Looking back on the last twelve months, here at JapanBuzz we’ve been reflecting on what has been an extraordinary year and how it might affect the world of Japanese Influencer Marketing in 2021. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The impact of Covid-19 has touched every workplace and restrictions on daily life are still continuing for many of us. We have also seen innovation and creativity that has brought hope to our online platforms and communities as we settled into our new work attire and zero-commute offices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Influencer marketing in Japan was already predicted to rise in prominence throughout 2020, however the pandemic has rapidly increased the budget allocation for influencers and social media promotions. According to a survey at the beginning of June by Agile Media Network, Japanese companies have boosted their social media marketing budgets by 57% since the start of the pandemic.
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In this article we review how Japanese influencers adapted their content following the first outbreak this spring and the influencer trends we have witnessed in 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like many other countries, working from home in Japan (or telework as it is often referred to) has become commonplace along with online classes for university students. This has reduced the effectiveness of traditional marketing avenues such as OOH (out-of-home) advertising viewed during daily commutes to the office and campus.
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Brands responded by switching to marketing on social media platforms and Japanese influencers quickly adapted to the challenges of staying inside and adhering to the non-essential outing restrictions. Despite the limitations of working from home themselves, they came up with creative ways to keep audiences entertained and developed deeper connections with them by showing how they were dealing with typical Covid-19 issues.
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One example would be when famous singer and actress Asumi Nakatani promoted an anti-virus and germ prevention spray \u201cBarrier Plan\u201d on her Instagram using the hashtag #coronavirusmeasure. She explained it can be used on clothes and on indoor surfaces and how she has been using the spray on her masks as shown in her post.
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