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I think it goes without saying that just about everyone in the digital marketing space is looking to become an influencer in one way or another. Whether you want to improve your authority amongst potential clients, find yourself speaking at a conference, or even publish your own book, you first need to build your overall authority and influence. Over a decade ago, I started off on a journey in digital marketing that was based almost completely on building my influence as an SEO and Social Media Marketer, so I wanted to share some of the things that have worked for me over the years. “Influence will lead marketing efforts by 2020,” according to Ted Coine. “It’s the most effective form of ‘advertising’ there is…”...
Businesses know that today’s consumers are knowledgeable and not easily swayed by traditional marketing. Consumers also look to peers to help them make purchase decisions. Influencer marketing can increase brand awareness, build an audience and help boost sales. Most importantly, it often costs significantly less than conventional advertising. If you’re looking ideas on how to work with influencers for your digital marketing campaign, you should learn from the best. So here is a list of some of the best innovative examples of companies that nailed their influencer marketing campaigns and what you can learn from them....
According to Twitter, if you really only trust your friends and family for this information, you’re part of the majority. But if you also have the highest trust in influencers for these recommendations, you’re far from alone -- 49% of survey respondents are right there with you. But what is an “influencer”? According to NeoReach, it’s “an individual with an online presence who has the potential to influence the opinions and behaviors of your target audience.” Because these folks -- like bloggers and social media personalities -- build a following over a long period of time by producing interesting, quality content, people begin to trust them. They’re relatable, and their opinions become respected. That’s why brands see the value of turning to influencers to reach or engage new audiences -- it’s a way to broadcast their messages as told by an authoritative source that people actually pay attention to. And no matter your industry, there’s likely an opportunity for your brand to connect and collaborate with influencers. Below, we’ve outlined seven tactics to try....
Thanks in part to a “60 Minutes” segment in October, influencer marketing has crossed over. It’s no longer just a topic of interest to advertisers. It’s a subject of public interest.
As the segment illustrated, influencer marketing is a big business. Teens with millions of followers can pull in hundreds of thousands of dollars for a shout-out on YouTube or Instagram.
It’s easy to imagine viewers all over the country yelling at their screens about the unfairness of it all, but from a marketer’s point of view, there’s another big problem: This type of “influencer marketing” isn’t actually marketing. It’s really “influencer advertising” and should be viewed as a less effective, pricier variation that has a corrosive effect on influencer marketing.
Influencer marketing transfers the implicit trust that consumers have in people they follow online and transfers it to a brand. Influencer advertising betrays that trust both for the influencer and for the brand....
Currently, it’s estimated that there are more than 8 million blogging moms active in the world. 85% of them have already agreed to be sponsored to test and recommend products. Dozens of YouTubers and Instagramers have reached more than $ 1 million in sponsorship and advertising revenues. Today, it’s estimated that the market value of influence marketing is between US $10 and $15 billion and will continue to grow over the next few years. By 2016, Instagram already had more than 500,000 active advertisers, and next year Snapchat plans to make more than US $1 billion in advertising dollars. The most recent studies clearly demonstrate that a companies’ investment in campaigns on new platforms has also been very profitable. On average, they pocketed $6.85 in return for every dollar invested. There is no doubt, brands have found a golden vein to reach their customers.Can we really talk about influence marketing strategies, when in fact, they’re just advertising placements?...
Like their predecessors, today’s social influencers are young, savvy, and creative—and can serve as powerful vessels for brands looking to expand their reach. But this generation is even more business-minded than the last. Here, we profile seven stars and get their 17 rules for social engagement today. All about Eva: At 22, Eva Gutowski is teaching brands like Sperry and Macy’s the new rules of social engagement.[Photo: Jenny Hueston] EVA GUTOWSKI Age: 22 Audience: Instagram: 4.6 million; Twitter: 2.2 million; YouTube: 7.1 million Specialty: Lifestyle vlogs; fashion 'grams Recent hit: A YouTube tutorial on how to up your back-to-school-supplies game using DIY craft techniques (1.4 million views)...
Influencers use different social media platforms to help promote and get the word out about the brands they are working with. Nearly a third of US influencers who currently work with brands cite Facebook as being the best platform for influencer marketing, followed closely by Instagram, per July 2016 research from SheSpeaks, a female-focused engagement network, which polled 347 US influencers who have an active blog, and are active on social media.
It’s not surprising that Facebook and Instagram were considered to be among the best social media platforms for influencer marketing, especially given that most influencers use photo and video content when marketing on behalf of brands. What is surprising is that only 10% of influencers cited Pinterest, a content sharing service that’s all about images and videos. In fact, more respondents considered Twitter to be the best social media platform, and they can only use up to 140 characters within that platform to promote a brand. What’s more, Pinterest even has more users than Twitter in the US as of this year....
Here's how Onalytica's influencer tool works... UPLOAD OR LINK
Any piece of content including your latest blog or that killer white paper you just created.
SIT BACK Our algorithm is doing the work here, sit back and enjoy that cup of tea.
INFLUENCE
Here are 25 influencers that match your content. Start influencing!
Influencer marketing is yesterday’s word-of-mouth marketing on steroids. The internet now makes it possible for regular people like you and me to attract thousands of followers. Blogs, social media, and new live-streaming services like Facebook Live and YouNow have opened the door for brands to partner with the micro-famous for (hopefully) macro results.
But most brands have no idea what they’re doing in this space. How could they? This is all new territory. Instagram is six years old. Snapchat is even younger. Blogs have been around a while, but it’s hard to know how to make the most of a platform that’s losing younger audiences. So what are brands and agencies to do? How do you find influencers that are the right fit? And how do you make money while exploring a new frontier?
Here’s a starting point...
Pat Kelly vividly remembers when he first knew he was a "thought leader":
"In 2005, I met another 'thought leader' and I asked him how he became a 'thought leader' and he said 'I don't know.' It was then that I knew I could be one too."
Pat Kelly showing that he is a true "thought leader" on the This Is That Talks stage in Whistler, BC. (Joseph Schweers/CBC)
Kelly proved his skill at leading thoughts on the This Is That Talks stage this past April in Whistler, BC. As you can see in the video of his talk, Kelly confidently made grand statements, spoke with his hands, and had slides - all hallmarks of a true "thought leader" or "influencer."
"My talk was a big success: I said things and the audience nodded their heads."
Based on the success of his talk, Kelly hopes to appear on a number of podcasts about "big ideas."...
f you’re thinking about using social influencers to grow your audience, then read on.
As the Director of Marketing for London-based social media startup 6Tribes, I’ve been tasked with quickly growing our user base and have had great success over the last few months using YouTube influencers as a marketing channel.
I’ve learned a lot about how to get the most out of these partnerships, so I thought I’d share with you six things that I’ve learned – which I hope you’ll find useful if you’re considering using social influencers to promote your brand.
Last month I wrote a post on the value of measuring engagement vs numbers when selecting an influencer for your company to work with. That post resonated with a lot of you so I wanted to expand on it and talk about the key considerations for your company when working with influencers.
Working with influencers and ‘sponsored content’ is a very popular option for companies these days, and done correctly, it can be a real benefit for your business. Here’s some of the things you should consider before working with influencers...
I just came across a quote in an eMarketer interview with an agency CEO that made me stop and shake my head: “We don’t start to work with an influencer unless they have 50,000 combined followers across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.”
This thinking is soooo backwards and lazy. Picking an influencer isn’t about the size of their network, it’s the connections they have to that network....
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One of the big issues for everyone in this space is measurement and Traackr allowed me to confront this issue head-on. It’s HARD establishing the value in a B2B setting since the sales cycle can be long, the decisions owned by different people on a purchasing team and other complications. And yet, progress is being made in this area. Do we aim for ROI? Yes. But that measurement may not always be accessible, especially in the short-term. The report looks at six different measurement alternatives.Maybe it’s not “marketing” The best companies are managing influencer relations in the same style as they would analysts or members of the press. Some of the experts I interviewed said we should not event call the practice influencer marketing any more, recognizing that the passionate experts in a field cannot be a marketing mouthpiece for a brand. The field is evolving to a more sophisticated level of engagement. The report contains some fascinating examples of the cultural transition needed to effectively make this change....
Chic packaging. A mysterious name. Millennial pink. Those factors all scream prestige beauty products. And that’s exactly what Suave, the bargain drugstore hair brand owned by Unilever, was going for when it went undercover and pretended to be a new luxury hair care brand, dubbed “evaus.” (That’s “Suave” spelled backwards.) In a clever marketing stunt, Suave sent beauty influencers packages of evaus, claiming it was a new hair care line. Then, it captured their reactions on camera upon revealing they were actually using Suave. The campaign received wide press coverage in both lifestyle publications like Teen Vogue, Glamour, and New York Magazine’s The Cut, as well as in industry sources, like Fast Company and Ad Age. Plus, hundreds of people across social media posted about the campaign. It’s an example of a successful marketing campaign rooted in content. Here, we break down the key elements of how Suave effectively used content to launch it, and then extend the messaging afterwards....
Whitelists have become of interest for brands looking to make sure their ads only appear in pre-approved places. Instead of blacklists, which can end up being a game of whack-a-mole, whitelists, while less scaleable and more expensive, can actually provide a better guarantee of not having an ad next to porn content — or worse. Now, a growing number of companies are testing influencer whitelists: Creating pre-approved lists of influencers that brands can work with, and in some cases, get unfettered, open access to their handles. Against the backdrop of brand safety, the issue becomes more prevalent. One marketing executive, who spoke to Digiday under condition of anonymity, said that he’s been “burned” by influencers who have taken his product, then posted content in “unsavory” ways that he said were “disgusting.” There have been flubs in the space. Perhaps the biggest one was when YouTube star PewDiePie posted videos with anti-Semitic jokes, costing him the business of brands including Disney and YouTube. Shortly after, in February, influencer and CoverGirl ambassador James Charles tweeted a joke about going to Africa and catching Ebola alongside a CoverGirl-sponsored tweet. And for influencers, it’s not just about so-called “brand safety” issues. Companies are also looking for influencers who haven’t worked with similar brands, or sometimes, haven’t worked with brands at all....
Animal influencers are undeniably on the rise. These pampered pets (and their owners/handlers/entourages) enjoy a level of social media fame usually reserved for well, human celebrities, and bring in real revenue through their high-profile partnerships with brands like Zappos, Mercedes-Benz, Purina, and even Google.
In other words, these adorable fluff balls make more money on a single Instagram post than you, a human, will probably ever make on a single Instagram post. Let that sink in for a minute.
According to Create&Cultivate, social media influencers (animal or otherwise) can expect to earn around $3,000 per sponsorship deal when they hit between 150,000 and 250,000 followers. Many of the pets on this list have over one million followers....
I need to emphasize that there are tons of wonderful people on the Top 50 list and many legitimate social media titans I admire. But I’d like to highlight 25 amazing people NOT on the list to demonstrate that we need to take lists like this crazy Forbes mess with a grain of salt.
You want some social media thunder? These are just a few of the truly great social media influencers of the world excluded from the Forbes list. I’ve linked to their Twitter handle. Please follow them so perhaps they can make this “prestigious Forbes list” in 2014. Heh....
Ever since the line between celebrity and social media celebrity was erased, bloggers have become legitimate influencers across almost all industries, affecting consumer decisions beyond purchasing by acting as both tastemaker and trusted friend. And a large fan base is no longer a requirement for influencers. More recently, brands have been turning to micro-influencers, bloggers with less than 100,000 followers, to better target consumers. Bloglovin', a media platform that connects these microbloggers with brands through proprietary marketing platform Activate, looked at its users' followers and influence across social platforms to see how they use these channels to drive engagement.
"In a rapidly growing world of micro-influencers and proliferation of social channels, brands and advertisers are looking for best practices to engage the right micro-influencers to reach their target audience," said Activate president Rohit Vashisht. "This research shows that brands can and should look at adjacent verticals to tap into multiple channels for wider audience reach."...
Are you seen as an expert in your industry?
Want to develop relationships with the media to become a go-to expert?
To explore what marketers need to know to connect with traditional media influencers, I interview Josh Elledge.
I tried a whole host of things to get relevant influencers to notice me and share my marketing-industry-related content to their large online audiences. In January, I had a lightbulb moment. I decided to use BuzzSumo to find and curate the most viral marketing content created by the influencers in 2015. I put together a round-up post, 15 Most Viral Marketing Posts From The Pros in 2015. I then reached out to those influencers on Twitter, letting them know that they had made it into the “most viral marketing posts of 2015” post. I got an awesome response. Three of the influencers I featured shared the post to their audiences of 683,000-plus on Twitter and Facebook. One influencer even wrote about my post....
Pity the advertiser looking to hook up with an influencer on YouTube, Facebook or other platforms. The marketer might be able to see generically how big the creator’s audience is — followers, views and likes — but important metrics like watch time and audience demographics aren’t readily available.
That’s because YouTube, Facebook and Instagram make only some of their engagement data public. An advertiser can see number of followers, views and engagements, but more in-depth information around how much time is spent with content only goes to account holders. That means advertisers are not only having trouble measuring influencer marketing campaigns, but also understanding which influencers to work with in the first place.
“When I walk into pitch an advertiser, I don’t show them our data and then four other people’s [audience makeup],”said Andy Tu, CMO of Defy Media, which oversees top YouTube channels like Smosh and Screen Junkies. “I don’t have access to their data and they don’t either. They have to take us at face value.”...
What’s a marketer to do? We heard that influencer marketing was the next big thing. We heard about companies getting amazing results with it. But it seems you can’t go anywhere online recently without seeing headlines like this. Note the social shares on those two articles: 242,000 for the first one and nearly 50,000 for the second one. If influencer marketing is burning down, that’s a lot of people standing by with marshmallows to roast. But don’t panic. These two articles, and many more like them, refer to a specific kind of influencer marketing. Generally speaking: the bad kind. Specifically, the practice of writing massive checks to teenagers with a lot of followers on Instagram or Vine in exchange for product promotion. That particular economy, which converted cash to “influence” or “awareness,” was pretty much doomed from the start. You’re in trouble any time you convert real money to something fundamentally unmeasurable....
Now to be honest, sometimes the resources they send are great, and from time to time I’ll even link to them.
But what would go SO much better would be if someone offered me something, anything related to what I’m working on.
So, in light of this movement towards depersonalization, I’m going to pitch you all on how you can engage with people BEFORE demanding something from them, as well as give you some ideas for what you can offer in that outreach email.
Here are 11 ways to build a relationship before asking for something in return.
This week I moderated another Social Media Today webinar as part of their Best Thinker webinar series, this time on the topic of The ROI of Influencer Marketing. This webinar featured Eric T. Tung (@EricTTung) Brand Ambassador for companies like Ford, Microsoft, Verizon and MasterCard, Kathleen Hessert (@KathleenHessert) CEO of Sports Media Challenge and Eric Berkowitz (@tracx) SVP of Global Services at Tracx. This webinar was sponsored by Tracx. We discussed ideas and tips from finding influencers for your brand to calculating ROI on your program.
Here are three key takeaways from the webinar:
- Not all influencers are created equal – Brands should look beyond social metrics into psychographics and contextual intelligence to determine the ideal candidates
- Bigger doesn’t mean better – A large following or readership does not inherently make a person influential
- The ROI of Influence – True influence drives action, not just awareness...
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if you want to be a marketing influencer then you can do it, so long as you keep driving forward and never stop trying! These tips will get you started.