Achieve your online goals with influencer marketing

On Tuesday 11 September, Content Marketer Eva and Online Marketer Marthe attended the Influencer Marketing Event in Utrecht. As the name suggests, the day was all about influencer marketing. The key question addressed was: how can influencer marketing best be utilised?

De Fabrique in Utrecht was the mecca of influencer marketing on Tuesday. This authentic, industrial venue brought together a diverse group of interested parties keen to learn more about the latest trends in influencer marketing. Whilst enjoying a hot cup of tea and a delicious croissant, we were welcomed by Kirsten Jassies, the day’s chairperson.

After her welcome address, Jassies handed over to Bas van Teylingen from Online Cookie Collective. He is an experienced player in the industry and was therefore able to share a great deal of useful information with us. For instance, he spoke in more detail about the benefits of influencer marketing. With a good strategy, you can go a long way. For instance, using influencer marketing can lead to:

• Generating sales
• Greater brand awareness
• Building a relationship between your brand and your followers
• More traffic to your social media channels and website

Leading speakers

Alongside Bas van Teylingen, there were other leading speakers who were keen to share their knowledge with us. Among others, we attended sessions by Marit Brugman (Haegens Media), Adrie Risseeuw (The Insiders) and Jessica van Leeuwen (Sanoma Media). What do these speakers have in common? They all advise that you should always carry out research to ensure a good match. With influencer marketing, there’s a high chance that an influencer has a bought fanbase, which means the reach of a post is worthless. There are various online tools available to check this, so that you can at least always work with an authentic influencer.

Disadvantages of influencer marketing

The speaker who resonated with us most was Mike Blake-Crawford (Social Chain); a speaker who spoke about the marketing bubble. What was remarkable was that he began his presentation with a negative argument against influencer marketing. He listed the drawbacks and reasons why it should definitely not be used. As a counterpoint, he argued that things go wrong more often than effective marketing strategies are implemented. The key lessons he taught us were that, by consistently utilising influencer marketing, it is possible to achieve a positive ROI.

What is the objective of the campaign?

What struck us about the presentations was the frequent emphasis on how objectives determine the use of influencer marketing. So, if you’re thinking of getting started with this form of marketing, give careful thought to the campaign’s objective. For example, do you want to raise awareness of your brand, increase sales via your website, or create more content? It is important to set a clear objective in advance so that you can roll out the campaign accordingly. In practice, we see that 37 per cent opt for an awareness objective, 32 per cent for sales objectives and 31 per cent for content creation objectives.

However, make sure the influencer is given the freedom to do their own thing. Of course, it’s easiest to send a detailed briefing with lots of strict requirements, because then you know exactly what’s going to happen. But we mustn’t forget that the influencers know the target audience best. They are best placed to reach this audience in the most creative way possible.

Which influencer should I choose?

Finding the right influencer for your brand was also a key focus during the presentations. Which influencer actually really suits your brand? When you’re looking, always be critical! There’s always data available, both about the influencer themselves and about their fanbase. Also, make sure you don’t just choose any influencer at random, but opt for one who takes themselves seriously. After all, you don’t want an influencer to be collaborating with your brand one month and promoting a competitor the next.

The importance of video

Do you want your campaign to attract new customers and build greater loyalty amongst existing ones? According to the speakers, brands must therefore invest in high-quality video and content. Companies are increasingly collaborating with media channels to produce branded video series. These partnerships yield creative content that achieves the same standard of quality expected of non-branded content. Here are a few facts that underscore the importance of video:

• 11 million unique visitors per month on YouTube in the Netherlands. YouTube is the second most visited website in the world
• 36 per cent of Dutch people say they hardly ever watch TV anymore. The main reasons for visiting YouTube in the Netherlands are to watch entertainment and music
• 67 per cent of Dutch people say they use YouTube once or several times a day

The key lessons

We are convinced that influencer marketing is an excellent way to achieve various online objectives, provided, of course, that you approach it in the right way. With these five key lessons from the event in mind, you can go a long way:

• Every influencer is unique;
• Select all influencers yourself; you’ll recognise the right fit for your brand;
• Success depends on the connection between the influencer and the brand;
• Combine micro and macro influencers for both reach and engagement;
• Provide a clear briefing, but give the influencer freedom

Looking to utilise influencer marketing?

We hope this blog has inspired you to get started with influencer marketing too. Could you do with some help in implementing influencer marketing? Feel free to get in touch with us – we’d be delighted to help you grow your brand!