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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."...
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!
The power of word-of-mouth is amplified through social networks. These days, when you’re considering any purchase, you have an entire focus group to call upon via your smartphone any time, and that focus group isn't some random sample. These are people you care about, people you listen to and trust. These people are influencers, and through social connection, those influential voices can be virtually anyone. And now brands are looking to tap into that potential.To get a better handle on the opportunities of influencer marketing, Tapinfluence recently commissioned Altimeter to conduct a study of more than 1,700 influencers and 100 marketers to get their insights into thecurrent state of influence and how brands can, and are, using it to advantage. The full report contains some great insights into the growth of influencer marketing, particularly from the perspective of the influencers themselves, and they’ve incorporated the key findings into this new infographic....
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...
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.
A recent Tomoson study found that marketers are seeing a $6.50 return on every dollar put toward “influencer” marketing. That supports a claim from another recent study from Schlesinger Associates, which reported that 81 percent of marketers said that engagement with brand advocates was effective.Identifying the right brand ambassadors to use in your campaign is still the biggest challenge to this tactic....
As concerns about ad blocking grow, influencer marketing is becoming more important to brands. YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat have become popular channels, and new tools are making it easier to work with influencers, as explored in a new eMarketer report, “Influencer Marketing for US Brands: The Platforms to Watch, and the Best Ways to Work with Creators.”
Digital agency executives also report rising interest in influencer marketing among their clients.“Influencers are such an important part of what brands are doing today,” said Greg Manago, co-president of content and entertainment for North America at Mindshare.
“The question [from clients] isn’t, ‘We want to do something with influencers; what do you think?’ It’s, ‘What’s the influencer strategy for this program?’”...
The benefits of combining word of mouth and digital interactions are crystal clear to marketers at Swarovski—especially when it comes to driving in-store purchases.
“Word of mouth, we're finding, is actually more and more important every time we do an event,” says Robin McCall, marketing manager for Swarovski Crystal Society, a community that customers can join to attend the company's private events, as well as receive free gifts and exclusive rewards. “But if you're not having the people who are your fans and your advocates speak for you, it's that much harder to be successful.”...
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...
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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Influencer marketing platform Tomoson recently conducted a survey and found that nearly 60% of marketers plan on boosting their influencer marketing budgets in 2016. That’s a pretty hefty percentage, and the newcomers are joining the ranks of major brands, such as Calvin Klein and Mercedes, who have been experimenting with influencer campaigns for some time. But what is an influencer? Today’s definition covers a lot of ground: it can mean anyone and anything from Justin Bieber to ‘King of Snapchat’ DJ Khaled to Loki the Wolf Dog. We tend to think of influencers in the digital content space as people who have a certain number of blog or social media followers – in reality, the definition is much more elastic than that. Brands are starting to understand that finding the right influencer is significantly more important than finding the biggest or most popular celebrities. Sure, you can get Kim Kardashian tweeting for you and pay her a millions of dollars to do it. But if you do that, are you really reaching the the audience you want? Once the buzz dies down, are you making the smartest long-term investment of your marketing dollars? Probably not. Pick more fruit from halfway up the tree and you’ll find that it can be even more bountiful than the stuff at the top. Another tactic? Focusing on platform-specific superstars, taking into consideration the unique pros, cons, and demographics of each social media site to let influencers do the legwork for you. When it comes to influencer marketing, one-size-fits-all is decidedly not the way to go.Here are 5 examples of on-brand influencer campaigns in 2016....
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....
Have you tried to market your brand through influencers? Maybe you’ve failed to see positive results from your influencer marketing campaign. Or maybe you’re just new to this marketing method and you want to know how to make it work for you. There are several types of influencer marketing campaigns and the important thing is to find one that’ll be perfect for your brand and audience. Let’s first take a look at how exactly brands useinfluencer marketing based on an Augure study. The study shows that 93 percent of marketers report increased visibility from influencer marketing. Seventy-five percent use the channel to generate new leads, while 76 percent consider it an effective way to earn customer loyalty....
So, where can you find these influencers and how can you get them to share your piece of content? I can understand if you’re skeptical of your own ability. You might doubt whether you can truly create an epic piece of content. Alternatively, you might not be able to understand why influencers will be interested in you and your content at all.I want to tell you a sneaky little secret… It’s possible to get industry celebrities to not just share your post, but even link to it....
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.
TapInfluence always knew influencer marketing was powerful and delivered results, but now they have the data to prove it. They partnered with Nielsen Catalina Solutions and WhiteWave Foods to conduct a study to prove their theory. The results were staggering. Check out the infographic to see the results and visit TapInfluence.com/ROI to learn more!
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...
Our webinar on outreach and influencer marketing with Paul May, CEO of BuzzStream, created a lot of discussion this week. There were many questions about the right and wrong ways to approach influencer marketing. We have summarised below the key takeaways from the webinar and shared Paul’s practical advice on how you can use BuzzStream and BuzzSumo to maximise the success of your influencer marketing....
This timeless quote is the foundation upon which influencer marketing is built. While a business may enjoy a countless number of brand advocates, influencer marketing focuses on cherry-picking few ones who have measurable influence over significant segments of potential customers.
Once influencers are identified and targeted, the business reaches out to them to build win-win relationships and co-create successful marketing campaigns. Simply put; influencer marketing is one of the most intelligent tactics that harnesses the power of word-of-mouth marketing....
With more companies sending outreach emails, it’s getting harder to get the attention of your targets. The key is following the right steps in planning, research, and nurturing relationships consistently.
To demonstrate the entire process from start to finish, Paul May, co-founder of BuzzStream, joined us for a webinar last week walked us through the real, complete influencer strategy involved in the launch of a previous BuzzStream ebook....
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The rise of social media celebrities is very noticeable. Is it because social media is more democratic or democratizing? Something to ponder. Or is it simply because there are so many niche channels that targeting has become easier?