Influencer Marketing 101

Hi everyone, we’re back again with another exciting blog post!

Today we’re talking about Influencer Marketing, the fun stuff. In our Digital Media Marketing Seminar we had Ashley Walsh, Account Director at North Strategic, as our guest speaker to tell us about her experience and work with influencer marketing.

What is Influencer Marketing?

We often hear the word “influencer”, “content creator”, and “advocate” thrown around a lot with the growing usage of social media, but what does it really mean?

In simple terms, an influencer is someone who is skilled at growing and maintaining a loyal social following online, in which their audience looks up to them for inspiration and advice. Influencers can have sponsored content, be engaged with brands through contracts, and have a guaranteed image/brand. Whereas an advocate is an everyday customer who organically supports a brand based on their experience with them. Advocates and/or brand ambassadors are more complex in the marketing world, as it is harder to measure metrics and track conversations about the brand through these advocates. Content creators are people who are skilled at creating professional quality content that stands out from others. Their primary focus is solely on the content to match with their overall aesthetic. Most of the time, these content creators are also influencers as finding a pattern or aesthetic that is consistent attracts its own audience. Influencers come from all different streams of life and have grown a loyal base of supporters whether it be on TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram.

How Influencer Marketing Has Changed Social Media

Before social media platforms like TikTok, Twitch, Instagram and Facebook took over the world, people didn’t really understand or expect it to become such a huge channel for marketing. When apps like Instagram initially launched, people posted pictures, then videos of stuff they felt like sharing to their audience, regardless of size. It’s amazing to see how brands have adapted their marketing strategy to make influencer marketing what it is today, a 16.4 billion dollar industry. Crazy, right? Let’s put that into perspective.

Influencer marketing is a growing industry and is perpetuated with the use of social media, which has created a wide array of ways for brands to engage with their consumers through influencers. What I thought was really interesting was how marketers state that 89% of their ROI comes directly from influencer campaigns versus from other marketing channels. This goes to show how quickly influencer marketing is growing each year.

Finding The Right Influencer for Brand Partnerships

When creating partnerships between influencers and brands, it’s important for both parties, especially the brands, to make sure that the influencer they choose to collaborate with shares the same values and similar opinions. By doing so, it ensures that both parties are on the same page when creating content for the brand. In addition to this, it’s crucial to communicate effectively when negotiating deals to maintain the same level of understanding of what is expected and what type of audience you will be reaching with the partnership. By finding influencers whose values align with the brand’s vision, mission statement and goals, this will lead the brand closer to success.

In addition to this, I think the most important aspect for brands to consider is to have a diverse roster of influencers who work with their brands to ensure that there is enough representation from different cultures, different body sizes, different backgrounds, and individuals who identify with the LGBTQ+ communities. I feel as though there should be equal representation of all individuals, especially with global brands that have an extremely large audience to be more inclusive with their products, marketing strategy, and influencer brand partnerships.

Would I want to work in Influencer Marketing?

My love for social media and how fun and accessible it is to anyone is the reason why I joined the Digital Media Marketing program at George Brown College. A future in influencer marketing is definitely in one of the top five categories of digital marketing that I would love to grow my career in. After attending this seminar with Ashley, it reinforced my goal to work in influencer marketing and closer with social media in the future. It has inspired me to continue growing my own social media platforms in addition to finding a career in social media. I really enjoy how brands and influencers are able to create connections with each other and grow their platforms through a mutually beneficial partnership.

From an individual’s perspective, the idea of being able to work with several different brands from different industries from health, beauty, or food, being an influencer comes with the flexibility of working with brands on a short-term basis while being to exercise your creativity (to a certain level), as long as it aligns with the brand’s contract and expectations. Creating meaningful relationships is the heart of building a strong community in marketing.

I learned so much through Ashley's workshop on Influencer Marketing. Many people think that they understand influencer marketing because of how easily accessible they are, since you can just opening your phone and start scrolling on social media to see their posts. However, there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes for brands to finding the right influencers in a world where there are celebrities, macroinfluencers, microinfluencers, and nanoinfluencers. There's a multitude of influencers out there who all represent something unique, which is themselves. Learning to identify the right influencer who is geared for success is a more detailed and meticulous process than it seems to the average mobile user. I look forward to learning more and growing my career as a Digital Marketer, hopefully in influencer marketing in the future.

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References

Courtney, E. (n.d.). 9 Career Development Strategies for Remote Workers. FlexJobs. https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/4-career-development-tips-professionals/

Dopson, E., & Guide, S. (2021, August 18). 30+ Influencer Marketing Statistics to Have on Your Radar (2021) — Marketing. Shopify. https://www.shopify.ca/blog/influencer-marketing-statistics

Geyser, W. (2022, February 8). The State of Influencer Marketing 2020: Benchmark Report. Influencer Marketing Hub. https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-benchmark-report-2020/

• Global influencer market size 2021. (2021, October 14). Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1092819/global-influencer-market-size/

Pierucci, S. (n.d.). Why MICRO-INFLUENCER Marketing is still 'The Game' in 2019. Medium. https://medium.com/swlh/why-micro-influencer-marketing-is-the-game-in-2018-fdeda0993c36