Influencer Marketing Show round-up day 1: Peer-to-peer, community-based and creative

Influencer Marketing Show round-up day 1 - how to reduce agency hours by up to 60% and why markets are still conversations.

Yesterday I hosted the first day of the Influencer Marketing Show. Here are just a few of my takeaways from chairing the four hours of content derived from eight panel discussions and keynote speeches accompanied by live question and answer sessions.

Gymshark's global partnerships director, Callum Watson, discussed investing in the brand over the long-term and drawing creator content down the sales funnel from awareness through consideration to purchase - and then to repeat-purchase.

We learned about the power of social commerce and how Shopping integration is now a top priority for social media platforms.

Markets are conversations (still)

I enjoyed the reminder made by Facebook's head of branded content EMEA, Becky Owen, of the “potency of social media … it's peer-to-peer and community-based”. Becky's words in 2021 recall the central thesis of the Cluetrain Manifesto. The antediluvian text that was published online in 1999 - some five years before Mark Zuckerberg launched his Titanic social media platform.

The Cluetrain’s authors examined the impact of the Internet on marketing, claiming that conventional marketing techniques are rendered obsolete by the online ‘conversations’ that consumers have and that companies need to join. ‘Markets are conversations’ was the shorthand for this idea. The work asserts that the Internet is unlike conventional media used in mass marketing as it enables conversations amongst consumers and between consumers and companies, which they claimed transformed traditional business practices. A prescient text from 22 years ago.

Creativity building business results

I always love listening to Whalar's positioning around creativity. Emma Harman, Whalar’s president EMEA, who was my guest on the influencer marketing lab podcast in episode 22 talked about "Creativity building business results".

As on the podcast Emma delivered Whalar’s killer line: "Creativity drives emotion, emotion drives memory, memory drives recall and recall drive sales".

Emma Little, global brand advocacy Manager at Made.com highlighted the strengths of different social media platforms. For Made.com Instagram was well placed to deliver still images that can be best put to use for her brand's point-of-view for 'before and after' room transformation reveals. Whilst YouTube was the preferred platform for carrying a natural narrative centring on the 'why' of the story.

Be guided by audience and company objectives

Ultimately Emma’s discussion with Jenny Quigley-Jones, Digital Voices CEO and another Influencer Marketing Lab podcast guest was a reminder for influencer marketers to always concentrate on being guided by audience and company objectives when selecting what platforms you use and how you use them.

Danielle Mendham, senior brand manager, Quaker Oats, PepsiCo reminded us about placing influencer marketing as the central pillar of our digital plans. Danielle reinforced the power of influencer marketing to enable brands to connect with audiences and mirror their values and behaviours. Influencer marketing, Danielle asserts, should play a role within the broader marketing mix.

Reena Rai, influencer marketing lead at Pinterest highlighted the long-tail benefits of Pinterest content. Some of the best performing content is two years old, according to Reena. ’Pinners’ - the term Pinterest affectionately ascribes to its devotees - come to the image-led social site “with a purpose. They are actively scrolling. Pinterest as the 'Home of inspiration'”, explained Reena.

Reducing agency hours by 60%

Imogen Coles, influence programme director and creator at Ogilvy, explained that working with the same influencer over the long run reduces agency hours by up to 60% compared to working with an influencer on a one-off, transactional basis. Other benefits of long-term relationships include removing the time and cost associated with the identification, vetting and selection phase of the workflow. 

Long-term relationships are not without issue, however. Influencers can make mistakes or use poor judgement. They can become associated with potential crimes, too as the recent David Dobrik and Vlog Squad sexual assault allegations attest. Jenny Quigley-Jones talked about the inclusion of a morality clause within the influencer agreement which can be activated in such instances. 

Katie Nelson, influencer controller at Sky described the rules and regulations around disclosure and long-term influencer partnerships. An influencer may post content organically promoting a brand beyond their contractual requirement – simply because they love the brand or because they want to provide added value to the sponsor and cement the relationship. However, if they’re in a deal (or a deal has recently expired) then this still needs to be disclosed under both Competition and Markets Authority and Advertising Standards Authority rules. 

Measuring ROI

Finally, Traackr’s Gayathri Nagarajan talked about the three common mistakes of influencer marketing measurement:

1. Using the wrong metrics relative to your objective
2. Relying on a single metric
3. Using different measures every activation

Happily, Gayathri also told us how to fix those measurement mistakes. And why Earned media value (EMV) do not represent the silver bullet when calculating cost equivalency.

This article is based on the closing remarks I delivered last night as chair of the Influencer Marketing Show for day 1. You can watch my round-up session on YouTube.

The Influencer Marketing Show runs from 13-15 April 2020. Day 2 starts at 13:00 UK time today, 14th April. 

Photo by Gabriel Benois on Unsplash.