Influencer Marketing – The Silver Bullet

Anyone who can exercise some influence can be called an Influencer, and Influencer Marketing is based on that premise.
We all understand the basic, human truth –

We value opinions of people we trust.

Recently, in one meeting with a large Influencer Marketing Agency, I wanted to know what they tell their clients…
They were quick, ‘The list of Influencers and their reach, interest, background, tone etc.’ I heard them out and asked them, ‘What else?’ They continued, ‘We brief them well, talk about the brand etc’. I said, Great. ‘What else?’ They looked around. Reassuringly continued further, ‘We also give them the ‘possible things’ to say. We don’t give them content to simply cut and paste, we are different.’ As the lead communicator took a sip of water I, as expressionless as before, thanked him for the great revelation, looked around and asked one more time, ‘What else..?’ Pin-drop silence. They now looked at me and said ‘What else..?’ It was my turn.

They looked around. Reassuringly continued further, ‘We also give them the ‘possible things’ to say. We don’t give them content to simply cut and paste, we are different.’ As the lead communicator took a sip of water I, as expressionless as before, thanked him for the great revelation, looked around and asked one more time, ‘What else..?’ Pin-drop silence. They now looked at me and said ‘What else..?’ It was my turn.

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I asked them three questions:
One, how many times have you used data? Data in terms of algorithm-based analytics, which can deeply convey the ‘nature’ of your influencer’s influence and convince your client all about the science, the influencer’s brand affinities, interests and so on and so forth.

Second, do you boldly dwell into the return on investment? For instance, how will it drive sales?
Thirdly, do you treat it like a campaign, developing a campaign strategy with a build up, an idea, the extensions, and amplifications leading to the KPIs?

I added one more, bonus question. How are you comparing your Influencer campaign with the clients’ other, currently running and traditional digital campaign; i.e. KPI to KPI?

Whether for budget-strapped start-ups or developed brands, Influencer Marketing is turning out to be a key element in the Digital Marketing mix. There are times it has delivered 10x returns! A brand called ‘Shoes of Prey’ tied up with a beauty blogger (vlogger) to enable a 300% increase in sales.

Some Influencer Marketing observations

Earned Media Value

It’s important to talk about the earned media that the Influencer campaign generated. Provide examples where it has resulted in ‘incremental sales’ when regular consumers were engaged with Influencer content for a corresponding test period.

Experimentation

Tie-in the Influencer campaign with a great offer or deal. This usually works wonders. Walmart clubbed both together and got a 45% increase in redemption. Another brand saw 30% increase in footfalls in their retail shop when measured before and after.

Micro-Influencers

Don’t become obsessive about Influencers. Look for the more impactful Micro-Influencers. Sometimes, they can be better and more useful to you and your brand, than larger Influencers. It’s also not always required that you go with Influencers from the same industry. Influencers could be from an unrelated industry, as long as the connection is made and obvious to your user. An SUV model by Buick picked Pinterest influencers to create a unique proposition, rather than picking automotive influencers.

Grassroots 

Social listening tells you who is talking about your brand and is happy with your product or service. Think of Fans, Super Fans, Micro-Influencers, General Influencers, Influential followers and so on. Another great discussion I had recently was about identifying influencers who are going to be big soon and bonding with them or developing long-term relationships to reap benefits in the future.

Campaign Mindset

There are several great examples of brands getting Influencer marketing right. Please don’t just scribble down a list and rush into it. Conceive it like a campaign, think before and after and build it through and through.

SAP used Influencer Marketing to sell its B2B conference. It got some influencers to create a video, which worked out really well for them. Another retailer got 50 Instagrammers to wear the same dress to promote the product itself as well as the brand.
Here are a few things to remember:

1. Combine the Creativity, Storytelling, and Uniqueness of each channel and leverage what technology can enable.
2. Instagram isn’t the only platform to use.
3. Pleasantly surprise the audience with the choice of your Influencer. Refer to the ‘Got Milk’ campaign; nobody expected the influencers that were chosen to be chosen.
4. Use both scientific thinking and creativity.

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Follow the ROARS Formula:

R (Research Research Research – this is the most important part) +O (Objectives, very sharply defined) + A (Alignment with the audience, brand) + R (Right influencer – Study their reach and engagement) + S (Scope for creativity, strong content and freedom to the Influencer to build authenticity).

Remember Influencer marketing will lead to advocacy, sales, buzz, SEO and everything else that comes with it. Whether your consumers are in the awareness stage, or active consideration or purchase stage, this tool for mass marketing will deliver if done right.

As a trend, some brands are getting Influencers to participate in long-term partnerships and collaborations to create new product designs. Two brands, Target and Band-Aid, are doing this as we speak.

So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and influence away! Over 200 million people are using ad-blocking software. Your users, current or potential, don’t want ads. They just want honest opinions and this is the time to leverage that sentiment change. So you see, with Influencer marketing, you’ve just found yourself a silver bullet!

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Have you tried out some form of Influencer marketing for your personal brand or business? Write your success stories here, in the comments section, for others to learn.

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