Tips For Brand Empowerment
Who, What and Why Are They Sharing the Love.....?When we think of a Social Media Influencer, what comes to mind? Someone promoting a cosmetic brand? A travel blogger? A gym aficionado wearing your #latest Spring/Summer 2018 clothing range? A cool 20+ year old eating in your restaurant, tweeting videos and vlogs? A seasoned 40+year old, with a dedicated team of followers…giving a detailed description and critique of whatever they are trying out! The answer is yes to all of the above! The common link to all varieties of Influencers, be it Irish Digital Influencers or international bloggers, is that they have an established and dedicated following, they post what they do organically, across all social media platforms, with their own opinions and/ or act as ambassadors for a brand for which they are being paid. The reason that followers will listen to them, is they respect their opinions. A Social Media Influencer is a person who already has an established audience, whose opinions are considered and true. For this reason, it is important to have a correct match for your brand. For centuries, the most valued method of marketing anything is word-of-mouth. Social Media Influencers 'Word of Mouth' Marketing‘While paying top dollar for an influencer with millions of followers may seem like a good idea to reach a higher number of impressions, that does not necessarily translate into quality impressions or sales. Why? That influencer may not have the pull with the right audience for your product or brand. There’s no guarantee at that level of a following that the right people will see it. This is precisely what Social Media Influencers are – word-of-mouth recommendations on Social Media! Take Social Media Influencers like @Brian O’Driscoll, who are a rare and valuable social media commodity. He has accumulated a strong following in Ireland in Twitter with about 970K followers. He supports charities, such as Temple Street, is a LandRoverrugby ambassador and he has an enormous rugby following which covers just about all demographics. At DigiInfluencers.com, we not only represent people, with a large following but also micro-influencers, who will be a good match for your company or service. People don’t want to be told what to like or not like, they can make up their own mind. However, it’s always beneficial to have that extra confirmation too. If you wish to use Influencer Marketing for a gym brand, you may want an Instagram Social Media Influencer. Rob Lipsett, one of our valued and respected clients, has a following on Instagram of 404K. He is a fitness fanatic who is respected by many brands, including My Protein, LF. He’s a nice guy, with a serious and dedicated approach to fitness, workouts, health. He vlogs away, whilst his listeners hang on to his every word and pay attention to what he’s eating, drinking, what exercise he is doing and what he is wearing while he’s doing it!! If you’re a teenage male, interested in fitness, this guy is who you follow! (the girls like following him too!) He makes interesting smoothies too… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHOOHe0JpsA While Brian O’Driscoll and Rob Lipsett both have a large presence on Twitter and Instagram but consider the ‘micro-influencer’ who has a relatively small following, but whose followers are TRUE. There is nothing more valuable than having someone promote your creation, brand of service to a valued audience of followers. Triona McCarthy, a key Irish Digital Influencer, for example, while she has a relatively small following compared to others, she has a devoted following of 33K. A character, with her fingers in many pies, she will delve into the latest in fashion, celebrity trends, travel destinations, hotels, restaurants and will, with a no-holes-barred approach, to tell her followers exactly what she thinks! She has a dry sense of humour and typically has a young 18+ audience, most likely female but anyone interested in cosmetics and fashion primarily. She is FUN with a capital F! If you have a young, fun brand or service, Triona is for you. She is currently doing Digital Influencer marketing for boots and whilst it is clear at the end of the article, she is being paid by Boots, she creates an honest and thoughtful blog about select individual items for sale in Boots for Valentine’s Day. It’s a clever and succinct post, suggesting gifts for Valentine’s Day for loved ones. Will every one of her followers read this blog? For sure! http://www.triona.ie/valentines-day-gifting-boots/ Consumers like this because it enables peer recommendations to play a much greater role in purchasing decisions. According to a McKinsey Study, marketing-inspired word-of-mouth generates more than twice the sales of paid advertising, and these customers have a 37% higher retention rate. Given the importance of peer recommendations and their amplification through social media, Influencer Marketing has become a widely discussed topic among marketers. This is especially true given the prevalence of influencers in the growing “millennial” and “mom” demographics." (www.forbes.com/sites/kylewong/2014/09/10) Statistics So – who are the top Social Media Influencers 2018 in Ireland? ‘Pippa O’Connor and Conor McGregor are the most popular Irish celebrities online. 6 out of 10 Irish people are likely to buy a product after it has been endorsed by a famous face and no one is more likely to provoke a fan to spend some cash than Pippa and Conor. The beauty blogger is considered to be the most influential Irish female on social media with nearly 20 per cent of the female vote. Runners up include Amy Huberman with 13 per cent and Suzanne Jackson with 7 per cent of the vote. Meanwhile, MMA fighter Conor is the most influential male on social media with 20 per cent of the vote with Brian O’Driscoll coming in with 7 per cent and Cian Twomey with 3 per cent. When it came to trusting a recommendation from an online influencer, women have greater trust in social media personalities versus men, with 68% of them saying they would be likely to buy a product recommended by an influencer versus 56% men.’ https://www.breakingnews.ie/showbiz/irelands-most-popular-social-media-stars-have-been-revealed-725367.html To Conclude, since the dawn of time, we have been recommending what we’ve done, what we’ve eaten what we’ve worn to each other. The only difference is nowadays, it’s online and endorsed by people we have chosen to follow and whose opinion we value and trust. Author Orla Mulhern 17/2/18 References: https://www.breakingnews.ie/showbiz/irelands-most-popular-social-media-stars-have-been-revealed https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/value-micro-influencers-why-your-business-should-use-them-hoffman/ http://www.triona.ie/valentines-day-gifting-boots/ (www.forbes.com/sites/kylewong/2014/09/10)
3 Comments
Heather
27/2/2018 14:19:48
Great read!
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Hugh
27/2/2018 14:30:19
Nice article Orla.
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Orla M
27/2/2018 16:48:27
Well done interesting perspective!
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AuthorClaire O' Gorman (Co-Founder Director/Business Development, Digi/Influencer). Archives |