How AI Influencers Are Changing Marketing
By Ana Hoffman
Virtual influencers have been rapidly gaining traction in the world of social media recently, and this process has been accelerated even more through the rise of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Midjourney, and DALL-E.
For marketers and brands, the rise of AI influencers presents a new and unique opportunity to reach their target audiences through a more accessible, effective, and manageable channel.
We’ll explore the concept of virtual influencers, their potential benefits, and how brands can utilize them, as well as draw marketing inspiration from some of the most popular virtual influencers of today.
What is a virtual influencer?
By definition, virtual influencers are digital characters. Often called CGI influencers, digital influencers, or AI influencers, these are computer-generated personas with realistic characteristics designed to interact with people through social media platforms.
They are typically managed by a team of designers, writers, and strategists, who work to develop the characteristics, persona, and overall image of the influencer to make them as appealing as possible to a certain demographic of users.
Virtual influencers have typically been designed and created using complex design tools and advanced computer graphics, but the emergence and spread of generative AI has made the process significantly simpler.
Why use a virtual influencer?
The main reason why virtual influencers have seen a drastic rise in popularity recently is their effectiveness. Creating and managing virtual influencers comes with quite a few benefits for brands and creators.
Firstly, virtual influencers are cost-effective and can help brands reap the benefits of influencer marketing, especially smaller brands that cannot afford to work with large creators. You can think of virtual influencers as a one-time investment. After you’ve created the person, managing their online persona won’t be very time- or resource-consuming, but the influencer can be continuously used to promote your brand and products. You also get the advantage of exclusivity, as the creator won’t be working with other brands or your competitors.
Next, digital avatars are consistent and reliable, as their online presence is based solely on the needs of the creators behind the character. This allows brands to ensure their content is creative and memorable, yet consistent with the brand and influencer image.
Lastly, virtual influencers allow brands complete control over their image and messaging to ensure that no controversies take place in the future. This reliability is an attractive quality for brands looking for consistently impeccable influencer marketing campaigns. In fact, according to Christopher Travers, the founder of VirtualHumans.org, virtual influencers can do anything that human influencers can do, but with more control and engagement.
Examples of top virtual and AI influencers
Virtual and AI influencers have been around for a while, and many of them have already gained an impressive audience of dedicated followers. Below, we’ve assembled a list of some of the biggest virtual Instagram influencers you can take a look at to get a glimpse of how they operate and what strategies they use.
Lil Miquela @lilmiquela
Miquela Sousa, or Lil Miquela, with her 2.8 million followers, is the largest virtual influencer on Instagram and was created in 2006. She is a CGI character presented as a model and fashionista and collaborates extensively with fashion brands.
Imma @imma.gram
Imma is the first Japanese virtual model and influencer and was created by the Tokyo-based CG company ModelingCafe Inc. Imma creates mainly fashion content, and her brand mentions include Burberry, TikTok, and Adidas Tokyo, to name a few. She was recently featured on the cover of Harper's BAZAAR Taiwan for their 400th edition.
QaiQai @realqaiqai
QaiQai is a baby virtual influencer, and is, in fact, the family doll of tennis legend Serena Willians and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. She dances, sings, participates in various challenges across Instagram and TikTok, collaborates with other creators, and even has her own book.
How to leverage virtual influencers in your marketing
Currently, the use of virtual influencers in marketing is a vast uncharted realm waiting to be leveraged and explored. If you're seeking to leverage virtual influencers for your business and marketing needs, there are a few strategies you can consider.
First, start by identifying your target audience. Who are the people you are appealing to? Next, establish clear goals and expectations from your collaboration with the influencer, and create guidelines on what type of content you want to be delivered. Set pre-determined KPIs and use them to calculate your ROI during the campaign. This way, whether it's a campaign with your own influencer or a paid collaboration, you can ensure that the collaboration is as efficient as possible.
How will virtual reality impact influencer marketing?
Virtual influencers still have a long way to go to become as popular as their real counterparts, but the results of their work are already noticeable. A 2022 virtual influencers survey conducted by the Influencer Marketing Factory found that 58% of respondents followed at least one virtual influencer and 35% of respondents had purchased a product promoted by a virtual influencer.
Virtual reality, including AI influencers, while yet in its infancy, is set to change influencer marketing significantly. It allows brands to immerse customers in the production process and encourages active participation in the development of marketing campaigns, which can help improve brand awareness through deeper engagement and emotional connection.
What does the rise of AI influencers mean for the future?
The rise of virtual influencers, fueled by generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and DALL-E, is revolutionizing social media marketing. This presents brands with a unique opportunity to engage their target audience through a more accessible and effective channel.
Whether brands should work with virtual influencers depends on their marketing approach and set of objectives, but there is no denying that the popularity of this AI-based tool is rising. Along with many other benefits, AI influencers offer the ability to attract the attention of millions of followers, giving brands a unique opportunity to connect with younger audiences and appeal to them.
While currently the resources to work with digital influencers are still limited, it’s safe to say that we have not seen the true potential of AI tools like virtual influencers.
About the Author
Post by: Ana Hoffman
Ana Hoffman is a digital marketing specialist at ViralMango, dedicated to crafting captivating campaigns that deliver value to businesses and users. With an innovative approach, Ana excels at uncovering untapped channels for exponential company growth.
Company: ViralMango
Website: www.viralmango.com
