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The right steps to identify the right ‘Social Media Influencer’ for your brand!

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Positive aspects

“Building long term relationships with customers is essential for any sustainable business” (Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick, 2019). Social media marketing is one of the most effective ways to develop online existing relationships, to emphasise a company’s brand awareness, credibility and favourability.

Using social media influencers gives businesses the opportunity to have access to a high quantity of online existing relationships. In terms of positive aspects, ‘Social CRM’, which is the process of managing customer-to-customer conversations and engagement is one of the most beneficial reasons to use social media influencers (Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick, 2019).

Identifying the right individual

Influencer marketing can only be effective after the business has distinguished the right person. This can change typically for each type of business, depending on their aims and objectives. Choosing the right influencer can be just as important as the content and should be key in the marketing strategy. A study conducted by Brorsson and Plotnikova (2017) identified the effects of social media influencers, different characteristics and how different SMI’s are perceived by the receivers.

“Note that it is not always an influencer with a great reach that is most effective to achieve desired targets in social media marketing” (Brorsson and Plotnikova, 2017). 

Taking the following steps:

Figure One: Shannon and Weaver Model of Communication (1979)

This model describes the digital communication process with the different factors that the influencer marketing strategy involves. In terms of successful marketing strategy, the first information source would be the ‘brand’, which sends the ‘Instagram post’ to the ‘transmitter’ who then posts it to their influencer marketing page or most popular social media platform. This then creates the ‘noise source’ which will be the advertised post to create the information dispersion. The next transmitter is the ‘received signal’ which could be in this case, the comments, likes, voices and opinions of the followers and fans. The noise element of the model represents the interference that occurs in the process. The receiver creates this opinion from the post, which lastly, takes them to the destination which also in this case could represent the sales of the product (Shannon and Weaver, 1979).

According to much of the literature, influencers have the ability to strengthen a brand through their social media channels. Due to their high following, high level of trust, open communication, social media influencers are the key to positive brand perception (Djafarova and Rushworth, 2016).

According to Brorsson and Plotnikova (2017) it is a complex process when identifying the appropriate infleuncer due to different aspects such as:

  • Number of posts
  • Number of followers
  • Social structure
  • Target audience
  • Attributes: Age, gender, psychological and external characteristics

How to find and leverage influencers on social media (YouTube, 2016)

This video explains the steps into finding the right influencers for your brand, by helping to identify the certain metrics and collaboration efforts. The first step is looking at the engagement ratio, which explains using tools such as ‘Iconosquare’ that helps brands look at the engagement ratio for an influencer. The last step as explained in the video is the ‘content authenticity’ which means looking in depth at the influencer to see how there going to advertise your product. examples of this could be, reviewing your product and giving their honest opinion.

How to track and measure your influencers campaigns on social media (YouTube, 2018)

This YouTube video explains the process in finding the right influencer for your brand. This video compares to the above YouTube video in the sense that the content goes into detail about how tracking the strategy after the strategy has been performed. The important steps include monitoring the influencer marketing strategy and measuring the impact they are having on your business.

Successful stories with influencer marketing campaigns:

How to run influencer marketing campaigns – successful examples (YouTube, 2018)

This video gives details on the success of marketing strategies for companies such as Skype, GAP and Glossier. GAP used different influencers to renew their current persona which gave them widespread reach. Skype used a competition for their strategy to attract influencers to provide content and gave Skype the opportunity to further their target audience/reach. Glossier decided to use micro influencers (influencers with a small following) to gain a more approachable brand image.

“According to a recent study conducted for a HubSpot more than 94% of marketers believe that influencer marketing was an effective campaign strategy” (YouTube, 2018).

Social media analytics

Finding the right social media influencer for your brand involves using social media analytics to analyse the big data from social media. Companies can identify the common behaviours, interests of their consumers to convert the social media users into customers (Rowena, 2018). According to the Social identity theory, consumers behaviour is determined by the interpersonal behaviour. This means that the motivations and actions of the SMI is closely linked with the result of the behaviour of the promoted product (Glynis and Rusi, 2014).

Bibliography:

Brorsson, A and Plotnikova, V. (2017). Choosing the right social media influencer. Diva . 1 (1), p31-39.

Chaffey, D and Ellis-Chadwick, F (2019). Digital Marketing. 7th ed. Harlow: Pearson. p118-127.

Djavafova, E and Rushworth, C. (2017). Exploring the credibility of online celebrities’ Instagram profiles in influencing the purchase decisions of young female users. Computers in Human Behaviour. 68 (4), p1-7.

Glynis, B and Rusi, J (2014). Identity process theory: identity, social action and social change . 6th ed. Cambridge: Cambridge Univeristy Press. p20-22.

Rowena, H. (2018). Impact of Data and Analytics on Social Media in 2018. Available: https://towardsdatascience.com/impact-of-data-and-analytics-on-social-media-in-2018-595a3bd4fb60. Last accessed 8th March 2019.

 

Top benefits and biggest risks of using ‘Social media influencers’ to promote your products using Instagram

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What’s important to know for a Business carrying out this initiative?

An interesting journal article by Booth and Matic (2011) explains the method used to identify the correct influencers for a brand. The method explained is called ‘The Index valuation algorithm’ which analyses the variables against the product or service to the influencer.

“New consumer influencers are gaining a large share of voice in the market thanks to the power of the internet” (Booth and Matic, 2011). The first important aspect is to identify activist influencers before engagement, starts with developing a strategy taking into consideration these objectives:

  • Influencers that stimulate engaging conversations with the opportunity to change brand perception
  • Influencers that will build a relationship

The valuation algorithm is a model that consists of categories that include:

  • Viewers per month (calculated by views, likes, shares)
  • Linkages, the popularity of the posts to mutual followers
  • Post frequency
  • Media citation score (Volume of media that cites blogger)
  • Engagement (quantity of likes and comments)

At the end of the model the blogger is scored in terms of how high the above factors were using scales of 1-5 for poor, fair, good, very good and excellent. Each rating corresponds to a different objective or subjective set of values . It is important to take into consideration when choosing the right influencer for the brand by identifying how they represent the brand positively and to ensure that engagement will improve measurable results. The variables can be measured quantitatively and qualitatively to measure the effectiveness of the bloggers influence (Booth and Matic, 2011).

Choosing the right influencers to promote your products:

In this YouTube video Neil Patel talks about the factors to consider when picking the influencer, you want to promote your brand. Patel (2017) describes picking ‘relevant’ influencers that share the same target market otherwise the partnership will be pointless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Traackr (2018) Shows the five steps to follow when creating an action plan for influencer marketing. The framework includes steps that will make sure the correct approach has been taken and all aspects have been considered.

Success stories:

Kylie Jenner promoting for Fit Tea (2017)

Using the successful visual platform Instagram, Fit Tea’s account has approximately 1.7 million followers, which is above average in their sector. Using Kylie Jenner to post the above picture on her Instagram holding the product as one of their promoters increases views and followers for the brand (Patel, 2017).

Important aspects to consider from Fit tea:

  • Choosing to work with females is tactile as women are more likely to follow brands compared to men.
  • Fit tea uses comedic content to entertain their followers including frequent posts of memes
  • Looking at Fit Tea on their website their statement say’s ‘exercise and proper diet are necessary to achieve and maintain weight loss’, they have used influencers that are fit and healthy to integrate with their products

Social media influencer promoting for Garmen (Stages)

Social Media Influencers are Changing the way companies market their products / TODAY

Samantha Brooke posted a photo on her Instagram page of her dog in her kayak which went viral and so she gained a lot of followers. People were asking about what Kayak she was using which then caught the attention of advertisers. A company called Garmen that specialize in outdoor products were looking for a female influencer with a big following to promote their products. Benefits of working with Samantha meant that Garmen gained 40% of purchases through people seeing the post on social media.

 

What are the risks and disadvantages of using social media influencers?

When choosing to use social media influencers to promote products there is a few risks that a business must take and a few disadvantages.

  1. FTC (Federal Trade Commission) requirements. These include making sure that when influencers endorse a paid product, they must clearly disclose any connection with the influencer and the company. Failure to state clearly influencers and marketers are violating against the rules (Ganoza, 2017).
  2. Choosing the wrong influencer to promote products. This can result in having a negative impact on the brand if the target market is different to the influencers followers (Barker, 2018). The brand should take into consideration the age, gender, interest etc. otherwise the partnership won’t work.
  3. Cost can be expensive. Guideline for Instagram influencer marketing is $1000 for every 100,000 followers (Lua, 2018). So, if the influencer has 1 million followers’ the price for a paid post is going to be costly.
  4. Negative buzz. Possibility of receiving negative feedback (comments on Instagram) which could ruin the brands reputation

Bibliography:

Barker, S. (2017). How to Boost Your Product Launch With Influencer Marketing. Available: https://mention.com/blog/product-launch-influencer-marketing/. Last accessed 13th January 2019.

Booth, N and Matic, J. (2011). Mapping and leveraging influencers in social media to shape corporate brand perceptions. Corporate Communications: An International Journal. 16 (3), 184-191.

Ganoza, L. (2017). What Brands Need to Know about Using Influencers to Advertise their Products . Available: https://www.manufacturingindustryadvisor.com/ftccrackdownwhat-brands-need-to-know-about-using-influencers-to-advertise-their-products/#page=1. Last accessed 13th January 2019.

Lua, A. (2018). How Much Does Social Media Influencer Marketing Cost? Available: https://blog.bufferapp.com/influencer-marketing-cost. Last accessed 13th January 2019.

Patel, D. (2017). How Fit Tea Is Winning Big With Influencer Marketing. Available: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-fit-tea-is-winning-big-with-influencer-marketing_us_58ebd4f1e4b0ea028d568bbe?ec_carp=3641512943064852452&guccounter=1. Last accessed 12th January 2019.

Traackr. (2017). Influencer marketing framework. Available: http://www.traackr.com/influencer-marketing-framework. Last accessed 13th January 2019.

 

 

 

 

LDNM Muscle and their customer journeys

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LDNM Muscle

LDNM Muscle is an independent company that aim to help people in fitness transformations that involve protein powders, supplements and a comprehensive range of guides. LDNM was created by two sets of brothers from London in 2013 (LDNM, 2018). The main aim of LDNM muscle is to give affordable, 100% natural and most importantly a vegan range of products. They provide products containing no pro-hormones, steroids, performance enhancing drugs or any products that contain steroids and stimulants which cause negative side effects such as liver problems, severe dehydration and cardiovascular effects (Mangan, 2018).

LDNM website targets people who want to change their physique and are interested in using protein powders and supplements. Market segmentation is the process of splitting customers in a market into different groups or segments (Macdonald & Dunbar, 2012). LDNM muscle is based in London; therefore their customer geographic would be people within the London area. The graphic of consumers is likely to aged 18+ as it is focused on targeting an older market for both male and female. Looking at a product behavioural view, customers will continue to keep purchasing, therefore LDNM has the potential for a high loyalty status (Macdonald & Dunbar, 2012).

Competitor benchmarking is the process of a structured comparison of the different digital marketing approaches of organisations and online services using the capabilities within the areas of conversion retention and growth (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2016). One competitor of LDNM muscle is Myprotein have the same product objectives but offers more products for customers to choose from. They have options on their website to narrow down a consumer’s search, with links to vegan, vegetarian, organic, gluten free and diary free products (Myprotein, 2018). Compared to LDNM Muscle website, it doesn’t give as much choice but says their products are simply vegan. Another competitor, Protein World offer online low-calorie recipes and is structured towards a healthy, fun lifestyle (Protein world, 2018).  In terms of how aesthetically pleasing they are, all three websites are eye-catching to the consumers. Protein World chose a yellow website which according to Patel (2018) yellow stimulates the brain’s excitement centre and can suggest the business to be ‘fun and friendly’. Watch Neil Patel’s YouTube video on choosing the right colour schemes for your brand identity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXhZJI9Iy5c. This compared to Myprotein’s red website, which expresses bold and youthful (Applied innovations, 2018).

Two possible customer journeys were created using two different personas, which represent a target audience. The first persona is a female student and the second is a 32 years male gym receptionist. Within the Protein website they have a promotional offer which gives 35% off everything. For these two personas having this offer will entice them both to buy as they are on a low income and looking for an affordable product. They also both frequently use social media so LDNM could update their social media and offer influencers to promote their products and use other influences.

Myprotein have influencers on social media promoting their products so they have a higher following and an advantage to sales (Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick, 2016).

Figure 1:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 2:

Figure 3:

Using Roberts (2018) template of the customer journey, the table shows the touch points of Persona 1 (Lilly Watts). It shows how Persona 1 found the company and then the journey to purchasing and then passing on feedback of the brand. The important touch point is that when they visited the website there was willingness to purchase a product.

 

 

 

Bibliography:

Applied Innovations. (2018). 7 Elements of an Aesthetically Pleasing Website. Available: https://www.appliedi.net/blog/7-elements-of-an-aesthetically-pleasing-website/. Last accessed 3rd December 2018.

Chaffey, D and Ellis-Chadwick, F (2016). Digital Marketing. 6th ed. Harlow: Pearson. p77-93.

LDNM Muscle. (2018). Our story. Available: https://www.ldnmuscle.com/about/. Last accessed 25th November 2018.

Macdonald, M & Dunbar, I (2012). Market Segmentation: How to do it and how to profit from it. 4th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons. p1-19.

Myprotein. (2018). About us. Available: https://www.myprotein.com/. Last accessed 30th November 2018

Roberts, J. (2018). Mapping your customer journeys across touchpoints: Examples and techniques. Available: https://www.mycustomer.com/experience/engagement/mapping-your-customer-journeys-across-touchpoints-examples-and-techniques. Last accessed 5th December 2018.

Patel, N. (2018). How to Use the Psychology of Colour to Increase Website Conversions. Available: https://neilpatel.com/blog/psychology-of-color-and-conversions/. Last accessed 5th December 2018

Protein World. (2018). About protein world. Available: https://www.proteinworld.com/about. Last accessed 3rd December 2018.