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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....
A newer concept known as micro-influencer marketing recently joined the social media scene. It’s the same concept as influencer marketing, but on a smaller scale: Brands partner with individuals with smaller followings on social media to promote products with authentic, visual posts instead of sponsored ads. In this blog post, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about micro-influencers, including what brands are using them successfully and how you can connect with these individuals to promote your brand....
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!
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.
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?’”...
There's a bigger gap in step 2 than many marketers anticipate, and one of the best ways to fill it is getting your content in front of influential people who can help spread the word. You'll have to make it worth their while, though, and in today's Whiteboard Friday, Rand explains how to go about that.
The people who you want to know are the influensters. Influenster is a product discovery platform and reviews site that enables consumers to find new products, and gain fresh insight and tips about new products so that all members can make better informed shopping decisions.
And we’re talking five million plus honest product reviews from 1.5M+ socially active trendsters, on over a million products for consumers to discover.
There’s also a gamification aspect to it, allowing trendsters and influensters a chance at receiving more new products....
Today, if you’re in marketing to any extent, you’ll know about influencers and, more importantly, about influence marketing.
What makes a great influencer? Influencers are humans, clearly, not automated content management systems. They are mega-connected on social media (aka they have earned the trust of many other humans to deliver on what they promise) and they have the unique ability to inspire action. The good influencers out there have great knowledge in a particular field, know how to curate that knowledge, add their unique vision and value, and they know how to communicate with their audiences.
If I am a brand, I totally love that potential, that opportunity, that has only been created in the last few years. How can my brand become part of an influencer’s curated content (and in a positive light, hopefully!)....
In this episode I interview conversion expert Doug Karr, the author of Corporate Blogging for Dummies and founder of the Marketing Technology blog. Doug also co-hosts the Edge of the Web podcast.
Doug will explore influencer marketing and how to work with prominent people.
You’ll discover how to identify and reach out to influencers, as well as develop relationships and campaigns that lead to sales....
Dr. Jim Barry of the Edu-Tainment Social Content Marketing blog has put together a list of the top social media influencers (with yours truly on it!).
The good Doctor has written up a fascinating, detailed post on the 4 archetypes of these influencers, describing the traits and types of influence they have in the industry, including: Educators – provide help and insight Coaches – engage and assist (you’ll find me here!) Entertainers – engage and inspire Charismatics – provide insight and inspiration...
This guide lists which tools do what, what types of companies they are ideal for, and if they're free or paid. It's a social manager's dream come true.
...Technorati released a great report at the start of 2013 showing that after retail and brand websites, blogs are the most influential for consumer purchases. The best part is that the majority of influencers blog, and quite a few have multiple blogs!So where’s the disconnect?
Why are brand marketers only spending 6% of their social media budget on INFLUENCERS? (Brands spend about 10% of their digital marketing budget on social, with 6% of it dedicated to influencers). It’s shown to be effective and that consumers trust blogs more than social advertising and other networks. Influencers have a community that’s built on trust. When they recommend something to their community, people listen and trust them.
Why are marketers still hesitant?...
One of the big focuses in social marketing today is influencer marketing.
The idea being that if you can get one person to tell something to their large audience, their audience will listen.
For organizations this is seen as less effort and potentially high response.
In reality, things aren’t that simple.Let’s take a look at a few things to keep in mind when you approach influencer marketing....
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Interpublic’s Hill Holliday is out with a new brand research study, the Brand Edge Index, that takes a deep dive into various product categories and ranks top brands based on proprietary surveys. The first installment looks at the home appliance category and rates brands in six subsets: vacuums, dishwashers, washer machines, ranges, refrigerators, and grills. The rankings are based on 5,600 survey respondents who assessed 45 brands. Top-ranked brands included Dyson (vacuums), Bosch (dishwashers), Samsung (both washing machines and refrigerators), and Weber (grills). The report found that niche brands and disruptive brands frequently outrank longstanding first-to-market brands. Awareness doesn’t always lead to preference or advantage. In part, that’s explained by the survey finding that reliability is the most important attribute for home appliance brands....
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)...
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...
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....
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’m just going to come out and say it – no matter what the content is, if you feature influencers in it, it will do better.
I know – it’s not always what you want to hear. How come content can’t just speak for itself?
It can – sometimes.
But featuring influencers in your post is the most sure-fire way of straight up injecting content promotion into the post itself. You almost can’t fail, to be honest.
I know this from publishing over 100 posts on various blogs and consistently seeing a strong correlation between the number of influencers cited and the number of social shares and traffic the post brought in.
So, how do you go about building a post that’s built to be shared? Here’s three quick wins:...
Which is more influential, the message or the messenger? Salespeople have long understood that the likelihood of a proposal being accepted is largely dependent on factors such as the relationship between the salesperson and the buyer. This is such a universal truth that many sales executives refuse to respond to open Request for Proposals if they don’t have prior knowledge of the proposal or a pre-existing relationship with the buyer.
What’s a business to do when it knows it has the better solution or offering but lacks a solid relationship with the buyer(s)? The answer lies in becoming a trusted authority whose works and persona are followed by the target buyers over a period of time. When new business opportunities arise, these authorities are often asked to be included in the bidding process. When proposals are received by those whom buyers follow for trusted business information, they’re more likely to be given added credibility....
In this episode I interview Jason Miller, the senior manager of content and social at LinkedIn Marketing Solutions. He’s the author of Welcome to the Funnel: Proven Tactics to Turn Your Social and Content Marketing Up to 11. Jason is also an excellent photographer specializing in rock bands.
Jason focuses on creating sharable content that also generates leads.
You’ll discover how content ties into influencer relationships and how to leverage it....
...But here’s the thing: With the right tools, time and a hint of talent, creating the perception of being an influencer is possible by just about anyone. Focusing on the signals that commonly lead to the perception of authority, individuals can work on developing their personal brand and popularity far above their expertise and ability to affect action.
Perception vs. reality. Now I’m not saying that everyone who has cultivated a strong personal brand is superficially popular or influential. I’m saying that it’s easy to create the perception of influence through personal brand and companies should take that into account when creating their influencer programs....
In 2014 we can expect to see growth in influencer marketing including investment in identifying influencers and in the growth of outreach strategies to engage such influencers.According to InNetwork around $240m is spent in North America each year on influencer marketing. This is a figure we can expect to grow in 2014, partly because there is so little trust in advertising, but primarily because people trust people.
Surveys have consistently shown a low a level of trust in marketing such as advertisements, with some surveys finding up to 75% people do not believe advertisements. This is in marked contrast to recommendations from other people. The 2011 Neilson survey asked people what sources of information were most relevant to them when seeking information about products and services. The response was overwhelmingly recommendations from people. Over 90% of people felt that recommendations from friends were highly or somewhat relevant to them and 75% felt that consumer opinions posted online were were highly or somewhat relevant to them. This compared to ads on social networks being down at 36%....
...By calling social scores “Influence Scores,” companies like Klout (who’s tagline is “The Standard For Influence”) have set expectations in the market that influence can be measured with scoring algorithms. However, influence is much more complex.
By setting the wrong expectations, social scoring companies have changed how marketing and PR professionals think about influence, and how to identify it. Instead of finding influencers from a context and audience approach, marketing and PR professionals look at metrics like follower count, unique visitors, and social scores to get a glimpse on who’s “influential,” which in most cases doesn’t work – popularity doesn’t necessarily equal influence....
A recent study by Oglivy suggests that social media users aren’t showing advocacy or passion for most of the brands that they follow.
What I want to do in this post is take a look at the research behind that assertion and posit an alternative explanation for the chasm between brand advocacy expression on social media and its expression in real life.
Methodology This study looked at between 6 and 7 million social media mentions of 22 major brands and eight feature films in four countries (United States, China, Brazil, and the United Kingdom). They assessed five product categories: coffee, hotels, fashion retail, movies, and skincare....
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Suave's recent evaus campaign is an example of a successful marketing stunt rooted in content. Here's a break down of the key elements of how Suave effectively used content to launch it, and then extend the messaging afterwards.