The Future Of Influencer Marketing With Ha Thi Tu Phuong, CEO Of METUB Network (S2E5)

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With a new wave of content creators, influencer marketing is gradually becoming an essential part of branding campaigns. In 2020 alone, more than 78% of Vietnam-based businesses spent a large amount of budget on influencers for their promotional campaigns.

But in order to have a successful influencer marketing campaign, businesses must have a clear partnership strategy. We talked to Ha Thi Tu Phuong — CEO and founder of METUB Network — to hear more about her views and advice for businesses to work more effectively with influencers.

Known as the bridge connecting content creators and YouTube, METUB has gained a record of 5 billion views from more than 1000 creators in the network. This success comes from the sincerity and transparency in working with partners and creators.

Influencer marketing — No longer a one-sided partnership

Aside from the likes and the views that an influencer can bring, brands and agencies today also have many other ways to measure the effectiveness of their influencer marketing campaigns.

Besides the objective factors such as the audience file or the influencer’s lifestyle, a successful campaign also depends on how the business works with influencers.

One of the biggest obstacles in working with influencers is their perfectionism and meticulousness. Every influencer has their own standards with their own creative products. And to Tu Phuong, this is the nature of their work.

Most creators are perfectionists. In order for the brands and the influencers to collaborate more efficiently, businesses should communicate more with their chosen influencers, so that they can understand the essence of the brands as well as the salient features of the products, and get the overall feel of the work from there.

Gaming — The future of digital content

Over the past six years, the feat of getting 5 billion views is a testament to that METUB has become one of the leading content creator networks in Vietnam. While researching and testing a variety of new content categories, METUB found that the gaming sector is experiencing the fastest growth for content, with well-promoted strategies and events.

Tu Phuong shared that in the current digital content market, gaming can attract 70% of Gen Z players (both men and women). Even so, gaming content creators make up a very small part of the ecosystem, and most of the revenue still belongs to game developers.

In fact, gaming influencers have been making many contributions to publishers. Today, it is not only the players who experience the games, but the viewers as well.

Moreover, the gaming influencer also acts as a supporter for game publishers in attracting new players, contributing to the formation of a players community and prolonging the life of the game.

Tu Phuong further shared that after two years of focusing on the gaming segment, METUB is aiming to become a leading network for gaming influencers, attracting more young creators and becoming a part of the game publishers’ marketing and distribution strategies.

In addition, as indie game studios in Vietnam are on the rise, Tu Phuong herself also wants METUB to become a solid supporter for indie game developers in the future.

Adapted by Thao Van

The program “Initiative for Startup Ecosystem in Vietnam until 2025” (also known as National Program 844) was approved by the Prime Minister on May 18, 2016 and assigned to the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam in charge of implementation. The program aims to create a favorable environment to promote and support the formation and development of fast-growing businesses based on exploitation of intellectual property, technology, and new business models.