How to Run a Successful Digital Influencer Campaign

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Lenard Black
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How to Run a Successful Digital Influencer Campaign The power of social media may seem like old news, but its unstoppable evolution has contributed to a proliferation of digital influencers who have

1 How to Run a Successful Digital Influencer Campaign The power of social media may seem like old news, but its unstoppable evolution has contributed to a proliferation of digital influencers who have amassed loyal followings and curated communities across any number of platforms. What does this mean for brands? Now is the time for brand managers to lead the charge within their companies to develop influential programs to generate brand awareness, increase customer loyalty, unlock access to key audiences, and ultimately drive profits. It s not just about finding an online influencer with a massive following; it s about aligning with the right influencer and ensuring it results in measurable, meaningful engagement. Whitepaper by Karyn Martin, Partner Agency 451

2 Introduction Change is the name of the game when it comes to PR, and with my 15+ years of running PR campaigns; I ve seen a lot of it! Audiences have evolved and are migrating from print to online, 24-7 media is now commonplace, and the explosion of mobile devices allows opinions and comments to appear much more frequently and instantaneously. But the most impactful change I ve witnessed is the rise in power of the digital influencer. As one of the fastest growing areas, influencer marketing is generating better customers (as compared to many other digital marketing channels), claiming a greater portion of marketing budgets, and showing no signs of slowing down. A look at Google Trends shows that influencer marketing has been classified as a breakout term, meaning that the keyword is experiencing growth greater than 5,000%. I m 5,000% sure you didn t misread that! With overwhelming evidence that the digital influencer cannot be ignored, CMOs are worried. They understand they need influencers to help keep their brands relevant, but they have no idea where to start. Or worse, they ve been burned by attempting to implement an influencer program and failed. Like most everything else in this industry, this is an area that can change quicker than you can contemplate the perfect 140-character tweet, so I m here to help you out. Having developed my agency s custom, personalized approach to influencer marketing programs, I ve condensed years of key learnings into five pages - there s just no way this was fitting into 140 characters, sorry! In addition to letting you in on some of our secret sauce, I ll share tips and tricks from implementation to execution to ensure a mutually beneficial campaign for both brands and bloggers. So let s get started. Influencer Marketing 101 Before diving into the how-to, it s important to have a solid understanding of what Influencer Marketing is. To define it simply, influencer marketing is the process of engaging and collaborating with key individuals to leverage their influence over a market. In other words, the influencer is the blogger, vlogger, or social media figure, and they market to their community of followers.

3 When executed properly, an influencer marketing campaign will clearly and authentically communicate a brand s message to followers and fans. Historically, the term influencer automatically translated to celebrity, but a spot on Hollywood s A-list is no longer a prerequisite. Today, an influencer is anyone with a platform of quality content, a vast following, and high-level of engagement. Don t get me wrong, a campaign with Taylor Swift s 92 million Instagram followers is sure to move the needle, but time has shown that engagement-driven digital influencers, despite a smaller reach overall, deliver a greater bang for the buck when it comes to building brand affinity. True engagement is the toughest one to measure. It takes time and trust, but once an influencer has built a network of passionate, like-minded people authentic conversation flows effortlessly. It s within these loyal and engaged communities where brands can work with digital influencers to amplify their message and seduce their target audience. Influencer Marketing = Game Changer As CMOs eye with concern the rise of online customers using ad-blocking technology; the diminishing returns on click through rates of banner ads and pre-roll video ads; and the growing number of people who rely on social media to make informed purchasing decisions, they are now seeking alternative opportunities and turning to the digital influencer as a much-needed solution. Influencer marketing was rated as the fastest-growing online customer-acquisition channel, beating organic search, paid search, and marketing. (Tomoson) Every day, I see more and more brands exploring how to incorporate digital influencer strategies into their existing marketing plans Those who have already seen success, are looking at ways to expand and enhance what they are currently doing. These savvy brands recognize that there is a massive amount of information constantly bombarding customers every day, which has led to a general mistrust of traditional, company-driven advertising. There s a time and a place for it, but consumers are wary of being sold to and instead prefer peer recommendations and learning about new products organically through channels they already respect and trust. And you know what? It s working. Recent surveys have found that influencer campaigns generate $9.60 in earned media value (EMV) for every $1.00 of paid media spend (RhythmOne). Now that we ve covered what influencer marketing is and why you can t ignore it, it s time to talk about how we do it.

4 The 451 Approach Research, research, and more research! No matter how new-age an influencer marketing campaign may seem, the most successful ones start with good old-fashioned research. Along with the rise in influencer marketing has come a proliferation of tools and platforms that claim to simplify the process of identifying influencers and managing the relationship. Don t be fooled. While some can certainly help narrow down your pool of prospects from the endless amounts of influencers swimming around the world wide web, nothing beats manual research. It s totally understandable that organizations who have seen their profits grow through the implementation of sales platforms would also be tempted to automate this time-intensive aspect of their marketing. But think back to the definition of influencer marketing. You are entrusting someone outside of your organization with your most coveted corporate asset: your brand. Do you really want to leave the process of selecting the right influencer to an algorithm? Influencer selection is important, but is only one part of building a successful campaign. Just as critical is the early identification of KPIs and the plan to track to against them. By setting expectations early on, it ensures that all parties brand, agency, and influencer are aware of the goals, timing, etc. From the get go, conversions and sales of an influencer campaign must be measured through trackable links, promo codes, and specialized landing pages. Vetting Potential Partners At Agency 451, identification and evaluation of potential bloggers, vloggers, and other digital influencers is a continuous, ongoing process. We make it our business to know who s who in the social marketing space. Often this work remains behind the scenes and the influencer in question won t even know they re being vetted. When we come across someone with a particularly engaging site and a loyal following, or a unique value proposition we will work to develop that relationship so that when a future opportunity to collaborate with a brand presents itself, we re already ahead in the game. So while it is nice to have a network of well-vetted digital influencers at our fingertips, and access to engage with them at any given time, constructing an effective influencer marketing campaign doesn t start there. We take a giant step back. First, we begin by working with the brand to craft a brief that clearly outlines the goals of the campaign. We then use this tool to identify those who share a brand s values and perspectives, and who will resonate with a target audience. We systematically eliminate anyone whose community or readership doesn t overlap with the brief in a meaningful way. A brand may provide a style guide or written set of guidelines that helps us to easily narrow down our consideration set. Other brands may have a strict moral code that must be adhered to at all times. You d be surprised, even brands with a cut loose, no-holds-barred reputation, quite possibly is ruled by a larger, national parent company (with an array of brands under its umbrella) who insists the corporate moral code be applied to all spokespeople. Finding those synergies between influencer and brand is one of the key factors that makes our personalized approach so successful. Organic affinity for the brand is a great goal, but not a requirement. On the flip side, brand bashing of any kind automatically disqualifies an influencer candidate. Successful influencer programs are all about building a bridge of trust between a brand, an influencer, and their audience. Our well-defined practice includes a review of all posts and content to ensure its well-balanced, accurate, fair, and overall positive.

5 You know what else is revealed during all this vetting process? The crux of what we are looking for influence marketers that run their blogs and social channels like a business. These are the true professionals who weave SEO best practices into their site, and are committed to tracking and reporting levels of engagement. These Masters of Influence always use high-quality imagery which inspires greater engagement, and agree to share content across social channels to maximize reach. When proactively pitching brands, they are forthcoming with their media kits and are transparent about fees. They may offer suggestions on how they can add value to a brand s campaign, and don t hesitate to be creative when sharing ideas of how best to excite readers. Keeping It Real At 451 we aim to keep our interactions as personal as possible while still reaching large audiences. We want our influencers to feel valued and hand-picked (which, if you followed our vetting process, they absolutely are). Creating a positive partnership experience and providing a true personal touchpoint with the brand will translate authentically into their glowing content. The difference between partnering with 10 bloggers and 100 can also mean the difference between securing a series of flawless sponsored posts, versus hundreds of posts riddled with inconsistent branding and messaging errors. This hands-on, personalized approach also means that brands and influencers benefit from our knowledge and extensive understanding of the FTC s regulations on influencer marketing. Rules can vary depending on the platform, but no matter what the case it is no longer acceptable for brands or influencers to say they didn t realize they weren t in compliance. The rules are tightening and brands are at risk if an influencer does not disclose sponsored content. We know the guidelines to be followed, and work closely with the influencers to insure well thought-out, positive content that remains engaging regardless of it being disclosed as sponsored material. Next Steps By now, I hope I have you fully convinced that influencer marketing is a valuable tool to extend the reach of your brand and gain access to key audiences. I also hope that you see how the personalized 451 approach is the best method to align brands with the right digital influencers. To find out more about how to embark on a positive and rewarding campaign that results in in measurable, meaningful engagement, please or call me at kmartin@agency451.com or , and we can talk through your goals and plans.

Three Reasons Your Influencer Marketing Campaign Failed... and how to make sure it doesn t happen again

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