According to Google, 68% of people who own a smartphone look at their device at least 15 minutes before going to sleep. On average people watch their smartphone at least 150 times a day and 82% check products on their device before a purchase.
These numbers tell us a lot about our habits, which are now increasingly linked to mobile devices. How often do we manage to check our smartphone while we are in line to get coffee, or send a quick update to our partner while we wait to pay at the supermarket, or respond to a working email while we are on the bus? These are the small moments now a part of everyday life, and what Google has defined as “micro-moments”.
Some of these moments are part of our private sphere where if a brand tries to get involved with an irrelevant message, we ignore it. Then there are the times when we search for information about a particular product or service, or we want to read a detailed review before making a purchase. It is in these moments that the intervention of brands can be really useful.
These micro-moments, depending on the user’s intent, can be divided into:
- “I want to know” moments
- “I want to buy” moments
- “I want to go” moments
To reach their goals, it is important that brands know how to fit into these micro-moments in a discrete way that is relevant and useful, and Influencer Marketing is the best tool for this purpose. In the examples below, we see how involvement of Influencers in their strategy can be useful in effectively reaching users in their micro-moments.
I want to go: local Influencer Marketing
Searches for places “nearby”are constantly increasing. Looking for a nearby builder, the nearest pharmacy, a bar in the area, are just some of the most common examples of proximity research. Proximity marketing is now crucial to reaching users in the place they are at a given time. To succeed, you need to be present in the right place and above all at the right time, that is when the user expresses the will to go to a place.
A great example is that of Pizza Pilgrims, a catering business based in Soho, London. By activating collaborations with Influencers in the area, especially food bloggers, the local pizzeria has managed to attract more customers to their restaurant. This strategy has combined effective storytelling through their Instagram and YouTube channels where they have told their story since their initial trip to Italy.
I want to buy: unboxing
In this micro-moment the user has already expressed the will to buy something. How many times do we find ourselves in a store and checking our smartphone to see if the price of the item we intend to buy is cheaper elsewhere? Or when we’re waiting for our flight to the airport and search different comparators to see if the couch we intend to buy is at a discounted price? 93% of people doing mobile searches do it with the intention of buying and this is a strong signal of the importance of online searches at this stage. Very often the moments for “I want to buy” turn into moments of “I want to watch” or “I want to see” and that is why more and more brands are working to improve their video strategies by creating more and more useful visual content.
A note on this, it is useful to mention the now famous phenomenon of unboxing, a video in which an Influencer opens a product in real time in front of all their followers and shares the experience of seeing the product for the first time. These videos work because they create a relationship of trust between the Influencer and the users, who feel like their friends.
There are many brands that have made successful “unboxing” campaigns, like Benefit Cosmetics, for example, which last year involved a series of Influencers both on Snapchat and YouTube. For the occasion, the brand of cosmetics created not only eye-catching packaging but also customised them with Influencers’ names, creating an even closer bond between brands and online communities.
I want to know: informative campaigns
Out of all of our examples, these are certainly the most popular micro-moments in everybody’s life. Searches like “I want to know” can be for example: “healthy breakfast recipes” or “today’s news”, “how to make homemade bread”, etc. 66% of people actually use their smartphone to carry out searches of this type. This kind of research means the person is in an exploratory phase and so does not yet have the intention to buy. The task of a brand at this time is to satisfy a curiosity and provide useful information to the user.
These are just a few examples of strategies you can implement to bring your brand to the attention of users. To include Influencer Marketing in micro-moments, it is important to never lose sight of the main thing: people. No one likes to be abruptly interrupted and that’s why Influencer Marketing is the right strategy to reach people as it gives them value added information that helps them carry out the activity they intended to, whether it’s a search for information, the will to go to a place or the need to make a purchase.
Buzzoole helps companies reach their potential customers as naturally as possible, allowing them to connect them with their favorite influencers through the most advanced technology on the market.