TIN MAN ATTENDS ROUNDTABLE ON WHAT 2020 HOLDS FOR INFLUENCER MARKETING
Authenticity, long term, strategic partnerships and ROI – these are just some of the key trends for the influencer marketing year ahead that we discussed at a recent roundtable hosted by social agency Takumi.
Our experience and insight running successful influencer campaigns for the likes of nutella, tonies or Hampton by Hilton chimed with other key takeouts from the session:
You’ve got to like it, to get the likes
Influencers have to actually, genuinely like or believe in the product/ event/ concept they’re promoting, to get true engagement. If they don’t have a real point of view, it shows to ever-savvy audiences. The trend for authenticity isn’t going away and we’ve definitely seen a rise in content that is less picture-perfect, filtered and posed.
Out take: Don’t sacrifice vanity metrics such as followers for a true brand affinity. Embrace more down to earth and authentic content.
In it for the long game
More and more, we are exploring long term influencer partnerships. A lot goes into finding the right influencer and taking them on the brand journey, so it makes sense to work with them more on a long term basis. Working as partners helps build brand advocates, fosters a better creative output and allows for deeper evaluation via a test and learn approach.
Out take: Plan ahead and think long term with your influencer marketing.
Involve influencers at planning stage
Instead of being an add-on at the end, consider influencers as playing a key role in the overall campaign alongside your other channels. And when you do start planning, build influencers into this stage so that the brand and influencer can work together to create a more authentic, rounded narrative. For example, we recently created a podcast for job site Indeed featuring a host of influencers discussing their biggest work life lessons. Getting them involved at the planning stage meant we were able to agree that we could also use their channels to spread the message and drive downloads.
Out take: Plan influencer activity early on and make them part of the story from the outset to capitalise on all potential partnership benefits.
Where you can, invest
Consider at the outset whether it’s also worth investing in paid for activity. Paid spend ensures your reach and maximises your content investment.
Out take: Set aside budget for your influencer campaigns: even a little bit of spend can go a long way in helping you hit your objectives – whether that be mass reach or a targeted metric such as website visits or video views.
Proving their worth
As with every campaign, evaluation is critical. Proving the ROI on influencer marketing is particularly topical, especially given potential upcoming regulations which may result in likes being hidden. How will this affect measurement?
Stories are one potential answer, even though they don’t solve the entire conundrum. Marketers used to be put off by stories’ ephemeral nature, but they’re now valuing the space to include brand messages and the inclusion of swipe up links which provide data on sales, audiences and spikes.
Ultimately, involving influencers in the creative concept and process at the beginning will result in more honest conversations about what can actually be achieved, with KPIs that can be benchmarks for what could be better next time.
Out take: The best evaluations cover a mix of analytics from a host of measurement tools - and honest conversations with the influencer themselves. Tin Man’s own evaluation tool varies depending on the brief and specific objectives but always includes a mix of qualitative and quantitative data. Don’t be afraid to embrace new platforms or formats (if right for your audience) and adopt a test and learn approach.