June 7, 2016 12:12 pm
Published by Kirsty Sharman
The 28th May 2016 saw the much anticipated clash between Spain’s finest, the Madrid Derby, involving powerhouses Real Madrid and emerging giants, Athletico Madrid in Europe’s biggest club competition, the UEFA Champions League. Just how big is it? Well, according to Heavy.com, “when Barcelona beat Juventus to win the 2015 final, UEFA estimates that 180 million people in 200 countries witnessed them raise the trophy.”
Just to put that into perspective, Vocative.com further goes on to report that the Champions League is vastly bigger and dwarfs the American Super Bowl which on its own is a big spectacle in the US.
“In addition to an impressive 200 countries tuning in, the teams in this year’s finals made off with $108 million in prize money, dwarfing the Super Bowl’s $14.9 million collected during the playoffs in January.” – Vocative.com
The 2016 viewership stats are yet to be released but judging from the above, one can easily predict that the numbers have increased. As with all sports fans, myself included, one of the things we look forward to is all the banter pre, during and post a match. In most cases all that takes place on Twitter through online conversation. To give you a sense of this using the aforementioned final as an example, check this out from the tournament’s official website.
Being in the business of creating and tracking conversations on behalf of brands, we couldn’t pass up on the chance to track this huge sporting event. This is what we found:
Most of the conversation around the @Championsleague handle is curated not created. This tells us that fans are in the game of sharing content in the moment, being the first to spread the news. It’s amazing to see that through the power of Social Media you can reach over 1 billion people from only 355 766 accounts. Sure there will be crossover, and sure we can argue that the reach figure is more an opportunity figure – but what we can’t argue is the power of social conversation around the @Championsleague!
Another interesting insight is how the conversation pre and post the match almost equals the conversation on the day – telling us that sport content might not be as ‘in the moment’ as we think it is. As brands, we have more than the 90min match time to leverage the conversation.
To view the full report that also includes the most influential people and brands talking about @Championsleague, simply click on this link: https://webfluential.com/report/view_twitter_tracker/847
Tracking online conversation(s) has never been this easy!
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May 27, 2016 10:00 am
Published by Kirsty Sharman
As a brand, growing your presence online is becoming more and more important. With social media and technology flooding the internet with over 200 million pieces of content a minute, it’s essential that brands find a way to stand out from the crowd.
What’s interesting to watch as the marketing industry progresses is how brands find ways to hack their growth. The term ‘growth hacking’ was coined by Sean Ellis in 2010 and in my opinion is more than just a term, it’s a new way to exist – especially in an industry as fast-paced as marketing.
Top marketers have discovered more than one way to hack brand growth. They often discover them by hitting a roadblock in the digital world – and having to find a solution, or a hack. Two of the biggest roadblocks to hit marketers in the last five years are ones you’ll know well – the rise of Ad Blocking, and the change in algorithms across multiple social networks.
This is where influencers started coming into play. Firstly to combat ad blockers by allowing brands to post content in formats consumers actually want to receive it in, and not the age old display banners. Secondly to combat algorithmic changes across platforms like Facebook, Twitter and soon to be Instagram – let’s remember that social networks want popular posts to come up at the top, and the popular posts often come from the popular people – otherwise known as Social Influencers.
The important point to remember here is that ad blocking and algorithm changes are introduced to make the internet a better place. The reason they make being a marketer harder is because we have to be more creative, use smarter technology, and trial new things to get to the top.
If you’re a competitive person like I am, you should really see these roadblocks as an opportunity to get ahead of your competitors. The hack is simple. Find the quickest and most effective way to go from the bottom of the triangle to the top.
Why? Because other people talking about your brand in a positive way has more power to influence consumers than you do – even when your brand has well crafted Facebook posts or beautifully designed banner ads.
But there is something quite important to remember here – if we’re going to use Influencer Marketing to hack brand growth we need to be clear on the rules of growth hacking. If we go back to the definition you’ll see that it needs three things to exist: creativity, analytical thinking and social metrics. When it comes to influencer marketing the last two can be covered by working with smart technology platforms. The creative part still needs to come from you, or the influencer, or ideally a collaboration of both.
For that reason I’ve put together a quick checklist to guide you on through the basics:
- Use accredited influencers to ensure your content reaches the right audience (reliable social metrics)
- Encourage collaboration not dissemination – make sure you’re using a technology platform that allows you to communicate with the influencer about content, briefs and ideas (to encourage creativity)
- Use the three-check-system below to ensure that you’re running a campaign where everybody wins (analytical thinking)
A campaign where everybody wins is what you should aim for, the perfect triangle. The brand wins because the campaign meets business objectives (check 1), the influencer wins because they are proud to post the content
(check 2), and the audience wins because they enjoy the experience (check 3).
Now that you’re one step closer to hacking your brand growth, there is only one more point to mention. Social influencers did not come into existence because they wanted to be part of the Influencer Marketing trade. They came into existence because they are incredible at doing what brands try to do every day – finding a way, through all the roadblocks, to create content that consumers actually want to engage with. The time is now to learn more about these influencers and explore how you can collaborate with them to hack your way to the top.
This post originally appeared on Business 2 Community click here to read it.
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May 26, 2016 8:53 am
Published by Kirsty Sharman
This blog post was originally written by Ruan Fourie.
What makes marketing amazing is that there is often a chance to learn a trick or two from situations that aren’t really related to marketing.
UFC Fighter Conor McGregor recently created one of these situations marketers can learn from when he used his social media profiles to prove why he does not need to do as many press conferences to market his fights. McGregor wants to spend more time training and less time doing press, so he cooked up a social media storm.
With just nine social media posts Conor McGregor reached far beyond MMA media. Some of his tweets were retweeted close to 90 000 times and he reached major news publications like The Guardian and The Daily Mail.
Reaching 20 million plus people in one week is no small feat, and by taking a closer look we can learn few things about marketing in the digital age from Conor McGregor.
1. You are not going to sell without marketing
No matter how good your product is, even if it is a fight between two of the best fighters the UFC have ever had in their roster, you will not sell anything without marketing. Even though the rematch between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz is one of the most highly anticipated fights in the history of MMA, McGregor knows that the UFC needs marketing to sell tickets and Pay Per View buys.
McGregor also understands that if he is not going to do traditional marketing like press conferences he would have to prove that he can generate the same marketing effects via his social media channels. Something he not only set out to do, but did.
As this Snapshot Report by Webfluential shows with just nine social media posts McGregor reached over 20 million people worldwide. Hundreds of news articles were written about every new tweet or statement McGregor would release digitally. To such an extent that his social media posts completely overshadowed the UFC’s own 197 event that was happening in the same week.
Even if you have the best product, you will only sell it if you are smart about your marketing efforts.
A graph showing the trending searches in the week of UFC 197, Searches for Conor McGregor outweighed the UFC 197 event event with it’s massive press conference.
2. Know who you are marketing to
Yes, you might not even be a MMA fan, but you know of the UFC and you have likely heard about Conor McGregor. But those that follow him on Twitter and Instagram, those who like his Facebook Fan Page are the people who will buy the tickets to see him fight. Conor McGregor is perfect to promote his fights, because he speaks directly to the people who would want to see him fight.
Some might even buy the ticket because they want to see McGregor loose. McGregor is vocal, but so are the people that don’t like his “big mouth”. Regardless, all of these people fit directly into the UFC’s target market.
For the rest of us that don’t really want to see anyone fight, at least we see the buzz going on around Conor McGregor and the UFC. Are you marketing to people who want or need your product?
3. Your marketing message means nothing if it’s coming from the wrong person
UFC fans don’t want big corporate marketers telling them how awesome a UFC fight is going to be. The fans want to hear it from the fighters themselves. Conor McGregor knows that he is the perfect marketing tool for not only the UFC but also his fans.
Conor McGregor made a perfect example of how powerful Influencer Marketing can be, by simply being the ultimate influencer for his fans. McGregor has been very vocal all the way to the top and he is good at gauging what his audience reacts to best. Influencers know how to speak to their audience, the key is to let them do it. If the UFC were to get involved in how Conor McGregor tweets, his influence would immediately drop. Nobody knows his audience like Conor McGregor does. Using influencers is a great way to share your marketing message, without having it sound like a marketing message.
4. Controversy is not always a bad thing
Conor McGregor hypes up his fights with his smart mouth and witty responses. Interlaced is a bunch of foul language and in your face behaviour that would scare most brands into hiding, he get every one talking, love him or hate him. McGregor is fully aware that this is what his fans want, and what keeps his haters talking.
Insert Conor McGregor Press conference video, ad language warning in heading above video
He has become the king of pre-fight controversy and he has also become the UFC’s biggest draw, making them millions. He can be salty and yes, it is not for everyone but it’s been a great marketing tool for Conor McGregor. Walking the controversy line can be scary, but if done correctly it can pay off in huge ways.
5. Out with the old and in with the new
Gone are the days of traditional press and media channels being where you should spend your marketing budget. Flying UFC fighters in from all around the world and hosting a massive press conference must cost the UFC millions, to reach millions.
With a couple of tweets, Instagram posts and a Facebook post Conor McGregor single handedly generated more hype and conversation for the UFC than any of their previous press conferences that cost millions.
It cost Conor McGregor nothing other than a bit of creative language and sharing of some images and videos to set the whole world alight. Maybe it’s time for the UFC to invest in more content creation like UFC Embedded, while using their roster of fighter’s social media followings to market their events to the masses.
Influencer Marketing is not new, but it’s paying off in big ways for brands that find the right influencers to work with. Don’t get stuck in a rut with your marketing efforts. What worked in the past might not work as well now, try new marketing tactics like Influencer Marketing as soon as possible.
Please note the views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not those of Webfluential.
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