Instagram Influencer Marketing: Creating a Winning Strategy 

The traditional and more familiar approach of billboard marketing, print or TV, has always been tied to the expectation of getting a return for every penny invested. However, as the old timers are now looking to transition to digital media and leverage technology, they ought to acknowledge one basic change. And that change is to understand that though the conventional methods had a relatively scant reach, they elicited a far deeper connect. With new media strategies and abundance of platforms, it is getting harder to get that attention, despite a widened reach. The key remains in defining the right package for the right audience that would strike a chord within that short time frame. Reach alone is not enough, it is the quality reach that makes the winning strategy.

Apple-to-Apple

What Sean needs to do is to ‘seek to understand’ before ‘seeking to be understood’. While the CEO has been clear in stating that he does not understand the digital world, Sean needs to analyse the data about the three influencers and make an apple-to-apple comparison, as he contemplates between the three options. He ought to give a background to his CEO about how consumer behaviour and preferences across segments, geographies and categories have been changing, especially emphasising how the present day target audience for the company’s hair care products would be shifted to the new target consumers in the future. This cannot be an abrupt change but clearly defined phases of change.

Sean needs to take a step back to analyse whether the ongoing and popular methods of the past like print or digital media are still effective, all the while being cognizant of the big picture. It would be a good idea to show the CEO what he discovered in terms of what worked and what did not in the traditional methods, before concluding that influencer marketing would be the best strategy. This way, he sees the evolution of newer methods in a clearer light and understands the benefits of employing this strategy before investing the big bucks. 

Vision of Success and Clear Objectives

It is imperative to understand whether your vision of success is aligned with that of the CEO’s vision. If Sean were to understand what the CEO is truly aiming for—increased market share, building brand awareness, increased sales etc., it would lead to a greatly effective execution of the campaign. The set of predefined objectives bring Sean one step closer to the firm’s goal. The CEO needs to be convinced about the fact that some of their current investments are perhaps not yielding the desired results, possibly because of changing consumer behaviour. Consumers who are clearly going beyond the celebrity tag and are increasingly taken in by someone with more convincing and inferential power.

Laying your Cards on the Table

Once the CEO is in on Sean’s findings, Sean needs to share his carefully assessed and informed list of recommendations that will help them achieve the milestones they have defined. These recommendations are nothing but the ‘How to Win’ choices that his CEO may pick from a long list of proposed options. The CEO may or may not agree to all recommendations, but it will help them align on key business priorities and expectations. Sean needs to get inputs based on the parities defined by the CEO. The percentages across various options may vary based on the management goals, but going by how organisations usually allocate budgets, they could be split as follows:
 

1. Low risk, not overly time consuming to make a move; yet pays the bills (70%)

2. Investment in amassing new consumers. For example: Instagram strategy (20%)

3. High risk, high reward (10%)
 

This upfront discussion on the three-tiered budgetary allocation and learnings from the new experiments also help in inching one step closer towards the goal. As I talk of learnings, I would also recommend Sean to study competition and watch out for what the other key players are doing while engaging in this conversation with the CEO.

Moving Beyond the Metrics

As the excitement for measurement tools is mounting, data and dashboarding alone may not suffice. Sean needs to balance it with five other considerations:
 

1. A Good Fit- Influencer target profile matches with his target audience profile.

2. Brand Equity and Relevancy- Influencer profile matches with what the brand delivers and upholds.

3. Believability- Meaningful engagements that demonstrate the convincing power of the influencer. Posting for the sake of posting is not the goal.

4. Leveraging Data to Up the Reach- Optimising the campaign to achieve a wider target customer base over time.

5.  Being Cognizant of Customer Journey- Not a linear progression anymore. Important to be aware of the critical role your influencer will play in your consumer’s journey.

Influencer marketing is a rapidly emerging tool in the arsenal of the marketer, be they consumer or business market focused. The ability to reach large audiences via influence marketing has been gaining steady precedence over traditional methods of advertising. Much of this has been based on the ability to insert the product placement in the middle of a conversation between the influencer and their followers. This personalised endorsement or recommendation is more akin to a peer-to-peer interaction. Unlike the historic corporate advertisement or “celebrity/expert endorsement” the influencer is speaking to their audience, in the course of their normal and regular conversation. The placement or influence attempt is not a complete interruption of the audience’s primary reason for paying attention. The emerging technologies have enabled the influencer to reach their virtually unlimited number of followers in a timely, conversational and informal manner. Aside from the broader factors like the budget and which influencer to go with, there are several other metrics that could help Sean take an informed decision as he digs deeper seeking the positives of deploying this strategy.

Identifying the Influencer-Product Fit

The first step would be to ensure that the product and influencer are well aligned. While choosing the influencer, it becomes important to understand what kind of influencer will resonate with their target audience. When people see a person they trust and admire endorsing a product they may or may not need, they are more likely to be curious about it or even buy it. David Beckham endorsing a pair of Adidas sneakers and Rihanna creating makeup for women of every shade through her inclusive makeup line Fenty are perfect examples of the synergy between a product and the influencer. Alternatively, one needs to avoid product influencer mismatches. The early research in this area indicates that influencers that are seen to have little knowledge, experience or passion for a product are not as effective. An influencer’s personal values, reputation, storytelling, and authenticity go a long way in endearing them to their followers. Therefore, the act of finalising the influencer itself demands a close attention to detail.

In Sean’s case too, he should not just assess the number of followers associated with the influencer, the frequency and quality of these interactions between the influencer and followers, but rather dig into the influencers’ track record, their association with any competitive brands and their success with other such campaigns to determine if they are truly a domain expert. While the size of the audience is an important dimension to consider, especially for creating awareness, attitude change, intention or even repurchase are driven by factors such as authenticity, relevance, category knowledge and trust. Additionally, quality engagements that signal the viewers’ pleasure or displeasure via comments act as quick metrics to further fine-tune the campaigns, making them more effective if monitored correctly. Sean needs to watch out for these as he zeroes in on his influencers.

Micro Vs Macro Influencer

Employing a single or dual influencer strategy may depend on some basic calculations at first, related to the number of followers, click through rate (CTR), impressions, and cost per lead (CPL).

In Sean’s case, the cost of employing a single influencer is USD 50,000 less than employing two, so it does appear more cost-effective at the first instance. However, Sean needs to consider the overlap in followers. Two stars from the same show have identical viewers for the most part and thus may have largely overlapping followers. Alternatively, when consumers witness consensus among influencers, it may instill greater confidence and help with their decision-making in the recommended product or service.

Strategic Roll-Out

As the protagonist in this case prepares to make an expenditure decision, a host of other execution factors need to be considered. Having a predefined strategy can further enhance the efficiency of the campaign and maximise the advantages of having an influencer onboard. For instance: a) design a contract stating the number of posts the influencer would do, b) define by whom and how will the ad creatives be developed, c) timing of the ad posted by the influencer, d) how the influencer will be compensated, such as by post, or by results (and if results, what type of results- Click throughs? Impressions? Purchases? Likes?).

Lastly, for firms contemplating a digital influencer strategy, it is a good idea to incorporate web technologies that can link sales or interest to the source and monitor the impact on broader measures such as attitudes, awareness and intentions. Marketing, in this new medium, is always an iterative process. We make our best predictions, take action, measure and adjust.

The influencer approach is emerging quickly, and it has become a new route to the customers opinions and decision-making processes. Largely able to sidestep the credibility issues that corporate advertisements and claims perform poorly on, influencer strategies have provided an opportunity for the firm to become a part of customer conversations and take advantage of word-of-mouth benefits. The opportunities and technologies are gaining traction, but like any other activation strategy, it is important that the marketer understands their audience, their goals for a campaign, and how they will measure impact and adjust in the future.