July 29, 2015 11:00 am
Published by Kirsty Sharman
Editor’s note: We asked the popular Twitter thought leader, Spillly, to share his thoughts on building and nurturing a mutually beneficial relationship between brands and influencers. Read more of insights and opinion below.
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Having received more than my fair share of branded disposable pens and matching lanyards over the years, I feel its my duty to inform brands and agencies to stop trying to buy my loyalty with cheap plastic gifts and branded promo-gear.
My loyalty should be curated, nurtured and rewarded.
Let’s be honest, you are looking to use me as another marketing channel and hoping that my mid level influence can help grow your brand or deliver your campaign objectives. It can, but only as long as I already believe in your purpose and buy into your marketing message and most importantly, love your product.
Influencer marketing is a very smart way of using a third parties voice to authentically portray your brand in a way that would only seems paid for and fake, if it were coming directly from the brand. Influencer marketing has been around before the dawn of social media, before the web and before traditional marketing was even dreamt up. Storekeepers would ask patrons to spread the word, and if the customer had a good experience, would do just that. Nothing has changed except the medium on which we spread the word.
I understand what you, the marketer, want to use me for and feel that I should be fairly rewarded for my part in your process. It is paid-for media and the reward should be cash.
My voice to my followers is far more powerful than any other medium you have in your vast arsenal of marketing channels. The consumer of today no longer believes your polished message and scripted values. The consumer of today wants to hear an honest message, one that is unique to the influencer but the truth no less. Consumers want someone that will answer the questions asked, with deep insight into the product and will kill for the brand if he is truly an ambassador.
Would you rather have a message being broadcast to thousands of people that don’t necessarily care or a conversation between an ambassador and a few real potential clients of the brand, who will most likely spend money with you? Influencers who believe in the brand will not only drive awareness but will drive an action that is valuable to the brand.
Involved affiliate marketing has proven to be hugely successful in industries like travel, fashion and restaurants. This is because people will trust the voice of a virtual stranger over the “your call is important to us” tone of taglines. Influencers have taken the time, often over years, to build credibility with their audience and have their own authentic voice and tone, which resonates with their own audience.
Influencer’s audiences are often incredibly niche. Understanding whom their audience is absolutely key to using an influencer to sell the right product to their niche audience. My personal online audience has evolved drastically from a comedic one to an entrepreneurial business base in the creative and tech industries. You can’t expect me to promote food brands or fashion, as my listeners know that this is not what I talk about and it won’t appear credible. I have taken years to have the right followers for my brand, my business and my messages, and if you want to gain access to this market and put my own credibility at risk, then you should pay for the privilege. If you are financially compensating someone then you also get the right to guide the conversation towards your own goals and expect certain clear deliverables to be executed by the influencer, in the influencers own unique tone and fashion. Giving the influencer the freedom to express your message in their incomparable voice will deliver the greatest results for your business.
You want your influencer to feel rewarded, acknowledged, loved, important, or any combination of those and ensure that they are partners in your communication strategy.
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July 17, 2015 11:35 am
Published by Kirsty Sharman
This blog post was originally written by Ruan Fourie.
We are always looking for innovative ways to ensure you get opportunities for new work. Our team has created some great additions to how we share potential job offers and keep you up-to-date. Sit back, relax and let us do the work with marketers on your behalf.
We include our qualifying influencers on shortlists for briefs that we share with marketers daily. Now you will know when we do this.
We’ve launched a toolway to show you you’ve been shortlisted (hooray).
E-Mail notifications keeping you up-to-date
Earlier this week we launched our Influencer notification E-mail system. Now you will receive an E-mail notifying you every time we have included you on a shortlist that we have sent to to a marketer.
Such a simple solution, to address a few communication gaps.
These E-mails are not job offers. It’s just a way we can keep the communication with our influencers open. Now you can see that we are showing your Influencer Profile to marketers and we are constantly trying to find you jobs.
The marketers and the brands will then review the influencers we have included in our suggested shortlist, and pick the best influencers to work with. Once the marketer has signed off on the influencers they want to work with, we will send the job offer to the selected influencers.
It’s also because we have influencers’ best interests at heart
The notifications also serve as a way for you to protect your own interests. Now that you know you have been included on a shortlist that’s been sent to a marketer, you will be aware that the brand will be looking at your profile. If the same brand approaches you to do the job at a lower price (or for freebies) than the price you have set on your Webfluential profile, you will be able to make the informed decision.
We like helping Webfluential influencers be informed.
The better informed our influencers are, the more likely they will get paid the price they have chosen to charge for their work. Because nobody should work for less than they are worth.
The fee that we charge on campaigns is to cover the work involved with pitching our influencers to brands. The fee is also because we take the payment risk, we fill out vendor documents, we manage VAT and other taxes and we also follow up on payments. What’s in your best interest is also in our best interest.
It’s a slap in the face if a brand goes directly to you after we have done so much work to get you the job.
That way you know that we are actively trying to get you jobs by showing you to marketers, and you can make sure that you get paid the price that you have decided to work for.
In some cases we might offer you a job at a price lower than the prices you have set as brands often request volume discounts. Then it is down to you to decide if you are willing to accept the job at the price offered. We want you to be in control of the jobs you accept.
Keeping the communication open
We built this system because we have your best interest as a Webfluential Influencer at heart. To show you we are working for you, and keep you informed as much as we can. We also realize that some influencers might not want to receive these notifications and we are working on a way for you to turn them off.
Remember to check out our post on why you might not be getting Webfluential jobs, to help iron out the small issues that might be keeping jobs out of your inbox.
What do you think?
We love hearing from our Influencers. Please leave any comments or questions below. Or you can tweet us at @webfluenti_al, or find us on Facebook.
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July 8, 2015 9:45 am
Published by Kirsty Sharman
This blog post was originally written by Ruan Fourie.
It’s no secret that Facebook is a massive social media network. Globally it is one of the most popular social media networks, but in Africa it is the biggest reaching digital media on the continent. If you look at the overall African-media sphere, Facebook is second only to television in Africa.
The #FacebookAfrica event has been taking place over the last two days and there are some really interesting insights raised by the international team at a local event. Lots of talk about how businesses are using Instagram as a visual tool to connect with customers in creative ways.
Africa is mobile and mobile is where Facebook is accessed
Facebook sees itself very much as a discovery platform more than a search platform. The platform has over 120 million active users in Africa and thus plays a vital role in getting your brand and it’s story under the noses of Africans. This also means you should prioritise making your story and brand mobile friendly as the vast majority of Africans actually connect to Facebook via mobile platforms.
If Facebook is not part of your promotion spend, you will never reach the maximum amount of Africans.
You don’t have to try and reach Africa alone
Influencers are a great way to reach a massive audience on Facebook and other social media networks. Contact us if you need help setting up your influencer marketing campaign to reach the massive African audience on not just Facebook, but also Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and blogs.
Here are some of the insights around #FacebookAfrica we grabbed off Facebook.
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