Virtual influencers: are they the future of online marketing?

Virtual influencers or AI influencers are AI-generated virtual personalities. Similar to their human counterparts, virtual influencers on social media also show insights into their lives, the work of brands and their products. They post pictures and videos, interact with their community and are part of campaigns. They are generated by creative teams in companies or agencies. Well-known examples are Lil Miquela or Imma: Lil Miquela from Los Angeles has already cooperated with global brands such as Prada and Calvin Klein, while Imma has firmly established itself as a Japanese brand in the fashion and lifestyle industry.

Unlike classic influencers, virtual influencers only exist digitally. Their appearance, their personality and their messages are controlled by agencies or brands. This creates numerous opportunities for companies, but also the basis for critical questions about the use of AI in influencer marketing.

Basically, AI is being used in more and more areas in companies - in marketing it has long been used in content planning, text and image creation. It is therefore obvious that brands should test cooperation with AI influencers or develop a virtual influencer themselves. Specifically, there are several reasons for using virtual influencers.

Full control over brands & messaging

Brands that use virtual influencers for their campaigns have full control over the content, the presentation of the brand and the messages that are published. There are no risks such as possible scandals, a new branding of the influencer or scheduling conflicts. So you can ensure that every post on Instagram and every integration on YouTube or Twitch fits perfectly with the brand strategy.

Scalability & Efficiency

Human creators are time-constrained, take vacations, and are sick from time to time. AI influencers, on the other hand, are theoretically available 24/7 and can even work exclusively for a single brand - after all, they don't have to ensure their livelihood. International brands in particular benefit from non-existent language barriers. Travel costs for shoots are also eliminated and brands can use virtual influencers again at any time for a campaign, for example for new markets, products or additional platforms.

You can also easily test different hook variants. We were able to create 12 different creative variants in a supplement case within 48 hours and feed them into the paid traffic funnel. The result was 30% faster learning and lower testing costs.

Innovation effect

AI-generated content brings attention – as do virtual influencers, of course. Their novelty and technological background set brands apart from the competition and, when implemented successfully, generate media interest. We are already seeing its use by large corporations such as L’Oréal, Renault and BMW. Especially for brands that want to reach tech-savvy target groups and position themselves as innovative, AI influencers offer good opportunities to convey these values ​​to the outside world. The wow effect can ensure that social media posts go viral and achieve organic reach.

You can use virtual influencers in various areas of marketing. Just like with classic influencer marketing campaigns, it is important that the goal of the campaign is clear in advance so that you can measure success using clear KPIs and identify opportunities for optimization for further campaigns.

• Branding & Awareness: Virtual influencers are good for making a brand known or repositioning it. You can tailor their visual appearance perfectly to your brand and adapt content exactly to the brand values. This way you can create a consistent appearance on different platforms.
• Product staging & storytelling: With creative storylines and visually appealing settings, you can use virtual influencers to stage products. The special thing about it: You are not tied to reality, but can create a fantasy setting in which the influencer can also tell stories visually.
• Paid Ads & Performance Marketing: You can also optimally integrate virtual influencers in performance campaigns and generate conversions and leads with them. Your big advantage: You can test content in different versions and optimize it quickly because you are not restricted by schedules.
• Evergreen Content: Whether it's how-to guides, FAQ content or product applications - you probably have content that needs to be communicated again and again, so-called evergreen content. Virtual influencers give you maximum security for this content in particular: They don't lose interest, don't switch to the competition, but rather publish your evergreen content in the long term.
• International scaling: Your brand goes international, but you lack the necessary local creator network? AI influencers are ideal for entering new markets. We took this route in a UK launch case and were able to learn directly which messages work, which hooks perform and which offer structures convert. Only then did we approach local creators, which meant we had a higher hit rate and were able to save several weeks of setup time at the beginning.

Our experience from campaigns that we have been able to support as experts over the last few months have shown: AI influencers are a real game changer, especially in regulated industries such as health, finance or gambling. They enable consistent and compliant communication without surprises. We also share even more insights in our detailed YouTube video.

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Virtual influencers sound promising at first glance and can bring various advantages for brands:

• No scandals, no unexpected statements – you retain full control over messages and the representation of your brand.
• Content creation remains independent of human factors such as vacation, illness or a busy schedule.
• You can position yourself as a future-oriented and innovative brand by using virtual influencers.

But we also see: In the current Ipsos AI Monitor (p. 26), 36 percent of respondents in Germany state that they trust a brand less if they use AI-generated images or videos in their advertising. There can also be risks if you use virtual influencers for your marketing.

• Possible lack of authenticity: A major criticism of AI influencers is the lack of authenticity. Depending on the brand and product, authenticity plays a particularly important role in influencer marketing today. Virtual influencers can therefore be perceived as untrustworthy and this can also be reflected in engagement: In our experience, the engagement rates for AI influencers are often 20 to 40% lower than for their human counterparts. Whether on Instagram, Twitch or YouTube: Users value real experiences and honest recommendations that an AI-generated character cannot offer.
• Lack of acceptance: Not every target group reacts positively to virtual influencers and AI in general. Acceptance can be low, particularly for products that require trust and personal closeness, such as in the areas of health or finance. Important here: Always work with A/B tests and look at the data, the comment and community sentiment as well as engagement quality and brand uplift.
• High initial effort: The development of a virtual influencer is cost-intensive and time-consuming; in our cases it was between 15,000 and 50,000 euros. For design, animation, storytelling and character development, you need a specialized team or a lot of time to delve into the topic yourself.

Virtual influencers open up new worlds for brands in online marketing and content creation: They can use AI avatars for campaigns from awareness to performance, have full control over content and can easily scale their content. However, challenges such as a lack of authenticity and the high initial effort remain. If we take a look into our virtual crystal ball, we will not see a displacement of human influencers in the future, but rather a peaceful coexistence of humans and AI. Human creators are needed for an authentic appearance and closeness; virtual influencers enable creative productions and maximum efficiency. Which approach ultimately suits depends on the brand, target group and campaign goal.

Would you like to learn more about strategic influencer marketing and find out how your brand can become more visible and achieve more conversions through influencers? Then arrange a non-binding initial consultation with Ad Specialist!