Learn how influencer marketing has ripped into social media strategies and how it can help you

Over the past 24 months, there have been hundreds of marketing campaigns executed with the help of influencers. As brands infuse influencer marketing into their marketing mix, they are discovering new ways to benefit from it, and better ways to implement it. As a result, there have been a few changes in the influencer marketing landscape. [si_guide_block id="82119" title="Download FREE Resource – 10 common social media marketing mistakes guide" description="Our actionable guide to avoiding common social media marketing mistakes to help you avoid the pitfalls that limit engagement with your target audience."/] These changes mainly affect marketers’ spending on influencer marketing, and what they achieve through the marketing channel. There are also changes in terms of ROI, and the platforms leveraged…

Don't make these common influencer marketing mistakes or else you risk scandal and negative brand awareness

Named one of the hottest marketing trends in 2017, working with influencers can do wonders for a brand. But, if done incorrectly, can also destroy them. Collaborating with an influencer is essentially picking a business partner; choosing the right one can bring great success, but a poor choice can cause great damage.

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Before approaching the tactic, you must be sure you understand the risks of influencer marketing, and not just the rewards. Here are four of the major ones to consider.

1. They may only be in it for a paycheck

What started off as some extra cash on the…

Influencers are revving up marketing campaigns’ engines in new and connective ways

Just look at Glossier, the skin care and makeup line that built its entire brand by engaging with everyday influencers on social media — no traditional marketing necessary. But let's dig deeper. While influencers can play a part in successful marketing campaigns, it is not only the influencers with the largest social followings who get the job done.

[si_guide_block id="27934" title="Download Premium  Resource – Influencer Outreach guide " description="This practical guide shows you how to use tools to find and interact with influencers on the best social media platforms for outreach, that’s Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. It also advises on Google+."/]

It’s common to think that more followers mean more opportunities for exposure, but research shows the opposite to be true, favoring micro-influencers with smaller followings instead. Think about it — the lower influencer-to-followers ratio allows the influencer to give more…

A case study showing how marketing helped this global retail brand move from struggling to surviving and prospering

Even the most successful brands occasionally face choppy waters. One wrong move, or more likely, a succession of poor moves as competitors 'up their game' can lead to decline. When this happens, not only is the brand's reputation threatened, but its bottom line as well. The Tesco brand is synonymous with shopping in the UK. After questionable investment decisions and multiple scandals rocked the business in 2013 and 2014, the company began facing unprecedented quarterly losses. Consumer confidence in the brand plummeted and sales began to reflect that new reality. Yet the commerce giant managed to turn things around and has been posting financial gains over the past year. How did it manage to do this? As it turns out, a lot of it had to do with improved marketing. Let's review one of the…

What is influencer marketing and how can it benefit your company?

Back in October, Onalytica published a white paper appropriately named ‘The Definitive Practical Guide to Influencer Relationship Management’. The white paper defines what influencer relationship management is and practically, how you can make it work. Influencer marketing is often mistaken for what we refer to as influencer advertising; paying high-profile individuals with a large following for product placements and social media mentions. As the title of the white paper suggests, we view true influencer marketing as a relationship building exercise. In this post, we’re going to take you through exactly what influencer marketing is and why every brand should be doing it. We’ve even got an infographic visually summarising all of the glorious information below.

Let’s elaborate - what is influencer marketing?

As we’ve already touched on briefly, the influencer industry is…

What is referral marketing?

Essentially, referral marketing is about enabling and incentivizing your existing customer base to encourage their friends and family to try your product for the first time. It represents a significant opportunity for most online businesses to boost their customer acquisition. There are some well-documented examples of businesses that have acquired a huge percentage of their customers via referral. It is reported that for Dropbox it represents 35% of new customers and daily bookings tripled for Airbnb when they introduced a referral programme. Whilst these figures might seem unattainable for established online businesses, our experience suggests that targeting 10-25% of new customer growth from referrals is realistic. Figures not to be sniffed at. After all, there aren’t many other marketing channels that you could switch on and deliver that kind of an increase in acquisition.

The hidden benefits of referral

Whilst the main benefit of referral is the number of new customers that…

Working with large numbers of smaller influencers is a logistical challenge, and requires the right set of tools

How would you like to recruit an army of influential people -- each with hundreds or even thousands of loyal followers -- to promote your brand? If this sounds good to you, then you understand the rising popularity of micro-influencer marketing. Micro-influencers can sway opinions, there are millions of them, and many are already eager to work with brands. In fact, you likely already have micro-influencers among your brand’s customer and fan base. Ready? Not so fast. In order to get results with micro-influencer marketing, you need to scale your campaign across hundreds, even thousands of influencers (depending on your needs). These are real people, not ad units, and there’s no simple way to automate the process of getting these individual influencers to promote you, let alone handle logistics like negotiation, content creation, and payments.…

Amazon taps into influencer marketing using product recommendations

Brands introducing influencer marketing into their marketing strategy has seen a massive increase in 2017. It has been reported that 70% of marketers agree that creating ongoing ambassadorship is the most effective influencer marketing strategy. In 2017, 82% percent of brands were expected to spend more on video influencer content and increase their spend by 48%.

Amazon is one of the many brands who has seen the benefits of using influencers to increase revenue. In March this year, Amazon’s Influencer Program was launched allowing social media influencers to earn commissions on Amazon products they promote. Last week Amazon also announced they will be accepting sign-ups from YouTube influencers. They have introduced a self-service tool for YouTube stars that lets them request to join the program.

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Over 50% of consumers frequently factor in online reviews before buying a product

It’s no secret that online shopping is continuing to evolve with the habits of consumers. And in the social media era, consumers have louder and stronger voices than ever before. Why? Online reviews have revolutionized the online shopping marketplace and overall experience —they’re the new frontier in word-of-mouth marketing as well as a powerful sales tool.

Seller Beware: Reviews Are Not Optional

In the past, sketchy marketing tactics could boost sales for even the lowest quality products and services. There was no viable public outlet for consumers to voice their opinions on the products and services they were buying — dissatisfied customers’ voices couldn’t reach beyond family and friends. Now, with the click of the mouse or tap of a smartphone, consumers can broadcast their opinions far and wide. And every consumer can use customer reviews to make buying decisions. According to…

Employee advocacy can give your brand a social media boost

When it comes to brand awareness and audience acquisition, managing a coordinated posse of advocates is essential. You need a viable base of people loyal to your brand who are willing to share your content and post about how awesome your products are. There’s simply no better way, other than advertising, to maximize your brand’s reach on social media.

Sure, niche-relevant influencers and your community of customers are the obvious answers, but your own workforce is a great resource too. Employees are often untapped for advocacy purposes, because without a sound strategy in place, it can feel like you’re asking too much of them, which can cause morale to plummet. However, by developing a company culture that celebrates and rewards ongoing advocacy performance, it’s possible to use content sharing as a potent employee engagement tool…