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- 5 takeaways from the Influencer Marketing Event 2019
5 takeaways from the Influencer Marketing Event 2019
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Don’t catch up, stay ahead! Influencer marketing is growing up fast. Influencers contribute to the reinforcement of brand awareness, a rise in followers, willingness to buy and even direct sales. The ultimate goal should be to build long-term relationships with influencers and achieve continued support for the message, the brand, the product and the campaign as the key message. We learned this and plenty of other things at the second edition of the Influencer Marketing Event. Let’s share the main takeaways!
#1 Have the mindset of a publisher, not an advertiser
Good content is priceless. Take Red Bull or Nike. They give us great stories that are no longer about their products. For instance, Nike claimed the entire running domain and the same is true for racing and Red Bull. Two examples of companies that have transformed into true media companies. Be like these companies and invest in individual content, in your own community and become an influencer yourself. Advertisements are increasingly considered annoying and it is expected that they will phase out over time, but content is gaining in importance. Content should be fun and engaging.
#2 Monitor an influencer’s account before collaborating
One tool that was mentioned a lot was Socialblade.com. This tool allows you to monitor the growth of an influencer’s account. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for an influencer to buy likes or followers. This tool tackles the problem: it lets you check whether growth is natural or due to paid-for followers. Another thing: don’t just check Socialblade before working together, but use the tool regularly during the campaign too. If the campaign gets a bit stagnant and KPIs are not met, it could happen that influencers buy likes to achieve their set targets.
#3 Influencer marketing evokes stronger emotions and strengthens trust in a brand
John Meulemans uses his session to talk about the branding effect: the emotions generated by content from influencers is 277% stronger than from TV. It also lingers 87% more powerfully. That’s not all. John also refers to the sales effect: people place more trust in a product thanks to an influencer. These are impressive figures that underline the fact influencer marketing deserves a share of the resource mix.
#4 Make sure you are not dependent on influencers, but instead focus on your own people and create your own influencers as a result
This could be a virtual influencer or so-called homegrown influencers. The homegrown approach focuses on building an influencer channel with one or more brand ambassadors that evolve into influencers for your brand. This approach hands the reigns over to you. For instance, retail chain Macy’s created a genuine in-house influencer team, but you could also use internal influencers from your own organisation. No better influencers than your own enthusiastic employee or the client who’s already a fan!
#5 All advertising must be recognisable as stipulated by the Advertising Code committee
The Social Media & Influencer Marketing Advertising Code was introduced this year. Formerly called the Social Media Advertising Code, the addition of influencer marketing meant a new name. The main rule? Advertisements must be recognisable. This applies to advertisements on all platforms. Specific influencer marketing aspects list that there should always be mention of a relevant relationship between the advertiser and the influencer. For example, by using #ad, #spon, #collab or partly made possible by @(advertiser). Do you want to be in compliance with the Advertising Code? You need to make sure the influencer mentions the collaboration in his or her post!
Are you looking to work with influencer marketing? We would be happy to help!
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