How To Make An Impact Running Influencer Marketing For Your Brand

If you're looking to start an influencer marketing campaign for your brand, there are a few things you need to know first. While I typically cover influencer-related news in my blog, I wrote about four misconceptions when it comes to influencer marketing. And if a podcast is more your speed, check out my interview with author and host of the Winfluence Podcast, Jason Falls.

This blog post will give you a crash course in all things influencer marketing. We'll cover everything from how to set up your campaign to working with influencers effectively. By the end of this blog, you should have a good understanding of how to run an influencer marketing campaign that makes an impact.

Identifying The Right Type of Influencer To Work With 

There are pros and cons to working with different-sized influencers. Partnering with micro, mid-tier, and macro influencers can each be used to drive awareness at the ground level while reaching an actively-engaged audience. 

The main advantage of working with a nano influencer is that their audiences trust them deeply and are highly dedicated. However, the downside of working with a nano influencer is that they may need more experience or time to work with more established businesses.

Mid-tier influencers have the potential to create similar results as larger influencers. Still, they tend to charge less for their services to create content that genuinely connects with their audience. Additionally, mid-tier influencers often have more reach than large influencers, meaning their content can immediately impact your business if relevant and engaging. However, it's important to remember that these individuals may lose connection to their audience as they grow larger.

Finally, macro-influencers have the most reach and can impact your business immediately if their content is relevant and engaging. However, it's important to remember that these individuals may lose connection to their audience over time as they grow larger.

How To Create Quality Content With An Influencer

Once you've identified your potential influencers based on your overall objectives and budget, you'll need to consider how that sponsored content comes to life. Creating quality content can be daunting on its own, and adding more cooks to the kitchen, including your client or an influencer, can take things to another level. To make everyone's lives easier, start with this goal in mind: Create quality influencer content, and lean on your influencer to establish a connection with their audience. 

It is also essential to ask for specific content requests in return for collaboration. For example, an influencer may request that you provide feedback on their latest deliverables. This can be done by setting the expectation of high-quality content and a collaborative partnership when reviewing their work. If you are willing to compromise on creative control, both parties can walk away with what ends up being a positive collaboration.

As you work with your influencers, it is essential to be respectful and courteous. Always ensure your feedback is prescriptive and constructive. Take the time to understand their perspective; they know their audience better than anyone. It can be challenging to provide quality content when you feel rushed or frustrated, but building a good relationship will pay off in the long run.

To ensure your content is high quality, come prepared with content ideas that are relevant and interesting to your influencer and their audience. It will help the overall process if you proofread your influencer's work extensively before having your influencer publish their content. This will help you avoid common mistakes such as typos and grammar errors. But also to ensure your brand is being talked about the right way. 

Ways To Work With Influencers More Effectively

Influencers can be a powerful marketing tool for businesses seeking new audiences. However, working with an influencer has its challenges. It is important to always be respectful when working with an influencer and to agree on a timeline and compensation upfront. Nobody likes to work for free, so I advise my client to set that expectation going in. If we can secure partnerships with products or something else of value, that's just icing on the cake.

When working with an influencer, it is important to keep the following in mind:

The first step is to identify the influencer's target audience. Once you understand their audience, you can determine their suitability for your brand. I am a firm believer in having my clients' brands or their products show up authentically by doing so in-feed.

It is also important to consider what type of tone you want your campaign to take. For example, some influencers prefer light-hearted campaigns, while others are more serious, depending on the category. For example, an influencer partnering with a candy company will have a different approach to an influencer partnering with a healthcare company. 

Once you have identified your influencer's target audience and determined their tone, the next step is to ideate around a campaign that aligns with that influencer and their overall approach to content. Finally, always be prepared to pay well for high-quality content. The amount paid will depend on how much effort was put into creating it and whether or not it has already been published elsewhere. 

By keeping these tips in mind, businesses can ensure success when working with an influential figure.

UTM Code For Influencer Campaign Tracking

Tracking the results and impact over time is important to determine if your influencer partnerships are moving the needle for your business and to get that external validation that it is the right strategy. If you want to help track your influencer campaign's results, use UTM codes to track performance accurately. This will allow you to keep track of all activity related to your campaign, including impressions, clicks, and leads. Additionally, it will help you measure the success of your influencer marketing efforts against the goal you set out to achieve.

There are a few different UTM codes that you can use to track your influencer marketing campaign. The most common is the "utm_source" UTM code. This code tells Google which website created the impression. For example, using "utm_source=facebook" will tell Google that Facebook generated the impression.

Another type of UTM code is the "utm_medium" UTM code. This tells Google what kind of content was responsible for generating the impression. For example, using "utm_medium=social" will tell Google that the impression was generated from a social media post from your brand's channels.

Finally, there is the "utm_campaign" UTM code. This tells Google which influencer campaign generated the impression. For example, if you have an "#influencermarketing" campaign and create an impression with "utm_campaign= Influencer Marketing Campaign," this will be recorded as an influencer marketing activity on your reporting dashboard.

In Summary

Working with influencers can be a great way to promote your brand and reach new audiences. However, keeping a few things in mind when working with them is important. In order to create quality content, you need to establish a positive relationship with your influencers as partners. Be sure to respect their time, set clear expectations upfront, and be willing to compromise on creative control. 

If you need help with influencer marketing, be sure to stay up to date with your favorite digital marketing blogs or go straight to the pros like those at Popular Pays, Tagger, and Linqia, so that you can continue to improve your campaigns.

The Social Media News You Need To Know In June

The weekend is coming to a close, but before we start a new week, I have the next installment of social media news you can use. This week, we’ll take a look at how Snapchat is celebrating and recognizing Pride Month, the power of Artificial Intelligence in Content and PR roles, and a fun campaign from Wendy’s as they promote their Frosty dessert in the summer month. Let’s dig in!

Snapchat Celebrates Pride Month 

Happy Pride Month! Snapchat is introducing new functionalities this month in honor of Pride Month and the LGBTQ+ community. Switch up your Bitmoji's style with new Pride-themed clothes, including the limited-edition 'Be True' Nike hoodie (and celebrate in real life with the actual hoodie, which is available on Nike.com). 

Another new tool is the SEEN Camera lens, which provides prompts, questions, and AR effects to encourage people to engage and share their unique Pride Month tales. Snap will also release new Pride filters, stickers, and other additions throughout the month.

How AI Can Be Used in Content and PR Roles

Our AI Think Tank shared many great insights into how Artificial Intelligence will likely be used in our industry and elsewhere. And to keep sharing that knowledge, we wanted to share some other benefits and risks of using AI in communications and PR from our partners at Sprout Social:  

Benefits 

• Automate tasks: AI can be used to automate tasks such as media monitoring, social media listening, and content creation. This can free up PR and content professionals to focus on more strategic and impactful work. 

• Improve efficiency: AI can help PR and content professionals improve their efficiency by providing them with insights and data that they can use to make better decisions. For example, AI can help identify trends in social media conversation, track the performance of PR campaigns, and identify potential influencers. 

Risks 

• Bias: AI algorithms can be biased, leading to inaccurate or unfair results. For example, an AI algorithm trained on a dataset of news articles predominantly written by men may be more likely to generate biased results that favor men. 

• Data collection and analysis: AI models require large amounts of data to train. Collecting data from various sources and carefully analyzing it to ensure that it is accurate and representative of the target audience is vital. 

Summer Campaign: “Buy U a Frosty” 

Some of you may recall T-Pain's popular song "Buy U a Drank" from the late 2000s. But have you heard Fros-T-Pain's latest remix, "Buy U a Frosty"? 

Wendy's is the most recent brand to collaborate with a musical artist to remix a popular song to advertise a product. T-Pain sings his new remixed version in front of a Strawberry Frosty-inspired automobile and at a Wendy's transformed into a nightclub in the music video. 

 Wendy's is definitely appealing to nostalgia by teaming up with T-Pain on one of his most iconic songs. With its more unique and sarcastic tone on its platforms, the fast-food restaurant has also been known to draw a younger following on its social media accounts. Earlier this year, other brands, such as Chex Mix and Sir Mix-A-Lot on the "Bagel is Back" campaign, collaborated with musicians to remix popular songs into product jingles.

If you found this valuable, you can read more of my writing, like my favorite social media tools to use, like the AI-powered GoCharlie.ai. And for more deep dives on specific topics on my blog. 

The Latest Social Media News In May That You Need To Know

The weekend is coming to a close, but before we start a new week, I have the next installment of social media news you can use. This week, we’ll take a look at what Montana's newly-enacted ban on TikTok entails, how Meta is making it easier to edit Reels, and we have Sprout Social's annual "State of Social" Report. 

Update on Montana’s TikTok Ban

Remember the impending TikTok ban we mentioned? Montana has officially become the first state in the United States to outlaw the app. On Wednesday, Governor Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 419, stating that he wants to "protect the state's residents' private information from being compromised." 

The bill states that services that provide the app on their platforms, such as the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, will face fines of up to $10,000 per day for infringement. Individual users will not be fined if they continue to use the already-downloaded app on their mobile devices at this time. 

The ban will go into effect in Montana on January 1, 2024. Gianforte also issued a separate order prohibiting government users from accessing apps controlled by Russian or Chinese corporations, such as Telegram, WeChat, CapCut, and Temu. This ban will go into force on June 1, 2023. 

It's still being determined whether you'll be able to use TikTok in Montana if it's already on your phone or how they'll enforce the ban if individuals aren't penalized. We will continue to follow this topic as well as the bigger US prohibition.

Meta Announces New Instagram Reel Editing Tools

Instagram users worldwide will soon be able to improve their reels thanks to new in-app tools. Check out these new future editing tools, which range from easy editing to money generation:  

Spit a Single Clip: Make several posts from a single video clip to keep your video and posts consistent. This tool, for example, will be helpful for constructing a video series with several parts based on a single anchor video. 

• Playback Speed Controls: Customize the playback speed of specific sections of your video to enhance your reel. This indicates that the reel can begin slowly, but the rest of the reel can be played at normal speed.

• Replace Clips: Replace an existing clip with a new one without changing the other current clips' time, order, or audio synchronization.  

• Give a Gift: Send donations to your favorite creators with interactive stickers, allowing them to generate revenue and monetize their short-from videos within the app.  

Sprout Social “State of Social” Report 

Our partners at Sprout Social have released their annual "State of Social" report and we've attached a copy of the report and shared some interesting takeaways:  

• Our AI Think Tank set the stage yesterday, but we're seeing similar insights when it comes to social media. With 97% of CEOs believe artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will make it easier for businesses to examine social media data and insights.

• 80% of business leaders predict an increase in their company's social media budget over the next three years, with 44% expecting a budget increase of more than 50%. 

• And 90% of leaders feel that their company's success will be determined by its ability to effectively use social media data and insights to guide business strategy. 

There's a lot more in the report, but despite current macroeconomic challenges, social media spending is likely to increase, with leaders focusing on future technologies to reap the most benefits. 

If you found this valuable, you can read more of my writing, like my favorite social media tools to use, like the AI-powered GoCharlie.ai. And for more deep dives on specific topics on my blog. 

How To Use Social Media To Grow Your Brand

As a business owner, you know that social media is a powerful tool to reach new customers and grow your business. But with so many platforms and options, it can take time to know where to start or what will work best for your business. In this blog post, I will share some of the best social media marketing tips to help you grow your business. We'll cover everything from how to create engaging content to which platforms you should be using. By the end of this post, you'll have all the information you need to get started with social media marketing and see success.

How To Boost Your Social Media Results

When it comes to social media marketing, it’s a lot of trial and error. This means many businesses need help to achieve positive results that have a true impact. This is often because the advice on growing an audience has changed recently, and most businesses approach social media without first identifying their target audience. As a result, they create content that doesn’t resonate with their target audience, because they don’t know their target audience. It’s why you have to lean into social media best practices.

To improve results with social media marketing, start by identifying your ideal target audience and think about content that is specifically for them. Then look at what type of content will most effectively reach those people. By reversing this process, you can increase your chances of success when creating content for social media.

When it comes to social media marketing, the most effective platforms are those that can be used to reach a broad audience. This means you should use multiple platforms, and target different demographics with differing content. For example, you could produce blog content for your brand’s website and post a link to it on LinkedIn and Twitter. Alternatively, you could create video content and post it on YouTube and Vimeo. You will reach your target audience by using multiple platforms.

Once you have identified which channels will work best for your business, you need to determine what type of content is most engaging for your target audience. The best way to do this is by conducting market research. You can use websites such as BuzzSumo to explore how other businesses are succeeding with social media marketing, and then adapt their approach accordingly. Finally, ensure that your social media profiles are updated regularly with fresh content so potential customers know about your latest developments.

Brand inclusivity will be essential in the future of social media, and companies that focus on something other than this will eventually suffer. For example, if a company only promotes white males in their creative, then they're going to have a hard time succeeding in the future of social media. Businesses must promote diversity across their entire brand so that customers feel represented.

How To Succeed On Social Media With Video Content

Video content is becoming increasingly important on social media platforms, and almost all social media platforms prioritize it. Businesses that don't start making videos will eventually lose out on reaching their target audience to brands who are utilizing video content.

If you want to get started with social media video, there are some key tips that you should follow. First, make sure to have a video plan in place to help you get started faster and easier. Next, prioritize which platform your story or videos will be on- Facebook or Instagram. Produce longer-form content on Instagram and Facebook, like Reels. For stories, shoot short vertical videos filmed with your phone and upload them right away. On Instagram, look for Reels, where you offer raw and uncut versions of things people are interested in.

A content strategy will help you prioritize which platform to publish your videos. After deciding where to post them, you'll need to produce the videos that you've decided on. For stories on Facebook and Instagram, look to utilize these types of vertical videos as soon as possible as they are easier to share. Instagram is a great platform for longer-form content because people enjoy watching raw footage. So make sure to produce more reels than just short clips! Finally, always keep in mind what's popular in your “Discover” feeds on social media. Don’t try to create your own trend, lean into it what’s already trending.

Tips For Creating Creating Short-Form Videos

Creating short, creative videos can be a great way to get your message across without going through the hassle and time of making a long-form video. These videos can be anywhere from a minute to a few hours long, depending on how much thought and editing is done.

Short-form deos can take one to two hours to record and edit, adding captions and uploading them onto different platforms. The goal of creating shorter-form video is to get more people involved in gaming without going full-hog into the long-form videos. YouTube is the best platform for this type of content. But keep in mind, YouTube is the long-game. Start slow and build up your content library (and following) over time.

There are a few benefits to creating shorter creative videos. For one, these videos can be more engaging for viewers, and they're also easier to share on social media- whether you want to get exposure or create good content that your followers can enjoy. In terms of monetization, short-form video can be a great way to start. You can generate more leads and sales from your videos by targeting specific demographics and including call-to-action buttons.

If you're considering starting in the world of short-form videos, you must do your research first and determine which platform is best for you based on your goals. There are so many different ways to go about this, so don't be afraid to experiment!

Bottom Line

Social media marketing is a powerful tool that can help businesses grow. However, with so many options and platforms available, it can be challenging to know where to start or what will work best for your business. In this blog post, we've shared some of the best social media marketing tips to help you get started. We've covered everything from how to create engaging content to which platforms you should be using. By following these tips, you'll be on your way to seeing success with social media marketing.

Looking for more ways you can amplify your social media efforts, be sure to check out one of my freebies to help you and your brand.

Maximizing Organic Reach On Social Media: Tips & Strategies

If you are a marketer or brand looking to drive organic reach and engagement on social media, you may be asking yourself: “How can I maximize the organic reach my content creates to better reach my target audience?” This blog post will provide tips and strategies to help you maximize organic reach on your brand’s social media channels. We will discuss optimal posting times and tactics, targeting audiences, and maximizing engagement through digital marketing. By the end of this post, you should have a better understanding of how to maximize organic reach and in turn, get your content in front of your target audience.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok have been experiencing a decline in organic reach due to increased content being published and personalized news feeds becoming more important than getting content from brands. This means businesses need more opportunities to reach their audience, which can be frustrating. However, there are still ways for companies to increase their social media engagement and reach.

Optimal Posting Times And Leveraging Thought Leadership

When it comes to social media, timing is everything. It's crucial that you post content when your target audience is most active to achieve visibility and engagement. One way that businesses can maximize their organic reach is by posting at the perfect time. By posting at the right time, your content will show up when your target audience is most active, increasing the chance of garnering engagements.

According to Hootsuite data, the best overall time to post is 10:00 AM on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Different platforms work better with different times; for example, Instagram's sweet spot is 11:00 AM on Wednesdays, while Twitter's optimal posting hour is 800 AM on Mondays and Thursdays. Keep your target audience’s time zones in mind when deciding when to post. If your business is based on the East coast but has a lot of customers on the West coast, you likely don’t want to be posting based on Eastern Standard Time. Now this isn't an exact science, and every brand is different, so the ideal posting time for your brand or business might vary by a few hours. So test and post at different times to see what yields better results depending on your audience demographics.

Posting frequency should also be tailored for each brand; posting too often will decreases engagement and not posting enough will prevent you from showing up in-feed. In other words, once you've achieved a certain level of engagement with your audience, posting less frequently won't hurt them – but it may not generate as much traffic or conversions either way!

Another strategy to utilize is leveraging thought leadership for social media content, like from a founder or senior leader of your company, can also help amplify your content. For some of our clients at The Motion Agency, we write thought-leadership content relevant to their industry, to not only help get their content in front of their target audience, but also to position their leadership team as industry leaders. I've written about how I utilize these tactics on my blog, but this strategy is great for businesses of all sizes. 

Showing off an individual face behind a brand has been proven to bring in more engagements and increase Reach because it allows people to connect with the brand more intimately. Tesla, Meta, and Microsoft all have prominent leaders, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg & Satya Nadella, respectively, that are associated with the success of their companies. This further solidifies their brands' identity among consumers and makes them recognizable symbols within their respective industries. Whether you're a small business trying to build a name for yourself or a large company looking to increase brand recognition, content posted by subject-matter experts (SMEs) can help reach a larger audience. 

Targeting Audiences To Generate Traffic And Conversions

There's no doubt that generating traffic and conversions is essential for any business. However, creating content that will resonate with your audience, generate web traffic and conversions can take time, effort and a little luck. That's where content marketing comes in, and social media can play a role in that. By creating content that is relevant to your target audience, over time, you will increase traffic and conversions.

A critical factor in social media is understanding what questions your target audience is asking and then creating content that answers or at least addresses the question. Answer the Public is an excellent tool for doing this. It allows you to see what topics interest a given audience. You can then use those questions as the theme of future content, which is directly addressing your target audience’s questions.

As technology and social media platforms change, brands must embrace these changes to maximize engagement with their audience. Utilizing the data that’s available at our fingertips can also help us marketers succeed when using social media.

Bottom Line

Social media is an effective tool for businesses to reach their target audience and increase organic reach. However, it can be challenging to maximize engagement on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok due to the decrease in organic reach. By following optimal posting times and tactics, targeting audiences with content marketing strategies, and utilizing digital marketing tools to their fullest potential, businesses can maximize engagement on social networks and see a positive impact on followers and conversions.

Looking for more social media and influencer marketing news worth using? You can read more of my latest social media updates and more deep dives on specific topics on my blog if you’re new to my website.

The Social Media News You Can Use In April

As we close out April, let’s get right into the social media news you can use to start the week ahead. Today, we’ll talk about ephemeral content on social media, the latest legislature looking to ban social media for kids in a state, and keeping you up to date on the newest social media platforms fighting for market share.

 What is Ephemeral Content? 

When Sprout Social talks about "ephemeral content " they're talking about content that doens’t live forever, think Story content.  Stories on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok are excellent instances of ephemeral content. So, if you're a frequent social media user, you've already been exposed to ephemeral content on a daily basis, and likely are posting some on your own channels. 

Sprout Social talks about how social media users are more likely to engage with this type of content because they won't be able to engage with it after it disappears (unless the Stories are added to the user’s highlights), which leverages FOMO, adds a sense of urgency, and builds authenticity because users feel like these Stories were captured in the moment.

When it comes to our clients at The Motion Agency, one of our hospitality clients does a bi-weekly content series that is a wonderful example of ephemeral content. Twice a month, our team will source User Generated Content (UGC) from our client’s audience, primarily Instagram reels (short-form videos), and feature them on the restaurant’s Instagram as Stories (along with our overall highlights). People that tag the businesses they patronize on social media often want to see their content featured. So when their Reels get featured in our client’s content, these users often reshare it to their personal audiences, helping us introduce our client’s brand to more people.

A U.S. Bill Would Ban Kids From Joining Social Media Apps

If you’re a parent, you’ve likely been concerned about what your children may view on social media platforms and how they spend their time. While states across the country have looked to do so and even other countries in the past, a proposed bill was revealed at the federal level. Wired highlights the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act looks to force the major social media platforms to forbid younger children from joining the applications. Children under the age of 13 would be barred from accessing social media online content, but they would still be able to view it if the app they used allows individuals to view content while logged out. The proposed legislation would also require parental authorization before anyone aged 13 to 17 could create a profile.  

Now we were all kids at one point, so you’re right to ask, "How can they be sure children don't put in a fake age?" The plan would also introduce a government-run age-verification mechanism, managed by the Department of Commerce, ensuring that individuals underage do not create social media accounts with fake information. Children and their parents would then be required to upload identification to establish their age and identity. While many parents of children support the law, others are skeptical of its effectiveness.

 Are There Any New Social Media Apps Worth Knowing About?

We often talk about the leading social media platforms that most brands and consumers know. But let's look ahead and see what social media platforms may be the next big hit. 

• Lemon8: Think TikTok and Pinterest combined, but this app may change with ByteDance's future in the U.S.

• Nocam: Friends swap challenges, except (pause for dramatic effect) that nobody can see how they appear while capturing the content.   

• Kiwi: Dubbed the "BeReal for Music," it asks users randomly to share their most recently listened to song. 

• Wavelength: In a world without texting, Reddit, WhatsApp, Discord, and internet message boards, AI powers this group chat app.  

• Minus: Put your philosopher cap on and ask yourself, "What if there was a finite social media app? And you only have 100 posts for life, what would I post?" Minus is just that, and every time you add a post to your feed, Minus subtracts your total posts remaining. 

Thanks as always for spending time reading my writing. If you are looking for more social media and influencer marketing news worth using? You can read more of my writing, covering my favorite social media tools to use, like GoCharlie.ai. and more deep dives on specific topics on my blog.