Will the cash start raining down on the women who have made their dramatic exits off The Bachelor? Nick – the Honey Badger – Cummins decided last night on the Channel 10 show that there was no perfect match for him in his self-proclaimed “House ’o lurve”.
So marked the end of a dramatic series of The Bachelor in which no one found love.
At times, it seemed the women were after social media followers. This seemed to matter more than love.
So how audiences react to them on social media will be fascinating in the coming weeks. There’s still plenty to play out in terms of how much sway an influencer has in building brands via social channels.
For instance, our Federal Government has just cut ties with their influencers.
They dabbled in the marketing fad and got burnt. The axe fell on the tax-payer funded foray into influencer marketing once an audit uncovered these people actually added “little or no value” to campaigns targeted at growing awareness around key health and fitness policies.
The discovery that one influencer was plugging alcohol was a bean too far for the auditing boffins.
It is a rare move to blacklist influencers as a means to raising brand awareness but signals there are some rising doubts in the marketplace. If used correctly, influencers can be powerful tools for reaching audiences.
Here’s some of our tips on making the most of them to build your brand:
Do your research
The majority of all influencer campaigns are dismantled by the discovery of negative information about that influencer. This could be anything from sharing racially inappropriate material to being sponsored by a competing or contradictory brand.
Assess the risk.
Based on your research data, ask yourself: is this person a risk? It’s important to assess whether or not this person is likely to negatively impact your campaign by their behaviour, their past, and anything else that could negatively impact your campaign. Put simply, there’s a reason why no one wanted to touch fallen AFL star Ben Cousins.
Is this influencer REALLY relevant to your target market?
It seems like common sense but it’s often done poorly. Make sure the influencer you are looking to use is highly relevant to your target market. What this influencer says will resonate and encourage purchasing behaviour far better this way. A key ingredient to this step is authenticity. Authentic sells, fake is spam.
Is the engagement (value) really there?
Similar to assessing relevance, assess the value – looking at the data available (likes, shares, comments, sales etc), is this influencer converting the way they say they are/the way you think they are? If you’re going to invest the big money, you want to make sure this box is ticked.
If you decide to engage with influencer marketing, make sure your goal is the same.
If you decide to go ahead with influencer marketing then it’s paramount you ensure you’re both working toward the same goal. That could be any of the following: increase brand awareness, generate leads/boost sales, position yourself as a thought leader, reach a new audience, remain relevant among your target audience.
You definitely don’t want to be paying an influencer for relevance among the younger market while your influencer is coming from a follower’s generation approach.
Lastly, don’t go for quick wins.
Influencer marketing is incredibly powerful but it won’t increase your sales 200% overnight. You’re attempting to cause a behavioural change in an audience who mostly hasn’t purchased yet, and they’re going to need some time to warm up to it. The fact that you’ve got a perfectly selected influencer is already making that process go that much faster – so be patient.