{"id":12157,"date":"2020-10-26T09:41:40","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T13:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/?p=12157"},"modified":"2020-10-26T16:00:40","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T20:00:40","slug":"the-new-rules-of-influencer-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/the-new-rules-of-influencer-marketing","title":{"rendered":"The New Rules of Influencer Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<p><strong>New Rules of Influencer Marketing<\/strong> \u2013 the latest in <a href=\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/events\/online\">BrainStation\u2019s Digital Leadership Event Series<\/a> \u2013 took place on October 22nd, and featured four influencers and influencer marketing experts from Levitate Style, Pinterest, Edelman and SAP.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can watch the full panel discussion here:<\/p>\n\n\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/471189262\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p>Influencer marketing \u2013 when brands engage personalities with large social-media followings to spread the word about their products and services \u2013 was already booming when the pandemic hit this past spring. But while many influencers saw shelter-in-place as an opportunity for growth \u2013 21 percent of American consumers reportedly bought something at an influencer\u2019s recommendation for the first time between March and August of this year \u2013 it has also forced influencer marketing to adapt.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We spoke with executives from Pinterest, Edelman and SAP, as well as Levitate Style influencer Leo Chan about the surprising benefits of influencer marketing, where the field is heading, and tips to make it work, whether you\u2019re an influencer or a brand looking to collaborate with one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><strong>Authenticity is Key<\/strong> in Influencer Marketing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The growth of influencer marketing is a direct response to audiences\u2019 increasing savviness \u2013 largely a result of influencers\u2019 authentic voices. As Rachel Miller, Global Influencer Marketing Lead at SAP, explains, \u201cThe power of influencer marketing, particularly for B2B, is the storytelling. It\u2019s a long sales cycle, so your audience gets to know this person, they trust them, and you build rapport. You\u2019re not just bringing in a new face constantly; you have that trusted individual \u2013 or individuals \u2013 which really resonate with your target audience. Influencers provide necessary third-party validation, that peer recommendation, and they often tell your story better than you can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s often a seamlessness between influencers\u2019 organic and paid content \u2013 this is what gives sponsored content its impact. There are two important considerations here: consistently high quality, and transparency about what\u2019s sponsored and what\u2019s not. New FTC guidelines stipulate disclosure requirements, but this may actually be to influencers\u2019 benefit, as it helps boost their legitimacy. As Leo Chan, Influencer Content Creator and Founder at Levitate Style, describes it, \u201cYou have to include #ad and #sponsor, but as an influencer, it doesn\u2019t really make that big of a difference. It still comes down to content. If you have good content, it doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s an ad, because it should fit with the quality of your posts. It should fit in seamlessly with the rest of your work. It\u2019s actually better to clarify, for the followers and for brands as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authenticity shapes not only the way content is presented, but increasingly, its subject matter as well. \u201cFor influencer content,\u201d says Larry Beaman, VP of Influencer Marketing at Edelman, \u201cwe\u2019re seeing more and more influencers pushing back and saying, \u2018These filters are kind of insane, and I don\u2019t look anything like this.\u2019 Now, a lot of content is moving to stories, no makeup, and showing true life. We\u2019re seeing a shift more and more to showing behind-the-scenes, true life without those filtered options layered on top.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alexandra Nikolajev, Global Creator Inclusion Lead at Pinterest, agrees: \u201cIt means greater shifting not only in the content that influencers share \u2013 curated content versus more in-the-moment or real-life content \u2013 but also in the conversations that they\u2019re willing to have. It\u2019s no longer just \u2018Where did you get that top from?\u2019 It\u2019s shifted now to \u2018This is a sustainable item. This is the social impact that the brand has.\u2019 That social-impact piece of the conversation, and the way influencers are having deeper conversations online, is resulting in stronger community-building, and ultimately deeper engagement with their audience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><strong>Barrier to Entry is Low, ROI is High<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBudget should not be a barrier to jumping into influencer marketing,\u201d Miller says. \u201cWhile I have access to the latest and greatest tools for influencer identification and engagement, I frequently just use native Twitter or Instagram to search hashtags to find new voices. That\u2019s free \u2013 anybody can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Depending on the type of product or service a business provides, there may also be non-monetary ways to compensate an influencer working on their behalf. \u201cWhile transactions should be mutually beneficial, they don\u2019t have to be monetary,\u201d Miller continues. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of win\u2013wins for certain individuals; it could be networking, content, syndication, access to sneak previews. A lot of ways you can get creative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chan echoes her sentiments. \u201cI work with brands purely because I\u2019m a huge fan of the brand and because I have a good relationship with the marketing person \u2013 I\u2019m happy to help them out. Different times of the year, there\u2019s different pushes. It\u2019s good to build that relationship. And that brand could also help an influencer, help feature me to bring me to their audience as well. It\u2019s good cross-promotion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Beaman points out, \u201cMicroinfluencers have the highest engagement rates. Typically, they have the lowest cost threshold. So it\u2019s a great place to test at a low dollar-value. And usually, if you\u2019re a niche product, that might be the right choice anyway, because microinfluencers have a more specific connection to your brand. And if your business is one that makes sense for affiliate codes, if you\u2019re a direct-to-consumer brand that\u2019s selling products online, they may be open to working with you on a conversion basis instead of a flat-rate basis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While influencer marketing can provide an excellent return on investment, measuring that ROI can be a challenge, especially for B2B, where purchases may play out over months or even years \u2013 though there are now more sophisticated ways to achieve this. \u201cMetrics vary greatly depending on the goal of the campaign,\u201d Miller says. \u201cSometimes, it\u2019s brand awareness. You may be looking at reach or driving registrations to a webinar, but you need to know what success looks like, and that should be something that you build in up front.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Increasingly, this means bringing data science into the realm of influencer marketing. Beamen explains, \u201cThe things we most frequently look at these days are ad recall, brand awareness, consideration of the product, or a company actually lifting in sales. And even more commonly right now, brands are curious if they\u2019re relevant to the consumers they\u2019re going after, and if consumers trust them at all. It\u2019s not just about pushing products anymore. Some of this is done through survey questions to influencer audiences, to see if they\u2019re remembering what we put through their feeds from an organic standpoint and a paid standpoint, and seeing how we\u2019re shifting their perceptions over time. It\u2019s pulling together a lot of what was available in performance marketing and paid social marketing, and bringing that into the influencer space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><strong>Influencer Marketing is a Marathon<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs an influencer, one of the biggest misconceptions is that it\u2019s easy to achieve success quickly, or that one viral piece of content translates into long-term success,\u201d says Nikolajev. \u201cWe need to recognize that this is a real industry. This is real work. And influencers, big or small, are really dedicating their time and energy to creating content.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chan concurs: it takes time. \u201cOutsiders looking in think it\u2019s so simple \u2013 you just take a photo, post it on Instagram. But it\u2019s really not just that. If you\u2019re a content creator, you\u2019re constantly getting better at taking photos, taking videos. How can you find your voice? How do you build a platform? To build an audience \u2013 that\u2019s really hard to do. It\u2019s a real business. You need a whole marketing team, a whole PR team to create a successful campaign, because there\u2019s so many moving parts. There are managers that manage contracts and negotiations and deliverables. And then you have the influencer who goes out and do the work and edit the content, and then \u2013 finally \u2013 we post. There\u2019s all these amazing people behind the scenes to make the one photo happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Nikolajev explains, it can be difficult for an influencer to know how much to charge for their work. \u201cHaving candid conversations within your communities and your influencer network will help you to understand how you should be tiering your rates and what you\u2019re looking for, and allow you to be open and honest and direct with a brand. You tend to devalue the impact and effect that you could have. You don\u2019t want to be priced at something astronomical, or be insulting to a brand \u2013 but you need to understand the value that you bring. Be able to back it up with what you\u2019ve done in the past, and show that you can have that impact as a content creator and feel confident in what you\u2019re asking for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><strong>Just Go For It<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Because the cost of investment is so low, it doesn\u2019t make sense to hesitate. \u201cJust go for it,\u201d Beaman says. \u201cPeople discuss and discuss, and think it\u2019s too new and not ready. I\u2019ve been doing this a long time, and my advice is to just jump in, because otherwise you\u2019ll be behind instead of ahead.\u201d Even if you\u2019re not totally comfortable with social media \u2013 well, influencers are, and it\u2019s their expertise you\u2019re trying to leverage. \u201cBrands get to benefit from influencers\u2019 expertise and this technology that they don\u2019t really have to participate in directly,\u201d Beaman says.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the great benefits of using social media for marketing is the abundance of different channels, each of them suited to a different type of content \u2013 each capable of reaching a different audience. \u201cI understand people look at Tiktok and think, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s for teenagers, I\u2019m too old, it\u2019s not for me,\u2019\u201d Chan says. \u201cThat\u2019s the kind of voice our parents or grandparents had about Facebook and Instagram. You don\u2019t want to get left behind with social media and technology. With new platforms, I just try it out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Diversifying also means you\u2019ll be more resilient to the changes that social media platforms make to their terms of service, to the evolving types of content different platforms favor, and even technology fails. \u201cYou should always be trying out different platforms like Tiktok and Snapchat and LinkedIn and Twitter,\u201d Chan says, \u201cso in case Instagram goes down for a day, you have other platforms to fall back on. You never want all your eggs in one basket \u2013 if anything happens, any big change, you\u2019re ready to go.\u201d<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Watch a recap of the New Rules of Influencer Marketing panel discussion \u2013 the latest in BrainStation\u2019s Digital Leadership Event Series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":12158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[783,169],"tags":[136,1110,134,1293,137],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The New Rules of Influencer Marketing | BrainStation\u00ae Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Watch a recap of the New Rules of Influencer Marketing panel discussion \u2013 the latest in BrainStation\u2019s Digital Leadership Event Series.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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