Influencer & Marketing

Thanks to the event, Digital Influencers Conclave (and thanks W Square and Mentorally to invite me over to the event), I got multiple perspectives from my interaction with the attendees and co-presenters.

Firstly, why is it important for marketers to have social media, and more so, influencer marketing, as a channel in the overall mix?

To answer this, let's review a study done by Content Marketing Institute as cited above.

• It can improve the conversion rate by 3-10x when brands share content through influencers in the industry
• 47% of the US readers consult blogs to find new trends and ideas
• 30% of consumers under 32 spend time on social media digesting peer written content
• 20% of women will consider purchasing products supported by influencers
• 68% of consumers trust online opinions from other consumers

Well, you get it, you just can't miss content and campaign driven influencer marketing model in your marketing mix, whether you are a corporate or a startup or an individual social media and content expert on the path to becoming an influencer (or for that matter already an influencer).

Who is an Influencer though?

As Influencer Marketing Club puts it in one of their articles: An influencer is an individual who has the power the affect the purchase decisions of others because of his/her authority, knowledge, position or relationship with his/her audience. An individual who has a following in a particular niche, which they actively engage with. The size of the following depends on the size of the niche.

Please note the words: "power to affect purchase decisions" and "following in a particular niche" above.

The types of influencers, basis the above, are: Celebrities, Industry Experts and Thought Leaders, Bloggers and Content Creators, Micro Influencers.

Who is a Micro Influencer?

According to Medium.com, Micro Influencers operate in a niche, like marketing for example, and have followers anywhere between 5k to 100k. They are not about reach, they instead stand for personal connect online, using real stories that matter to their connections. The use the power of referral, in fact amplify the same. Most important, they are experts in their field and also passionate individuals.

How do they exactly work?

Some interesting examples are cited by Glean.info in one of their articles (Banana Republic, Daniel Wellington, Glossier, Tom's of Maine) along with related metrics. Often the brands extend their products and services to micro influencers, who try the product/service themselves, and then extend their experience to their engaging network on various social media platforms. Hence, they get first hand customer experience, and extend their experience to their network.

As one of my co-presenters at the event put it very nicely, with the advent of social media, the focus has completely shifted towards customer experience (which was more a one way Brand to Consumer connect before, it is now not just a two way connect, but a multi-connect eco-system) and that gets extended to influencer marketing as well.

How to become an influencer?

As Forbes article mentions: It is a ten step process:

1. Find your niche
2. Pick two to three or four social media channels
3. Create a value based content strategy
4. Have a plan - start publishing
5. Do it constantly
6. Content other people and brands
7. Build your community
8. Promote yourself
9. Provide Value. Always
10. Grow and draw attention

And...nurture your community

Wait a minute, is that all it takes, 10 steps?

The major thing that matters is:

Creating a value based content strategy:

• Tell Stories that matter
• Tell Stories that are relevant
• Tell Stories that add value
• Tell Stories that you learn about everyday
• Tell Stories that you are PASSIONATE about

But how do you build a social media personal & personal branding?

As one of the articles on SproutsSocial puts it: personal branding is a representation of you on an individual level. The presentation of personal branding online involves creating a voice, personality, biography and even the topics you want to be known for. Taking control of how you present yourself is the best way to tackle what comes up when someone googles your name.

What do you say online though?

Really inspired by what eConsultancy mentioned in one of their articles about telling stories. It cites a classic example of Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' speech. "I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood." I have a dream' is at the top of the ladder: it's intangible, it's abstract - essentially it is about OBJECTIVE SETTING. 'Former salves and....slave owners...sit down together at the table' is at the bottom of the ladder; it's practical, it's achievable, it brings weight and recognition to to the idea at the top of the ladder. - METRICS / RESULTS.

"The story is the context in between objective and results".

An example of the brand that I was associated with: Bigrock.com. Back in 2011, before my time there, a series of ads were built for tv advertising. One of them was the classic "Savitri Bai" ad. It was a fantastic storytelling concept and ad, focusing on customer "want" (and not just "need"). People loved the ad, and the other ads as well in the series, and the brand Bigrock was built. Now, in 2018, you have BookMyBai.com as a business live. The imagination and storytelling in 2011 is now a reality in 2018, really amazing foresight back then, and more so really effective storytelling. It probably did influence the world to see the transformation to reality!

Another very effective campaign made by my colleagues at Shaadi.com: #FastForHer campaign, with the objective of empowering women, received phenomenal response in terms of YT views, media coverage, FB shares, # of pledges, RTs, likes, etc.

How do you structure a story though?

As eConsultancy puts it: focus on your journey - the hero's journey.

This narrative journey, which has been told for as long as stories have been told, can be found everywhere from Star Wars to The Lion King to Lord of the Rings to the Bible

Four basic types of narrative:

• Challenge Story - uphill struggle / David vs Goliath...
• Connection Story - connecting via adversity
• Creativity Story - solving puzzles, case studies
• How we do it differently - driving and narrating innovation

All good, but how do you leverage stories to create social media persona for yourself as an influencer?

As Inc.com article cited above suggests: Create, Engage and Distribute:

• You have to understand why you're doing it in the first place
• Let your audience see the real you
• If you're not creating every day, don't be surprised if your audience engagement slowly diminishes - something that I wish to imbibe as well
• Respond, engage, repeat
• Collaborate with other influencers

So how do you pump up content?

As Jeff Bullas points out: use visual aid to pump up your content marketing, whether as a brand or as an individual

• Motivate using people in action
• Simplify with charts
• Maintain a theme
• Create memes
• Celebrate your off-work moments
• Motivate users by telling compelling stories that motivated you in the first place
• Hop onto the selfie trend
• Reference pop, book and movie culture
• Show off your original drawings
• Break it down with infographics
• Present and influence people with beautiful landscapes
• BE PASSIONATE AND CREATIVE ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE COMMUNICATING

To conclude, whether you are a brand or an individual, a quote by Mandy Hale says it all:

"To make a difference in someone's life you don't have to be brilliant, rich, beautiful, or perfect. You just have to Care."