Uncategorized
Retargeting and Identifying Influencers
There is a dichotomy in social media marketing which has become more apparent as what was once considered a niche of overall marketing strategy now controls the lion share of companies’ advertising budget.
Since the beginning of modern marketing, there has been two forms of advertising, what we now call “Paid advertising”
For the sake of clichés, the history of modern advertising comes down to a typical “Chicken or the Egg” scenario.
Which came first, paid advertising or earned media?
In the advertising world, there have typically been two types of content you buy. Either a :30 spot, print page or digital banner ad dedicated to your companies’ message, straight from the horse’s mouth, or a sponsorship, endorsement or product placement within content that your audience is likely to watch.
But there is also media you don’t buy (at least outright). Earned media is the editorial coverage you receive from media vendors when you have a new product, supply product for an awesome build or – for better or worse – spend advertising money with them.
But with the onslaught of social media, and the power it has put in the hands of astute marketers, there is a third type of content at companies’ fingertips: Influencer Marketing.
Influencer marketing is more than 2017’s hottest marketing buzzword. A recent survey by Inc. revealed that 84% of marketers plan on executing at least one influencer marketing campaign during the next 12 months.
So what is influencer marketing? It’s that grey area between an official product endorsement and a subtle product mention, almost done in passing but deceptively controlled by brands.
Imagine you are at the race track. You see the driver/car/team that is always in the winner’s circle and you hear them talking about how XYZ exhaust is the best they’ve ever used.
Soon you find yourself Googling that exhaust company. You feel like you are in on a secret that no one else knows.
Now translate that trackside exchange to the internet, and you have the Genesis of modern Influencer Marketing.
Influencer marketing is just the natural progression of behavioral marketing. Instead of targeting your ads to people through what they search you target your ads through who they interact with.
But it has to be nuanced, and it has to seem organic. If a company’s influencer marketing strategy seems forced or paid for, both the influencer and the company will lose.
The best example is to imagine that you are back in high school. You walk down the hallway, backpack straps pulled tight. And suddenly, you stroll past the “popular crowd” of girls—who, metaphorically speaking, would be Kylie Jenner on Instagram.