CIM Marketing Club webinar: ‘Influencer Marketing with impact’

On 20 March 2024, I attended a CIM Marketing Club webinar entitled - “Influencer Marketing with Impact.” The webinar featured Katie Fieldman, Director of Influence at Good Relations, with over 10-years’ experience in the social media, influencer and digital industries. Good Relations is a public relations and social media agency with offices in London and New York. The business's mission is to redefine greatness by developing compelling ideas that make an indelible impression. They provide valuable services like influencer marketing, expert endorsements, brand alliances, and media relations.

During this webinar, Katie introduced Krispy Kreme and PrettyLittleThing's most recent collaboration. The relationship between the popular donut brand and the trendy apparel firm is largely aimed at Generation Z and millennial audiences, with the goal of increasing relevance, engagement, and, ultimately, sales. The collaboration has already received much attention, with significant media sites, including Mail Online and the Daily Star, posting articles about the attractive donuts created by both companies. Furthermore, several celebrities and key opinion leaders (KOLs) have shared promotional posts, expanding the campaign's reach and influence. This 360-degree marketing effort demonstrates the power of influence, with paid content on platforms such as YouTube reaching over 2 billion potential customers and resulting in a twofold increase in sales. This collaboration demonstrates the power of influencers and strategic alliances to increase awareness and consumer engagement.

Katie then proceeded to highlight the six aspects of what constitutes good in influencer marketing: "Good Landscape," "Good Strategic Framework," "Good Ideas," "Good Influence," "Good Insights," and "Good Amplifications."

Good Landscape is one of the key steps as it refers to a thorough awareness of the influencer marketing landscape. It entails selecting the appropriate influencers based on their audience demographics, engagement levels, and relevancy to the business or product being pushed. A thorough landscape study ensures that influencers align with the campaign's objectives. For example, the Wingstop crossover with JD, brands alignment partnership utilising influencers to bring value. While identifying the goals that you would like to accomplish for a campaign is crucial before getting into the details. For instance, working with influencers with a significant following might be advantageous if your goal is to reach a broad audience. With around 500K followers, these macro influencers are more likely to have engaged audiences capable of doing the desired action. However, it could be more successful to collaborate with influencers that have a smaller but more active following if your objective is to encourage conversions or particular activities (50K). Choosing influencers for your campaign in a way that balances engagement and reach is crucial.

Concentrating on enlightening, amusing, or inspiring your audience is crucial when creating content. Your content is constructed upon all three of these elements. Consider how your concept may be branded and used effectively on social media. Within a few seconds, it should grab the audience's attention and follow current trends or forms. For more resonance, modify your proposal to suit the influencer's content style and the target audience's tastes. To communicate and understand your idea quickly, condense it into a brief elevator pitch. Your material has a better chance of becoming viral on social media and reaching a wider audience if you follow these guidelines. So, education, entertainment, and inspiration are the three actual reasons and foundations.

The quality of influence is critical in influencer marketing. Good influencers develop a true relationship with their audience while maintaining trust and authenticity. They successfully transmit brand messaging, influencing purchasing decisions and increasing engagement. When selecting ambassadors, a talent framework ensures they meet the qualitative and quantitative criteria to reach campaign goals. This includes account analysis, insight analysis, and content analysis. By considering these criteria, marketers can discover influencers with the potential to impact their target audience significantly. Good insights are essential in influencer marketing initiatives because they help organisations achieve their goals, including boosting awareness, driving consideration, enhancing conversion rates, and building customer loyalty. Good amplification maximises brand salience by reaching consumers at every funnel level. It entails using its channels for collaborative posting, paid channels to increase influencer reach, and incorporating influencer content into the brand's website and e-commerce platforms. This triple threat method enhances the value of the content by improving brand visibility, engagement, and conversions.

If you are interested in Marketing and wish to know more about influencer marketing with impact, the webinar will be made available via the CIM via YouTube channel. Further webinar information can be found on the CIM website.

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By Chloe Law, Marketing student, University of East Anglia