why influencer marketing matters
DESCRIPTION
Presented at the 6th Annual Social Media Marketing Conference, Toronto, Feb 12-14 2013 Bloggers and social media content creators are the new influencers, and often have larger and more trusted audiences than enterprise brands. Influencer marketing is the idea of partnering brands with bloggers and other active social media users to create and distribute relevant content that is targeted towards an audience that cares, and is shared in a way that is authentic and transparent. It involves less shouting and more listening. It means less advertising noise and more quality conversations about things that matter. When brands partner with fans and influencers who are closer to their target audience than they are, they are taking a huge step towards building consumer trust and being part of the social conversations consumers are having long before they ever buy a product. This session will educate brands on best practices for creating powerful influencer marketing programs that help them shift from ineffective advertising to earned advocacy.TRANSCRIPT
6th Annual Social Media Marketing Conference
Why Influencer Marketing Matters
Presenter: Holly Hamann, co-founder, BlogFrog
Co-founder, BlogFrogInfluencer Marketing Platform 18 years in digital marketing
Mathematics and Computer Science Degree
Blogger – www.LoveandMath.com
About Your Presenter
Holly [email protected]
@HollyHamann
Where are your customers?
#BlogFrog
Disruptive Trends in Digital Marketing
Online Advertising
Content Marketing
Social Media
1. Banner Advertising Doesn’t Work
Advertising budgets are shifting to social media, and major brands are looking for intelligent, proven and measurable strategies to improve engagement and influence.
8% of internet users account for 85% of all clicks
2. Consumers Want Content
Content Marketing – compelling, relevant content, developed internally or through a community of key influencers, is driving more meaningful and stronger levels of social engagement with consumers.
There is only one true branding mechanism online and that’s content marketing.
3. Social Media Creates Influencers
Social Marketing – a new breed of technologies and best practices are emerging to target, automate and measure PR, sales and marketing processes and the ROI of social marketing campaigns.
In 5 years, marketers will spend more on social, mobile, and video than search.
Shifts in Brand Marketing
ControlImpressionsPurchaseReaching everyoneConclusionsFactsLinear (print/tv)
PartnershipEngagementConsiderationNiche audienceContentOpinionsNon-linear Mobile and video
The New Influencer
Customers Follow Her
What do influencers have that brands don’t?
What is Influencer Marketing?
Partnering with influencers who help create and share peer-trusted content.
Partnerships With Influencers Are Key
• Helps reach more target consumers
• Creates trust
• Provides relevant consumer content
• Helps create highly engaging, authentic content (video and mobile, blog posts)
• Scalable
• Creates powerful earned media
• Effective supplement (or alternative) to banner advertising
What do influencers want?
We asked 65,000 of them
What does the ideal brand partnership look like?
Which product category campaigns are most desirable?
How does trust and social good influence partnership choices?
How is influence measured?
How effective are brands at connecting, pitching, and compensating bloggers?
Which brands are the most successful at forming influencer partnerships?
We Wanted to Know
Survey Demographics
Top “Other” categories:
• Personal• Beauty• Books• Faith/Religion
This is where thousands of untapped powerful niche influencers live.
Core Influencer Categories
Hours per week spent engaged with other blogs
Hours per week
Bloggers who spend 6 or more hours per week commenting on other blog communities show a correlated increase in revenue.
Influencers favor brand-sponsored social media and blog campaigns!
• 60% respected brands who wanted to interact with bloggers, thought campaigns were fun, validated their blogs, or thought they were great opportunities to earn revenue.
• Less than 2% disliked brand-sponsored social media or blog campaigns.
93% have purchased a product based on information they found on a blog or online community.
90% of bloggers surveyed were somewhat or very interested in working with brands, provided they were compensated.
What bloggers want in a brand relationship
Most popular brand categories (view 1)
Brand Categories Highly and Somewhat Desirable
What’s TRUST got to do with it?
• 70% of influencers trust a brand more when that brand is promoted or recommended by someone they know from a blog or social media.
• 56% of influencers trust a brand more when a campaign includes an element of “social good” (raising money or awareness for a non-profit or social cause).
58% of bloggers have never been approached by a brand to work on a
campaign
How brands are reaching out to bloggers
• Nearly 2/3 of bloggers reject at least half of the brand pitches they receive.
• 87% said personal feelings about a brand influences whether they will work with that brand.
Number of brand pitched received by bloggers each year
Effectiveness of brand pitches
PersonalTargetedRelevant CompensationClearOrganizedConcise
Elements of a good pitch
What product category campaigns were accepted?
12% of bloggers had a negative experience working
on a brand campaign.
Reasons for negative experiences
Brands creating successful partnerships
Photo source: Warner Bros.
Just like any perfect relationship…
Photo source: Warner Bros.
Influencers want:
Photo source: Warner Bros.
Brands want:
Photo source: Warner Bros.
How do you get it?
What bloggers want How to get it
Commitment Engage bloggers for multiple campaigns to create relationships you can rely on for years.
Partnership Products and trends evolve over time. Take the time to ask bloggers about your brand and product. Then listen.
Respect Be as professional as you would with any business colleague.
Compensation Asking bloggers to work for free is short-sighted. Create powerful partnerships by providing mutual benefit and compensation.
Clarity Be clear about campaign scope (amount of work required, deadlines, compensation, non-competes, etc). Make it easy to say yes or no.
To champion valuable products
Provide a high-quality product that is appropriately targeted (i.e. don’t ask a diabetic blogger to write about your chocolate bar).
Social engagement Follow bloggers on Twitter and Facebook, join their community discussions, comment on their blogs, get to know them.
Balance Create campaigns that accommodate family-oriented lifestyles.
Current Clients