2019 - b2bknowledge.com1. influencer marketing hub, the state of influencer marketing 2019:...
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THEINFLUENCER
ISSUE
07 / NUMBERS DON’T LIE...
The dangers of influencer fraud
08 / SPHERE OF INFLUENCE
10 actionable strategies
04 /CHANGING PERSPECTIVES
What is influencer marketing?
THE POWER OF INFLUENCE
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Influencer marketing is now a force to be reckoned with in the world of communications, having seen incredible growth in the past decade.
There was a remarkable +1,500% increase in searches for “influencer marketing” over just 3 years (2015 – 2018) on Google alone.1 And the growth of this medium over ever-popular social platforms, like Instagram, looks set to continue its upward trajectory – with brands predicted to spend up to $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022, up from $8 billion in 2019.2
Just a buzzword?
Influencers don’t seem to be going anywhere soon. According to a 2019 report, 69% of PR professionals and marketers rank influencer marketing as an important or top strategic priority.3 The popularity of influencer marketing can be attributed to its effectiveness as a means to increase brand awareness, boost conversions, improve SEO and even launch a new product or service. Businesses of all shapes and sizes looking to adopt an influencer marketing strategy can reap bountiful rewards at a relatively low cost, if they execute it in the right way.
Influencer marketing also allows businesses to promote their brands to a younger demographic. With 64% of 16-22-year olds following influencers on social media,4 brands can use this medium to engage with the next generation of buyers that are now making their way into the workplace.
Millennials and Generation Z are increasingly making decisions or influencing other key decision makers in the world of business, so it makes sense for companies to market to these groups, and via channels and networks that appeal to them.
1. Influencer Marketing Hub, The State of Influencer Marketing 2019: Benchmark Report 2. Business Insider, 2019 https://www.businessinsider.com/the-2019-influencer-marketing-report-2019-7?r=US&IR=T 3. Talkwalker – The Global State of Influencer Marketing in 2019 4. Olapic, 2019
Today there is nothing more
valuable than an audience.
Joel Robinson
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CHANGINGPERSPECTIVES Before we address what businesses need to consider when adopting an influencer marketing strategy, let’s cover the basics – like how an influencer is defined.
There are various definitions depending on the type of influencer; anything from ‘industry expert’ or ‘thought leader’ to ‘blogger’ or ‘content creator’ to ‘macro influencer’ or ‘micro influencer’. Influencers can be defined as individuals who have a loyal group of followers in a specific market or niche, and their opinions can have a large impact on the beliefs and behaviours of these followers. The size of the follower base that each influencer has varies depending on their niche. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, an influencer is an individual who has the power to affect purchasing decisions of others because of his or her authority, knowledge, position or relationship with his or her audience.
Influencers often gain their followers by sharing valuable and engaging content
online in a variety of formats, including videos, blogs and social media posts. They are masters at building a unique, solid brand over time and all the content they share, including other people’s content, is consistent with their brand image and values, and resonates with their followers. Influencers can be found in a range of industries, especially in the B2C world, including food and nutrition, fitness, fashion, and even in wider social movements – think teen environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
What does this mean for marketers?
Influencer marketing is a relatively new, but powerful, form of marketing that is based on the collaboration between a brand and an influencer.
An evolution of the old school marketing tactic of celebrity endorsement, influencer marketing is basically a content rich marketing campaign whereby a person with the ability to influence purchasing decisions shares a brand to a niche
target audience. Importantly, the audience being reached is already bought into that person’s values and trusts their opinions and is therefore likely to engage with the brand(s) they share.
Successful adoption of influencer marketing can be highly profitable. According to the Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 20195, businesses who understand influencer marketing can gain a significant ROI of up to $18 in earned media value for every dollar they spend on it. Meanwhile, 89% of respondents from a Mediakix survey say ROI from influencer marketing is comparable to or better than other marketing channels and 80% find it effective or very effective (35%).6
“Influencer marketing ROI blows online advertising out of the water. However, using influencers to solely drive awareness is as cost-effective as a Paula Deen fitness camp.” - Jay Baer, NY Times Bestselling Author.7
5. Influencer Marketing Hub, The State of Influencer Marketing 2019: Benchmark Report6. Mediakix, Influencer marketing 2019 industry benchmarks7. https://www.grin.co/blog/20-influencer-marketing-quotes-of-2018
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WHY SHOULD B2C HAVE ALL THE FUN? B2C brands are taking advantage of the benefits that influencer marketing can offer, but B2B companies are lagging behind.
In a survey of 830 marketing professionals and brand representatives who run influencer marketing campaigns, only 31% said they were running campaigns for firms in the B2B sector, while 69% focus on the B2C sector.8
Both B2C and B2B organisations can benefit from leveraging partnerships with the right influencers and spreading their messages across social media platforms, increasing brand exposure to relevant audiences and ensuring they retain share of voice in a competitive marketplace.
B2B businesses looking to tap into influencer marketing need not shy away from the medium for fear of it sounding like a B2C strategy.
That’s because modern B2B buyers increasingly want their browsing and buying experience in the B2B world to mirror the content rich and more personalised experience they get in their personal lives, and across the platforms they enjoy. Influencer marketing can offer this, with brand messaging delivered via a trusted, credible source that they are engaged with.
8. Influencer Marketing Hub, The State of Influencer Marketing 2019: Benchmark Report
The key to effective use
of influencers is their ability to
cause behaviour.
Jay Baer
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NUMBERS DON’T LIE, OR DO THEY?A major risk factor for influencer marketing is being duped by misleading information – a scenario where ‘influencers’ use artificially inflated numbers of followers or false engagement data to allow for higher rates and charge businesses more for engaging with their audience. In some fraudulent cases, influencers are innocent and third-party fraudsters are to blame for misleading engagement. The issue has become more prevalent in the last few years, as influencer marketing has grown into a highly profitable medium. A Points North Group study found that mid-level influencers - those with between 50,000 and 100,000 followers - often have about 20% fake followers.9 This is enough to make anyone looking to adopt an influencer marketing strategy uneasy – no business wants to invest in a marketing initiative that isn’t going to deliver.
According to Social Chain, the influencer industry is under growing scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US, and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK.10 In addition, big brands have been taking note of the issue and are demanding change.
According to The Drum, Unilever’s chief marketing officer Keith Weed called for “urgent action” to clean up the influencer marketing ecosystem and emphasised the need for brands and influencers to be made more aware of the use of dishonest practices. He also committed to stopping working with any influencer found to be buying followers and to prioritise working with partners who are trying to improve transparency from social media platforms to help brands measure impact.11
To meet market demand for a solution that will ultimately avoid throwing money down the drain, there are now several software tools available to help businesses detect fraud by highlighting anomalies of an audience size. Social Chain’s tool Like-Wise helps brands spot fake followers in this way, but also helps track engagement to determine if an influencer holds ‘real’ influence.12
But it’s not just down to the use of tools, businesses should be more analytical when looking for an ideal influencer to see if they are legitimate, for example asking questions about an influencer’s audience to see if it matches the requirements of the business, and checking how quickly their audience has grown, as well as what has caused that growth.
9. Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/unilever-demands-influencer-marketing-business-clean-up-its-act-1529272861
10. Social Chain https://www.socialchain.com/scribe/brands-are-wasting-their-money-on-influencer-marketing-but-they-dont-have-to/
11. The Drum https://www.thedrum.com/news/2018/06/25/influencer-marketing-fraud-how-big-problem-it12. Social Chain Group https://www.socialchaingroup.com/articles/social-chain-introduces-influencer-fraud-tool
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IMPROVING YOUR SPHERE OF INFLUENCE10 actionable ways you can develop and implement an influencer strategy for your business.
1. Be patient
B2B businesses looking for a quick win in ROI with influencer marketing might need to rethink their marketing strategies. While B2C campaigns are notably short, e.g. where a fashion blogger might write about a new range of footwear, leading to an immediate peak in online purchases of that product, for B2B it’s not that simple.
Not only does the process take time to get off the ground - from researching the right influencers, to drawing up contracts and creating continuous engaging content, the decision process in the B2B buying journey is much longer due to a number of decision makers and the fact that purchasing decisions are not taken lightly or spontaneously.
This means that, realistically, marketers can expect to wait several months before they see any ROI. To make the long wait worthwhile, B2B businesses should maximise the impact of influencer marketing campaigns by applying their account-based marketing strategies – making sure they are targeting specific audiences with clear call to actions via their influencer’s channels.
2. Who’s got your back?
Businesses often look to recruit influencers they have no previous involvement or engagement with, before they have considered existing advocates that they can call upon to promote their brand. B2B companies should consider all their options before they go on the hunt for someone new.
For instance, existing employees, customers and business partners are a good place to start when looking to work with an individual that has the knowledge, expertise, brand loyalty and broad network of relevant followers.
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You need to have a robust
influencer marketing
strategy in place
Forbes
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3. The source of inspiration
It might sound simple, but researching what customers like to follow, watch or listen to can help businesses build a short list of potential influencers they need to approach and create a long-term and effective influencer marketing campaign. There are software tools that can be purchased to do this, but often this information can be discovered by asking key customers directly, either through surveys or face-to-face, via a sales meeting. This approach, while more time-intensive, can be quite informative and ensures that the answer is straight from the horse’s mouth and provides context.
4. Pull not push: attracting influencers
Most businesses spend time researching and recruiting influencers from far and wide that they feel will work best for their brand. With that approach comes a lot of effort, as it’s not always a straightforward process and negotiations have to take place before a program can start. But it doesn’t always have to work this way - some of the best influencer programs are created naturally. For example, when a company posts content that is so relevant and engaging that an ideal influencer starts to share their content without having been asked to. This is the ideal scenario – getting access to a network of relevant audiences via an influencer you haven’t had to approach and negotiate with. But for this to become a possibility, a business must fully commit to delivering awe-inspiring content. It might sound tough, but Rome wasn’t built in a day.
5. The right influencer for your brand
Businesses are often quick to assume that certain influencers are right for the job when it comes to marketing their brand, usually because of the number of relevant followers they have in a certain market or niche. But it isn’t just a numbers game – businesses need to consider who they trust in delivering their brand. Companies relinquish control over their brand when they associate themselves with an individual outside of their organisation. Influencers can post whatever they like to their followers, so it is important to research the brand values they hold and the types of messages they share, before approaching them. It only takes one tasteless video or culturally insensitive post to damage a brand that businesses have taken so long to build.
Businesses must also consider whether they, in turn, are right for the influencer. Once an ideal influencer has been identified, it is important to assess whether that individual will be receptive to a collaboration - not all influencers can be ‘bought’. Influencers tend to be very careful about their brand image and may therefore not want to collaborate with or help promote a brand that they do not advocate, regardless of the financial stimulus.
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6. Know the limitations
Marketers need to be aware of any factors that could have a detrimental impact on the initiation or success of an influencer marketing program, such as conflict of interest. In B2B, this is especially relevant; most B2B influencers have become influencers while working for a key industry player, which means it is likely they cannot collaborate with another business (a competitor, for example), or are not able to share a company’s brand messages in the desired way. It is therefore important for companies to allow for a long lead time - at least two months - to research and approach relevant influencers and assess any limitations before the influencer marketing campaign is due to start.
7. Content creation and distribution
Once partnered with an influencer, businesses need to define deliverables and agree on who is creating the content. Some influencers will allow businesses to draft a message that they post at an agreed time. Others will prefer to draft their own content and weave in the brand and key messages in their own way and agree to a certain amount of posts per month, but post at a time of their choosing. There are advantages and disadvantages with both options.
In the first instance, businesses can benefit from having complete control of what is being said about their brand. The downside is that followers are likely to recognise that the influencer hasn’t drafted it, due to the tone of voice and the type of wording used. This means that posts can lose credibility and have less of an impact.
In addition, businesses are reliant on the influencer publishing prewritten copy correctly. There are embarrassing examples of when influencers have copied and pasted instructions of what content to post – remember Scott Disick’s notorious influencer marketing fail: “Here you go, at 4pm est, write the below. Caption: Keeping up with summer workout routine with my morning @booteauk…”.
Meanwhile, in the second instance, businesses have little control over the content shared about their brand and in what context it is shared. This relates back to brand safety and the need for quality control. Increasingly, strict contracts between businesses and influencers are coming into play, to ensure that rules are set and that boundaries are clearly defined by both parties.
Mapping out the playing field and choosing the right channel for delivering a brand message is also important. Influencers use a variety of social media platforms to share their content, but Instagram is undoubtedly the most popular channel. Nearly four in five (79%) of brands predominantly use Instagram for influencer campaigns, compared with Facebook (46%), YouTube (36%), Twitter (24%), and LinkedIn (12%), according to Influencer Marketing Hub. However, B2B businesses often look to LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to market their brand to their target audiences, so could be missing out on an opportunity to benefit from promoting to wider or more targeted influencer networks via Instagram.
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8. A well-rounded approach
B2B marketers should think outside the box in terms of influencer channels. Some of the most well-known influencers in the world are not active on social media. While social media is often an effective route, there are other ways that influencers, especially in the B2B world, reach their audiences.
For instance, B2B influencers might publish content via webinars, round tables, podcasts or speak at niche conferences or large industry events.
Choosing an influencer because of the number of social media followers they have over an influencer that doesn’t have any social media accounts, could be a mistake. The latter influencer could have, for example, a relevant group of podcast subscribers and listeners that really respect them, and marketing to them could provide more ROI.
9. Share the knowledge
Educating influencers about the business that they are promoting can really pay off when it comes to a successful, collaborative relationship and increasing audience engagement levels. B2B influencers tend to be highly knowledgeable about the industry they work in and it is important for them to feel clued up on the content they are sharing, so that they are comfortable in passing on messages in their own words and that their knowledge and passion can come through in the messages they share. Businesses should take the time to inform them about their brand values, culture, services, customers and competitors – it’s in their best interest.
10. Defining ways of measuring ROI
Before investing in any marketing campaign, it is important for businesses to define objectives and key performance indicators that will help them evaluate success. Measuring the ROI of influencer campaigns is less clear cut than more traditional marketing campaigns, but can be evaluated based on the goals and metrics set at the start of the campaign, such as engagement, audience reach and impressions, quality of content, visits to a specific page, as well as conversions like newsletter sign-ups. This will help B2B marketing teams evaluate the impact of one campaign compared to another, justify spend and will inform future activities.
While there are many considerations when it comes to adopting an influencer marketing strategy, there are several benefits of including it in the marketing mix. With this medium growing at an unparalleled rate, businesses looking for new ways of engaging with relevant audiences and wanting to grow their brand awareness should consider the prospect of partnering with influencers.
When executed well, businesses can reach an extended network of high quality, relevant and engaged audiences via the endorsement of a trusted and credible individual. What’s not to like?!
