Tag Archives: bbsdigmarket

Selecting a social media influencer as part of a social media campaign

When creating a relationship with a social media influencer it is crucial to ensure that the correct person is chosen. This blog will talk about the process of creating this partnership and the potential risks and rewards of this new professional relationship. Just some of the benefits of working with a social media influencer in this modern day are the credibility the can add to a small new brand, they add a fresh perspective and they can generate a large amount of exposure in a small amount of time (Cabrera, 2018). It is important for a business to look at their required Return on Investment (ROI) of selecting an influencer to work with their brand.

Criteria for deciding which influencer is the best fit for your brand

Objectives

Firstly, the brand must identify what the brand hopes to achieve from working with a social media influencer. This end goal would be classified as their objectives (ChiefMarketer.com, 2014). By deciding on the brand’s end goal as well as the end goal of the influencer, both parties can achieve a beneficial gain from the relationship. This will also ensure both parties understand the reason for the relationship.

Relevance

One of the most important characteristics of a social media influencers capabilities is their relevance to the brand (Hamann, 2018). If a brand is looking for a social media influencer to work with, it is crucial to ensure that the influencers image is fluid with that of the brand. It is no use in a gaming app partnering with an Instagram art account that has never shown an interesting in gaming. This is because their follower base will consist mostly of art fans who expect to see art related posts (Hamann, 2018). Therefore, the gaming app would be less likely to gain positive engagement from this campaign compared to if they partnered with an Instagram account that posts about mobile phones and game-related content.

Engagement levels

One of the most prominent methods of measuring the success of a social media campaign or post is the engagement level. Before creating a contract with an influencer, a brand should look at the influencers different levels of engagement (Vivo, 2017). For example, the simplest one would be how many followers they have, this could also be compared to other influencers in their area. Another aspect of engagement is how many likes and comments each post will receive. Although this measurement is important it is crucial to look at them in a collaborative aspect, so the brand should look at the amount of likes the influencer receives on a post with the influencers follower account in mind (Jacobson, 2018). An influencer that has 10,000 followers with an average of 9000 likes on each post would likely be more effective for the brand than an influencer with 100,000 followers and an average 5000 likes per post. Social media influencers will often use models as shown below to ensure they are able ot utilise their social media profile in the most optimal way.

(Digital Marketing Jobs, 2017)

Approaching an influencer

When approaching an influencer there are many different ways to do so. It can even be done publically to show people in the target audience how open the brand wants to be with the consumers themselves. But the more common method is to privately contact the influencer. At this point, it is best to communicate as freely and openly as possible with the influencer to ensure clarity on what you expect of them and how/when they will receive payment or compensation. Smaller influencers are normally paid with free products to endorse possibly with some small additional payment whereas a larger influencer is much more likely to want a monetary exchange (IZEA, 2017). It is important to communicate what is expected of the influencer, for example, they will receive payment once they have posted 3 photos with the selected products.

Risk and Reputation

One of the risks involved with working with a social media influencer is the perception of this influencer and the impact the public opinion can have on the brand. An academic study (Conference on Corporate Communication, 2010) discussed the importance of a brand attempting to control their reputation in a market where it is more difficult than ever to do so. If an influencer has a bad reputation and actively participate in controversial behaviour then this is likely to influence the brand directly since they will be associated with supporting these actions and beliefs (Smart Insights, 2017).

Another risk to consider is having an influencer publicly criticise the business because of the approach the brand took. If the brand does not pay the influencer on time or changes the requirements after the influencer has posted the required posts then the influencer may take it upon themselves to publicly expose what has happened. This can be avoided through simple communication, clarity and creating a trusting relationship. This opinion of a large influencer could be enough to drive a large amount of business away from a brand since the target audience will not see the brand as trustworthy.

References

Cabrera, P. (2018). 5 of the Most Useful Ways to Work With Social Media Influencers. [online] Postplanner.com. Available at: https://www.postplanner.com/blog/work-with-social-media-influencers/ [Accessed 29 Mar. 2018].

ChiefMarketer.com. (2014). 5 Tips to Find the Right Social Media Influencers – Chief Marketer. [online] Available at: http://www.chiefmarketer.com/5-tips-find-right-social-media-influencers/ [Accessed 29 Mar. 2018].

Conference on Corporate Communication. (2010). Corporate Communication International. [online] Available at: http://www.corporatecomm.org/cci/CCIProceedings2010.pdf#page=28 [Accessed 29 Mar. 2018].

Digital Marketing Jobs. (2017). How to Improve Social media Engagement without Ads-Digital marketing jobs hub. [online] Available at: http://digitalmarketingjobshub.com/how-to-improve-social-media-engagement-without-ads/ [Accessed 29 Mar. 2018].

Hamann, H. (2018). 5 Tips for Finding the Right Social Influencers for Your Brand. [online] Convince and Convert: Social Media Consulting and Content Marketing Consulting. Available at: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/digital-marketing/5-tips-for-finding-the-right-social-influencers-for-your-brand/ [Accessed 29 Mar. 2018].

IZEA. (2017). Pay Social Media Influencers: What You Need to Know. [online] Available at: https://izea.com/2017/12/11/pay-social-media-influencers/ [Accessed 29 Mar. 2018].

Jacobson, B. (2018). Why engagement trumps reach when measuring influencer marketing impact – Marketing Land. [online] Marketing Land. Available at: https://marketingland.com/engagement-trumps-reach-measuring-influencer-marketing-impact-225377 [Accessed 29 Mar. 2018].

Smart Insights. (2017). 4 influencer marketing risks to be wary of | Smart Insights. [online] Available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/online-pr/influencer-marketing/4-influencer-marketing-risks-wary/ [Accessed 29 Mar. 2018].

Vivo, M. (2017). How to Measure Influencer Marketing Campaigns: 5 Analytical Approaches. [online] Socialmediaexaminer.com. Available at: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/influencer-marketing-campaigns-5-ways-to-measure/ [Accessed 29 Mar. 2018].

The risks of using Social Media Influencers to market to an audience and how to find the correct influencer

Influencer marketing is not a new concept and has been used by the partnership of an organisation with somebody in the public eye that is able to influence the sales and image of the organisation and its product (Duffy, 2005).

Influencer marketing is moving towards using social media influencers as opposed to marketing through the traditional mainstream actor or actress. As seen in the graph below:

How to find a social media influencer to work with and the risks to look at

Definition of a social media influencer – ‘A Social Media Influencer is a user on social media who has established credibility in a specific industry. A social media influencer has access to a large audience and can persuade others by virtue of their authenticity and reach.’ (Pixlee, 2017). When using a social media influencer to promote a product, it is important to select the promoter appropriately since their actions will have a direct impact on the sales of the promoted product.

How to choose the correct social media influencer to work with

Using measurements such as relevance, Engagement, Reach, Frequency and Authenticity (Hamann, 2016). Using these qualitative and quantitative measurements allows a business to identify if the social media influencer is appropriate for a collaborative campaign. By using these metrics, a business will be able to look at the social media influencers account to assess if the account will bring good promotional value to the brand. By assessing the quality of the content as well as the engagement level of the social media influencer the business can assess if a contractual agreement will be low risk and highly beneficial for both parties.

Another important factor to look at when marketing through an influencer is ensuring that the influencer is aimed towards the same market and audience that the business is hoping to reach through the promotion. This can be verified by asking the influencer to present some of the demographic analysis of their audience.

Two-step flow of communication

This theory suggests information flows through ‘opinion leaders’ before being received by the general population (Katz, 1957). This can be related to using social media influencers by seeing the influencers as ‘opinion leaders’, the social media influencers are able to pass information onto their audience in a way that will influence their decisions with regards to the business that has partnered with the influencer to promote a product. By using a social influencer as an intermediary between the business and the audience the communication will be less direct and should influence the decision of the audience since it is a third party (social media influencer) that is promoting the product/service.

Risks Involved with using social media influencers

Only concerned with being paid

If the social media influencer is only concerned with receiving payment for the marketing campaign then the content produced is not likely to align with the goals set by the business paying them for the promotion (Smart Insights, 2017). If these goals aren’t a priority for the influencer then it is likely that the business will be at a loss since they will not be receiving the maximum output from the campaign as well as actually having to pay for the campaign that was not beneficial.

Reputational risks

When deciding which influencer will best suit the brand and its image, it is important to perform efficient and thorough research to ensure that the chosen influencer is socially responsible and cannot be seen in controversial (Ragan.com, 2018). If the influencer was to act in some kind of controversial manner then this will reflect badly on any businesses that are associated with this influencer, especially if the behaviour is in any way related to the business working with the influencer. An example of this can be seen with the YouTuber Jake Paul and his actions related to suicide in Japan (Ragan.com, 2018). Since YouTube pay Jake Paul for his video production, YouTube were questioned as to why they would support his behaviour by actually paying him for these videos and endorsing him.

Thinking of the future

A problem that can arise from a business and influencer relationship is that if the relationship is not maintained and eventually breaks down, once the influencer is out of any contractual agreement then they will be able to voice any negative opinions of the relationship (Patel, 2015). If the relationship was negative in any way then this opinion can be voiced by the influencer and cause their audience to see the business from a negative perspective.

References

Duffy, D. (2005). Affiliate marketing and its impact on e‐commerce. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 22(3), pp.161-163.

Hamann, H. (2016). 5 Tips for Finding the Right Social Influencers for Your Brand. [online] Convince and Convert: Social Media Consulting and Content Marketing Consulting. Available at: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/digital-marketing/5-tips-for-finding-the-right-social-influencers-for-your-brand/ [Accessed 20 Feb. 2018].

Pixlee. (2017). Definition: What is a social media influencer?. [online] Available at: https://www.pixlee.com/definitions/definition-social-media-influencer [Accessed 19 Feb. 2018].

Smart Insights. (2017). 4 influencer marketing risks to be wary of | Smart Insights. [online] Available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/online-pr/influencer-marketing/4-influencer-marketing-risks-wary/ [Accessed 22 Feb. 2018].

Ragan.com. (2018). How to minimize your brand’s reputation risk with influencer marketing woes. [online] Available at: https://www.ragan.com/PublicRelations/Articles/53779.aspx [Accessed 22 Feb. 2018].

Katz, E. (1957). The Two-Step Flow of Communication: An Up-To-Date Report on an Hypothesis. Public Opinion Quarterly, 21(1, Anniversary Issue Devoted to Twenty Years of Public Opinion Research), pp.61-63.

Patel, N. (2015). 6 Hidden Dangers of Influencer Marketing. [online] LinkdIn. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/6-hidden-dangers-influencer-marketing-neil-patel [Accessed 24 Feb. 2018].

The benefits and risks of using social media marketing to improve customer retention in the fashion industry

Creating a profile of the followers and customers

By using social media to market an online clothing brand, analytic applications/software can be used to create a greater understanding of the age, gender, location and level of activity (Weinberg, 2017). By creating this average profile, the business will be able to create more appropriate and effective marketing techniques as well as products. The business can create marketing schemes that will encourage the current followers of the social media accounts to continue to engage with the brand through liking, commenting and sharing posts or promotions (Weinberg, 2017). By creating a more specific individual identification of the followers, the business is able to identify the needs of the average consumers (Sashi, 2012). Identifying this need is crucial since meeting these needs on behalf of the business should translate to greater customer retention due, if these needs are not met then the followers are much more likely to look for alternative brands on social media platforms that will meet these needs. By seeing which outfits customers like, share and comment on the most a general image can be created in regard to what is currently popular and what style the social media account should be posting the most. If the outfits are more appealing to the customers they are less likely to unfollow and not buy products from this brand.

https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/5-ways-to-improve-customer-retention-with-social-media/

Social media is a great listening tool

Another benefit to using social media to improve customer retention is the potential freedom that the customer has for feedback (Hyder, 2017). By having an open-door attitude towards feedback, the company can see what areas need to be improved within the business whether that is the online shop’s scheme or the social media presence (Sisira, 2011). Social media responses will allow for a general idea to be created about what the business is doing well and what the business is failing to do. The feedback given allows for the business to create a better response to these problems since the customer will commonly provide their suggested solution to the problem within the feedback. This service is completely free and is available for any business with a social media account (Hyder, 2017). Some businesses choose to have direct messages unavailable but this generally is not a good idea since it is free feedback and also gives the impression that the business cares about the consumer opinions or problems. If a customer feels that their opinions are valued by the business they are much more likely to continue to be a loyal customer.

https://www.inc.com/shama-hyder/4-ways-to-use-social-media-to-improve-your-customer-retention-rates.html

Risks involved in using social media marketing to improve customers retention

One of the largest risks of using social media marketing is the censoring of comments and posts about the business. If a clothing business such as Topman wants to allow customers to comment freely on all of their social media posts then it is expected that there will be some very negative comments that can cause people to question whether or not they will buy a product or be associated with the brand (Sandilands, 2017). If there are a few people that do not like a product and then a photo of said product is posted onto the Topman Instagram account then they are likely to voice their negative opinion of the comment. This can cause other customers or potential customers to refuse to buy products from Topman again if they feel the negative comment is reasonable and likely to be accurate.

Some platforms such as Twitter don’t give the option to delete or disable comments on a post (Sandilands, 2017). This can be good because if a frustrated customer wants to cause to stop others from buying a product then this can be stopped, however customers that see this would think that censorship of accurate negative reviews is not a good action to be taken and therefore would not want to buy products from a clothing industry that do not value all the opinions of customers.

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-social-media-marketing-21890.html

References

Hyder, S. (2017). 4 Ways to Use Social Media to Improve Your Customer Retention Rates. [online] Inc.com. Available at: https://www.inc.com/shama-hyder/4-ways-to-use-social-media-to-improve-your-customer-retention-rates.html [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018].

Sandilands, T. (2017). Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media Marketing. [online] Smallbusiness.chron.com. Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-social-media-marketing-21890.html [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018].

Sashi, C. (2012). Customer engagement, buyer‐seller relationships, and social media. Management Decision, 50(2), p.258.

Sisira, N. (2011). SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS ROLE IN MARKETING. 2nd ed. [ebook] Warangal, p.12. Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1013/ba91a504e085212ae4751ed61c3c0e1b6622.pdf [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018].

Weinberg, T. (2017). 5 Ways to Improve Customer Retention With Social Media. [online] Socialmediaexaminer.com. Available at: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/5-ways-to-improve-customer-retention-with-social-media/ [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018].

Defining Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is utilising social media platforms to keep customers updated about products and services whilst attracting new customers through the discovery of the business social media profile.

examples of social media platforms include: Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram and snapchat

Why carry out a social media audit?

Carrying out an efficient and effective social media audit will allow a business to identify where changes need to be made to social media profiles to ensure that they are being utilised in the best possible way. Ensuring a good amount of social media coverage is vital to staying competitive in such a technologically orientated age.

carrying out a social media audit will allow a business to see if the results from their social media activities are helping to reach their goals and objectives.

 How can businesses in the gaming industry utilise social media and how can they use a marketing audit to see if their efforts have been successful

5 W’s

One method of carrying out a social media audit is to use the 5 W’s analysis method (Quesenberry, 2015)

This method involves looking at the following:

Where – Which social media platform are you analysing and utilising.

What – What type of content is being produced on the social media accounts for example photos or articles.

When – This concerns the frequency of the posting of the posting across the platforms.

Why – This is determined by the reason behind the content being posted. Is it to give a promotional code or to show off an upcoming game being released.

This model helps a business to analyse their social media presence from the perspective of the business, consumers and competitors. By using this template, the business can use key performance indicators to measure whether or not they are reaching their aims and objectives of using the social media platforms.

https://hbr.org/2015/11/conducting-a-social-media-audit

Basic Method

Another method, proposed by Lee (2017) is a basic method that requires the business to make a checklist of all of their social media accounts, the following and the recent activity. Once this checklist is created the business needs to evaluate why they have accounts on these specific platforms, what they hope to gain from it, is there a good level of engagement for this platform and how consistent is your message/image across these platforms.

By maintaining the same ‘image’ across all platforms it will be easier for new customers to find the brand on each platform and will ensure customers have a more memorable experience on the profile.

If these steps are followed then the business will be able to maintain efficient social media profiles that are pushing the message they want to be portrayed and the image they want the brand to be associated with.

This is advantageous since it doesn’t require a team of skilled employees to do this and it can be completed for free by one individual.

https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-audit

Analytics

Lastly, the business should link up all current social media accounts with analytics website and in-app analytics. Analytic allows the user to find out the level of engagement each post is having and the rate at which their profile is accessed by unique users.

By using analytics to see engagement on posts the business will be able to find which types of posts are accessed more. This will be helpful since the business can then look at re-working posts to ensure they are maximising engagements. If a post with prices has less engagements than one with more of a lookbook feel then the business could disguise a post as a lookbook so the users don’t feel as if they are being marketed too.

Utilising analytics to find out how many unique users click the profile will give valuable information. If there is a large amount of people clicking on the profile and not staying then perhaps a remodel could be useful since people may see the current profile colour scheme or layout to be boring or confusing.

If there is a lack of people clicking on the profile then maybe the profile picture or profile name needs to be changed to encourage more people to look at the profile

https://business.twitter.com/en/analytics/tweet-activity-dashboard.html

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-business/bobcarvertc/2015-10-09/5-reasons-invest-dedicated-social-media-analytics-tools

Conclusion

In conclusion, social media is a necessity in the modern day of marketing. Once social media profiles have been created it is important to have frequent audits to ensure that the social media is being utilised since the opportunity for sales and customer loyalty generation by social media is so large.

References

Jackson, D. (2017). [online] Available at: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-audit/https://hbr.org/2015/11/conducting-a-social-media-audit [Accessed 1 Dec. 2017].

Lee, K. (2017). The 15-Minute Social Media Audit Everyone Can Do. [online] bufferapp.com. Available at: https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-audit [Accessed 25 Nov. 2017].

Business.twitter.com. (2017). Tweet activity dashboard. [online] Available at: https://business.twitter.com/en/analytics/tweet-activity-dashboard.html [Accessed 28 Nov. 2017].

Carver, B. and Carver, B. (2017). 5 Reasons to Invest in Dedicated Social Media Analytics Tools. [online] Social Media Today. Available at: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-business/bobcarvertc/2015-10-09/5-reasons-invest-dedicated-social-media-analytics-tools [Accessed 1 Dec. 2017].

the online consumer’s hierarchy of needs

Deliveroo – This is a food delivery website that offers delivery from restaurants that would not normally offer delivery, including fast food and Café’s.

There are 3 consumer needs identified by researchers when looking at the online consumer’s hierarchy of needs. These needs are the structural firmness of the site (security), functional convenience, and representational delight

The layout of the website is consistent throughout with a calm and welcoming user interface and colour scheme. This fits the need of the functional convenience since the website is easy to navigate. By having easy to use and relevant characteristics on the website such as ‘my account’ and ‘checkout’ the consumer will always be informed with regards to where they are in the process of actually completing an order. With large text, this is clear and easy to access making the process of ordering the food as simple and trouble-free as possible.

By having a consistent colour scheme and simple layout an atmosphere is created. This is an atmosphere that shows that the website is calm and in a no pressure situation. Deliveroo has also created this effect by adding pleasant photos of all the food provided by each restaurant on the home page of the website.

The most basic need for a website consumer is the structural firmness of the site. This need reflects that the consumer needs the website being used to be safe and secure. With the rise in online fraud and the always prevalent risk of fraud, Deliveroo must ensure all payments are made securely. This need also represents things such as response time of the website. Deliveroo has heavily invested into servers to ensure that large amounts of traffic can be accommodated too and will prevent the website from crashing when used by a large number of users.

This experience could be enhanced by having sounds and or videos on the website giving more information about the selected restaurant or meal. This has been proven to increase the user experience since the consumer will feel more informed and have more senses stimulated, therefore becoming more engaged with the website.

Another improvement would be the implementation of a side-bar/cuisine categories. If there was a side-bar to select different types of food then it would become even easier for the user to find a specific food type that they are looking for. This also could be furthered by improving the search system to allow for food searches instead of just restaurant searches. These improvements would improve the consumer experience by improving the actual functional convenience of the website.

Context

IKEA is a multinational business which designs and manufactures ready to assemble furniture. IKEA employees around 160,000 people with 365 stores in 45 different countries. IKEA decided to implement the socializers to help IKEA with receiving information from customers and passing it on to the relevant departments. It was decided that a listening hub would be created as a physical space in the IKEA headquarters to create this information channel.

How IKEA will become a socially intelligent business.

• The listening hub will help IKEA to become both socially intelligent and socially aware.
• By using social media platforms and creating a listening hub IKEA will be able to receive feedback from different regions and pass this feedback/information on to the relevant department.
• This listening hub will also allow IKEA to pin point specific social media platforms for different regions since recent information portrayed that the UK used sites like YELP to give feedback whilst the U.S used Facebook to give feedback.
• By creating a customizable platform for customers to engage with IKEA, customers would receive a unique experience that allowed them to get their own personal point across whether its positive or negative.
• One obstacle for IKEA is that the business has already had enormous success through using traditional business methods and therefore there could be a resistance to change in some departments whilst it is working smoothly in a different department.

Summary

IKEA may face some implementation problems since there are a very large number of departments across many regions that will need to implement this change. But a cultural shift within the business will allow a more adaptive attitude towards both the listening hub and the use of social media to engage with customers. Since the platform is so highly customisable, IKEA and the socializers will be able to create a perfect balance that suits both IKEA and the customers. Since this information is so vital to IKEA the listening hub acts as a stable channel that will ensure relevant information is passed from the customers to IKEA and then to the relevant specific department that can take the feedback and act upon it.

Ikea case study: https://studentcentral.brighton.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/pid-3029519-dt-content-rid-5621925_1/xid-5621925_1

IKEA & The Socializers: Building Social into the Heart of a Global Business

Welcome to your brand new blog at University of Brighton Blog Network.

To get started, simply log in, edit or delete this post and check out all the other options available to you.

For assistance, visit our comprehensive support site and check out our Edublogs User Guide guide.

You can also subscribe to our brilliant free publication, The Edublogger, which is jammed with helpful tips, ideas and more.