You might be surprised to know that the most dynamic duo of this past decade wasn’t Jedward. Instead, it was more likely to be the co-operation between bloggers and brands.
Like John & Edward, bloggers and brands can exist separately, but when the two come together there’s an undeniable chemistry that exists and attracts the attention of many.
Some of the top influencers in the blogosphere have around 10 million subscribers – and that doesn’t include the people that stumble upon their pages as well, meaning their content reaches well over the subscribed amount. Blog content can be viewed at any time, given that it isn’t removed or deleted, which is an upper-cut jab to TV advertising due to the timeliness of it – hence blogging makes it possible to get an advert out there, reaching more targeted markets, and can be viewed when the recipient actually wants to. This depicts the very obvious positives of brand building through bloggers, the more influential the blogger the better. It’s a two-way street however, the blogger gets paid in either monetary form or through free products, and in return, the business gets exposure, promotion, and a large reach.
“Word of mouth is the best medium of all” – Bill Bernbach (DDB, 2011)
Bill Bernbach, the original innovator in advertising, famously stated the above, and blogging is the digital format of that medium, something which a 21st century Bill would definitely approve of. Trusov et al (2009) researched the effectiveness of word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing in a social media format, their results found that “WOM communication is a critical factor for firms seeking to acquire new customers and that WOM can have larger and longerlasting effects than traditional marketing activity” (p99), this exhibits the ever-increasing need for online conversations about brands and products as a fundamental form of marketing – something which blogging accommodates.
Influencers recommending a product isn’t the be-all-and-end-all of blogging. According to Wainwright (2015), if a business runs its own blog and posts regularly, it can increase the amount of traffic to the website by creating more indexed pages, which means the business is more likely to show up on search engines. Blogging also easily accommodates social media sharing, so each blog post can be passed on and shared in many forms via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. generating the word-of-mouth effect discussed earlier. The graph below shows how older posts can sometimes generate more traffic than posts in that current month, meaning that a blog’s success is often yesterday’s work, due to the blog ranking higher and higher in search engines. More on the benefits of blogging can be found at: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/the-benefits-of-business-blogging-ht
The effort you put in yesterday can turn into hundreds of thousands of views and leads in the future. Source: Wainwright, C. (2015) http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/the-benefits-of-business-blogging-ht
Some things you just can’t hush forever, Tiger.
However, if the use of an influencer is the route you’d want to go down, then it is recommended that you tread carefully. Although the following examples are that of celebrity endorsements, they are still influencers none-the-less. Paying someone to represent, recommend, or promote your product of brand can sometimes be an expensive mistake. Tiger Woods a decade ago was the perfect man for the job when it came to being the cover boy for Gillette razors – as the world’s best golfer, he was known globally, men admired him, women fancied him, but it was the latter that let him down. After his infidelity scandal in 2009, his name was tarnished by the media, and subsequently, Gillette removed him from their list of brand ambassadors. Gillette (Proctor & Gamble) were one of the many brands to cut ties with Woods, with Gatorade, AT&T, and Accenture all following suit. More examples of expensive mistakes in advertising involving celebrities can be found at: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2012/11/20/expensive-mistakes-when-celebrity-endorsement-deals-go-wrong
The moral of the story is – if you pay someone to represent your brand, their bad name can affect your name too. Despite the numerous benefits that can be drawn from having influencers promote your brand, your fate can also rest in their hands!
The level of reach and audience targeting precision that internet influencers provide, vloggers for example, is undeniable. The video in the link below is an orchestrated advertisement by Zoella and PointlessBlog for HTC phones – the video has 2.7million views, and 192,015 likes (as at 29/01/16), and includes a demonstration of using the phone – highlighting the fun features which would appeal to the younger target audience, and heavily mentioned Christmas which was coming up at the time of the video, indirectly suggesting that the HTC phone would be a good Christmas present. The video also features a phone giveaway which requires entrants to state why they would want to try the phone, further implementing the Word-of-Mouth effect discussed earlier.
Davidson (2015) reported on the survey which found vloggers to be ineffective at advertising to audiences, suggesting caution before paying a vlogger thousands of pounds for what essentially could be a waste of time and money. Her article can be found here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/11393587/Why-vloggers-are-a-waste-of-time-and-money-for-brands.html
A way of overcoming all the risks of using influencers is to use your own blog to serve yourself. A step-by-step guide of how to achieve a successful business blog can be found here: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/create-successful-business-blog/
References:
Davidson, L. (2015) “Why vloggers are a waste of time and money for brands”, The Telegraph, 6th February 2015 [Online] <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/11393587/Why-vloggers-are-a-waste-of-time-and-money-for-brands.html> [accessed 24 January 2016]
DDB (2011) Deep Influence: Bill Bernbach’s Top 3 Quotes [Online] <http://www.ddb.com/BillBernbachSaid/why_bernbach_matters/deep-influence/> [accessed 24 January 2016]
Redsicker, P. (2014) “How to Create a Successful Business Blog”, Social Media Examiner, 16th April 2014 [Online] <http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/create-successful-business-blog/> [accessed 25 January 2016]
Trusov, M., Bucklin, R E. & Pauwels, K. (2009) “Effects of Word-of-Mouth Versus Traditional Marketing: Findings from an Internet Social Networking Site”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 73, No. 5, p90-102
Wainwright, C. (2015) “Why Blog? The Benefits of Blogging for Business and Marketing”, Hubspot Blogs, 30th September 2015 [Online] <http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/the-benefits-of-business-blogging-ht> [accessed 25 January 2016]
West, G. (2012) “Expensive Mistakes: When celebrity endorsement deals go wrong”, The Drum, 20th November 2012 [Online] <http://www.thedrum.com/news/2012/11/20/expensive-mistakes-when-celebrity-endorsement-deals-go-wrong> [accessed 25 January 2016]
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