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Tips From A CEO and Top Influencer On Developing A Best-In-Class Influencer Program

December 6, 2019 No Comments

One of the most enjoyable parts of shifting from practitioner (GM/CMO roles) to professor has been the opportunity to connect with a variety of people I would not have otherwise met. Once such person is Tamara McCleary, CEO of Thulium and a leading influencer of CMOs (see here). As somebody who works with firms around the world and has amassed a very strong social following (@TamaraMcCleary – 307,000 twitter followers), she is an expert with deep insight. I have had a series of discussions with McCleary regarding her perspective on influencers and “influence” more generally. Below, McCleary provides advice to CMOs on how to develop an influencer marketing program for their brand. To read Part 1, which identifies the six different types of influencers and how to spot a “real” from a fake influencer, see here.

Kimberly Whitler: What tips can you provide a CMO who wants to develop a best-in-class influencer program?

Tamara McCleary:

1. Have an outcome for success defined before starting the program. What do you want to achieve? How will you measure success? When I consult with brands, I reverse engineer success by clearly identifying desired outcomes, understanding executive-level expectations, and evaluating KPI’s the program will ultimately be measured against.

2. Do your due diligence when seeking out an agency to help you organize a successful program. Obtain multiple bids (get a second or third opinion, you may be surprised). Look at various companies and don’t just settle on the first one that comes to you. In order to not only make your initiative successful, but secure a bigger budget for your next round, engage with companies that have demonstrated success. Don’t go for the least expensive (or the most expensive), but rather, go with the one which can prove and has demonstrated success and which you are most comfortable with.

3. Think through the compensation structure. Paid, unpaid or hybrid? Are you going to pay your influencers to be involved with your program or just provide inside knowledge, invite them to special events, etc.? Will you go with a hybrid approach where many of your influencers are unpaid but a limited number are paid for their participation? There are a variety of different ways to go when it comes to working with influencers.

4. Understand the process. Make sure the company you decide to work with explains their process thoroughly, and get your results in writing. If the company you are considering is not utilizing analytics in the selection of influencers beyond vanity metrics, you’re not working with pros and abort mission. At my organization, Thulium, we employ a heavy emphasis on engagement metrics to weed-out the false appearance of influence. Remember the purpose of an influencer program: you deserve substance for your spend, so don’t settle for empty fluff.

5. Have a plan for your influencers. Do you know what you want your influencers to do? Do you have a clear strategy for utilizing them? One of the biggest mistakes organizations make when bringing in influencers is a lack of focus and specificity. You run the risk of not getting the most bang for your buck if you leave it up to the influencer to know what you expect of them. Clarity of vision, and focus, paired with a well-defined strategy and most importantly solid execution and continued follow-up are mission-critical to the success of any influencer program.

6. Think long-term. It’s important to look at an influencer program as a long-term relationship-building program. A long-term program will allow your brand to create true brand advocates, powerful brand evangelists, and raving fans.

In prior articles I’ve written about why U.S. marketers are losing the influencer battle, what marketers can learn from top CMO influencers, and mistakes marketers make when working with influencers, there is a common theme—relationship development. The more marketers approach influencers with a partnership mentality versus a transactional/legal mentality, the more likely they are to generate authentic influence. And this is one place where the east is beating the west (see Harvard Business Review article here and HBR podcast here).

Join the Discussion: @KimWhitler and @TamaraMcCleary

Feature Image Credit: GETTY

By Kimberly A. Whitler

Sourced from Forbes

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Marketers need to focus on authenticity to beat influencer fraud

September 24, 2019 No Comments

By Aaron Brooks,

The Times recently reported that influencer marketing fraud costs sponsors, on average, £1 billion each year. This waste is attributed to social creators with inauthentic audiences. Brands are pouring their marketing funds into influencer collaborations which are broadcast to bot accounts, rather than receptive, engaged social audiences.

For anyone close to the influencer marketing industry, fake followers are old news. They are the unfortunate but inevitable hangers on that come with large social followings. Respectable influencers will regularly and ruthlessly delete them, knowing what a negative impact silent and inactive followers can have on the performance of their posts and their reputation. Manually checking new followers and gauging their authenticity is necessary admin for a social content creator – and the only way to keep the value in their followings.

On the other hand, some influencers still intentionally buy fake followers to enhance their follower count. It’s something that content and influencer marketing platforms – and Instagram themselves – have been cracking down on for years. The fact that someone has slapped a valuation on its impact has brought it back to focus.

Looking beyond reach

The practise of buying fake followers originated with brands’ obsession with reach. The bigger audience an influencer had, the more interest they got and higher fees they received. Attempts to ‘game the system’ were made by smaller influencers trying to get a crack at the big brand endorsement deals.

It didn’t take long for the wheels to come off this half-baked plan. As marketers realised engagement (likes and comments) was actually more valuable than reach, influencers realised that high volumes of silent and inactive followers were in fact causing their engagement rates to plummet. Fake followers can’t mimic the same engagement as a loyal and genuine following, built up over years of posting.

Despite this, some marketers remain hopelessly devoted to reach. I have no doubt that those still ploughing their budgets into influencers with large followings, without doing due diligence on whether they are actually real, are losing money.

Luckily there are no shortage of amazing influencers to partner with. There are just as many creative, professional and authentic influencers that will deliver results, as there are wannabes with falsely inflated followings. A considered selection process is key.

Focussing on solid ROI

A genuine following should be the minimum requirement for brands partnering with influencers.

Advanced analytics can now tell a brand where an influencer’s following is based and how old they are, so marketers can target their customers with precision. Relevancy is essential for an effective campaign. The focus shouldn’t be how many people see the posts, but rather how many of the right people see the posts.

Brands should also be aiming higher when it comes to the results of an influencer marketing collaboration. Reach and engagement should come as standard, a natural byproduct of a campaign that achieves solid return on investment, sales uplift or app downloads. These are far more valuable metrics to focus on and diverts attention away from the size of an influencers following.

The end of Instagram likes?

As the influencer marketing industry matures, Instagram is moving the goal posts too. Their recent trial to hide likes from public view caused a stir in the marketing press. While it’s only being tested in a selected number of countries, many asked whether it was ‘the end for influencer marketing’. But I believe it will make for a more authentic practise.

Firstly, it will force agencies and campaigns that have pinned their success on empty vanity metrics, such as likes, to up their game. Visible engagement can not and should not be used to justify an influencer campaign. Let’s look at the real, transparent return on investment.

I think it will also place a renewed focus on quality and individuality. Creators will no longer feel constrained by pressure to chase likes and will be free to make content that feels more authentic. Content that’s braver and doesn’t follow a tried and tested aesthetic. This renaissance in creativity is likely to spark a surge in engagement across the board. Weary social users – increasingly feeling as if they have seen it all before – crave this authenticity. They want to see something new.

Keeping the industry authentic

Brand ambassadors have been – and will always be – an effective marketing tactic. Thankfully software is becoming much more sophisticated and adept in spotting fraudulent accounts. But to preserve the power of the channel, all parties involved must uphold their responsibility to keep the industry clean. Just as influencers monitor their followings, brands must be just as diligent with their choice of partners. Do your background checks. Make sure that their engagement rate correlates with their following, or enlist the help of a platform.

With more conversion functions from Instagram – like shoppable tags and ‘swipe up to buy’ – the potential for influencer marketing is huge. Prioritise authenticity, practise due diligence and you can be sure your efforts will be rewarded.

By Aaron Brooks,

Co-founder of mobile content and influencer marketing platform, Vamp

Sourced from Global Banking & Finance Review

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Want to Become an Influencer? Start Blogging

May 31, 2019 No Comments

By Dave Schneider

What do Neil Patel, Tim Ferriss, and Brian Clark have in common? They are three of the most influential personalities in the digital marketing sphere today. And they built their influence through blogging. Why don’t you start blogging to build influence as well?

You can say that they blogged their way to fame and fortune. But it was not an overnight success. It was a rigorous process borne out of a passion for finding solutions and sharing their knowledge to as many people as possible through digital tech and the Internet.

In this post, we will identify the common qualities influencers share. We will also look at some of the best’s best practices that, hopefully, you can adapt to position your best content forward.

The Common Denominators

Just like Patel, Ferriss, and Clark, top influencers share these qualities that help put them in their stature.

They create thought-provoking content that inspires their audience to take action. Influencers go beyond promoting their businesses and themselves. They spend time knowing the industry, pinpointing areas of improvement, knowing what makes people tick, providing solutions to problems, and keeping up with the trends. Take Barry Schwartz, for example. His site, Search Engine Roundtable, is often the first go-to resource for any Google algorithm update.
Influencers exude authenticity and transparency, both in the content they create and their online persona. They publish their works in different platforms and are active participants in online discussions. They are not afraid to voice their opinions, but acknowledge their shortcomings when they’re at fault. Making themselves more relatable as a human is the quality that builds the audience’s trust and the influencer’s credibility.
Despite his busy schedule, Danny Sullivan, Founding Editor and Chief Content Officer of Search Engine Land, still maintains his personal blog to talk about his personal musings and other passions aside from SEO and digital marketing.
They are engaging. Neil Patel, for example, has helped millions of his followers learn digital marketing in an engaging manner through his blog, Quicksprout. He crafts in-depth tutorials that are fun and easy to read. And beyond that, Quicksprout analyzes websites shows how they can be improved in terms of generating more traffic – free of charge.

So you want to become a digital influencer? Then…

1. Start blogging and give it all you got. Don’t expect it to be an instant hit though. As Seth Godin puts it, “If you love writing or making music or blogging or any sort of performing art, then do it. Do it with everything you’ve got. Just don’t plan on using it as a shortcut to making a living.”

It takes about a year or so for a blog to gain traction, provided you’re blogging more than 11 times per month. So, consistency is imperative.

To avoid sounding too boring in your writing, find a topic that you’re passionate about where you feel you can add value in. You’ll also find it’s easier to write in a conversational tone when you let your words reflect your personality. It’ll be easier for people to relate to you and see what you’re all about and how you’d contribute to your niche.

2. We all know how crucial content is when building a loyal following. If you’re still at a loss on what high-quality content is, let Google’s Quality Guidelines bring some light to it.

Create posts primarily for users, not for search engines. Don’t write for writing’s sake, just so you have something to post for that day. The audience should learn something valuable from your post.
A useful test is to ask is, “Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn’t exist?” Because when you help people, they naturally want to like and trust you.
Think about what makes your website unique, engaging, and valuable. Make a list of things of what makes you stand out. Apply that to your writing and make your website stand out from others in your field.
Don’t mislead your users. Employing tricks to improve search engine rankings is definitely a no-no. A good rule of thumb is whether you’d feel comfortable explaining what you’ve done to a website that competes with you, or to a Google employee.

3. Plan your strategy to start blogging

While content is crucial, the most important aspect of winning a loyal fan base is strategy. Use the analytics tool on your blog and social media. See what type of content is most shared and liked, and participate in discussions about it.

Study wording in the titles and images on articles in order to determine what attracts an audience the most, and then craft your content around it.

4. Determine collaboration options

For starters, look for other bloggers and ask if they could share your content and give you credit free of charge.

5. Use social media

Maintain visibility and activity in discussions on trending topics in your niche. Don’t just spew words. Do some research, if you need to, to bring more value to the discussion. You can easily build your online presence this way, attract more followers or blog subscribers.

6. Get ready to scale up

Reevaluate your blog analytics. If after at least a year you are attaining or exceeding your goals, then it’s time to scale up.

You will naturally produce more content than what you used to. So determine the need for additional writers and an editorial team to oversee that all articles are error-free and aligned to your branding.

Consider hiring a marketing manager to assist you in devising multiple streams of income through your blog and pitching to potential advertisers and partners. Get a professional graphic designer, if you can afford one, to help you in brand development through ongoing projects.

If your budget screams no to hiring one, use a graphic design tool such as Snappa to make it easier for you to create stunning visuals. The app’s resizing tool is one of its core features. So your blogs social media posts, display ads, emails, blogs, and infographics can be resized and repurposed as YouTube thumbnails.

Conclusion: Start Blogging TODAY!

Challenge yourself to be the most you can be. Set high goals, do some growth tracking, and crunch some numbers. It will all be difficult at the start but should be attainable once you set your mind to it.

Are you ready to start blogging now?

By Dave Schneider

Dave Schneider is an expert on Blogging. Dave is the cofounder of NinjaOutreach, an innovative new blogger outreach software for marketers based in Boston, Massachusetts. He writes about blogging for businesses, entrepreneurship, and has a love for travel, having visited over 40 countries. Dave can be found at lesschurn.io and daveschneider.me.

Sourced from Neal Schaffer

In News

4 Steps to Creating a Successful Influencer Marketing Campaign

April 9, 2019 No Comments

By Christina Nicholson, Media Maven

Influencer marketing is a relationship built between a brand and an influencer, where the influencer promotes that brand throughout social media outlets. Influencer marketing allows businesses to advertise directly to their target audience through an influencer that consumers follow and already trust. Influencer marketing has become a very popular social media strategy in the past

Influencer marketing is a relationship built between a brand and an influencer, where the influencer promotes that brand throughout social media outlets.

Influencer marketing allows businesses to advertise directly to their target audience through an influencer that consumers follow and already trust.

Influencer marketing has become a very popular social media strategy in the past few years. With the rise and advancement of technology, it’s important for businesses to learn and master this tactic to drive traffic and increase sales.

Here are the four steps an entrepreneur can take to successfully execute the influencer marketing strategy.

Define main goals and target audience

The first step to achieve success with any tactic in marketing is to define and set goals throughout the campaign. This preliminary step makes it easier to measure success and generate returns on any investments made.

Identify and make your product appeal to your target audience. Take time to research your target audience and identify what your ideal influencer would look like. Then, you will be able to target your product towards that specific audience.

“For a small business there’s one simple goal for influencer marketing: sales,” said Dhar Mann, an experienced entrepreneur and founder and CEO of LiveGlam, a cosmetics company that he took from $600 in starting capital to 8-figures in annual revenue in less than two years.

According to Mann, it is important to consider your company’s current stage when choosing where to focus your time and effort. In the beginning stage of your business, always place the focus on sales. After some cash is put away, you can focus on building up the brand.

Develop performance-based affiliate program that pays commission for sales

A business starting with a small budget can get the most return on their investments working with influencers by creating a performance-based affiliate program. Using this approach can help a business generate sales without spending any money.

“My company, LiveGlam, a beauty subscription box, will generate $20 million in sales in our third year of business and we will spend a whopping $0 on advertising. All of our sales come through commission-based influencers that love our products and make a great living selling them,” Mann added.

However, you must create personal relationships with key influencers in order for the performance-based affiliate program to be put into effect.

Create personal relationships with key influencers

Building trust and a personal relationship with an influencer is key to holding a mutually-beneficial relationship. People feel more of a connection with a person than they do to a brand.

“My advice is to take time to build personal relationships and don’t blow your whole marketing budget on a few pay-to-post activations.

“First, make sure the influencer loves your product and consistently uses it so their audiences know the love is real. Once that history is developed and the influencer’s audience is warmed up to your brand, then paid activations can start to work,” Mann said.

It’s also important to focus on developing a really good relationship with a smaller number of influencers then it is to depend on thousands of micro-influencers to drive sales.

“We constantly send them thoughtful gifts, fly them to our studio in Los Angeles, interact with them on all their social channels, take them on trips and do whatever it takes to build personal relationships.

“We pay attention to the small details and it’s paid off in a big way,” Dhar Mann added.

Also, creating a strong relationship can lead to many different, exciting opportunities to promote your product including giveaways, exclusive product bundles, and collaborations. These opportunities will also help expand your company’s social media followings.

Use the right platform

Using the right platform for influencer marketing makes a huge impact, depending on your brand. It’s also more efficient to become an expert one platform at a time.

“I suggest start with one platform, master that, and naturally it will start spilling over onto others especially since most Influencers are multi-platform. If they love your product and your brand, they’ll start talking about you everywhere,” Mann advises.

Facebook Live is a great platform to use for the start of your influencer marketing strategy.

According to a study held by Statista, Facebook is the most widely used social network.

“Not only do influencers on Facebook Live have the deepest engagement with their audiences, they’re also not being flooded with offers by big brands because live content is so new. So, you can get a lot of bang for your buck.

“Established YouTubers and Instagrammers have so many deals coming at them that you’ll have a tough time getting on their radar and will have to pay an expensive price to get in the door,” added Mann.

Review and Repeat

Keep your social media influencer relationships strong and continually monitor the success of your business. Reviewing your influencer strategy helps you to adjust any problems and replicate success. It also helps you find out what works best for your business.

“When LiveGlam first started we looked at everything like this: if we spend $X then we expect a $Y return. And we defined a successful activation as one that generated a positive return on our investment.

“As our business grew we started to look at the brand lift potential from an influencer activation. How many followers did we gain? How many impressions did we generate? How many people now know about our brand that had never heard of us, including other influencers?” said Mann.

Monitor your sales, leads, traffic, followers and engagement consistently. Make changes according to your business growth and keep your influencers happy for future demands. Influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways to improve your brand’s awareness. Using these strategies can help take your business to the next level.

By Christina Nicholson

Christina Nicholson, (Media Maven) is a former TV reporter and anchor who has worked in markets from New York City to Miami. She is still telling stories, but instead of doing it for a newscast, she’s doing it to help businesses grow. With her business, Media Maven, her podcast, Become a Media Maven, and in her TEDx talk, she helps entrepreneurs reach thousands, even millions, of their ideal customers or clients in minutes instead of months through the power of media without spending big bucks on advertising.

You can still see her in front of the camera as a host on Lifetime TV, in national commercials, and read her work online in Huff Post, Inc. Magazine, and Fast Company. Christina also has a local lifestyle and family blog, Christina All Day. She lives in South Florida with her husband and two young children.

Sourced from THRIVE GLOBAL

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How Effective Is Influencer Marketing?

March 13, 2019 No Comments

By Kaitlin Wernet

When you first created your Facebook profile, assigned your Myspace top 8, sent your first tweet, or uploaded your Instagram square, you probably had a sense that social media would change the way you spent your time, communicated with others, and received breaking news stories.

But as you signed up for your very first accounts or connected with friends online for the first time, you may not have predicted that a shift in the way we communicate online would also change the way we form opinions about where to shop, what to buy, and whose recommendations to trust.

And although the rise of influencer marketing happened virtually overnight, it feels natural, like we’ve never known a world without it. To go a step further, you may not even realize you’ve been a target of influencer marketing, and that may very well be the most successful part of this type of marketing.

In this article, we’ll explore what influencer marketing is, how effective it can be, and what you can do to reap the benefits for your own brand.

What is influencer marketing?

Rather than focusing on the marketing channel, such as email, social media, paid search, or print advertising, or the target audience, influencer marketing focuses on the people who could potentially influence their following to become new customers of a particular product or brand.

So while, yes, it’s Kim Kardashian posting a SnapChat about her favorite athletic wear line or Kylie Jenner talking about her new lip kits on Instagram, influencer marketing goes beyond just those who are keeping up with the Kardashians. Influencer marketing has consistently grown in almost every industry and across all marketing channels, and, truth be told, we’re pretty positive it’s here to stay.

DIFF charitable eyewear is a company known for using Instagram influencers to its benefit. From recent stars from The Bachelor to pageant contestants and fashion bloggers, DIFF’s social media presence is largely filled with photos curated from the feeds of influencers-turned-customers who review their product in exchange for some type of reward. Many times, the benefit can be free products, VIP privileges, or monetary payment.

DIFF’s social media feed reflects their influencer strategy, featuring real people wearing their product.

How to identify an influencer

So, isn’t “influencer” just another name for a celebrity? Yes and no. Because our online lives have opened us up to connecting with more people who share our interests than ever before, we can also follow along with others’ lives in a new way.

Gone are the days of limiting the term “celebrity” to only popular musicians, actors, or writers. Now, as smaller niche audiences gather across all media channels and turn to people they idolize in their own field or industry, the term influencer has broadened.

A survey from Nielsen showed only 33% of consumers trust advertisements, while 90% put their faith in peer recommendations, which is why influencer marketing is definitely something worth paying attention to.

Number of followers

There is no definitive scale to determine an influencer’s status, but their number of followers is the first place to look. Think about it: Never before have we had such accurate numbers for one’s followers or reach. Before social media, we could measure a person’s influence by box office numbers or albums sold, but none of those statistics would come close to the precise measurement we now have in a social media following.

And because social media appears to be a way to gain inside access to the behind-the-scenes of stars’ work and personal lives, it instantly feels more authentic than other mediums. We can see beyond the stage or screen.

This image from Sprout Social shows the types of people you may consider to be an influencer:

Finding an influencer in your industry

Influencers of all levels can be found in almost any industry. Let’s say you run a business that focuses on email marketing (Can you imagine?!). When brainstorming, you may come up with the following ideas for who you could consider influencers:

Entrepreneurs who send lots of emails to their customers
Podcast hosts who talk about marketing
Famous bloggers who send their content via newsletter
Experts in other areas of marketing, such as social media

There’s no magic formula for finding an influencer for your niche, but you want to find someone whose followers listen to them and take their opinions seriously.

Micro and macro influencers

As the number of influencers continued to increase, we needed a way to measure one’s influence, especially when compared to others. While we all know the potential for this to change at any moment, the categories micro and macro influencers have been created as an unofficial way to differentiate various people with moderate to large followings.

Social Media Today identifies micro influencers as those with less than 10,000 followers and macro followers as those with more than that.

While there’s still plenty of gray area when it comes to differentiating between major and minor influencers, the emergence of these terms shows that the number of influencers will continue to expand and you can expect the effectiveness of influencer marketing to grow with it.

As content creators get better and better, consumers will have more choices for who to follow and how to spend time online. It only makes sense that more niches will be created and therefore, brands and consumers alike will have more influencers to look to.

Why influencer marketing works

Since everyone’s following grows over time, some people believe that influencer marketing may be on the decline. But influencer marketing is more than just the people doing it—the authentic connections followers make with influencers is something that, in one capacity or another, will continue to increase.

A trusted friend

Have you ever texted a friend for a recommendation for the next book you should read or asked where she got the jacket she’s wearing? Our personal connections can be our biggest motivators, and we’re much more likely to choose one brand over another if a friend or family member has given us input on a decision.

At its core, influencer marketing is the same thing. With or without a real-life personal connection, we’ve specifically chosen who to follow on social media and have grown accustomed to seeing glimpses into their personal life. We trust them, which is why we’re much more likely to buy something from their already-vetted recommendation versus a paid ad for a product we’ve never seen before.

Here’s an Instagram post by former Bachelor contestant JoJo Fletcher on her favorite hair tools. She currently has 2.2 million followers, making her a macro influencer.

Authenticity: The secret sauce

So, why exactly is influencer marketing so effective?

Because it feels more natural and trustworthy that traditional advertising.

As email marketers, we couldn’t stress the importance of personalization enough, and we’re always trying to write messages for people, not inboxes. But influencer marketing has also raised the bar on authenticity and custom messaging.

No longer will we blindly order something we receive a printed ad for in the mail. We’ll probably look up its Amazon reviews, ask friends how they feel about the product, or look to other online experts we trust.

A study by Mediakix revealed that the influencer market is currently worth over 1 billion dollars, and this number is projected to soon double. But does this mean these type of promotions will remain the same? Yes and no. We predict that authenticity and trustworthiness, two tactics that have far outlasted the rise of influencers, will remain the best way to approach marketing, but as always, the mediums, channels, and people involved will continue to evolve.

More and more influencers are making their full income from their blog and social media, so as their experience rises, the more likely they are to have working partnerships with brands. However, this is an area where you should work hard to preserve authenticity, rather than become just another sponsor of their website or podcast. Keep it real!

One of the longest-running examples of influencer marketing is Michael Jordan for Nike. Here’s influencer marketing at work in an email marketing campaign for Air Jordans, named after the basketball player himself:

Is influencer marketing a good choice for my brand?

As a whole, the influencer marketing concept is worth trying for most brands, but how you do it is completely up to you. Unlike most paid advertising strategies, the formulas to success are not clear-cut, and the input and output can vary greatly for each brand.

For example, you’re not always working with a set amount of money: Now, influence and product have become their own forms of currency. Create a strategy that casts a wide net of potential influencers and hones in on the people who you’d most like to represent your brand to new customers. Be sure that the influencers you work with share the same values as your brand. Of course, people are more unreliable than paid ads you write yourself, but that’s the risk you take in the name of unfiltered authenticity.

Wrap up

As you can see, influencer marketing isn’t just for large brands who have connections with big-name celebrities. Even if you’re an entrepreneur for a small business or feel like your industry doesn’t have famous thought leaders, it’s definitely worth the extra research and effort to explore.

And regardless of your partnership status with influencers, trustworthiness and authenticity should be the focus of your marketing strategy, regardless of brand, industry, or platform.

If you’re a brand looking to share customer testimonials or influencer content with your audience via email, reach out to us for a demo today.

By Kaitlin Wernet

Sourced from Business 2 Community

In News

10 Reasons to Hire a Professional Photographer for Your Social Media

February 13, 2019 No Comments

By Mackenzie Z. Kennedy

If you want more dates, a better career, or a shot at being an influencer, you should hire a professional photographer to boost your social media status.

As a former model, I can tell you that looks matter—even though they really shouldn’t. Denying that people judge everything on appearances is just downright foolish.

When we see attractive people and things, we gravitate towards them naturally. It’s a trait that is built into our very DNA. Even babies are proven to prefer good-looking people over those who aren’t quite as physically attractive.

Now that social media is king, it’s becoming even more real to the world around us that looks matter for everything. The power that a good social media presence can give you is insane.

Entire careers have been built on a well-constructed social media brand. People found love on Instagram. We discover new people, products, and services based on how they look when we’re flipping our way through Facebook and Snapchat.

That’s why I’m a firm believer that you should hire a professional photographer to handle your social media shots. It sounds insane for someone who’s not a model, but hear me out.

Even if you’re not in entertainment, I have some great reasons why it’s so important to get some pro shots in your social media profile.

If you want to be an influencer, your photos will be everything.

Though I am a writer, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that people are visual creatures. These days, words alone are not enough to make a writer famous.

You need to be able to be an influencer. You need to captivate your audience, get them to relate to you, and also get them to relate to the topics you write about.

People are visual creatures, and we all know that adage that pictures are worth a thousand words. If you want to gain followers and become an influencer, you need to hire a professional photographer to take those shots—or become handy with a DSLR yourself!

I mean, look at this photo by Simone Bramante, a professional photographer. He tells a story about Barilla pasta and captivates his audience in a way that words would fail to match up with.

It will help your networking.

Having a degree isn’t enough to get you a job in a prestigious place these days. People want to see that you eat, sleep, and breathe your brand. They want to see what you are capable of—and what you want to show the world.

When you have a social media account that looks professional and also gives people a good idea of your brand, companies that want to hire you will start to reach out. This is why professional photographers need to embrace a changing world if they haven’t already, too. Social media is the best advertising both you and a photographer can have, if you each put equal effort into it.

Getting professional shots can also help you figure out your look.

When I was a model, I was forever thankful to photographers who were willing to do TFP. TFP stands for “Time for Portfolio,” and it’s when a model works for free in exchange for shots and practice time.

Spending a little time in front of the camera is a great way to figure out which outfits really flatter you and which look bad. It’s also a good way to learn how to take a better photo.

The model in this photo did TFP and posted the shots to her Instagram. I can assure you that she learned more about her best poses and wardrobe from her shoot.

Most of us are not pro models, which means that you will need to hire a professional photographer to do this. Thankfully, there are some affordable ones out there—and art schools love casual models.

A good photo or two can help you look more put-together, even when you’re not.

No matter who you are, you need to make it look like you have your shit together on social media. No one wants to associate with someone who looks like their lives are a mess, especially if they wear that look online. It’s cringe-inducing.

We all do what we can to try to cover up flaws. There’s only so much those Instagram filters can do, and in many cases, they come off as trying too hard. A good photographer will give you shots that will help you look great, effortlessly.

Professionals know how to work lighting, angles, and composure into a better shot. That’s why professional shots look better than a typical selfie.

Let’s face it, it’ll help your dating life.

There’s a reason why so many people joke about others “sliding into the DMs” on sites like Instagram and Facebook. People legitimately get dates this way, and some even find love through social media.

When you’re looking for a date on social media, the first thing you’re going to notice are the photos. Good shots that are taken with quality hair and makeup will get you more dates than casual shots.

Back when I worked as a pickup coach, I told guys they should hire a professional photographer and work on their looks for their social media accounts. People are shallow these days, and sadly, it will affect your love life.

The people who are most successful on social media are the ones who cultivate a brand that makes them look physically attractive, professional, and yet also adventurous. It makes sense; it shows they have a lot to offer.

It can help you sell things on your store.

I can’t express how important having a social media campaign is for business owners. A good social media marketing campaign can make or break your ability to turn a profit on a regular basis.

A lot of brands got their break on Instagram’s ads, but they wouldn’t have gotten so far without good shots. Dolls Kill, for example, is known for their amazing shoots, and owes a lot of their success to their active social media marketing.

Going to shoots is a confidence booster.

When I first got into modeling, I did it because I felt insecure. I needed to gain confidence, and I felt that being a model would help me see my beauty inside. To a point, it worked. I felt better and people treated me better.

Taking the time to hire a professional photographer and working on a photoshoot is an amazing experience. It’s something that will put you in touch with a side of yourself you didn’t know you had.

It will make you feel like a star, and you’ll be shocked at how much better you feel.

Professional photography can help you express your creativity.

If you’re creative like me, you probably use social media as an outlet for your imagination. Many creatives have images and art they want to make, but don’t have the skill to fully make those concepts come to life. This is doubly true with visual arts like photography.

A pro will have the equipment, knowledge, and skill to make your ideal images come to life. Those who want to flaunt their creative side would be wise to hire a professional photographer—or at least, pair up with them for a series.

For example, a shot like this wouldn’t be possible with yourself, the best professional online photography courses to up your game, and a selfie stick.

You don’t have to look too far to find a photographer that’s affordable.

Most people who want to hire a photographer think of wedding photography prices and wince. It’s true; most wedding photographers are pretty expensive.

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t afford a pro—or someone damn close to it. Student photographers are often less expensive, and at times, will be willing to work for free in exchange for practice sessions.

This beautiful photo was taken by a student photographer. Need I say any more?

It will help others see you in a new light.

You want to know the biggest reason why you should hire a professional photographer to take photos of you once in a while? People notice the impacts of photography and social media. Professional shots show people that you mean business. It shows people that you are working towards something—and that you demand a certain level of respect.

By Mackenzie Z. Kennedy

Sourced from PHOTOGRAPHY

In News

How to become a LinkedIn influencer

July 10, 2018 No Comments

By Gwen Moran

Here’s where to start if you want to build your following and raise your status on the business social media platform.

Jim Keenan says he’s probably on LinkedIn more than he should be—at least a few times a day. But if the measure of where professionals should spend their time is looking at what helps grow their businesses most, Keenan is exactly where he should be.

The founder of sales consultancy A Sales Guy and author of Not Taught: What It Takes to Be Successful in the 21st Century That Nobody’s Teaching You has amassed more than 20,000 followers on the business-focused social media platform, and routinely books speaking engagements and gets inquiries from new clients. His articles attract anywhere from 700 to 7,000 page views on average, he says.

Keenan is the embodiment of a LinkedIn influencer, says LinkedIn expert Viveka von Rosen, author of LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day. While the focus of influencers on other social media platforms is often comprised of follower totals, charisma, and luck, LinkedIn and its focus on business, professional networking, and sharing expertise creates some natural checks and balances for influencers, she says. “It’s harder to fool people on LinkedIn as an influencer or to get people to believe that you’re an influencer than it is on some of the other sites,” she says.

Each year, LinkedIn publishes its “Top Voices” list of influencers who have the most engagement. But you don’t have to be a prime minister or world-famous CEO to create your own sphere of influence on the business-focused social media site. Here, influencers and experts weigh in on what it takes to have an impact on LinkedIn.

Build trust

On LinkedIn, like many places, the basics are the basics for a reason. Your first step to influencer status is to ensure the foundational elements of your profile are there. That includes a well-written bio that spells out who you are and what you do, a photograph, and some background on your experience and professional affiliations, von Rosen says. These all tell people who you are and why they should put trust in what you say.

“It’s all about building that trusted adviser-type persona on LinkedIn,” she says.

Building trust also requires taking a thoughtful approach to what you post. Because the environment is more business-focused, users are typically more strategic about what they post on LinkedIn than other platforms, focusing on value to their audiences, von Rosen says. That also creates somewhat of a safety net, von Rosen says. While some content may be controversial or provocative, “you’re not likely to post one thing that destroys 10 years of work, because I think people are just more intentional and strategic on LinkedIn,” she says.

Set yourself apart

The quickest way to build influence on LinkedIn is to become a reliable and steady source of good and useful information, says Wayne Breitbarth, author of Power Formula for LinkedIn Success. Figure out their “pain point” or what they want to learn about from you, and provide a mix of created and curated information to meet those needs, he says.

But that doesn’t mean just posting a steady stream of the same-old, same-old. You’ve got to find a way to differentiate yourself, he adds. One of his viral posts, entitled “Protect Yourself Now Because LinkedIn Is Making Big Changes,” reached 2,100 shares and 113,000 views because he used the “fear factor,” he says. He advocates using the multimedia options on LinkedIn to deliver content in a variety of formats, including articles and posts, video, and slide decks via SlideShare.

Keenan says counterintuitive content works, too. A video he posted called “Relationships Don’t Matter in Sales” was viewed roughly 500,000 times, with 1,100 comments and 5,000 likes. “People came out of the woodwork to either say, ‘He’s right, we’ve got to stop thinking we have to be liked by other people,’ or just losing it. ‘How dare you, people buy from people they like and trust,’” he recalls. And that type of rigorous debate isn’t something to be avoided, he says. Challenging conventional wisdom can yield important insights, he adds.

Connect passion to profit

Fintech writer Amy Buttell dealt with many millennials and thought this generation was unfairly maligned. On Christmas Eve 2017, she wrote a post about her “crush” on millennials and her respect for the attributes that others often criticize.

She has been active on LinkedIn for about six months and had connected with about 2,000 people. But her millennial post struck a nerve. It was shared roughly 400 times, garnered nearly 6,000 likes, and had more than 600,000 views. She spun off a new business venture as an expert in engaging millennials, and the experience elevated her profile among her fintech clients, many of whom are millennials, she says. She’s built relationships through the engagement with that post and others.

“If you come into LinkedIn thinking, ‘I just want to build my business and make more money,’ you’re not going to, because everything is about building relationships,” she says.

Keenan uses simple videos and an edgy style to help his audience learn about selling effectively. It doesn’t matter that his videos don’t have high production value, he says. It’s about the message and style. “My personality is very energetic, very confrontational on purpose, very engaging. I don’t produce the videos, I look like I’m talking right to you. I educate and teach. Even my rants are teaching,” he says. “People learn that they come to be entertained, inspired, educated, and that combination of three is valuable,” he says.

Engage regularly

A critical component of being an influencer is maintaining engagement with your audience, Keenan says. With the response volume he gets, it’s impossible to respond to everyone, but he tries to respond to at least one-quarter to one-third of those who contact him, he says. He comments on others’ content and shares content he finds valuable, usually tagging the creator to create further engagement. Breitbarth recommends keeping tabs on your notifications and posting new content at least once a week. (He’s careful to tag creators when he reposts their material to generate additional engagement.) Other influencers, like Keenan, interact on the platform daily.

Keenan also creates a “New Friend Friday” post where he encourages his contacts to interact with and help each other. “I’ve already seen these mini-ecosystems where all these people met through my network and the videos I’ve put together,” he says. Being able to create that kind of opportunity for people to connect is exciting, he says.

Have fun

All work and no play can make your LinkedIn content dull. Von Rosen advocates having fun. She points to a playful “fight” that Mario Martinez Jr., founder and CEO of sales and marketing consulting firm Vengreso, and Gabe Larsen, vice president of Inside Sales Labs, had about inbound versus outbound marketing. The two posted video and text about their “duel” that attracted hundreds of comments about the benefits and disadvantages of each.

Being an influencer on LinkedIn is a balance of strategy and authenticity, Breitbarth says. “If you read LinkedIn’s research, and LinkedIn’s research is all based on data, they say that the formula is consistency, depth, and the authentic desire to create conversations,” he says.

Feature Image Credit: [Images: davide ragusa/Unsplash (crowd); simo988/iStock (avatar)]

By Gwen Moran

Gwen Moran writes about business, money and assorted other topics for leading publications and websites. She was named a Small Business Influencer Awards Top 100 Champion in 2015, 2014, and 2012 and is the co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Business Plans (Alpha, 2010), and several other books. More

Sourced from Fast Company

In News

Influencers are Losing Interest in Snapchat, and Are Using Other Ways to Reach Their Fans

January 24, 2018 No Comments

Snapchat seems to be sliding down the list of prefered ways for influencers to reach their fans. A new report had shown that not one influencer surveyed chose snapchat as their favourite platform.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

New research released today by Carusele and TapInfluence uncovered some surprising results about how influencers feel about various platforms heading into 2018.

Of the 790 influencers surveyed, none answered Snapchat to the question, “What is your favourite channel to use for branded content?”

Personal blogs were the favourite of 36% of respondents, followed closely by Instagram at 35% and Facebook at 12%. Twitter (9%), Pinterest (6%) and YouTube (1%) also received votes.

Even when asked to name their second favourite choice, Snapchat collected fewer than 1% of the responses, while Facebook ranked first at 26% and Instagram second at 25%.

“Two things are clear from this part of our survey,” said Jim Tobin, president of Carusele. “The first is that blogs aren’t going anywhere, which I think is a good thing for both brands and influencers. And second, Instagram’s moves over the last year or two have really outmanoeuvred Snapchat, which had been a hot platform for creators two years ago.”

Influencers also plan to be in the space for the long haul, with 97% of influencers surveyed planning to continue their work “as long as I’m able.” This despite fewer than half surveyed reporting working full time in the vocation (46%) while 24% work full time elsewhere and 13% part time elsewhere. The balance report being full time parents or caregivers.

“Our earlier research legitimised influencer marketing as a sales driver. This new research supports the fact that it remains a viable career option for content creators,” said Promise Phelon, CEO of TapInfluence.

Carusele won the 2017 Small Agency of the Year Award at the Shorty Awards. It utilises a hand-crafted network of content producers to produce premium influencer campaigns for leading brands and retailers. TapInfluence is an influencer marketplace connecting brands with social media influencers. And if they say that Snapchat is no longer cool, then it probably isn’t.

In News

What We Can Learn from a YouTube Influencer Goddess

January 17, 2018 No Comments

This is how you do it. Watch and learn, people.

By Nicole Buckler

How do you make yourself a global sensation without having to get the approval of media chiefs of any industry or sit on every casting couch going? You do it yourself. And if you do it well, fans will come. Self-made beauty and lifestyle star Wengie is a perfect example of this. She is smashing it on just about every piece of internet real estate.

Wengie is an international YouTube sensation, and she is the #1 most subscribed channel in Australia, hitting 10 million subscribers in 2017. But it is not only in her native Australia that she is smashing it. With over 700 million video views, Wengie’s global fan base of ‘Wengiecorns’ continues its unprecedented growth. Wengie started her YouTube channel in 2010, to express her passion for truly fluffy videos that give viewers helpful advice, DIY/life hacks, music, reactions and more. The videos have become immensely popular around the world, in places like the UK, and the United States. And of course, here in Ireland.

Anyone with tween daughters knows just how much influence this unicorn in human form has. Born in China, but brought to Australia as an infant, Wengie could recommend anything from a rubbish bin to a doormat and tweens MUST HAVE IT.

Wengie’s global social media following is currently:

10 million YouTube subscribers
1 million Instagram followers
251k Facebook likes
169k followers on Twitter

These are stats that mainstream media channels can only dream of.

Wengie is not stopping at influencer smashing. She is using it as a stepping stone for global domination. Her music and television career have already gained a substantial audience. In 2017, Wengie recorded her first music album in China. And we all know how big the Chinese market is. She is also currently involved in several on-screen projects including being the voice of the 4th PowerPuff Girl (Bliss) on the Cartoon Network. And the thing to remember here is that she has done this all herself, starting with just a computer in her bedroom. What this means is that ANYBODY can do this. ANYONE. Even you.

The Wengie phenomenon is also interesting for marketers. Placing your product with someone like Wengie is a good bet. Her fans love her and she’s entirely unlikely to get herself involved in any scandals or end up in jail with cocaine all over her face. She is a compelling competitor to any other marketing channel, especially if you are selling anything aimed at tweens and teens. Her growing celebrity status has already made her a very much sought-after collaborator for both high-profile and emerging global brands.

The reason for her popularity is that she understands tween and teen girls perfectly. She knows what they need to relax and switch off from their day on the school battlefront. She’s happy, she’s bright, everything is fluffy, and it’s all rainbows. It is devoid of politics, there’s no lecturing, there’s no drama. Just smiley, cutsie, happy hints and tips, in short ten-minute bursts of fragrant goodness. It’s all good. And, she is a sponsors’ dream.

Go the Wengiecorns.

In News

The Most Exciting Social Media Platforms Among Teens

November 22, 2017 No Comments

Musical.ly is currently the place for your influencer marketing money.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

A new survey of teenagers age 13-17 finds that teens have shifted their favoured social media platforms to Instagram and Snapchat. But the most exciting breakthrough is that of Musical.ly.

A survey taken by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in the USA found that:

76 percent of teens age 13-17 use Instagram.
75 percent of teens use Snapchat.
66 percent of teens use Facebook, down from 71 percent of teens using the site in 2015.
47 percent of teens use Twitter.
Fewer than 30 percent of teens use Tumblr, Twitch, or LinkedIn.

Strangely, however, there is one contender that fails to be mentioned: Musical.ly, which is roaring into popularity, especially in Europe. And there are great opportunities for marketers to reach that ever-elusive teen and tween market.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjf8tvnaIQs

Musical.ly was founded by friends Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang. They decided to target the US teenage market, as this market is characterised for being an early adopter of new trends. The main idea was to create a platform that incorporates music and video in a social network. The first version of musical.ly was officially launched in August 2014.

In 2015, the app began to attract millions of users and in July 2015, musical.ly climbed up to the number 1 position in the iOS App Store, becoming the most-downloaded free app in over 30 countries, including the US, Canada, UK, Germany, Brazil, Philippines, and Japan. In July 2016, musical.ly reached 90 million downloads, with over 12 million new videos posted every day.

So how does it work? To put it simply, “musers” lip-sync to their favourite tunes, by themselves or with a friend, and share it. That’s actually the main thrust of it. But the opportunities for marketers are strong. In June 2016, Coca-Cola launched its #ShareACoke campaign on musical.ly, which introduced musical.ly’s “User-Generated Ads” model.

Kids were making some seriously cool little ads for Coke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LgMzMl9OFA

The hashtags that are popular on this social network usually make reference to bits of pop culture and trends among the internet world.

So, marketers, if you want to reach tweens and teens, it is definitely worth your while to check out Musical.ly. It has fast become a Go-To destination for influencer marketing. The app is still finding a way to monetise its platform.This means that they are a little more loose with restrictions or requirements in place for branded content, advertising, and influencer marketing campaigns. You never know, it might just be the perfect spot to place your influencer-marketing budget.