From Sea to Social: Influencer Marketing Trends Seafood Brands Can't Ignore

Sprout Social, known for targeting the pulse of consumer awareness with the precision of a skilled surgeon, recently released its 2024 Influencer Marketing Report and it did not disappoint.  If you’re a seafood brand already working with influencers, or are thinking of testing the waters, you’re going to want to be in the know on what is driving current consumer trends.

We’ve broken down the key highlights to consider when plotting out your future influencer marketing campaign strategies here.

What do consumers really want from influencers?

Authenticity and alignment with personal values. People want to see themselves reflected in the influencers they follow, so think about this when choosing influencers for your campaign. What audience are you trying to reach? If you’re targeting millennial-aged moms in suburban areas, you should be working with influencers who are also millennial-aged moms in suburban areas. 

Food and drink is holding strong as a favorite topic, and this represents a brilliant opportunity for seafood. If consumers want to see more branded food and drink content from influencers, this is our wide open door to deliver them exactly what they want! 

Honest, but entertaining content is taking over. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a blow for educational content that held the crown on social media from 2020-2022. Nowadays, people instead want to be entertained and given honest, credible, and unfiltered opinions on branded content. Education can still be infused into content, but consumers are definitely on board with influencers who can deliver new knowledge in a way that leaves them feeling more cheered and charmed.

Generational divides are real. From what platforms they are on (Gen Z is loving TikTok influencers while Gen X and Millennials prefer to engage with influencers on Instagram), to what type of content they want to see more of. Once again, understanding your target audience is step one to running a successful influencer campaign. 

Influencer marketing has changed the way we shop

49% of consumers make purchases at least once a month because of influencer posts! And almost all consumers (86%) make a purchase inspired by an influencer at least once a year. AKA, influencer marketing works, and it’s only set to grow! These influencers are very capable of influencing purchasing decisions and driving people to spend money based on their recommendations. Meaning, if done correctly, influencers can help you sell more fish. 

Influencer marketing is a full-funnel activation - it needs time, resources, and relationship building just like any other well executed strategy. Sorry, sending products and expecting content in return is not how influencer marketing works. If you really want influencers to have an impact on consumer buying decisions you need to treat them like the professionals they are, allocate resources into growing your influencer marketing program and cultivate authentic relationships with these creators.

What influencers want from brands

Brands with shared values, clear budgets, and payment structures are the ones influencers want to work with. 93% of influencers agree the quality of the brand’s existing social content impacts whether they agree to partner - aka, if your own social media sucks, an influencer is not going to want to align with you. You can’t bank on them to save your social media presence, you need to put in the effort first and continue to build. So no, influencer collaborations aren’t an antidote for teams who underinvest in their organic content strategy. They’re a shining enhancement that extends your reach and builds credibility into spaces that direct advertising holds no ground. Successful influencer campaigns have proven to yield serious ROI, and InnaSea can help you get your own organic social media strategy in line and budgeting clarified so that when we set you up with the right influencers, they’ll be fully equipped to get you the results you want to see.

Most influencers prefer to work with brands to create short form videos and giveaway content. This type of content is most engaging on social media and usually yields better results especially in comparison to long-form and live content formats. 

One of the main ways that influencers want to improve brand partnerships is by being involved in the creative and content brainstorming process earlier on. Influencers are chronically online, they live and breathe internet culture, and their input is invaluable. They want the opportunity to provide input and inform strategy rather than executing a rigid brief. Listen to them! 

Or rather, allow us to translate. This is one of the top reasons we created our pioneering InnaSea Influencer Marketing Program designed specifically for the seafood industry. We know influencers are creative talents with endless insight. Through this program, we work with seafood brands and vetted, professional influencers to build out campaigns that vividly enhance your brand’s visibility by taking into account all of the knowledge that influencers bring - value that too often ends up left of the table.   

All in all, building true partnerships with influencers means compensating them fairly, listening to their perspectives, and valuing them as true creative partnerships. 

Influencer marketing predictions for the future 

People want to see brands partner with influencers outside of social media - ie) events and press trips. Yes, that’s real life, think-out-of-the-(PR)-box stuff we’re talking about. Sounds like a perfect opportunity to bring an influencer onto a fish farm or boat and give them, and their audience, a taste of what it's really like to produce seafood! 

Overall, entertainment is going to continue to be an important factor in content, and creativity leads the influencer charge - this is where it's super important to listen to influencer input and not expect them to execute a stuffy educational brief. They know what people find entertaining. Let them be creative!