Did you know you are a social influencer? Your kids are too. Even your dog is—if it’s wearing your favorite sports team’s branded collar. Pretty much everyone influences others by their everyday decision making, from what label of clothing they’re wearing, to the car they drive, to the type of wine they serve at a dinner party. It’s also your opinions shared with friends, family and acquaintances through word-of-mouth or social media about the products or services you use. And, people are listening and absorbing your feedback whether they realize it or not, which may impact their next purchasing decision.
In a world full of influencers, advertisers are clamoring to capture the high-profile ones to engage with their brand. Unlike traditional marketing tactics, influencer ads cannot be blocked, giving brands infinite SEO value, along with targeted exposure. There are many A-list celebrities joining the fray but their endorsements come with rather large price tags, some upwards of $500,000 per social media post. However, there are other powerful influencers out there who can speak for your brand without the huge paycheck, and their messages are being heard. Why? Because they are users and believers of your brand, and they become the voice many listen to for advice and recommendations. And their passion typically translates to their followers.
We look for the exceptions and create our own rules when it comes to securing and guiding social influencers for our clients’ brands. We understand what to do with the knowledge garnered when reviewing real-time results and their effect on giving brands quick publicity. Because social influencing now produces 11 times the Return on Investment of traditional digital marketing, it has become and will remain an important mainstay to any marketing program. So we dig deep to not only look for obvious, well-known people who may align with your brand, but also for those who are true believers and core users of your product or service.
For example, for one of our clients that manufactures the number one veterinarian-recommended retail joint health supplement brand for dogs, we looked for heart-warming stories about animals and their owners that captured the essence of the brand. Like a wounded warrior who needed his support dog’s help with everyday activities, and had the dog serve as best man at his wedding. Or the vet tech who adopted a blind dog from a puppy mill, and trained him to be a therapy dog for blind and disabled children. Then there was the Westminster “Best in Show” winner, who needed a little joint health support on his way to the podium. These stories resonated not only with the general public, but with pet parents nationwide.
We contacted these organic influencers to see if their dogs were already using our client’s product and if not, we asked if they would be interested in learning more. To our delight, each dog was already using the supplement and their owners were excited to talk about its benefits to their followers (over 650,000 combined). And, we were able to successfully negotiate reasonable and affordable yearlong agreements that aligned within our client’s budget.
Our main goal is to tell stories that not only touch the heart, but teach the mind. We judge everything we do by this standard. When you want to connect with your target consumer, impactful content is key, in combination with strategic delivery. And sometimes, that delivery can come from unexpected places.
