All of us here at Delightful have finished the course from the Academy of Influencer Marketing (AIM) powered by Traackr!
Traackr is a solid influencer marketing platform that Delightful has been using for 2 years to help clients set up and run strategic influencer marketing programs. We love Traackr not just because it’s a great tool, but also it shares a similar methodology on influencer marketing with us which is building authentic and strategic relationships through a value exchange and mutual benefit framework.
The 1.5 hour course provided the Delightful team with a systematic crash course on understanding influencer marketing, identifying and engaging the influencers, setting up an effective influencer marketing program, and defining a measurement framework, etc.
Here are our top takeaways:
Influencer marketing fills the gaps
Based on Nielsen research in 2014, customers trust authoritative content the most. However, only 20% of marketing budget is spent on earned media, which is the type of media that’s most likely to present authoritative content. As consumers get more and more overwhelmed with information overload, people turn to people they trust to filter through the noise. This leaves a great opportunity for influencer marketing as the content influencers produce is more authoritative and trustworthy than what a typical brand has to say.
Image Source: Tracckr
Social media provides the soil for influencer marketing. It empowers influencers to influence their audience through every stage of their customer journey – from awareness, consideration, to purchase. According to AIM,
3% of people generate 90% of the impact online.
This is what we have seen from our experience running influencer marketing programs for our clients as well. Influencer marketing helps to maximize the power of social media for brands by taking advantage of those 3%!
Find the right influencers
According to Tracckr, Reach, Relevance and Resonance are the 3 basic pillars for looking for the right influencers. This reminds marketers to pay attention to the true influence – not only how many people the influencer is able to reach, but also, is s/he going to reach the right people for your brand and ignite engagement. Traackr also suggests a people-first approach. You need to understand your audience, their customer journey, and their influencer touchpoints, before you start searching for influencers.
What’s more, the academy points out that in today’s online world, there are 3 tiers of influencers: traditional media, online community leaders & experts, and influential fans. It is crucial for Marketers to understand the different types of influencers because each of them have different audience and require different tactics and approach.
Image Source: Traackr
Influencer engagement is a journey
Similar to what customers experience when interacting with a brand, the engagement of influencers with the brand is a journey as well. AIM says influencers go through 5 phases before becoming a brand advocate:
Unaware -> Aware -> Interested -> Engaged -> Advocate
Understanding their journey allows marketers to set up an always-on influencer program and enable them to execute the right tactics with influencers at different stages. For example, if your influencer is unaware of your brand, the most important thing to do is to assert your presence by following, subscribing to and sharing their content, while, for influencers who are already interested in your brand, creating value for them should be the key task.
Besides these 3 top takeaways from us, the AIM also provided inspiring insights on how to set goals for your influencer program, defining influencer archetypes, measuring influencer marketing program performance, etc.
Learn more on their website if you are interested.
Need help with influencer marketing? Visit our Influencer Marketing service page to learn more about how we can help you!
Thanks for reading!
Bianca Hu – Digital Marketing Strategist at Delightful Communications