Author Archives for Kirsty Sharman

Four Ways You Haven’t Considered Working with Influencers – But Should

August 26, 2015 11:15 am Published by

Editors note: Our SA franchise CEO, Kirsty Sharman, recently shared her thoughts in an article for Social Media Today on her recommendations of ways to work with influencers you have probably never thought of. Experience on our own platform has taught us that there are far more advantages than you realise and brands are stepping out of their comfort zones to experiment. Read more on Kirsty's thoughts below.

Everyday we see more and more content around Influencer Marketing. How to find top social influencers, how to connect with them, case studies on brands who rock Influencer Marketing. This tells us that Influencer Marketing is no longer a trend on the horizon, it’s a reality. What’s exciting for us as Digital Marketers is learning about the added benefits influencers can have on overall campaigns.   Social Media Today

The more brands collaborate with influencers, the more we all learn about them as a media channel. And the more we learn, the more value we can add. I’ve always said that the key to a great online media plan is experimentation. The online world changes faster than textbooks can be written – so if you aren’t experimenting, you aren’t learning.

But if you’re reading this article you’re probably the learning type so lets continue.

With 92% of consumers saying they trust word-of-mouth recommendations above all other forms of advertising, this rise of influencer collaboration is unstoppable. The idea of brands maintaining complete control over their messaging is fading into the digital distance. And brands that want to be heard are learning to work with the people their consumers trust most  – the people who already influence their target market.

What we’ve learnt building an influencer marketing platform is that working with Influencers has more benefits than you might think. Experimentation has taught us that Influencers can help brands conquer more than just the awareness and consideration part of the marketing funnel. It's great to see brands stepping outside of their comfort zones and working with influencers to discover new ways to deliver on traditional marketing tactics.

Visit Social Media Today for the full article and Kirsty's recommendations on innovative ways to work with influencers.


A Closer look at Webfluential’s League Score

August 18, 2015 12:14 pm Published by

This blog post was originally written by Ruan Fourie. What does the league, reach, relevance and resonance scores on your Webfluential Influencer Profile mean? It’s a question that it a lot of our influencers and marketers have asked. It’s time we explain Influencer Scores in more detail This post will be the first in a series of posts that explain the core elements of Webfluential’s Influencers scores: league, reach, relevance and resonance. League score on Webfluential Understanding influence is both an art and a science. As we’re in the business of suggesting the right influencers for a particular brand and campaign objective, we had to look into the maths behind each influencer’s content. Not an easy task, and certainly not something we expect you to find incredibly interesting, but we want to share our thinking nonetheless.

What is league?

League is a score that ranges from 1 - 5. Influencers with higher reach when compared to other Webfluential influencers end up in higher leagues. Influencers with lower reach potential, but an ability to be highly engaging, are generally league 4 or 5. It’s important to remember that our scores are calculated based on data we compile from all the influencers on the Webfluential platform.

Is a higher or lower league score better?

If Lady Gaga was signed up to Webfluential as a Twitter influencer she would most likely be put into league 1 because she has the potential to reach a massive audience with her almost 50 million strong Twitter following. She doesn’t have the time (or perhaps inclination) to have engaging conversations with each of her little Monsters. But an influencer in League 4 or 5 probably is interested in the conversation, and does more than raise awareness, but can actually influence an engagement or conversion to a sale.

Will I get more jobs for having a specific league score?

No. Each campaign has it’s own specific objectives and marketers will look for influencers that will help them reach those objectives. Some campaigns are about generating traffic, so influencers that can best drive traffic will suit the campaign objective. Getting people to talk about a brand might be the objective for another campaign, then influencers that generate a lot of engagement will be included in the campaign. Typically the platform suggests a mix of influencers across all Leagues for a specific campaign.

What is the purpose of having a league score?

We want to find the right influencers to help marketers meet the objectives of their Influencer Marketing campaign and with our platform we make the process as easy as possible. League score helps us and marketers find the right influencers to meet the campaign goals. Just because you’re not in League 1 doesn’t mean you aren’t in the Premier League. What is of far more importance is your resonance and relevance, which we will discuss in two upcoming posts.

How to check your league position?

Log in to Webfluential by clicking here and looking at the scoring of your channels on the Dashboard. An important thing to check is that your channels are still authorised to link to Webfluential. Go to the “My Profile” section and click on the “Test Token” button (shown in the image below) for each of your channels. Testing your social account token


6 Steps to building a successful Influencer Marketing plan

August 12, 2015 12:11 pm Published by

Do you feel completely overwhelmed by trying to create a successful Influencer Marketing plan? Perhaps you are not sure where to even start, let alone knowing how to produce a winning plan. Using influencers as a media channel is new and not everyone feels confident conceptualising, managing and tracking an Influencer Marketing campaign. This is where Webfluential can help you. Our six steps below provide guidance on how to create an industry-leading Influencer Marketing plan. However, the best news is that our platform has all the tools you need to complete step two through to step six for you. All you need to do is define your target market and as Influencer Marketing experts, we will do the rest. Phew – it is ok to breathe a sigh of relief! 6 Step by step Influencer Marketing Plan

  1. Define the target market The first step to any marketing plan is to define your target audience. It is no different with Influencer Marketing. This helps you understand how your customer thinks, discovers, makes decisions and purchases product. Consider specifics like the gender, location, age and number of people you would like to reach.
 
  1. Conceptualise your campaign Brainstorm concepts for your Influencer marketing campaign that will meet your marketing objectives and easily integrate into your marketing plan. Think of influencers as another media channel being added to your media planning. Just like you brainstorm a concept that works best for radio or television, think of a concept that works best for influencers. Also give thought to the type of content you would like created, what the key messages are and what format is best to share this message (video, blog post, photography etc.).Platform tip: Webfluential gives you access to a team of dedicated account and campaign managers that are pros at developing ideas for brands when working with influencers.
 
  1. Discover relevant influencers You need to find influencers that are relevant to your brand and messaging you want to share. It is important to not only look at the reach an influencer has, but also how aligned they are to your audience and message. You want the content they produce for you to be relevant and resonate with their audience for better engagement and shares.Platform tip: Webfluential gives you access to a database of thousands of influencers as well as the tools to search for the most relevant influencers for your brand and campaign. Our search tool allows you to add filters to your search according to the interests of influencers. For example, you could search for a mommy blogger that enjoys running or fitness.
 
  1. Manage workflow and logistics Monitor and manage all campaign logistics like briefing of influencers, content schedules, workflow and payment. As more influencers are added to a campaign, it is important to ensure you have enough time allocated to work closely with each influencer to get the results you desire from their content and audience.Platform tip: Webfluential campaign managers will oversee all your campaign logistics like briefing, follow up, content fact checking, deadline management etc. As content is posted online to blogs or social media channels by influencers, you can access a detailed workflow to view all posts, tweets and shares in one place, as they go live.
 
  1. Track your results Monitor the results and impact of your campaign according to your objectives and measurement indicators like reach, resonance, relevance, engagement, link clicks etc. You want to ensure that your budget spend has resulted in return on investment (ROI).Platform tip: Webfluential has a detailed tracking and reporting tool that actively measures and showcases your campaign results. The reporting tool has been built with researched algorithms to accurately measure the results of Influencer Marketing and ROI. Check out one of our reports here
Webfluential Influencer Marketing Plan Reports
  1. Unpack your learnings Evaluation and learnings are significant for understanding both the successes and challenges of your campaign. This allows you to adapt and improve your plan for future executions. Some influencers might have worked better for your brand than others. Content may have resonated more with certain audiences. The more you learn, the better your future campaigns could be and the bigger your portfolio of best practice becomes.Platform tip: The Webfluential reports unpack any of the campaign learnings for you, so that you can take advantage of any successes or avoid mistakes in future campaigns. Our team spend time analysing each report for any key findings.
Sign up as a marketer if you would like to find out more or start using our platform to run successful Influencer Marketing campaigns.


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