Word-of-mouth marketing is critical to the customer acquisition process for credit cards

The 2024 general election has been dubbed “the podcast election” due to candidates’ potentially game-changing appearances on some of the biggest podcasts in the US. These appearances illustrate the untapped potential of podcast advertising. “Podcasts may have played a big role in the US election, but they're still getting overlooked by advertisers,” wrote EMARKETER senior vice president of content and executive editor Vladimir Hanzlik on LinkedIn.

In today’s episode of The Banking & Payments Show podcast we talk about how financial services companies partner with creators on social media to reach younger audiences. In the ‘Headlines’ segment we examine the partnerships between banks and influencers by discussing the EMARKETER article, “How to make finfluencer partnerships work with a smaller marketing budget.” And in the ‘Story by Numbers’ segment, we shift the conversation to how many financial influencers there are on social media and the steps a bank needs to take to find the right finfluencer to partner with. Join the discussion with host, Rob Rubin, content creator and finfluencer, Taylor Mitchell, and analyst, Lauren Ashcraft.

Influencer marketing is a core part of many brands’ strategies. Sponsored content spend on social media will total $8.14 billion in 2024, nearing the $10 billion mark by 2026, according to EMARKETER’s March 2024 forecast.

Reach is the most popular metric for measuring the success of influencer marketing programs among US enterprise marketers, per a Linqia study.

Three themes echoed throughout Advertising Week New York this year: Third-party data is harder to get, the creator economy is growing, and marketers face more pressure to prove ROI. Here are some of the most common—and controversial—trends from the event.

Influencer marketing is a booming industry. But accessing the opportunity requires navigating a complex web of consumer preferences and platforms, and growing pressure to prove ROI.​

This year’s Olympics were a major opportunity for marketers, both on TV and connected TV (CTV) and on social media. The Games only come around every two years, but the marketing lessons are applicable long after Paris’s crowds have cleared. From a push for generative AI (genAI) to athletes becoming creators in their own rights, here are five takeaways from the Summer Olympics.

Successful creator campaigns on TikTok rely on partnering with creators who align well with the brand and consistently show love for its products. In 2024, US influencer marketing spend on TikTok is projected to reach $1.403 billion, per EMARKETER’s forecast. Brands that take a genuine approach to collaborating with creators ensure credibility, are more likely to connect with followers, and inspire purchases.

“The creator economy is at an inflection point,” our analyst Jasmine Enberg said on our “Beyond Brand Deals: How Marketers Can Navigate the New Creator Economy” webinar. “We’re at a moment now where it seems like every marketer has recognized that they need to be working with creators.”

This year, we’re in a Brat girl summer. The lime green trend used by Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign joins a handful of other trends going viral this summer. Marketers may be too late to capitalize with their own content, but there are still important takeaways from these TikTok trends that advertisers can apply long after the trends become outdated.

Every year, as adland descends on the south of France for Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, there are a few topics that dominate the conversation. This year’s two hottest topics—creators and AI—didn’t deviate much from 2023, but the way each showed up on the Croisette and at the Palais did.

The world’s biggest advertisers converged at Cannes Lions last week. At the festivities, marketers discussed everything from AI (it’s everywhere) to retail media (it’s growing). Other hot topics included the creator economy, which people are optimistic about, and data privacy, which has people more concerned. Here are some hot quotes overheard at Cannes.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss what a TikTok ban could do to the creator economy, if chatbot influencers are the future, and the changing ways creators are making their money. "In Other News," we talk about who Americans trust most (and least) with AI. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Jasmine Enberg.

“Creator is in their name. So let them create.” That was the advice Sophie Jamison, CEO of Lightning Media, shared at the recent EMARKETER Summit. Jamison warned against giving creators too much direction and was optimistic about the future of social media marketing, even if TikTok goes away.

For August, a digitally native direct-to-consumer brand of period care products, TikTok gives more than it takes down. For example, in January 2020, its launch video was immediately removed by the platform. “I still get videos taken down for what the app believes is graphic content,” said August co-founder Nadya Okamoto. Still, Okamoto credits TikTok for helping her cultivate a community of nearly 4.5 million followers across her personal and brand TikTok accounts, as well as allowing her to open a dialogue for authentic marketing.

Measuring creator marketing is tough. Affiliate links provide direct attribution, but many sales occur after consumers see creator content. Even MrBeast, the biggest individual creator on YouTube, sells his Feastables bars at retailers like Walmart, not just on social media. So how can advertisers using creator marketing measure the efficacy of creator campaigns?

If you’re trying to appeal to Gen Z, “hire Gen Zers,” said Jennifer Quigley-Jones, CEO and founder of influencer marketing agency Digital Voices. Whether making social media content for brand-owned accounts or working with influencers, marketers that want to sell to Gen Z need to work with Gen Zers.

While influencers bring authenticity and engaged audiences to partnerships,to create the best campaigns, brands need to uphold their side of influencer marketing relationships. “Affiliate creators want and desire deeper or more lasting, sustainable partnerships with brands,” Mike Balducci, general manager of affiliate, ecommerce, and payment solutions at CreatorIQ, said during a CreatorIQ and Ipsos webinar last week. “That’s actually really great news for brands because long-term partnerships, as we know, deliver a much better result over time.”

33% of US Gen Z consumers have purchased a product from an influencer-founded brand in the past year, followed by millennials (29%), according to Morning Consult.