Beginner’s guide to influencer marketing (Part 2)
So you loved the 1st part and now you wanna become the big boss? Enjoy and don’t forget to subscribe to enjoy the next story.
6) Why should I care?
Well, if you are a brand you should definitely care. As we stated in the first part, influencers have developed a large community of followers. They have visibility that reaches the ones of traditional TV and music stars with an important difference: they have built their fame on homemade videos giving their audience the feeling they are one of them. It is also what makes it easier for you to reach them. They are independent, they don’t depend on super-productions or labels which facilitates the connexion. No need to discuss for one year copyrights with Universal. You just negotiate with the influencer in person and all is done! You can also approach influencers via MCNs or influencer marketplaces specially created for gathering brands and influencers.
7) Powerful, you said? Figures please!
Let’s put down some facts:
- The engagement rate is 7x higher for content generated for a brand by influencer than a brand-only generated content.
- More than ¾ of the most viewed videos on YouTube belong to influencers.
- 8/10 of the most influential people for tennagers are YouTube stars
- Influencers posts are 37% more engaging than brands posts.
- In case you won’t believe us, know that almost 1/2 of the people are purchasing a product according to an influencer recommendation.
Taking in account the growth of adblock usage by 30% in 2016 (615M devices are using adblock in 2017), those figures highlight the current shift from traditional advertising to influencers advertising.
8) Hmmm, give me some examples.
Digital influencers have become so important that every kind of brand is working with them - from the smallest to the big ones. Small brands need influencers to establish their visibility, big companies want to keep it. You will notice that many Youtubers, Instagrammers or Viners are including products placement or wear the same clothing brands in their videos. For example Paul Logan’s celebrity blew up on Vine, he was contacted by Nike, Pepsi or even Dunkin´Donuts who paid him $200,000 for an advertising. Here are some pictures or screen captures of his videos you can find.
The collaboration between influencers and fragrances smells good. Last example in date, this video in which instagramers LoveBrandiMarie andWuzgood are using the new Axe #YouGotSomething in a funny way to save their relationship. However, as with many other partnership, there is no label saying “this a placement product for Axe”. The legal regulation used to be kind of vague in this area. Now more and more is done to disclose paid-for content of digital influencers.
The fact remains that influencer marketing is very effective for both brands and influencers. If if you are still not convinced, click here to find out some of the most successful campaigns over the last years according to Shane Barker.
9) What is important when working with an influencer?
- When you collaborate with an influencer, you have to acknowledge his universe. You are going to mess up your collaboration if you don’t embrace what are your influencer’s videos about. Let’s say your influencer is fond of American Rap and makes reviews of his favorite rap songs. We don’t ask you to know Drake’s last album More Life by heart but at least know what are his most successful songs and if possible, get in touch with his fans. If your influencer is speaking about Passionfruit, there is a high probability that your future audience are people who bought Drake’s album or huge fans. Use it, use their language, look at their interests, be close.
- Communication is the key, don’t hesitate to talk with your influencer. The more you will establish the dialogue, the smoother the collaboration will be. The most important is to tell your influencer what are your expectations from him/her and give understandable directions. Be careful not to be too restrictive. Remember that an influencer is before all a creator, he/she needs liberty and independance.
- Follow the news! The influencer marketing is in constant evolution so you can quickly become a “has been”. Be aware of new trends whatever the subject. Try to know who or what is buzzing at the moment.
10) But how can I trust a self-centred reckless digital star?
We know you were impatiently waiting for this question! Well, you are basically going to collaborate with a 21 years old dude uploading videos at 5AM about his absolutely amazing and crazy life. Ain’t no way someone can trust someone like this!… Let him represent your image and advertise the product you’ve been working on for so many years! Just relax… You should know that influencer are also concerned about each collaboration they do — the trust of fans is untouchable. What is important for both of you is the audience — how they react to created videos. A middle man like an MCN, marketplace or creative agency can suggest the best influencer for your brand.But that doesn’t assure anyone that exactly your video will be a success. There is a tool that quickly pretests spontaneous reactions of fans and suggest the best scenes along with targeting specifications. Like this you can optimize the video with mutual interest in mind and increase ROI of your collaboration.
