we discuss measuring your site’s performance. 

How to measure your website performance

Measuring your site’s performance is easy with Google’s free PageSpeed Insights. This tool assesses your site on the metrics listed above and ranks it as good, needs improvement, or poor. You’ll also get notes on your site’s performance, accessibility, use of best practices, and SEO. 

There’s an option to view how your site performs on mobile vs. desktop devices and tips to help you optimize your site. You get a lot of help for the low price of living in Google’s web ecosystem, and let’s face it — that’s already happening. 

When you’re looking at your report, you may notice Total Blocking Time is excluded from the “Core Web Vitals Assessment” box. Scroll down to the Performance box, then look at the Metrics table to see your results.

PageSpeed Insights makes it easy to understand why your site earned the rankings it did with color-coded graphics and personalized tips. Go ahead and run a test now — all it takes is a few seconds — so you can get a baseline of your site’s performance and see where you have room for improvement. 

How to improve your e-commerce website performance

If you’re still here, we’ll assume your Core Web Vitals Assessment showed you have some work to do. There’s no shame in that. Even Google’s web.dev site doesn’t pass the assessment! Here’s our best tips to help you improve the performance of your e-commerce website and the tools you need to make it happen. 

1. Cut down on HTTP requests

HTTP requests exist at the core of loading web pages. You don’t need to know the technical specifics here — only that a browser must make these requests to load CSS files, scripts, images, and other content on your page. Each request requires the browser to send a message to your web host, which then has to respond with the appropriate content.

The more HTTP requests you have, the longer it will take to complete them all. Imagine if you went to a restaurant and first asked for water and then, when your waiter returned, ordered a soda. When they brought the soda, you asked for an appetizer. And finally, after the appetizer arrived, you had decided on your entrees. It would take a long time for you to get and finish your meal, no matter how fast your server worked.

Give your (web) server a break by cutting out unnecessary HTTP requests. If you don’t need a script or CSS file, don’t reference it in your page’s header. You can also try to cut down on multimedia content to increase your page load speed. 

2. Use HTTP/2

Not all HTTP requests are made equal. HTTP/2, a standard that debuted in 2015, comes with capabilities that help your web pages load faster. For one, it allows developers to prioritize which elements load first, so you can tell browsers to request light resources before larger scripts. It can also serve multiple resources at once. To return to our restaurant metaphor, HTTP/2 allows you to give your whole order at once so the waiter can get your food to you more quickly.

KeyCDN has a free HTTP/2 test to determine whether your site supports the HTTP/2 protocol. Or, if you want a closer look, open your browser’s developer tools, navigate to the network tab, and look for the “Protocol” column. (You may have to right-click the list of columns and add Protocol.) 

HTTP/2 support is determined by your web host, so they’re the resource to turn to if you need to enable the protocol. The process is different for each provider. 

3. Eliminate unnecessary redirects

Many companies employ redirects to bypass link rot during website overhauls. However, each time you redirect a user to a new page, you’re forcing them to sit through another page load. Especially redirects that lead to another redirect — no thanks! By the time the user reaches the actual URL, they’ll already be ready to close out of your page.

Redirects have a habit of piling up over time. That means you need to audit them periodically; it’s especially important to do so after any redesign or re-architecting of your website.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider can help you check your entire site for redirects and even detect redirect chains and loops for you. You could also use the Ahrefs SEO Toolbar to check page-by-page, but we wouldn’t recommend this. Unless you have an obligation you really want to get out of.

4. Limit external scripts

Most developers use third-party scripts to add functionality they don’t have the resources to code in-house. Incorporating external scripts is always risky in terms of page speed, though. You don’t have control over the code, so you can’t do anything if the script is slow to load.

Slow-loading scripts make pages take longer to load and can cause problems like content jumping (measured by the Cumulative Layout Shift metric). 

Check each page to make sure no unnecessary scripts are loading. For instance, you may have a reviews feature enabled on your site as a whole, but you don’t need that script included on pages made for browsing. You may also ask yourself whether you really need that modal to collect customers’ emails or if it’s turning off more buyers than it’s bringing in.

More bells and whistles aren’t always better. A simple website with a good user experience can muscle out an overdesigned store.

5. Enable lazy (asynchronous) loading

When a browser renders a website, its default is to process each request in order, only moving on to the next command after finishing its current task. Large scripts slow up the entire process, as a browser must load the entire file before it can move on to rendering the rest of the content.

Avoid this delay by directing the browser to load your scripts asynchronously — that is, while continuing to render the webpage. Simply add the async attribute to your script tags (your code will look something like this: <script src=”my_script.js” async></script>).

Some experts recommend adding your <script> tags near the bottom of your body content as older browsers may not be able to read the async attribute, but there’s no need to do this. You’d be hard-pressed to find a browser in the wild that couldn’t handle the async tag. 

6. Use mobile-first designs

Website performance optimization needs to include mobile-first thinking. Smartphones are now the source of nearly four in five e-commerce website visits and two in three e-commerce purchases. Unfortunately, the mobile web is still a drag. Most sites have much longer load times on mobile devices. With over 50% of mobile visitors ready to jump ship if a site takes longer than 3 seconds to load, e-commerce retailers are likely losing out on a lot of business. 

Almost every website published these days is responsive, but designers who code for desktop and then later optimize for mobile may be going in the wrong order. Using mobile phone emulators to design for small screens puts the needs of this growing audience front and center. 

Plus, it’s easy — Google Chrome’s Dev Tools allow you to enter “device mode” to view what your site will look like on smaller screens. 

Designing for mobile phones also requires you to make the most of limited screen real estate, which may mean you opt for fewer decorative elements that can slow down a page. You’ll also want to simplify navigation and interactions rather than going for flashy or unique experiences that require external scripts and plugins. 

If you’re working with an existing site, you probably can’t implement this practice right now. Just keep it in mind for your next redesign. 

7. Compress text-based files with gzip

HTML and CSS files may not seem too onerous to load, but when you’re counting in milliseconds, every byte matters. Compression reduces the size of text-based files so they can make the trip from your server to a customer’s browser more quickly. Gzip is the most common compression framework, but Brotli and Deflate also work well to speed up your website. 

This is another feature that’s set up on the hosting side. Most hosts enable it by default, but it’s good to check yours using a free HTTP Compression test. If you find out your content isn’t compressed, it’s time to reach out to your hosting provider. 

8. Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files

Compression frameworks like Gzip aren’t the only byte-savers. You can also minify your text files by removing anything that’s not a key part of the code — things like comments, formatting, or lengthy variable names. Many of these elements are helpful for human developers, but web browsers don’t need them to display your web page directly. 

There’s no need to go through and delete comments and extra spaces and tabs by yourself. Minifier.org offers a free tool that can handle CSS and JavaScript. Google’s web.dev recommends this free HTML minifier. 

If you’re looking for tools that can mass-minify, Google’s PageSpeed Module works with Apache or Nginx web servers and automatically minifies your files. However, installing tools like it or CSSNano may require you to call IT.

9. Optimize images and videos

Multimedia files often decrease website performance simply because they’re so large. E-commerce merchants, who rely heavily on images and videos, must be diligent about optimizing these files to reduce the burden on visitors’ internet connections. 

The easy part of optimizing images is resizing them. No file should exceed 20 megabytes (MB) — but really, only your hero images should be that big. Shopify recommends merchants keep images around 500 kilobytes (KB) if possible, though they allow that some sites need files up to 2 MB in size. You’ll likely have to compress your images to meet these goals. Thankfully, there’s plenty of free image compression tools out there you can use.

Once you’ve cut file sizes down, make sure you’re using responsive design principles to keep things speedy for users loading your site from smaller devices. MDN Web Docs, run by Mozilla, has a nice responsive images tutorial you can follow if you’re new to the subject. 

10. Take advantage of browser caching

Web browsers can store files locally on users’ machines, which speeds up loading times for repeat visitors. Instead of contacting your server for every file, browsers can pull cached assets from the machine’s local memory.

Caching is an excellent solution for most e-commerce merchants, as your assets remain fairly static. If you do a major site overhaul or replace product pictures, you’ll want to make sure browsers have instructions to re-download the new content and replace cached assets. However, this is a rare enough occurrence for most online retailers that setting up caching is the way to go.

Your web host is, once again, the party in charge of your caching settings. You’ll want to find its documentation and follow the instructions to enable local caches and set expiry dates (which instruct browsers how often they should refresh cached assets from your site). 

11. Use a content delivery network (CDN)

Browser caches only help audiences who have come to your website before. Content delivery networks, or CDNs, stash assets as close as possible to each visitor to cut down on load times. 

CDNs don’t rely on local machines to store assets. They simply distribute your assets to a network of servers in various locations. That means instead of having one server in Virginia that answers all requests, you may have a server in Virginia, one in California, one in Illinois, and so on. Companies that serve international audiences can work with international CDNs, so they have servers in multiple countries, regions, and continents. 

Whenever a browser sends a request to load your website, that request routes to the server that’s geographically closer to the user. It may not sound like a huge time-saver, but since page load speeds are measured on a very small scale, CDNs make a noticeable difference. 

12. Regularly audit your plugins

Plugins, add-ons, and extensions are a huge time-saver for most web developers. But, like external scripts, bloated plugins can drag your page speed down. Improve your website performance by revisiting your plugin library to see whether there are any hangers-on that you no longer use. 

Sometimes, you need all your plugins, but your pages are still loading way too slowly. In that case, it’s time to figure out the culprit. Copy your site into a staging environment, disable all your plugins, and test your site load speed. Then, enable plugins one at a time to determine whether a single plugin is tanking your performance metrics. (Make sure you enable, test, and then disable each plugin so you’re not accidentally measuring cumulative effects.)

Thankfully, with so many plugins out there, you’ll likely be able to find a replacement for any sluggish tools. 

One other option is to look for plugins that have been optimized for speed. For instance, our Ratings & Reviews display technology was designed to keep your website running quickly, and our developers shared the steps they took to fulfill that promise. Find tools built in this vein — ones that use best practices like minifying and reducing script files, caching, and lazy loading — to make your audits a breeze. 

13. Remove unnecessary pop-ups

Yes, we’ll say it. Pop-ups are super unpopular. They lead to a bad experience, especially on mobile devices. Even if you think your pop-ups are tastefully done and helpful, internet users are faced with a barrage of modals, overlays, and chat widgets all day long. Everyone has pop-up fatigue, and if you contribute, you’re eroding your consumers’ trust. 

Most pop-ups call outside scripts and reference assets like images and fonts, all of which a browser has to load. Modals that appear conditionally have to gather audience data before triggering, which also takes time. And if your Total Blocking Time is high, users may not be able to close out of these elements as the rest of your site renders. This delay would influence users’ perception of your site speed even if there was no actual slowdown. 

The slowdown is real, though, as is the nearly universal dislike for these tools. Removing them from your site is a win-win. 

14. Choose the fastest services

When a customer clicks a link or types in a URL, they’re telling their browser to query a DNS service to take them to their target site. That DNS service routes the browser to your site’s IP address. Then, their browser starts reading your HTML files and requesting assets from your server or CDN so it can render the website you’ve designed. 

That’s a lot of services coming together to make your site appear. If any one of them is slow, your page speed will be negatively affected. That’s why the cheapest option isn’t necessarily the best option for your technical infrastructure. 

For instance, many base website hosting plans are shared. This means other websites use the same server you do, so a spike of traffic from one of them might slow down your load times. VPS hosting (for growing sites) or dedicated website servers (for those who can afford them) will return better results.

You also want to make sure your domain registrar, which handles DNS hosting, is a high performer. DNSPerf keeps an ongoing log of DNS performance so you can see for yourself how various providers stack up.

Of course, speed doesn’t only matter at the top levels. We talked about finding lightweight and streamlined plugins. You’ll also want to think about services like your security software and other backend tools. Though customers don’t interact with them directly, they can still impact your e-commerce website’s performance. 

15. Monitor website operations

Checking your website performance every once in a while to see if there’s big problems is a smart idea. Constantly monitoring your site so you’re aware the second a problem pops up is even smarter. 

You can invest in tools that collect data on your users’ experience to show how your site performs in the real world. Since many shoppers will be visiting you from setups unlike your own, real user monitoring provides a fresh perspective. 

Other tools pretend to be human visitors, using a series of scripts to navigate your website and test its performance. Synthetic monitoring setups like these are more useful for teams looking to gather data from controlled tests. If you’re in the midst of optimizing your site, synthetic monitoring will help you spot changes that actually make a difference. These systems can also run scheduled tests with the goal of catching major problems before your customers run into them. 

There’s plenty of tools that perform both of these jobs (and more):

• Site24x7 performs synthetic and real user monitoring for you
• LogRocket monitors users and identifies errors and site interactions users typically struggle with
• New Relic is an end-to-end synthetic monitoring system that integrates with just about every infrastructure there is 

Whichever tool you use, make sure you configure the alerts to tell you when something goes wrong. The quicker you can fix the problem, the fewer customers you’ll disappoint. 

Website performance is all about the need for speed

As internet and mobile connections become faster and even more ubiquitous, consumer standards will continue to rise. Providing a fast, convenient experience is a baseline expectation. Companies who can figure out how to excel on mobile and get those loading speeds down to a second or less will have a chance to capture more market share.

The customer experience you provide is directly connected to your conversion and retention rates, and your website’s performance is directly related to that customer experience. Website optimization isn’t a project that can wait for a rainy day. It’s an essential part of bringing customers to your site and making more sales.

Improving your site’s speed isn’t the only way to reach more customers. Check out these ways to increase organic traffic to keep your momentum on the SERP.

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Masterclass: 3 powerful tactics to increase product page conversion rates

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The type of brand loyalty that leads customers to rush to the stores on day one for a new product is hard to come by. It’s also extremely profitable. Stanley experienced a 751% year-over-year increase (no, that’s not a typo!) in its tumbler sales in 2022. Talk about results that justify a marketing budget.

Stanley’s breakout story isn’t a trajectory most retailers can hope to mimic. But it is a success story we can all learn from. The secret sauce isn’t a colorful 40-oz tumbler — it’s in the brand equity that Stanley built among its loyal customers. 

This guide will help you understand what brand equity means, how you can build it, and how to handle brand challenges that many retailers face. 

Chapters:

1. What is brand equity?
2. What goes into brand equity?
3. The importance of brand equity
4. How to create brand equity through the consumer experience
5. How to measure brand equity
6. Solving brand equity challenges
7. Every company has a brand equity journey

What is brand equity?

Brand equity is the value attached to a certain brand name. It’s a combination of brand awareness and brand reputation, and maintaining both is essential for companies of all sizes.  

In practice, brand equity measures customer loyalty. It helps you understand how much more your consumers are willing to pay for your products, how likely they are to choose you over a competitor, and whether they’ll consider trying completely new products or services from you. 

Sound simple? It is. The hard part is building it. 

What goes into brand equity?

As a whole, brand equity is intangible. It’s based on consumers’ perceptions and emotions, which means it can be hard to measure. However, there’s a few elements that strong brand equity is built from.

The first is brand awareness. Awareness, in this case, doesn’t mean whether people have heard of your company. It means what they know about your products, the things you stand for, and the benefits you offer your customers. The value of your brand depends on consumers’ understanding of your purpose.

The second is brand perception. This might seem similar to brand awareness, but perception is born in your customers’ minds. It’s what your brand represents to them. For instance, Stanley sees its core values as “invention, innovation and inspiration” and its purpose as “build[ing] a more sustainable, less disposable life and world.” However, to its current fans, Stanley Tumblers are about staying hydrated (if you #WaterTok, you know) while making a fashion statement. They perceive Stanley as a status symbol, whether the brand is meant to be one or not.

Third, we have brand associations. These are the concepts and feelings consumers attach to your brand. Think of your car. You likely equate it with the freedom to go where you want. Depending on the type of car you have, you may also consider it a leader in safety features or a way to save money and the planet by reducing your gasoline use. If you’re like most consumers, you ascribe those specific feelings to the car brand. (This can work the other way, too, if you really hate your car.) Those would be your associations. 

Fourth comes perceptive quality. As the name suggests, this is a measure of how consumers feel about the standard of goods or services they’ll receive from a brand. Perceptive quality doesn’t need to be based on personal experience. Consumers may make quality assumptions based on price point or the selection of stores that carry a brand or product. They may also form their opinions from word-of-mouth or marketing campaigns. 

Fifth is brand experience. This is the part where customers interact with your products or services — and yes, it really is fifth on the list! However, brand experience is still an important part because it’s where their impressions of your brand can be proven true or false. 

The sixth is brand loyalty. This is your customers’ decision to keep interacting with your brand. For some, brand loyalty means continually rebuying consumable products. Brands that make durable goods may instead measure loyalty through customers’ engagement with social media or newsletter content. The most loyal customers will try other products from your brand and recommend you to friends and family. 

Together, these six components add up to a perception and experience of brand value among your customers. 

The importance of brand equity

It’s hard to overstate the value of brand equity because there are so many ways you’ll see positive ROI if yours is strong. 

On the customer level, you’ll find it easier to attract new buyers because they’ll know your products or services are of high quality. A company with high brand equity also finds retention easier since equity includes trust — and trust is a factor in over 90% of consumers’ buying choices. 

When it comes to profitability, brand equity allows you to charge more than competitors without losing your customers. It helps you increase your sales volume as brand advocates share their love for your products with friends.

Plus, brands with a high level of trust can be more efficient with their marketing spend. Customers who already know and trust your brand don’t need nearly as much enticement to buy. Between a decrease in spending and an increase in prices, your company will see higher profit margins overall.

Brand equity matters because it increases your market share over competitors. It makes it easier to expand into new products or verticals because you have a base of buyers who are willing to try out a new product. And, for publicly traded companies, brand equity increases your stock price.

Brand equity is sort of like money: The more you have, the better off your company is. You might even argue it’s a type of currency in its own right — the currency of trust.

How to create brand equity through the consumer experience

Look up “how to create brand equity,” and you’ll get a laundry list of action items — be consistent in your branding! Run the right kind of marketing campaigns! Make good products! But brand equity can’t be built in a vacuum. It’s a relationship between you and your consumer base. It’s, therefore, best to start from the consumer perspective.

Consumers go through a journey with each brand that either ends in them valuing the product or deciding they want to try something new. Here are the five steps you must lead your buyers through to develop brand equity. 

1. Awareness

Brand awareness is the top element of brand equity, and it’s also the first step in each consumer’s journey. They have to know who you are, what you do, and what you stand for. 

Advertising is typically the best way to introduce yourself to new customers. But awareness marketing can’t just include the name of your brand and a picture of your product or a description of your services. If you’re unknown to a consumer, they need a reason to care about you. 

A strong brand story can help you break through the noise with your awareness campaign. The best awareness campaigns cater to the values or interests of your target demographic. For instance, if your buyers care about supporting small businesses, your ads might emphasize that your products started from a home recipe. If they’re nature lovers, talk about your company’s sustainability efforts while showing how your product will help them enjoy the great outdoors. 

Awareness campaigns are often easier to disseminate through mass or social media. PPC ads keyed on your brand name won’t be reaching new potential buyers. You’ll need to identify the spaces where your target audiences hang out and then go to them there. Maybe that means buying ads in publications centered around a certain topic.

Or maybe it means encouraging your existing fans to share user-generated content (UGC), such as reviews and media your customers create about or featuring your brand. UGC can be reshared by your brand, but it also spreads organically through the networks and communities you want to reach. 

2. Recognition

Once customers know who you are, you want them to start seeing your product around. The familiarity will help build trust and cement you in their mind as an option.

Building recognition requires you to focus on brand consistency. Consumers expect a certain uniformity in aesthetics — that’s your logo, fonts, colors, and other design elements — to help them quickly identify brands. Depending on how your product is presented, you might consider appealing to other senses. You know exactly what that Slack “new message” sound is, thanks to consistent branding. 

Consumers are also more likely to recognize your brand or product when they routinely encounter it in the same context. You can use that context to start building associations. For instance, a product that’s consistently shelved with premium goods will come across as a quality item. One that’s mentioned in buzzy publications will seem on-trend to consumers. 

The techniques you use for recognition are similar to those you use to build awareness. But you shouldn’t think of the two as interchangeable. Your goal in the awareness step was to get your name and story out there. When you’re building recognition, you have the chance to go deeper into your story and cement your values, mission, and desired preconceptions in your audience’s mind. 

3. Trial

After a consumer gets to know your brand, those who find it intriguing will move to step three: trialing your product or services.

You typically have one chance to impress a new consumer (unless you’ve done an extremely good job in steps one and two!), so delivering on your promises in short order is of the utmost importance. 

First, the recognizability must be there. If buyers have only ever seen your product in photos and videos, the item they receive has to match. (If they’re picking it up on a store shelf, you can assume you’ve succeeded on this point.)

Second, your product must be of the expected quality. It doesn’t need to be the best on the market, but it should meet or exceed the standards for the price point and perform as you’ve stated it will. 

Third, users must find your product memorable. Whether that’s because it introduces a new and fun way to address an old problem or just because it looks different than competitors, there has to be something about it that sticks in their heads.

Keep in mind that the physical product is only part of the equation here. If the trial stage is about your company delivering on its promises, it’s your job to craft guarantees your product can easily meet. Set your company up for success by guiding your buyers’ expectations through advertising, product copy, or post-purchase communications. You may want to test this messaging with focus groups or survey customers to learn where you’re hitting the mark and where you can be more accurate or specific. 

4. Preference 

The number of customers who choose your product over others is an indicator of brand equity. You can earn your customers’ preference by providing an excellent brand experience.

Make sure your buyers are getting the most out of your product with tutorials, user guides, or inspiration. More complex or technical products are more likely to call for the first two; we trust you can figure out if a user guide would be helpful to your audience. 

For items that don’t need a how-to, you might instead show suggested uses. This is another place where UGC works well. For instance, apparel sellers might share ‘fit inspiration to help buyers style their new clothes. Or, help customers think outside the box by offering some “hacks” that repurpose your product for unexpected uses. There’s a whole community centered around stretching the use cases for Ikea furniture; if your devoted users have similarly clever tips, don’t be afraid to share.

Keep in mind that your customers’ experiences go beyond their interactions with your product. Every interaction with your company matters — whether that’s the emails they open (useless or worth reading?), their visits to your website (is there an annoying modal in the way?), or communications with customer service (nobody likes those AI chatbots. Nobody.).

Make sure you’ve optimized the digital experience so interacting with your company is simple. You should also use proactive customer service to make your users feel like they’re real VIPs. 

5. Loyalty

You’ve succeeded in building brand equity with a consumer when they convert from a sometimes-buyer to a loyal customer. Loyalty may seem like the natural outcome of the previous steps of the journey, and you certainly can’t earn it without focusing on them as well. However, you can also nudge customers into becoming more loyal. 

Keep customers around by following through on the experience-building work you did previously. A buyer’s seventh purchase should be just as valuable and enjoyable as the first. Therefore, your efforts to engage customers with your product and brand can’t stop after that first W. Treat each new purchase as an opportunity to engage them more with your brand story and values, and make your product even more central to their life.

Beyond that, you can build brand loyalty in two ways. The first is by building a community around your brand. If you don’t have your own platform to bring people together, create a hashtag for users to share related content on their socials. This is where resharing UGC can be a big boon; customers love to see their content endorsed by an official brand account. 

If a community isn’t a viable option, try a loyalty rewards program. There’s multiple ways to structure a loyalty program. You can offer discounts, exclusive or early access to new products, or perks like free shipping or birthday rewards. Just getting people to enroll in a loyalty program makes them 30% more likely to increase their spending with you. If you can talk them into paying for it, they’re 60% more likely to drop more on your products. 

Loyalty matters because it’s cyclical. Once someone starts thinking of themself as a loyal customer, they’ll start acting more loyal, reinforcing their perception. The more value they get from your brand, the more value they’ll perceive it as having.  

How to measure brand equity

There’s not a brand equity meter you can access to measure how much consumers value your company and its products. You can, however, gather internal benchmarks for related metrics within a few categories:

• Financial “big picture” numbers like market share and company value
• Financial “small picture” figures like price growth and sensitivity, revenue potential, and purchasing frequency
• Sentiment measurements from web analytics, online engagement statistics, reviews, focus groups, and surveys
• Customer metrics like loyalty program participation, purchase frequency, and retention

The valuation and strength of your brand depend on your brand equity. Watch for fluctuations in any of the metrics your company uses to track these two KPIs, along with those listed above. 

You’ll have to rely on your judgment to determine whether a change in one number reflects a change in brand equity or whether it’s a response to other factors. If you see growth or declines across the board, though, you’re likely seeing the impact of your brand equity efforts. 

Solving brand equity challenges

Brand equity, like the stock market, can go up and down. All companies face challenges (whether from internal or external factors) that decrease the perceived value of their brands. If you’re not already performing regular brand reputation maintenance, it’s time to draw up a program. Then, get ahead of these hardships with our playbooks for some common obstacles. 

Crowdsourced brand information

Brands largely controlled their image when mass media was dominant; now, consumers can get their information anywhere. Customers who detail negative brand experiences online can drive away potential buyers and pollute your brand’s image.

Negative reviews from customers who just enjoy yelling about things are part of life — every Swiftie knows that the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. You should start worrying when those bad reviews start to outnumber the good ones or customers share stories outrageous enough to go viral. 

Prepare yourself by learning how to respond to bad reviews (tl;dr: quickly, briefly, and with empathy) so you can step in when a customer is unhappy. You’ll hopefully improve their experience and show shoppers your company cares about making things right. 

Failure to deliver on promises

Customers expect good value in return for their money. What defines “value” will vary based on the individual and type of product, but they’ll know when a product isn’t up to snuff. For instance, if a phone’s battery keeps catching fire until that phone gets banned from commercial flights, you’re probably not meeting expectations.

Most products don’t have this big of an expectations-reality mismatch, but you may face a disconnect between the product your company announced and the product it was able to create. When you learn customers aren’t having the experience you thought they would, it’s time to shift your messaging. 

There may not be a lot you can do to reach those who have already bought the hyped-up version of a product except offer refunds. But you should adjust your future marketing pitch so your next crop of buyers knows what they’re getting. 

Breaches of customer trust

People make mistakes, including people who are on the job. When those mistakes affect your customers, you may see a large decrease in brand equity.

A 2023 survey by PwC found that protecting consumer data is essential to earning trust — so hacks or other data breaches will harm your customer relationships big time. AI use is also shaping up as a trust-breaking practice for some companies.

38% of customers stop purchasing from a brand altogether after that brand damages their trust. The others will need some reassurance that your company understands the problem, takes it seriously, and is coming up with a plan to prevent further issues. Your exact approach will vary based on the incident that sparked the outrage, but as in the other cases, communicating with empathy and a genuine desire to make things right can help salvage your image.  

Every company has a brand equity journey

It takes time for customers to see your brand as a valuable part of their lives. It will take time to build that perception of value, too. You’ll likely see ups and downs during the process, and you may learn about some problems you didn’t even know existed. 

Don’t let these roadblocks deter you, and don’t feel down if you don’t get results overnight. Think about the brands you trust completely — how many months or years did it take for them to win you over? You’ll be starting at the same place with your customers, so have patience. Things will start to change as you follow the steps laid out in this article. 

One last tip: Keep yourself motivated by breaking your grand plan into small, concrete steps. The first thing you can do now — today! — is to take control of your brand communications. It’s an easy starting place, and it will set the foundation for more important work you’ll have to do later. Read our complete guide to ensuring brand consistency across channels to get started.

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Customer ratings and reviews matter, with 89% of shoppers consulting them before purchasing anything. They do pay attention to how positive reviews are of course, but also consider other factors like the quantity and recency of reviews. Consumers also heavily rely on negative reviews to inform their purchases. 

Negative reviews make your brand seem more trustworthy and authentic. Shoppers expect to see some negative reviews — a string of all five-star ratings can come across as suspicious. Or even fake.

60% of shoppers think negative reviews are just as important as positive ones in deciding what to purchase, as they can learn just as much (if not more) about your products from negative reviews. 

So what should you do when you get a negative review? You need to reply. Whether it’s a Google review or a different review provider (like Bazaarvoice), here’s how to respond to negative reviews successfully. And why doing so is good for your business. 

Chapters:

1. Why negative reviews matter
2. Should you respond to negative reviews?
3. How do you respond to a negative product review?
4. 5 ways to respond to negative reviews
5. How to use negative reviews to your advantage

Why negative reviews matter 

When you respond to negative reviews, you position yourself as a company that cares. It shows that you’re listening to what your customers say and taking the time to solve their problems and improve. We’ve seen that products with at least a few negative reviews have higher conversion rates than those with 100% positive feedback.

These are the top reasons we’ve seen that negative reviews matter.

They make you more authentic

Shoppers value reviews and trust the recommendations of fellow shoppers every bit as much as friends and family, if not more. Consumers also realize that no one is perfect, so they expect to see a mix of feedback. Being transparent — featuring negative reviews and responding to them — makes you more authentic in the eyes of consumers. 

Retail giant Walmart particularly understands the value of negative reviews.

According to Alyssa Thomas, Director of Product, Content as Commerce, at Walmart.com, “One of the things that we are not willing to sacrifice is authenticity. So, one of the really important parts of customers reading ratings and reviews is that they trust that they’re authentic and relevant to the item. Otherwise, we potentially lose that trust that customers were looking for from reviews in the first place.”

They identify problems 

Negative reviews might uncover flaws or problems with products, which you might not otherwise find out about. We’ve found that about 4% of reviews note manufacturing issues, 2% identify product improvements or additions, and 1% point out discrepancies in product descriptions or website copy, according to our Shopper Experience Index. 

The same research also tells us that 66% of retailers and brands use reviews to improve products, and 50% to improve marketing tactics and messaging. Getting this feedback gives you a chance to talk to manufacturers and vendors to address problems head-on so your reputation stays intact. And, demonstrate to consumers that you care about quality. 

Clothing retailer Vertbaudet, for example, noticed consistent negative reviews around the sizing for a line of maternity dresses. The brand took this feedback on board and resized the line, leading to a 12% increase in sales.

They inform product innovation and market needs 

Listening to what customers say about your products can inspire innovation. You may come up with ways to improve existing products that drive higher sales or realize there’s a market need for an entirely new product. 

Here’s a good example. The Container Store uses reviews — negative and positive — to make their products better. When customers left negative reviews for a shoe storage box, saying they wished it was taller so they could store high heels, the brand worked with their manufacturer to make a taller box. It was a hit!

And, the company gave all the credit to customers, by posting the message, “You asked and we listened. We took everything you love about our Shoe Box, and made it in a size that perfectly fits high heels.” 

They help improve customer service

Over 70% of the brands we work with use negative reviews to improve customer service. Think: slow shipping times, unhelpful responses from customer support teams, or items damaged in transit. Shoppers won’t be shy about sharing these experiences with your brand. But, they’ll be expecting you to listen and remedy the problem. 

Most consumers are willing to do business with a company again after a bad experience, and many will delete negative comments once they receive a reply or a fix. So, it’s always a good idea to make things right to keep customers coming back. 

Should you respond to negative reviews?

Yes. You should always respond to negative reviews. Review management should be a major aspect of your content strategy. And, there’s countless reasons why. The biggest one being trust. 

When you respond to negative reviews, it gives your customers confidence. 54% of shoppers say that if they write a negative review, they expect a response from the company. And 87% of them expect brands to do something after receiving a negative review, whether that’s replying or offering a discount for future purchases. 

No matter how annoyed the customer is, your response leaves a positive impression and calms the situation. And, even if they swore to never buy from you again, replying and showing your interest in making things right will likely change their minds. 

Other shoppers are paying attention, too. 89% of consumers read responses to negative reviews. Responding to negative reviews makes your brand seem trustworthy and protects your reputation. 

Inspiring trust drives customer loyalty. When they know that you’re listening and responding to their concerns, they’ll come back time and again, and likely spend more money. 

How do you respond to a negative product review?

Webroot, an internet security software provider, has seen the benefits of responding to reviews first-hand. The company responded to 70% of its low-rated reviews. This improved the shopping experience for those who left negative reviews, but also humanized the brand and instilled confidence in shoppers by showing off its top-notch customer service. 

And then there’s pharmacy giant Boots, who turn unhappy customers into brand advocates by responding to negative product reviews. Through their strategy, the brand has seen a 186% increase in intent to purchase when responding with an explanation or guidance on how to use a product differently.

Seeing similar results when you respond to negative reviews depends on getting the messaging right. You want to keep your brand tone intact and be friendly, personal, and specific. Using a canned response for every review will turn customers off. 

Most important of all is to make sure your response is meaningful. Always ask yourself this question: “Is my response providing value to this customer and future customers reading my answer?” 

Not sure what to say? Here’s a few proven examples. 

• “Hi Kate! We’re so sorry to hear that you had issues with [add the specific product or service here].” 

• “We’re so sorry you had a bad experience with [add specifics of the issue].” 

• “We appreciate your feedback, Melissa. It looks like others are having this issue, too. We’re looking into this.” 

• “Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback with us, Mark. Feedback like yours helps us improve.” 

• “We’re sorry you had a bad experience with [add product or service]. We would love to help you further, but we need more details about your experience. Please contact our Customer Care team at [add phone number, email address, and hours of operation].” 

5 ways to respond to negative reviews

Most consumers will do business with a company again after a bad experience, if the situation is handled well. Use these tips and best practices to respond to negative reviews to protect your brand. 

1. Show empathy 

Everyone likes to feel heard. Acknowledge the issue and apologize, even if you think the review isn’t necessarily warranted. Show the reviewer (and anyone else reading your response!) that you understand their frustration and that their opinion is valid.

Focus your response on the problem and offer a solution. Never criticize the reviewer or get defensive. Internally, route the issue to product development, shipping, or another appropriate division in your company. 

2. Be personal 

With so much online brand noise, consumers really appreciate authenticity. Refer to the customer by their name in your response. Restate their specific problem to show that you truly understand the issue and state how you’re attempting to resolve it.

And avoid writing scripted responses that you copy and paste for every negative review. Not only is this unoriginal, but it’s also impersonal and will turn shoppers off. 

“Thank you, TJ. Your thoughts are important to us…”

“Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback with us, Albert…”

 “Sam, we’re so glad you raised this issue…”

Even if your core message is the same for multiple reviews, find alternate ways to mix it up, especially in your opening sentence.

3. Respond quickly

Respond to negative reviews as quickly as you can. Showing a sense of urgency will build trust among customers and tell future shoppers that you care. Be sure to respond to a negative review within 24 – 48 hours. While 84% of retailers claim to respond to positive and negative customer feedback (73% of whom respond within the same day) there’s still a disparity between customer expectation and brand response time, according to our research.

Generally it’s best practice to spend about an hour for every 50 reviews you encounter as you’ll be prioritizing 1-3 star approved reviews. This includes time for research, writing, and editing your responses. 

4. Stick to the point 

Short, simple messages work best. Say too much and you might deviate from your brand persona. Including too many details can be overwhelming for the customer and might make you seem defensive or desperate.

Don’t ask any any follow-up questions in the response, either. If you need additional information, ask the customer to contact your customer service team and include the contact information. And, be on the lookout for that one-on-one message to come through. 

5. Learn from negative feedback

Remember, negative reviews uncover insights that can improve your products and services going forward. Not only should you respond to negative reviews, but you should also take action when you’re receiving consistent feedback about improvements that could be made. And let the reviewer know this.

 “Feedback like yours helps us improve, thank you for submitting this review…”

“We value hearing from customers and need this constant feedback loop, whether it’s negative or positive, or we aren’t going to get better,” says Drew Frey, Community and Advocacy Manager, Webroot. “We monitor these comments daily, and if we see any concerning trends, we share that with the rest of the team internally.”

How to use negative reviews to your advantage

No one likes bad feedback, of course. But negative reviews aren’t all bad and even offer some advantages: 

• Customer interactions: You may not always get the chance to connect with your shoppers in such a direct way. Reviews (good and bad) let you find out exactly what they think about your brand and give you an opportunity to make up for a bad experience

• Areas for improvement: Negative reviews offer insights, which you should learn from. If several customers are pointing out the same shipping problem or product flaw, you can take action and improve your products and systems

• Transparency and credibility: Displaying negative reviews shows that you have nothing to hide, which lends an air of credibility to your brand. Consumers will realize that their feedback matters—and your desire to make things right will resonate

• A jump on the competition: When customers point out issues with products, they may give you ideas for new things. Or, help you see a market need for something else. Use this information to get ahead of your competitors

• Brand empathy: Some negative reviews are just unreasonable. But, taking the time to thoughtfully respond, even when you know it’s unfair, will win over customers. Consumers often feel empathy toward unnecessary and unwarranted reviews. They’ll want to support you, and this is great for your brand reputation

Managing reviews and responding to the negative ones can be a lot to handle. And that’s before you even taking responding to positive reviews into account. But, it’s crucial for you to be there in the moments that matter. Bazaarvoice has all the tools you need to easily manage and respond to reviews and questions at scale, both on retailer sites as well as all your own channels.

Learn more about Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews here or get in touch below to book a call.

User-generated content (UGC) is an invaluable tool for brands on TikTok, like a hand trowel for a gardener. TikTok users crave and expect to see content from relatable creators like them. Both TikTok’s What’s Next: Shopping Trend Report and Bazaaarvoice’s Shopper Experience Index found that brands attract customers by building trust with real, honest, and authentic content, which is exactly what UGC provides.

TikTok is designed for UGC. Brands just need to know how to cultivate it within their community and what to do with it when they have it. Find out how to do just that with these tactics and best practices for growing a thriving UGC garden on TikTok. 

Unlocking the power of TikTok UGC: Challenges and opportunities

The TikTok space is vast and filled with many unique, interesting, and creative people. Discover how to navigate its terrain and face any roadblocks to building a UGC culture for your brand head-on. 

Challenge: Maintaining brand authenticity 

TikTok is a hotbed for UGC, but that doesn’t always mean it’s the kind you want to amplify or even have at all. As with every social channel, there can be fraudulent or low-quality content. 

Opportunity: Develop a strong TikTok community

Ensure the content users create about your brand and products reflects your brand’s standards and identity by building a healthy community. Start by identifying your target audience and how you’ll reach and engage with them. 

Gen Z accounts for the largest percentage of TikTok users globally, followed by millennials. Keep their interests and priorities in mind to guide your content strategy, including what you plan to feature in your videos and how. Silly instructional videos work well as they convey your brand’s personality while also teaching your audience how to do new things.

While the younger audience makes up the majority of TikTok users overall, you still need to analyze your follower data. Those unique insights will show you your followers’ demographics and what kind of content they respond to. 

You also need to be in tune with what other sub-communities and topics matter to them. TikTok is full of niche UGC that speaks to a diverse range of people and lifestyles. And those communities have influence. TikTok’s research found that 31% of users make purchases based on what their friends and community are talking about. So, create and share relevant content that speaks to those trends and conversations.

Challenge: Aligning with rapidly changing trends

Every day, it seems as if there’s a new meme, dance craze, style, sound bite, or general obsession taking over the internet. It’s not always easy keeping up with the cool kids and staying relevant.

Opportunity: Stay up to date on what’s new 

TikTok has a valuable built-in resource for staying on top of trends: the TikTok Creative Center. Here, brands can look at top trending hashtags, songs, creators, and videos over the past seven, 30, or 120 days. You can also filter by industry and geographical region. 

For example, based on what’s trending in the apparel industry in the U.S., you can tailor your content to include gift ideas.

Then, you can click on each trend to see more robust insights, like related videos, audience age range, related interests, related hashtags, and regional popularity. The further you dig into each trending category, also known as trendjacking, on a regular basis, the more in tune you’ll be with what consumers want to see. You can find more inspiration for TikTok trends here.

Challenge: Engaging with a diverse, global audience

With 1.9 billion users across the globe, the TikTok audience can be intimidating but full of potential. You have to think about how to resonate with a broad range of consumers. 

Opportunity: Showcase vulnerability and different perspectives

There’s always multiple sides to one story and many people who experience aspects of life differently. That may be because of geographical location, age, gender, lifestyle, background, or circumstance. 

As TikTok recommends in its Shopping Trends Report, “brands can build trust by destigmatizing non-traditional pathways, showing the full journey, and sharing diverse perspectives and stories to resonate with a broader audience.”

How to source and promote UGC on TikTok

Once you’re aligned with how to connect and engage with the audience that will be producing the UGC for your TikTok, use these tactics to usher in the flow of content.

Promote branded hashtags

One way to facilitate relevant UGC about your brand is to start the trend and set the tone yourself with branded hashtags. Post the type of content you’d like others to create and use a hashtag that includes your brand name or a variation. Encourage others to post content with the same hashtag(s) and offer an incentive, like a chance to be featured on your profile page.

Once your audience starts creating UGC with branded hashtags, you can repost the content on your profile or interact with the content in different ways. For example, you can: 

• Use the Video Reply feature to respond to a video in the comments section with a related video
• Use the Stitch feature to incorporate and interact with a specific snippet of another user’s video within your own
• Use the Duet feature to create side-by-side collaborative videos where you can respond, interact, or perform alongside another user’s original video

The apparel brand Doen promotes its #shopdoen hashtag, which has a ton of high-quality, authentic UGC tagged with it.

Launch challenges and contests

Engaging your audience through challenges and contests on TikTok is a fun and effective way to spark tailored UGC. Start by creating a unique and compelling challenge that aligns with your brand or product. Encourage users to participate by showcasing their creativity and skills. Make sure to include a hashtag specific to the challenge to easily track entries. 

Contests add an extra layer of excitement and incentive. Ask participants to submit their entries for a chance to win exclusive prizes or be featured on your platform. You can encourage users to use TikTok’s duet and reaction features to foster collaboration and community engagement. 

By tapping into the creativity of your audience, you can gain a lot of authentic and diverse content while strengthening the connection with your community. Celebrate and highlight notable submissions on your page to recognize your talented followers and encourage ongoing participation.

A successful example of this tactic in action is a collaboration that e.l.f. Cosmetics did with Enthusiast Gaming. The beauty brand targeted TikTok’s massive gaming community with a challenge called TikTok Gamers Greatest Talent. The challenge called for gamers to show off their hidden talents. The campaign resulted in a 16.8% engagement rate with the #TikTokGGT hashtag and over 9 billion video views.

Work directly with UGC creators and influencers

A direct line for sourcing and leveraging quality UGC is the actual creators of the content. Partner with UGC creators and influencers to collaborate on content campaigns relevant to your TikTok audience. Those can be your actual customers or legitimate influencers in your industry with larger followings.

Seek out potential collaborators by reaching out to your most engaged customers on TikTok or creators who meet your criteria in the TikTok Creative Center. Be sure the creators and influencers you choose to work with already have a relevant presence and audience for your brand. Provide them with style guidelines and be prepared to discuss an exchange or fee for their UGC.

Walmart used this tactic with great success. The global retail brand launched a campaign asking TikTok creators to show their insider tips, tricks, and hacks “only Walmart shoppers would know.” The  #IYWYK (If You Walmart, You Know) creator campaign resulted in a 20% lift in engagement rate and a 9.2% increase in awareness.

Repurpose UGC for social commerce

Another great benefit of TikTok UGC is you can use it for shoppable content. With TikTok Shop, brands can upload their product catalog to the app and link content with products. From there, shoppers can make purchases directly in the app. So, anytime a customer or collaborator makes a video featuring your product, you can share that content with the linked product.

Working with UGC creators on livestream shopping campaigns is a fun and interactive way to leverage social commerce on TikTok. 

Measure your TikTok UGC performance along the way 

You’ll need to consistently track your performance metrics to determine the success of your TikTok UGC campaigns. By reviewing your analytics, you can look at the engagement for your individual pieces of content, TikTok Shop insights, and more. Analyzing your results will show you what types of content perform the best and any areas of opportunity you can improve.

Learn everything you need to know about reporting on success with our TikTok analytics guide.

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• For every dollar spent on influencer marketing, brands can earn $5.78
• 63% of consumers say they trust what influencers say about your products more than what you say about them
• The global influencer marketing industry had a market value of $16.4 billion, as of 2022

Such numbers are possible as consumers continue to engage with influencers on a daily basis, often across multiple platforms. This level of engagement helps brands promote their products and services to consumers faster and more effectively.

Finding the perfect influencers to partner with is the first step, then comes the challenging part of getting in touch with them and ensuring a positive reply that leads to a successful collabaration.

So, how do you do it? There’s two main ways to go about it. Either you or your team can send a personal message on social media or reach out to them through email. The ideal way would be to do both, but email is a far more reliable way of getting a reply. When drafting your outreach emails, remember that an influencer receives dozens of emails daily so your message might get lost.

You need to make sure you cut through the noise by writing an email that immediately catches their attention. With that in mind, we’ve compiled this guide of the best strategies and templates you can use to write influencer outreach emails that elicits a positive response.

Chapters:

1. How to write a perfect influencer outreach email
2. Influencer outreach email templates
3. Save time on your influencer outreach emails with AI

How to write a perfect influencer outreach email

Follow these five simple steps to master your influencer outreach email(s) that guarantee a positive response.

1. Know your goals

What do you expect to achieve from the collaboration? Is it increasing brand engagement and reach or increasing brand awareness? Why do you want to partner with this particular influencer? What do you want the influencer to do for your brand? Give free giveaways, a product review, or post photos or videos of your products?

By answering these questions up front, you’ll be able to articulate your ideas and write an influencer outreach email that encourages your prospect influencer to work with your brand.

2. Write a catchy subject line

Digital celebrities are busy people, who receive multiple emails a day. If you want them to read yours, your outreach email needs to have a catchy subject line that draws attention.

Put across the main idea of your email in one short sentence or phrase. Seven or so words, or around 41 characters, is the ideal length for your subject line. Examples of a punchy subject line for your influencer outreach emails include:

• [Name], we want you as [brand name]’s VIP
• Love your Instagram aesthetic, [name]!
• Looking for a new collab, [name]?

Keep in mind that your subject line is like your “resume,” so to speak. If you don’t make an impression with it, the chances of your email getting opened could be slim — a third of recipients will open an email based on the subject line alone! So don’t underestimate the power of a strong subject line and give it a lot of thought to create a few versions before you finalize one.

3. Personalize your messages

Make sure you tailor every outreach email to each specific influencer you message. Personalization should begin with the subject line itself and should most certainly reflect in the greeting, and then must be spread across your email content where possible. Always use the influencers name to your advantage and these opportunities where you can add a touch of personalization to your outreach emails:

• Express admiration for the content the influencer generates. Be specific and share a link to a post that the influencer has published, and talk about what you love or appreciate about it
• If you or a colleague has met the influencer in person, make it a point to say so in the email
• If anyone from your brand has participated in an event/activity hosted by the influencer, don’t forget to mention this in the email
• If you’re reaching out to an influencer from a different country, try to speak their language. You don’t need to write the whole email in their language, but the greeting, subject line, or a few words here (“Bonjour!” instead of “Hello!”) and there make a strong impression. But make sure the usage is accurate — consult with someone who speaks the language or make sure you verify what you’ve written is accurate

4. Keep your email short and to the point

Influencers have busy schedules and other priorities ahead of reading outreach emails. If you want your email to be read, make it easy for them to scan it. Be concise and to the point. Although personalization in the email is essential, don’t overdo it to a point where it gets too lengthy:

• Introduce yourself and your company: Let them know about the brand and industry you work in, your mission, and the product or service you offer
• Connect your brand values to the values of the influencer: Tell them why they’re a perfect fit for your brand. Use some of their content that resonates with your brand to establish a connection where possible
• Let them know the offer: Give details about what you’ll offer, whether it’s free products, collaboration, or an affiliate program. Only when they show interest in your offer, talk about the monetary compensation

5. Give them creative freedom

Influencers run their business the way they want it and they’re successful at what they do. Give them the freedom to create content the way they like it. Don’t give them strict prerequisites that limit their creativity, as this will likely turn them off and make them not consider associating with you.

Influencer outreach email templates

With the above points in mind, you’re all set to start drafting your own influencer outreach emails. But to help you further, here’s a few influencer outreach email templates for different business scenarios for you to copy and paste.

Example #1: The first outreach email

The first email is to figure out the influencer’s interest in collaborating with you. In this email, state the purpose and make it clear that collaboration is mutually beneficial. Take a look at this example:

Subject line: [name], we love your TikTok content!

Hi [name], I’m [your name] and I work as the [job title] at [brand/business]. I’ve been following your content for quite some time now and I must say that it’s impressive and in line with our brand. Your recent post, [title or description of the post – hyperlinked], was really well done [the reason]. I shared it with our social media followers as well, and they really appreciated it! I’m writing to you because I wanted to discuss if you’d be interested in collaborating with [brand/business] to help us reach your audience. We’d love to send you our products and are open to other forms of collaboration as well.   Is this something you’d be interested in? If so, I’d love to begin the collaboration and bring value to both our followers!  Many thanks, [Your name]

Example #2: Brand ambassador pitch email template

If you want an influencer to work with you for the long term as a brand ambassador, follow this example:  

Subject line: [name], we want you as our new brand VIP

Hi [name], I’m [your name], I’m the [job title] at [brand/business]. I’ve been following your content for a while and I love it — especially your post on [example of a post that resonates with your brand]!  I’m writing to you today as I think you’d be a great fit for our brand so I’d love to start a conversation for us to work together by establishing a long-term association. Would you be interested in an ongoing collaboration with [brand or company name]? We’re [describe what the brand or company does]. Let me know if you’re open to discussing this further and I’ll send over more details to you. Excited to get started! [Your name]

Example #3: A new product launch  

Influencers can generate a huge buzz online for your new products or your latest features. This example is perfect for your prospective influencers:

Subject line: [name] x [your brand name] collab?

Hey [name], I’m [your name] from [brand/company name].  We’re launching a new product, [name of product/feature], this month, which is helpful to [who finds your product useful and why].  I’ve been following your content for a while now and I noticed that you post about similar products. I strongly feel that your audience would benefit from learning about our products, especially our latest launch! Please let me know if you’d be interested in promoting [new product/feature]? You’ll be adequately compensated with [list perks like new features, free samples, the pay rate, etc.] for your time.   Hope to hear from you! Kind regards, [Your name]

Example #4: Free samples template

Influencer outreach emails don’t have to be focused solely on collaborations. It’s also a good idea to reach out to influencers and let them know that you’d be sending your products for them to talk about if they’re interested and like your product. Consider this direct, short email example:

Subject line: Loved your latest Instagram post, [name]

Hey [name], I’m [your name] from [company name]. I loved your latest Instagram post and wanted to let you know that your work is very impressive! I’m reaching out to you because I have a product that I think your niche audience would absolutely love. I hope you’d be keen to test out [product name] and share it with your audience, if you like it. Keep a lookout for free samples too – I’ll also send a few extras in case you want to do a giveaway with them.  Let me know what you think! Thanks for your time, [Your name]

Example #5. The affiliate marketing template

Affiliate programs are payment or commission-based programs that depend on the number of leads the influencers pass on to you. Here’s an excellent template of an email for that purpose:

Subject line: We want you as one of [brand name]’s featured creators!

Hey [name], I’m [your name] from [company name]. I really enjoy the content you create for your audience! I’m reaching out to you because I feel you would be a great ambassador for our brand. With that, I’d love to invite you to join us as an affiliate partner.  We’ll provide you with a number of free samples for you to use and share with your loyal community. We’d also love to offer an affiliate code that you can share with your audience so you can earn commission from your influence.  Would you be interested in joining us as an affiliate partner? Please let me know – we’d love to have you on board! Many thanks, [Your name]

Save time on your influencer outreach emails with AI

These tips and influencer outreach email templates are an easy way for you to get started on your influencer marketing strategy. But there’s an easier way too — letting AI do it for you.

With Bazaarvoice affable.ai, you can reach multiple influencers at once using several ready-to-use influencer outreach email templates, saving you and your team substantial time and effort.

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Why? Because after conducting a quality audit of its account, founder Fab Giovanetti made a startling discovery: their engagement rate — the percentage of followers who engage with its posts — was a mere 0.1%. Meanwhile, the average engagement rate for an Instagram business profile is 4.7%.

Lots of Giovanetti’s followers weren’t liking and commenting on her content. But not just because they were infrequent users or were uninterested in her posts — thousands weren’t real followers at all. They were fake accounts created by bots. Essentially, they were ghosts.

Odds are your brand’s Instagram also has ghost followers that can hurt your credibility and lower your engagement rate. So here’s everything you need to know about Instagram ghost followers, including how to find them, remove them, and avoid them.

What are Instagram ghost followers?

Instagram ghost followers are inactive or fake Instagram accounts that may follow you, contributing to your overall follower count. However, they never interact with your content.

Sometimes these accounts are created by real people who simply don’t use their account. However, they’re often social bots with no actual users behind them.

These accounts exist because people are willing to pay for followers, which has created a market for fake follower accounts. All those fake followers must be created though, and this process is often automated.

Just because you didn’t purchase them doesn’t mean these fakes aren’t lurking in your follower count. The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance conducted an audit of 100 of the most successful Instagram accounts and found that up to half of all the accounts following celebrities like Taylor Swift, Ellen DeGeneres, and Ariana Grande weren’t real at all.

“All large Instagram profiles have some percentage of ghost followers,” says David Dundas, founder of influencer marketing agency HelloConvo. He estimates that 10% to 20% of brand accounts’ followers are fakes.

How do you identify them?

The Instagram ghost followers that are easiest to spot have no profile picture, no posts, and a high ratio of people-they-follow to followers. They may also have a username that looks like gibberish or is composed of random numbers.

In the example below, this account has no profile photo or posts, and it’s following more than 2,000 people but has no followers. Most likely, we’re looking at a ghost account.

However, a fake Instagram account can sometimes appear to be real. They may have a more convincing username and even a few actual photos posted.

What’s so bad about ghost followers?

If you’re concerned only about your number of Instagram followers, ghost followers won’t harm your account. You might even be grateful for the boost. But those fake followers could hurt your bottom line if you collaborate with an influencer or manage a brand account. 

They harm your credibility

Anyone can appear to be influential on Instagram these days by purchasing a few thousand followers. Since social media has become a competitive space, organically gaining followers can take time and effort. Many brands and influencers are fighting for consumers’ attention, leading to an increase in purchasing fake followers. 

These days though it’s common practice for businesses to analyze an account’s following to ensure they’re teaming up with the real deal — a person or brand that can deliver a worthwhile return on investment.

“When we evaluate influencers on behalf of brands, we use sophisticated tools to understand the makeup of your audience,” Dundas says. “We also do a ‘spot check’ looking at the comments on posts, as well as a quick scroll of your followers to see whether they’re real or not. If things look strange or they don’t have real conversations in the comments, we’re not likely to work with the influencer.”

Because Instagram users are typically paid based on the size of their audience, companies that team up with businesses and influencers that have fake followers are often paying to reach people that don’t even exist. For example, a report by cybersecurity firm Cheq estimates that fake followers cost brands $1.3 billion in 2019 alone.

That’s why companies usually now include language in their contracts that addresses Instagram ghost followers.

So if you’re working with other brands or creators, it’s important to ensure that your followers are legit, so you can establish and maintain an honest and mutually beneficial partnership.

They lower your engagement rate

Just as Giovanetti discovered, Instagram ghost followers can make your content less engaging because fake followers don’t interact with your content. For example, let’s say you have 10,000 followers, but you’re getting only 30 likes per photo. In this case, it’s obvious, at a glance, to any savvy Instagram user that your engagement rate is incredibly low.

An account with many followers but low engagement likely has a lot of ghosts contributing to that high follower count. And if your posts aren’t getting enough attention from followers, they’re certainly not going to attract advertisers.

To calculate your account’s engagement rate, divide the number of likes and comments of your 10 most recent posts received by your number of followers. Then, multiply the value by 100.

Engagement rate = likes + comments ÷ followers x 100

Fewer people will see your content

Instagram’s algorithm predicts what kind of posts users want to see in their feeds based on what they’ve liked and commented on previously. And it’s more likely to display content based on how engaging it is.

If your brand announces a new product and the post generates a lot of interactions, the algorithm is likely to place this post in more of your followers’ feeds. This could also land it on Instagram’s coveted Explore page, where users are recommended posts from accounts they don’t follow.

A post that doesn’t attract many likes or comments, however, won’t have as much reach because Instagram’s algorithm deems it less relevant to users’ interests.

When your account has a lot of ghost followers that don’t engage with your content, this lack of interaction affects your post’s visibility. Not only is it less likely to appear in your fake followers’ feeds, but it’s also less likely to show up in your other followers’ feeds.

This can create a vicious cycle: your engagement rate drops, so fewer people view your content. And the fewer users who see your posts mean your engagement rate will decrease again.

How do fake followers impact Instagram influencer campaigns?

Fake Instagram followers reduce the effectiveness of any influencer marketing program. If the influencers who make up the program don’t have real followers, any content shared by them is unlikely to yield the desired results, if any. The program won’t return any sales, engagement, or reach.

Plus, the follower count is typically the measure that defines the influencer’s rate card. So if a brand hires an influencer with 50,000 followers of which 30,000 followers are fake, then it’s simply paying for bots and not real audiences. In which case it’s a refund or no business in the first place.

How do you check for Instagram ghost followers?

There’s several ways to do a ghost followers audit on Instagram. It can be done manually or through automated tools. 

Manual Instagram fake follower audit

It’s quite simple to check whether an account is suspicious or not. Here’s five steps to detect Instagram fake followers: 

1. Check the profile bio or information. Suspicious accounts will have very little information about the profile, with fewer or no posts 
2. Check if they have any profile picture or real name in their username. If you notice that the followers’ accounts have no profile pic or poorly written usernames, this can be a sign of a fake follower. For example, @u_stole_my_heart looks real, but @donjhonson765432af could be a bot 
3. Check the following-to-follower ratio. Bots usually have a large following and no followers
4. Check for an unnatural rate of activity in your or the influencer’s account. If you see fluctuations in the account activity, the account may have bots. A real influencer’s account activity will have no such imbalance for the most part. The level of engagement will be steady
5. Check for weird commenting patterns on posts. Advanced bot services are programmed to leave comments on posts to make them seem real. But, it’s easy to determine a fake comment because the comments are too robotic and generic, usually simple one or two-word comments, such as “good job,” “nice,” or “beautiful”

Automated Instagram follower audit 

Doing an Instagram fake follower audit manually can be time-consuming, especially if you want to partner with multiple influencers for one campaign or focus your elsewhere, like on strategy.

Automated tools like Bazaarvoice affable.ai can do all the heavy lifting for you by analyzing an influencer’s follower and engagement rates to determine if any fake followers are lurking in their accounts.

How to remove Instagram ghost followers

Once you’ve determined you have ghost followers, it’s time to remove them. It may seem daunting, especially if you have thousands of fake followers, but the best way to remove Instagram ghost followers is to do so manually. “I would literally go through our followers list and click on anyone who looked suspicious,” Giovanetti writes.

While apps exist that claim to identify and remove bot-created accounts, Instagram has banned apps that identify and remove ghost followers in bulk. Connecting one to your account can result in Instagram flagging your account and you potentially losing access to it. You also won’t have full control over which accounts are removed from your followers’ list.

Plus, there’s an upside to manually removing those Instagram ghost followers. “A great perk of doing this is that I got to re-engage with active followers who may forget about us by liking some of their pictures, which also sparked up our engagement,” Giovanetti says.

Once you’ve purged your account of those fake followers, Dundas suggests being proactive and doing a bit of “house cleaning” every three months to remove ghost followers.

How to avoid Instagram ghost followers

The only way to completely prevent bots and fakes from following your Instagram account is to set your profile to private, so you have to approve each new follower. 

Obviously, this isn’t an option for brands. However, there’s steps you can take — or not take — to keep those ghostly followers to a minimum.

Don’t purchase followers

Paying for Instagram followers is essentially purchasing ghost followers, so forego the temptation and focus on growing your Instagram following organically.

“Don’t buy followers,” Dundas advises. “It will forever impact your performance with the Instagram algorithm.”

Instead, he recommends making “audience reactivation” part of your ongoing social strategy. “Reply to all comments on your posts, engage daily with existing followers by leaving comments on their posts, and engage with new accounts in your niche that aren’t following you. This practice generates authentic conversations that give positive signals to the Instagram algorithm, and will increase your engagement rate.”

Don’t buy an existing Instagram account

There’s companies that sell Instagram accounts that already have a following, but purchasing an existing account won’t actually give you a head start. More than likely, all those followers are exactly the kind you want to avoid: bot-created accounts.

Don’t pay for engagement

Instead of taking the time to manually delete all those ghost followers, some users opt to improve their engagement rate by purchasing likes, comments, and Instagram Story views.

But while this may boost your metrics in the short-run, it’s not a sustainable practice, and soon you’ll be right back to where you started.

Find authentic influencers 

Many influencers stand out for their authenticity, skillfully representing your brand and compelling the audience to make purchases. Seek out these genuine creators with legitimate followers and engagement from real audiences.

Some brands will choose to focus on nano- and micro-influencers (accounts with a lower number of followers) as they tend to have a genuine online presence and are less likely to have ghost followers. That’s why they have much higher engagement.

Create authentic content that attracts real followers and engagement

Unfortunately, ghost followers just come with the Instagram territory for now. While it’s certainly a good idea to do a regular audit of your followers and clean out the inactive users and fakes, the one surefire way to attract real quality followers and get loads of comments and likes is to simply post authentic, engaging content.

Of course, that’s easier said than done, but we’ve got countless ideas to help you capture the attention of Instagram users — and secure their follows.

Start by taking a look at your Instagram analytics to determine what kind of content your audience engages with, then read this guide for social media professionals to drive engagement and commerce to take your social strategy to the next level.

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