Source: Unbox Social
In week 6 of the Digital Marketing Seminar class of the Digital Media Marketing program at George Brown, my classmates and I had the opportunity to listen to a presentation given by Ashley Walsh from North Strategic. Ashley gave the class a better understanding and deeper look into the world of influencer marketing.
North Strategic
Source: North Strategic
Ashley began her presentation with an overview of North Strategic and the agency’s approach to influencer marketing. North Strategic began as a “scrappy startup challenging the norms of the PR and Social industry. Now they are a fast-growing social media and influencer marketing agency with offices across Canada. The agency works with brands such as American Express Canada Goose, Cadillac Fairview, Sobeys, BMW, and many more. North Strategic’s approach to influencer marketing is different from those in the past, the agency focuses on data, insights, and business results rather than sending influencer products and hoping for the best.
The agency has its own secret weapon which is used as part of their influencer marketing strategy, called Fluency. This is a marketing service that helps connect brands to influencers across a variety of platforms. The platform is a full management solution that helps brands with everything from influencer discovery, to content reviews (Walsh, 2022).
Influencer vs. Advocate
Source: Search Engine Journal
Influencer marketing is becoming a very popular strategy, especially with social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Using influencers and brand advocates is an effective way to reach a large, targeted audience. Both are effective in bringing in and retaining customers however, it is important to understand the factors that differentiate the two. Brand advocates are regular customers that have had a positive experience with the brand, and share their experiences with others. Customers often share their experiences because of how much they enjoyed them, and at other times advocate for the brand in response to a prompt or incentive. Influencers on the other hand are online personalities that have large followings, that create sponsored content for a brand. Influencers are usually bound by contract to meet the minimum agreed-upon amount of posts. Both options are great for generating buzz and awareness around your product, however it is easier to understand the performance of influencer campaigns and how many conversions they lead to because of online metrics. Conversions that come from brand advocates are much harder to analyze because the majority of those conversations occur offline, and off social media (Walsh, 2022).
Things to Consider When Selecting Influencers
Influencers can have a huge impact on a marketing campaign, but it is important to consider all of the factors when selecting the right influencer for a campaign. Different campaigns will have different goals, objectives, reach, and budgets. Influencers are categorized based on the size of their network:
Nano Influencer (~10K followers)
Micro-Influencer (10K-100K followers)
Macro-Influencer (100K-1M followers)
Celebrity (All-Stars) (1M+ followers)
Source: Hivency
The first step when finding the right influencer is determining the brand and campaign criteria. Secondly, identifying influencer partners. Finally, following the engagement and analyzing the metrics of the influencer's posts (Walsh, 2022).
Recent Influencer Marketing Trends
Source: Brand Lewin/Bloomberg
As discussed in Ashley’s presentation there are a variety of trends already in 2022 that brands are using towards their advantage and incorporating into their marketing strategy. One of the most popular trends is using TikTok as a platform for marketing. Although the platform has been around for a while now, it become increasingly popular during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns in 2020. This is now one of the most popular apps out there, and there is no surprise it is becoming an essential part of a social media marketing strategy. As the app becomes a more popular tool for marketing, there are many different nano-, micro-, macro-, and celebrity influencers on the platform to help brands advertise their products.
Source: GirlStyle Singapore
Other trends include the “No Edit Edit” aesthetic, in which influencers are steering away from the heavily edited, flawless photos towards more natural and authentic photos. Many brands have begun to demonstrate this, such as Dove, showcasing natural beauty with minimal editing and photoshop. Customers may feel better about purchasing products that are endorsed by influencers that they can relate to, that aren’t posting a heavily edited photo.
A Career in Influencer Marketing
After listening to Ashley’s presentation about influencer marketing, I am very interested in learning more. As an avid social media user, I see influencer marketing happening on my platforms all the time. I am guilty of being influenced into purchasing a product because of an influencer and it is clear to see that many other people feel the same as me. Influencer marketing is becoming increasingly popular and increasingly effective. I think that influencer marketing is the future, and will only become more popular from here on. I would love to work in influencer marketing and see how these content creators can help brands communicate their messages to a large, targeted audience.
References
Walsh, A. (2022). Influencer Marketing: Driving Impact & Business Results Through Digital Brand Partnerships. Lecture.
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