Many people consider industries like fashion, travel or health and fitness to be natural partners for influencer marketing. But as a result of the past year, we have seen fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands accelerate into this space; many have shifted their spending towards influencer marketing to drive consumers to buy their everyday products online.

FMCG brands and content creators have been dubbed as the latest marketing power couple, so we’re going to be taking a look at why this is a match made in heaven, how both parties can work together, and why FMCG brands that have not yet considered influencer marketing should have a re-think.

How can FMCG brands work with content creators?

The FMCG vertical covers products like food and drink, health and nutrition, personal care and grooming, and everything in between. They have a weekly or monthly purchase cycle and are quickly-retailed products that sell at a relatively low cost. These purchases typically take place in-store, but the past year has forced many consumers to buy their FMCG goods online.

Content creators provide the perfect option for brands looking to direct their audience to their online landing pages. With swipe-up links, affiliate ads and product placement as viable options for FMCG products, many brands that work in this vertical are recognizing the benefits of working with content creators. Because of this, it’s estimated that in 2021 nearly half (46%) of FMCG brands will spend 31-50% of their total marketing budget on content creators. This is a huge increase from 2018, where the average spend on influencer marketing was 20% lower.

Benefits of influencer marketing for FMCG brands

Promote e-commerce sales

The need for FMCG brands to be present and engaging for an online audience was crucial during the pandemic. By working with content creators, brands were able to organically build their online presence and boost e-commerce sales at a time when online sales were the preferable option for many consumers. An example of this is our work with Sunny razors, where our influencer marketing campaign positioned their product firmly in the online space. Every piece of content represented the bright and colorful vibrancy that the brand sought, and in pushing creator content across Instagram, we built the foundations for their online presence and successfully placed the product in front of online consumers.

While this was essential during the pandemic, we’re seeing many FMCG brands continue to roll out influencer marketing campaigns due to the positive results and a boost in e-commerce sales.

Build trust with your audience

FMCG products can normally be found in places like supermarkets, retail shops or your local convenience store. However, during the pandemic many of these places ran out of stock and consumers looked for other ways to buy these products. We saw the supermarket toilet roll shortage lead to ‘toilet paper’ being the fifth most searched term on Google in 2020, with the search ‘where can I buy toilet roll’ up by 800% in March 2020 year-on-year.

This, coupled with consumers’ apprehension to go to physical stores, led many consumers to find other outlets to buy through, many of them being online. With influencer marketing, FMCG brands are able to directly reach their audience, cut out the middleman and build a trustful and authentic relationship between the brand and the consumer.

Keep up with the digital age

Many FMCG brands have survived for years and years without undergoing any kind of digital transformation. Yet the pandemic has made many FMCG brands realize that they need to do more to keep up with the digital age. In fact, it has been found that ‘85% of CEOs from across this industry agree that the pandemic has significantly accelerated digital transformation’.

Influencer marketing provides a simple way for brands to cater to this digital transformation, ensuring they keep up with the times.