Why Kidfluencers are an Important Demographic for Marketers: Insights from Viacom

They’re young. They’re smart. They’re single-handedly redefining the world of digital advertising.

At age 12, Gavin Magnus has three years of YouTube experience and at age 8, Heaven King already has six years of dancing in her background. Oh, and they have 852k and 690k Instagram followers respectively.

Kidfluencers may be “just kids,” but it’s hard to discredit their hard work and content creator experience.

During #SMWLA, Gavin, Heaven, and Heaven’s mother, Tianne, sat down with Harvey Schwartz, Co-Founder, EVP Talent, WHOSAY, a Viacom Company, for an enriching conversation around the booming business of kidfluencers including best tips for forging relationships.

The online influencer market shows no signs of slowing down per recent research from MediaKix, which estimates that companies will spend $5 to $10 billion paying influencers for sponsored content by 2020.

While on the one hand brands are eager to swoop on sizable celebrity partnerships, they’re also quickly learning that kids are an exceptional way to communicate with target audiences due to heightened exposure to digital channels. 79 percent of parents let their kids under 11 watch YouTube and 56 percent of kids have social media accounts by the time they turn 12, though research has proven children now start surfing the web at as early as age two.

Why kids are an important demographic for today’s marketers

According to PwC’s Kids Digital Advertising Report 2017, the under-13 digital media market is currently seeing 25 percent year-on-year growth.

Kids are an important demographic for marketers not only because of their impact on their parents’ buying decisions but also as future adult consumers. This was reiterated by several additional statistics shared during the panel by Harvey Schwartz, Co-Founder, EVP Talent, WHOSAY, a Viacom Company, that included:

• 75% of parents say kids influence their purchasing decisions
• 60% claimed they spend more when kids are involved in purchasing

Trends and consistency matter when it comes to content strategy

Keeping an audience involved requires keeping up with the rapid pace of trends.

For Tianne and Heaven, dance trends, in particular, are important sources of inspiration. While these are not always the easiest to keep up with, they try to pay attention to emerging styles and incorporate them into their content.

Gavin echoed this when describing his own content strategy, claiming he occasionally will devise his own challenge or prank-style video, but he also engages in research into what is circulating across YouTube prior to putting his own twist on the idea.

Another important ingredient in securing engagement? Consistency. “For some people, consistency is posting videos once a week, but I personally pay more attention to the consistency of our messaging and the quality we’re putting out there,” Tianne described.

Kidfluencers are more than just talent

When asked how often he posts, Gavin described how he has always posted on a weekly schedule. Originally he stuck to weekends, however, after a closer look at the KPIs of his channel, he made the decision to expand into the week and post on Wednesdays, which has resulted in greater ad revenue from his videos.

What this demonstrates is that kidfluencers are not mere sources of talent — they are capable and committed to understanding the marketing tactics behind their content success and harnessing the insights to improve their strategies and processes.

Characteristics of successful partnerships

“I like to work with brands where you can seamlessly integrate the product into your content,” remarked Tianne when asked what she looks for in a partnership.

She elaborated on this point by describing how for a particular video she did with Heaven last year titled, “Heaven and Tianne Cleaning Dance Challenge!” in collaboration with Pine Sol, she simply put the bottle down while they danced and cleaned up the house. “You never realized it was an ad until the very end,” she said.

In this way, the duo is able to remain true to their creative and the way they market their channel.

For Gavin, a standout partnership he participated in was with Capri Sun. “It worked really well because I love Capri Sun and actually drink it,” he explained.

It all boils down to one word: reliability. “You can take a Capri sun and be thirsty at the beach or on a hike and drink it while hiking,” he added.

In short, the freedom for an influencer to be his or herself is a significant part of the formula for successful collaborations.

Forging long-term relationships

Building long-term relationships in this emerging business is important and will result in improved quality when it comes to content and a higher level of engagement with younger consumers.

For brands, this often entails isolating themselves from what they think they already know. By listening to influencers’ input, you may very well become aware of ideas that otherwise would have never been brought to the table.

In these dialogues, consider fundamental questions including, what do they love about your product? What context do they envision presenting your product to their viewers or subscribers? An unboxing video? A prank or challenge video? A vlog that depicts the use of the product in their everyday life?

Kids will undoubtedly continue to have a huge effect on purchasing and online content creation in the years to come. Once you take the time to learn their journeys and what motivates them, and understand the rules around hiring them, there’s a tremendous opportunity to partner with these young creators who drive massive engagement.

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