IN last week’s column, Gayle, who works in an agency, shares with us that more and more clients are requesting to have influencers included in the mix. Her question probably reflects what is on the mind of many PR practitioners: What exactly is an influencer and is he or she effective?
We answered the first part—What is an influencer?—in last week’s column, which we can summarize as follows:
An influencer is a well-connected person who is regarded as influential and in the know. He or she is someone who can be looked up to for advice, direction and knowledge.
With this, we can surmise that influencers have many faces. They can be journalists, academics, industry analysts, professional advisors, celebrities and individual brand advocates.
In the Philippines, however, the practice is largely limited to that of celebrities and bloggers with a large social-media following who function mainly as brand ambassadors.
The concept of an influencer has its roots in the social sciences. In a book Influencer: The Power to Change Anything, authors Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler said that we too, can be influencers.
The term influencer is not grasped as it’s easily thrown about. It’s like everyone is doing it, but doesn’t know how to do it.
In this week’s column, we will attempt to answer the second part of Gayle’s question: How effective is influencer marketing?
Andre Barrett said, “The history of influencer marketing, as an identifiable marketing theory, can be traced back to a 1940 study entitled The People’s Choice by Lazerfield and Katz. The study analyzed political communication, and concluded that the majority of people are influenced by secondhand information and by opinion leaders. However, the notion that people are influenced by high-profile leaders can be evident throughout history, even as far back to Biblical times.”
Today, with the advent of technology and social media, news travels each faster, and its reach is awesome. “An influencer is unique to every brand and the brand’s campaign,” Kristen Matthews said in The Outreach Marketer.
She goes on to say what influencers are and are not:
Influencers are…
n Different for every brand and every brand’s campaign;
- Aligned contextually to your brand;
- People with loyal followers who trust them;
- Individuals who have a quality audience before quantity;
- People with the ability to attract the right people to your brand;
- Authentic in their recommendations; and
- Credible.
Influencers are not…
- Insincere in their mentions;
- People who mention your brand only because you paid or bribed them;
- In a genre different from your brand; and
- Determined by numeric scores.
“We’ve had a problem in digital media for a while now,” Douglas Karr said in an article The Rules of Successful Effective Influencer Marketing, “and it’s been compounded by the number of platforms claiming to identify influence online.” He goes on to say that there are three reasons why:
- It’s not about the size; it’s about the relevance. The influencer’s audience needs to match your target audience. It would not be in the brand’s best interests, for example to have a celebrity with a purely mass base—however large—to endorse a luxury product; or have a party celebrity speak for a home brand.
- It’s not about the influencer’s opinion. It’s about the influencer sharing the most compelling story that engages the audience. We have to go beyond the celebrity’s saying that he or she was there, but also engage in some storytelling to make the brand more interesting. Most influencer marketing advocates recommend the storytelling factor.
- It’s not about clicks; it’s about conversions. The influencer should be driving the audience to buy, not just visit. Ultimately, everything has to engage into sales.
Ayaz Nanji has a very interesting article for MarketingProfs, Marketers’ Biggest Challenges with Social Influencers, which was based on data from a survery of 37 B2C marketers who use brand advocates as part of their strategy, as well as 74 social-media influencers. These are actual figures, so this tells us a lot.
In it, marketers say that competing with other brands for attention of social-media influencers at 62 percent is their top challenge with the tactic. Other challenges include:
- Identifying advocates—46 percent
- Communicating with advocates—46 percent
Predicting Behavior—46 percent
- Privacy Concerns—27 percent
- None—3 percent
With all these, we can surmise the following:
Influencer marketing should always be part of a total integrated marketing program, and not the be all and end all of the brand. It is one of the tools to create brand awareness.
Influencer marketing is a work in progress in the age of social media. There is still so much to learn and to work on.
With the advent of technology and social media, we must always remember that things go so fast. I often like to say that what is today is not tomorrow. Think about My Space, Friendster and Facebook’s changing demographics. Likewise, a younger, more popular celebrity today may eclipse the popularity of an influencer very quickly within the next few months. That is why much thought has to be put within the selection process.
There are other influencers apart from celebrities. Let’s tap them, as they tend to be more credible.
Go beyond the number of followers; go with a track record.
Storytelling is important in influencer marketing.
Most important, make sure your influencer matches your brand.
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the UK-based International Public Relations Association, the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world. Millie Dizon, the senior vice president for marketing and communications of SM, is the local chairman.
We are devoting a special column each month to answer the reader’s questions about public relations. Send your comments and questions to askipraphil@gmail.com.
