Full Service OpenWorks NEW About Us OpenU Blog Videos Resources In the Press Get Started Log In Full Service OpenWorks NEW About Us OpenU Blog Videos Resources In the Press Get Started Log In October 27, 2017 Maria Rodriguez Influencer Marketing = Holiday Success October 27, 2017 Maria Rodriguez Let's be honest. When we think about the holidays we think about SHOPPING! Even if it seems a little early to talk about the holidays, it is not. People start their shopping EARLY, so it's time to start working on your holiday marketing. PWC released a 2017 Holiday Outlook and there's one main takeaway: Influencer Marketing = Holiday Success! Here are some numbers and figures to show you why. 1. Consumers will spend 6% more this holiday. Here are the top categories. With influencer marketing you can mix it up; many Influencers cross over into different verticals. 2. Today's omnichannel environment is a community of commerce. Influencers are the kings of online media. 3. Social networks dominate peer influence: Consumers are always seeking confirmation that their trust in a brand is well-placed. 4. Consumers find visual inspiration on social media. Influencers are visual content creators! In their words... "Goodbye advertising, hello influencers. For consumers under age 35, who've always had easy access to peer reviews online, brand loyalty matters less than it does to older consumers. They trust friends and family the most - and have little use for traditional advertising as a source of product information They are looking for traditional advertising as a source of product information. They are looking for real insights about products: they have no patience for stories that don't speak directly to them." October 27, 2017 Maria Rodriguez October 24, 2017 Maria Rodriguez Gen Z: 2017 Stats You Need To Know October 24, 2017 Maria Rodriguez The Internet is a great place for any brand looking to reach an engaged audience. Millions of people are hungry for content and of course, this represents incredible opportunities for marketers and content creators. In this oversaturated environment, understanding audience segments is key. We must constantly ask questions to see if we are creating the right kind of content and pushing it onto the right screens. These statements might not be new for you. What's new is that the spotlight seems to be moving to Gen Z (1996-2011). Why? Because according to Digiday it's a group set to reach 2.6 billion by 2020 and has $44 billion in annual purchasing power. We've put together some stats you need to know about an audience you can't ignore. DIGITAL NATIVES Gen Z’s consume much of their media on smartphones and we've seen how content itself is adapting accordingly. This explains the increasing popularity of vertical video. Source: Awesomeness SOCIAL MEDIA NATIVES We know for a fact Gen Z's are on their phones not just for entertainment. It's part of their lifestyles. But the options we get on a smartphone seem to be infinite. Let's see where they spend most of their time... Source: Business Insider As the social media landscape continues to evolve, so does their behavior. Generation Z tends to skew more toward newer social media platforms, like Snapchat. The platform is still a favorite among American teens. New Kings of Media YouTubers, Instagrammers, Snapchatters and other social media content creators are more influential than traditional celebrities. Here's why: October 24, 2017 Maria Rodriguez October 16, 2017 Maria Rodriguez Combatting the social media black market with core technology October 16, 2017 Maria Rodriguez AdWeek stated recently that Influencer Marketing in one of the fastest growing channels in advertising, with their research estimating that $1billion was spent on Instagram influencers alone in 2017. As Influencer Marketing continues to grow, so does the potential for fraud. The web is full of articles talking about deceptive practices like: Instagram's algorithm "pods", Bots, the black market for verification badges and others. Of course, this is something we can't ignore. Not only because we work on behalf of our clients, but also because we have a commitment to the Influencer Marketing ecosystem. One we believe will be healthier, if we have informed social media users. Here's a video about the importance of trust in influencer marketing. Overtime and as the influencer space evolves, we have developed tools and tactics that let us be up-to-date with the opportunities and challenges of the industry. With our core technology, it's possible to analyze influencers before working with them. We evaluate follower growth, engagement rates, segment follower accounts and other metrics that help us identify any suspicious activities. If you want to learn more, contact us! October 16, 2017 Maria Rodriguez Source: influencer marketing October 13, 2017 Maria Rodriguez Context Cards: Huge Step Forward for Snapchat October 13, 2017 Maria Rodriguez In our last online video revolution series [Watch HERE] we talked about "The Battle of the Stories." It's a fact that Snapchat innovated the space with its ephemeral video feature. Adopting successful innovations is a common trend in the tech industry, so it was just a matter of time before its competitors tried joining the game, using a format it was evident people love. We live in changing and exciting times. It's interesting to see what platforms do to keep up. Snapchat started to make positive steps by extending the Snapchat Official Stories to its more influential users. This helps Snapchatters to discover and identify interesting stories. That's a huge step forward in the influencer marketing world, but something Instagram is pretty good at. We've been waiting for the "NEXT BIG THING!" and Snapchat's last announcement could be it. The Context Cards feature transforms the user experiences in fundamental ways. First, give it a look: Pretty cool! Huh? As they described it in their official announcement, "Snaps have become the visual starting point for learning more about the world, empowering the community to get more information about anything that catches their eye." By providing access to things like contact information, restaurant reviews or even Uber and Lyft rides, it takes the user to the ultimate marketing goal: Transfering the online engagement to the real world. This game changer feature opens interesting opportunities for influencers and advertisers. October 13, 2017 Maria Rodriguez October 11, 2017 Maria Rodriguez Understanding the Value of Micro-influencers October 11, 2017 Maria Rodriguez Let's start from the beginning. Who are these micro-influencers everyone seems to be talking about? They are everyday consumers who have a more modest number of followers, typically 10,000 to 50,000. But let's not forget that these numbers can vary depending on different factors. For example: 1. If you are looking into a specific geographic area. 2. The industry market size. 3. If they lie within very specific categories. Here's an example: Micro-influencers: Local brand advocates We partnered with Anthropologie to work on their #50StatesofDenim campaign (Watch related video: Here.) A campaign highlighting how women all over the country styled their denim. How did we help? Sourcing 50 on brand influencers from all 50 of the United States! We searched far and wide to find them. In was easier in states like CA or NY, but very difficult in states like Nebraska or Iowa. 8K might not look like a big number, but for this specific segment of the Iowa's population (total population 3.385M) it has high relevancy. The value of micro-influencers At the risk of stating the obvious, let's look into the increasing value of the so-called long-tail influencers. Authenticity rules the influencer marketing space. We could say micro-influencers are the kings. They are people who live relatable lives and like to share their passions and interests. For this reason, people tend to trust them and follow their recommendations. Trust is an absolutely essential part of marketing. Micro-influencers are known for winning the hearts of their niche and highly-engaged audiences through genuine interaction. This can result in a surge in conversions and sales. Source: Here To learn more about how your brand can build a micro-influencer marketing strategy, contact us! October 11, 2017 Maria Rodriguez October 4, 2017 Maria Rodriguez Instagram VS Snapchat VS Twitter? October 4, 2017 Maria Rodriguez Instagram just added a new feature and it's similar to one Twitter announced in 2015. Yes, they introduced an interactive poll sticker in Instagram Stories that lets users type their question, as well as two responses. October 4, 2017 Maria Rodriguez September 27, 2017 Maria Rodriguez Twitter: From 140 to 280 Characters! September 27, 2017 Maria Rodriguez The only constant in the technology industry is change. And that's what makes it so exciting! We have a new update for you. Twitter announced it has started testing 280-character tweets, doubling the previous character limit, in an effort to help users be more expressive world-wide. Since its conception in 2006, the platform limited users to Tweet in 140 characters. Why? The reason for such specific limitation is grounded in the company's DNA. Twitter was originally designed as a SMS mobile phone-based platform. Over the years, the company has reinvented itself and innovated with new tools: RT's, Hashtags, Visuals (photo, video, GIFs), Polls etc. This is the first time it's testing on its iconic 140-character limit. Globalization (We love everything global. Watch related video here: Going Global) is at the heart of this change. Here's an example of how the Twitter experience isn't quite the same in English, Spanish and or Japanese. Read full official announcement here: https://blog.twitter.com/official/en_us/topics/product/2017/Giving-you-more-characters-to-express-yourself.html September 27, 2017 Maria Rodriguez September 25, 2017 Maria Rodriguez The Pinterest Taste Graph: Enhanced Interest Targeting September 25, 2017 Maria Rodriguez Psychographics are just as important for marketers as demographics. For years (since its launch in 2010), Pinterest has been getting unique insights that help having a better understanding of people and their tastes. As reported in their website, each month, 200 million people go to the platform looking for content. But more important than having data is using it! The company recently announced that it’s unlocking more than 5,000 interests that advertisers can now target against using what they called "The Pinterest Taste Graph." For the visionary marketer, this might create a world of possibilities. September 25, 2017 Maria Rodriguez September 12, 2017 Maria Rodriguez Instagram Stories: 1 Year Later, a lot has Changed! September 12, 2017 Maria Rodriguez The impact of Instagram Stories on Influencer Marketing has been huge. This feature that enables users to create ephemeral content has helped increase the amount of time its 250 million daily users spend on Instagram. This means more opportunities for marketers to reach their respective audiences. [Watch related video: Snapchat, Instagram Stories, and Ephemeral Content] In the last year, a lot has changed in the platform. From Locations Tags to Boomerangs, the social media platform has rolled out more than 20 new tools to the Instagram stories feature. We'll give you a list of the latest Instagram updates. They're game changers. 1. Share stories with your friends in Direct. When you discover a story, you can tap the direct icon in the bottom right corner, select a friend or group to share it with and tap send. 2. Express yourself with filters. Instagram rolled out a fun way to express your mood with weather-inspired face filters. Share how you feel through a happy sun, a sad raincloud, an angry thunderstorm or a laid-back sun. 3. You can watch stories on www.instagram.com. Instagram brought stories to the web. You can find them at the top of the feed, and you can tap to watch them. To skip or go back, tap the right and left arrows. 4. Live Video Chat with friends With this feature, now it’s easy to add a guest while you’re broadcasting live. Tap on the new icon on the bottom right and tap “Add” to invite anyone who’s currently watching. Once they join, you’ll see the screen split into two. This feature is great for influencer collabs! September 12, 2017 Maria Rodriguez September 7, 2017 Maria Rodriguez FTC: The Do's and Don'ts for Social Media Influencers September 7, 2017 Maria Rodriguez FTC sends warning letters to social media influencers Following on the more than 90 educational letters sent in April this year, the FTC Staff announced today they sent 21 warning letters reminding prominent social media influencers to clearly disclose brand relationships. They also issued an updated version of The FTC’s Endorsement Guides: What People are Asking, a document that answers frequently asked questions. Previously revised in 2015, the newly updated version includes more than 20 additional questions. Read FTC's complete update here: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2017/09/csgo-lotto-owners-settle-ftcs-first-ever-complaint-against September 7, 2017 Maria Rodriguez September 5, 2017 Maria Rodriguez YouTube Announces New Look September 5, 2017 Maria Rodriguez Little changes in social media can mean big changes for influencer marketing. This is why we are always up to date with the evolution of the platforms. Today we got big news from YouTube, the king of online video. The evolution speaks to the old "less is more" trick. With an updated look and new features, the platform wants to let the content shine. Read HERE the official announcement. September 5, 2017 Maria Rodriguez August 23, 2017 Maria Rodriguez Press Release: Open Influence Expands Core Offerings with Launch of its OpenWorks Platform August 23, 2017 Maria Rodriguez Open Influence, a data-driven global influencer marketing company, today announced the launch of its OpenWorks platform, which offers a suite of tools designed to accommodate the needs of smaller brands and those new to influencer marketing. The new offering allows users to access Open Influence's proprietary technology stack that leverages Amazon Rekognition and other artificial intelligence tools to analyze more than 70 million pieces of content from over 300,000 influencers. With more than 15 million unique search terms, Open Influence's self-serve platform enables brands to identify new influencers, and build their own influencer community around their specific needs. Expanding upon Open Influence's client base of large brands including Bose, Coca-Cola, Disney, Nestle, Puma, Toyota, Verizon and more, the OpenWorks platform was created to meet the growing demand from brands with limited budget and influencer marketing experience. "We've received so much interest from small and mid-sized advertisers that don't have the resources or otherwise aren't a fit for our full-service offering, and launching a self-serve platform seemed like the best way to make influencer marketing accessible to those companies." said Eric Dahan, co-founder and chief executive officer of Open Influence."We look at it as a community building tool that allows brands to build and manage their key influencer relationships directly." Open Influence is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Milan and London, and plans to open offices in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates in the coming months. For more information on Open Influence and its portfolio of services please visit www.openinfluence.com. August 23, 2017 Maria Rodriguez July 24, 2017 Maria Rodriguez 5 Things to Consider When Identifying Talent for Your Influencer Marketing Campaign July 24, 2017 Maria Rodriguez When it comes to developing and executing a successful influencer marketing campaign, identifying the best possible talent is of utmost importance. Not all influencers are created equal, and it’s important to look beyond the number of followers. Here are five things to keep in mind when selecting talent for an influencer marketing campaign: Avoid big names unless you’re looking for a long-term brand ambassadorship Flashy personalities are nice, but clout comes with a cost. Top, short-tail, influencers are in high demand, which means they can command a premium. They also often work with an army of agents and managers, making it challenging to engage with them quickly or for smaller activations. If you’re looking for a true brand ambassador for the long term, it makes sense to go with a top influencer, but if not, you can get substantially more value working with mid-tail and long-tail influencers. Mid-tail influencers are much easier to work with from an operational and costing standpoint than their top-tier counterparts and tend to have substantially higher engagement rates, thus generating more value on a cost per thousand impressions (CPM) and cost per engagement basis. They’re ideal for campaigns focused on reach, views and engagement, while still producing an excellent quality of content. Long-tail influencers, also referred to as micro-influencers, are a great option for smaller brands with limited budgets looking to dip their toes into the pool of influencer marketing. While this group, by nature of being smaller, has less demand than its short-tail and mid-tail counterparts, it actually tends to have the highest CPMs and CPEs due to a high cost to engage in proportion to their reach. However, micro-influencers are more likely to sign off on usage rights for little or no additional compensation, making them ideal for initiatives that require creating and owning the usage rights to a large amount of content. Make sure you pick influencers who sincerely align with your brand Without a strong cohesion between the influencer and the brand, you risk having your message come across as inauthentic and possibly also disingenuous. It’s important that the influencer creates content and messaging that will resonate with your audience. Reaching the right audience with the wrong message is useless. For example, if you have a fitness brand looking to enter the CrossFit space, you have to ask yourself if you want a fitness influencer who actually focuses on training and CrossFit techniques or one that just takes selfies at the gym. Psychographics are more important than demographics Your audience’s attitudes, interests and aspirations are much more important than its age, gender or ethnicity. When you segment your audience based on psychographic characteristic rather than traditional demographics, you can tailor your content and messaging more appropriately. For example, let’s say a bicycle manufacturer is promoting a new outdoor bike. Targeting by age or gender isn’t nearly enough or that helpful. You want to reach consumers that are interested in bicycle riding, enjoy outdoor activities and are willing to pay a relatively large amount for the product. Focus on engagement first and foremost, as engagement is what validates reach If an influencer has millions of followers but inconsistent engagement, that’s probably not the best influencer for your campaign. You can reach 40 million people, but if no one engages with your content or the engagement rate is below what the average should be, it means you reached the wrong audience. Pay attention to contextual engagement Contextual engagement is key, and only the most-savvy advertisers really focus on it. The absolute most important thing to you as a brand when selecting talent for an influencer marketing campaign should be how each influencer’s audience will receive your brand’s message. For example, let’s say an organic skincare brand decides to work with a wellness influencer because her average engagement rate is 4 percent. That might sound like a good number, but if her engagement rate drops to 1 percent when she talks about the importance of maintaining a consistent skincare routine, she is probably not the right influencer for a skincare brand. When done correctly, influencer marketing can yield tremendous results in terms of growing and engaging with a brand’s target audience—and it all starts with identifying the right talent. Keep the aforementioned points in mind, and you’ll be well on your way to implementing a successful influencer marketing campaign. Source: http://www.adweek.com/digital/eric-dahan-open-influence-guest-post-identifying-talent-influencer-marketing/ July 24, 2017 Maria Rodriguez Tagged: blog, in the news June 12, 2017 Nico Emquies CEO of Open Influence featured in the documentary NEW KINGS: The Power of Online Influencers June 12, 2017 Nico Emquies Eric Dahan, Co-Founder and CEO of Open Influence featured in the new documentary New Kings: The Power of Online Influencers. June 12, 2017 Nico Emquies Source: https://youtu.be/JiYdBLB90IM Tagged: Video March 6, 2017 Nico Emquies Influencer Marketing: Beyond the Dashboard March 6, 2017 Nico Emquies Influencer marketing dashboards aren’t very dynamic. Most, at best, provide advertisers with a recap of the influencers’ posts only after they’re published. But successful a influencer marketing strategy takes more than just a slick dashboard. At Open Influence, we understand the importance of keeping our clients involved in the process. This is why we are rolling out a new dashboard with features designed to power collaboration and enable quality control, giving them transparency and control over their branding through influencer partnerships. These features include: Influencer selection: We’re giving you more control when it comes to selecting influencers. Until now we’ve selected influencers based on your criteria, and with great success. However, with our update dashboard, you can choose from a list of possible influencers, and prioritize your favorites before we move forward with the campaign. Content Approval: We’re putting the power of quality control back into your hands and turning influencer campaigns into a creative collaboration between you -- the brand -- and social influencers. Now you can work across multiple teams to provide feedback, make comments, and have final approval of all content before the it goes live. Improved Reporting: Our updated reporting provides powerful analytics with actionable data including social metrics by platform and performance; great for A/B testing and campaign optimization on the fly. You’ll also get a breakdown of results against guaranteed deliverables, so you can see exactly how well your campaign did compared to the expectation. With these tools, we are able to augment the value we get from utilizing big data, by putting the human element back into influencer marketing. We’re trusting the wisdom of what we’ve learned as a leader in the influencer marketing space: Campaigns yield the best performance and engagement when the content is authentic and the brand story is well integrated. March 6, 2017 Nico Emquies Tagged: blog February 27, 2017 Nico Emquies Why Instagram Carousels are a Game Changer for Influencer Marketing February 27, 2017 Nico Emquies Instagram has been one of the most popular platforms for influencer marketing over the past few years due to its visual nature, ease of content discovery, and constant deployment of content-creator friendly features. For example, Instagram has taken on longer form video via the addition of 1 minute video, gifs via Boomerang, bookmarking (similar to a Pinterest ‘Pin’), Story content a-la Snapchat, and now album-like storytelling via its latest feature- Carousels. With instagram Carousels, users can better convey their experiences via Instagram’s classic feed. It works by allowing users to share multiple (up to 10) images or video in a single carousel for their friends and followers to swipe through. “You no longer have to choose the single best photo or video from an experience you want to remember” Instagram writes. By allowing users to post more, it allows users to be more engaged with the platform by removing the fear of over posting and flooding their followers feeds. In regards to influencer marketing, this means that influencers are now able to tell a more in-depth and descriptive story and therefore have more flexibility over where and how they integrate branded content, as opposed to being constricted to one image or video at a time. “An area where we see huge potential for Carousels is in experiential marketing via influencers” writes our CEO, Eric Dahan. He continued, “A current drawback of experiential marketing via influencers on Instagram is that there has always been a trade-off between immersive content that is short lived (via Stories) or long-living content that is not nearly as immersive. With Carousels, we don’t have to make that trade-off anymore.” If Instagram can get users not only engaging in carousel content but also creating it, Instagram will change how advertisers and brands measure success on the platform when it comes to influencer marketing. To learn more about how your brand can integrate carousels with influencer marketing, contact us! February 27, 2017 Nico Emquies Tagged: blog January 1, 2017 Nico Emquies 5 Tips To Help Find The Perfect Influencer For Your Business January 1, 2017 Nico Emquies Trying to find the right influencer? As your customers turn to social media to direct their buying decisions, your business might begin to feel the strain on your bottom line if you rely on traditional marketing campaigns. Over the years marketers have seen a declined effectiveness of mass marketing campaigns. This is because customers are weary of many traditional marketing techniques, and are putting more trust in their social network and opinions of trusted online influencers. Instead of relying on mass marketing tactics, large businesses are turning to digital relationships and word of mouth to drive future profits. It is no secret that word of mouth marketing is the most effective form of marketing. Many studies show that word of mouth marketing help drives about 20-50 percent of all purchase decisions (source). Influencer marketing captures the benefits of word of mouth marketing and the power of relationships and applies the benefits of this strategy to the digital marketing landscape. An influence marketer is someone who is seen as a thought leader and a trusted source in a particular market segment (deeper explanation). These influencers usually have common traits throughout their online presence: Large online following on networks you want to penetrate. Highly engaged with their audience and relevant business sectors. Produce quality content about their area of interest. Precise follower segments you are trying to reach. If your business is struggling to capture more market share, you could be missing out on the benefits of influencer marketing. However, before you choose an influencer marketer to increase the exposure of your brand, you will want to follow a few basics to choose the right influencer. Finding The Right Influencer For Your Brand Influencer marketing offers many benefits for your business through sales and long-term interaction with your target audience. However, influencer marketing can be a wasted investment if you do not choose the right influencer marketer for your brand. Here are a few suggestions to consider before you hire an influencer marketer. Context Of Engagement The most important thing to consider when choosing an influencer marketer is their contextual fit with your brand. Identifying the context that a potential influencer plays in the market is vital because this will determine how relevant their audience interests are to your brand. Just because an influencer you are considering has millions of Instagram followers, your brand needs to decide if that person’s expertise aligns with the products and services your business offers. For example, while Kanye West is a popular music and popular culture influencer, a large brand like Microsoft might not choose Kayne to promote Windows 10. This is because Kanye’s brand does not have authority in the area of computer software. Another aspect of context to consider is the audience of an influencer. If you are trying to raise awareness for prune juice, your business should not choose a YouTuber influencer who plays Battlefield. This is because the audience who watches Battlefield on YouTube are likely not in the market for prune juice. Actionability Working with an influencer who can prompt their audience to take action is an important part of an influencer marketing campaign. While influencers shouldn’t force their ideas on their audience, they should have a connection with their sphere of influence in such a way that empowers their audience members to take action based on the products and services they promote. If you want your influencer marketing campaign to be profitable, then your business needs to partner with an influencer who can sway their audience towards your brand. While there is no perfect way to predict or measure the impact that an influencer will have you can look at the Click Through Rate of specific links on past campaigns. Engagement The goal of an influencer outreach campaign is based on relationships. A post on Instagram won’t last forever, but a relationship an influencer builds with their audience provides the basis for a lucrative partnership with your brand. The most valuable influencers are highly connected to their audience. An influencer who has an audience base who considers them a trusted friend will be more influential than someone who has large following but lacks meaningful engagement with their audience. The number of followers and subscribers an influencer has on their accounts won’t accurately indicate how engaged their audience is. Unless an influencer is directly selling products, it will continue to be difficult to attribute sales to an influencer. However, when choosing to partner with an influencer marketer your brand should look to some key metrics, including: Likes, Comments, Retweets, and Shares on relevant posts. Comments and interactions at the bottom of blog posts and videos. Clicks on trackable links displayed on specific posts. Response rates by the influencer marketer to comments left by their audience. Quality Of Content When you partner with an influence marketer, you have to be willing to give up a certain level of control over your message. This is because you need to ensure that the voice and personality of the influencer are not diluted. When your brand integrates influencer marketing into your marketing mix, you are looking for an influencer to promote your brand through their personality to their audience. Since you will be giving some control of your brand’s message you want to be sure that the influencer creates and promotes high-quality content. The key to a successful influence marketing campaign is to allow the influencer to set up their content or else the message won’t feel authentic. The good thing is that influencers know how to create content that works well on their respective channel, but it is still important that your marketing team agree that the quality of content produced by an influencer meets your brand’s voice and branding guidelines. Professionalism Last but not least, before choosing to partner with an influencer you will want to make sure they are professional and serious about their craft. There are lots of individuals who have strong followings on social media, but they could also lack consistency and communication your business expects. Research elements like response time, dependability, and past experiences of an influencer so you determine the best influencer for your needs. There are different ways to validate how professional influencers are, but having insight like the tools provided in our platform, can give you the best way to vet influencers before signing a deal with them efficiently. Leverage Data To Connect With Your Customers If you are ready to grow your market and reach new customers, then influence marketing could provide you with the edge you need in a competitive marketplace. However, as with any business decision, you need to find the right criteria to maximize benefits for your business. Our industry-leading influence marketing platform will give you the insights you need to ensure your influence marketing campaigns are a success! January 1, 2017 Nico Emquies Tagged: blog December 16, 2016 Nico Emquies How Brands Can Harness the Power of Links in Instagram Stories December 16, 2016 Nico Emquies If you’re not already familiar with Instagram’s Snapchat-aimed Stories update, you should be. With over 500 Million active users on its platform, Brands, Publishers and Influencers alike are constantly discovering new ways to engage with Instagrammers on the Mobile giant. With Stories, Instagram offers a “front page” of disappearing Snapchat-like full screen content that lives at the top of all users’ feeds. I predict Stories, with their gated, extremely consumable format, will soon dominate the way Instagrammers interact with brands on the mobile app. And this newcomer is only getting more sophisticated. Recently, Instagram upped its bid into Stories by allowing users to add clickable tags and to this content. Tapping a handle tagged inside an Instagram story now takes a user to that person’s page – a feature that previously only lived in the comments. Obviously, influencers will be capitalizing on the changes, and will be discovering a plethora of new ways to harness them for the good of their sponsors over the coming months. It makes sense – 750,000 users follow Todrick Hall, who sends them to Fiat’s page via a link in his story. That much we can expect (and have seen). But how can brands follow suit? Here are some creative and powerful ways I’ve come up with to supercharge your brand’s Instagram by enriching your Stories with links and mentions. 1. Promote your Storytellers It’s no secret: Influencer marketing has become a key tool in any solid marketing suite, and the growth of its popularity only seems to quicken by the second. In a recent Adweek survey, most marketers said they plan to spend between 50,000 and 100,000 per influencer program in 2017. But money isn’t all that influencers are in it for – their brand growth is of equal or greater value. The recent addition of mentions to Instagram stories offers a unique win-win to brands and moguls alike. Brands can tease interesting content on their own feed – say, a Q&A, a contest, or some behind the scenes exclusive. By using mentions, they can then direct users to an Influencer running point on content and messaging. And vice versa. Users are driven in both directions and content is shared as a conversation. Users who want the full experience will need to engage with every page involved – and mentions make the process natural. This diversion from standard campaign formats we’ve previously seen on Instagram will end up driving much more traffic for all. Taking 2. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours Why should this be so attractive to marketers? With powerful influencers becoming more and more in-demand, they can begin to pick and choose their sponsorships. Brands, take note: treat your influencers like your customers. The more engaging your campaigns are, the more they will be inclined to advocate for you in the future. A conversational format is one way for them to get to know your brand in a non-transactional, yet professional way that also decreases the chance of alienating their own native following. 3. Q&A back and forth The same goes for Q&A by both internal and external thought leaders and experts. Is there a member of your company who is (or deserves to be) an influencer in their own right? Use the power of the conversation to make sure your followers are intertwined. The more users engage with a prolific representative of your brand, the stronger your brand grows. It’s all about interconnectivity. 4. Involve the community One way that top accounts are engaging with their followers is the promise of exposure. Contests, Q&A’s, and time-sensitive hashtags can be the highlight of your user’s social experience for that day. Take J. Crew’s #ShinyPonies campaign, for example. From a community perspective, posting a picture of your favorite shoes in accordance to a contest’s rules is a small price to pay for the chance to be recognized by a community you care about (and grow your own following in turn). User-generated content promotes on- and off-line engagement with your products – by taking the same approach on stories, you will capitalize on those who don’t take the time to scroll through their entire feeds. Your contest will live on right at the top of Instagram, where eyeballs go first. And turnover is quick. No drawn-out RFP process necessary. TIP: When running a contest over Instagram Stories, a Brand should absolutely make it known ahead of time that winners will be announced and featured in Stories – and then follow through. The promise of more followers to the average user makes that #OOTD contest all the more attractive, so give ample notice. Those who browse casually through your stories will catch your feature and be more inclined to join in for next time. 5. Megaphone your entire brand suite Remember when I mentioned interconnectivity? That should go for the multiple products, companies, and accounts your brand is associated with. Have a new fashion line you want to promote? Mention it. Running a social good campaign? Tag it and send your followers on a journey that makes your company story more and more a part of their own. 6. "See More” – turn your story into a Performance Marketing Campaign With the Mentions update also comes the addition to link to external content. This could have incredible clout for fashion brands to link out to the products they showcase on their Stories. Rolling out to verified brands and influencers, the feature allows users to swipe up to “See More” at the bottom of their screen, taking them wherever the poster desires. As we discussed in our last post, Shopper Marketing is on the rise in Instagram, and performance-based initiatives are slowly working their way into the Social Interaction behemoth. The only hurdle is user experience. By integrating links with stories, Brands and Influencers alike will be using the utterly tempting “See More” CTA to take the work out of navigating off-app to relevant shopping carts and lookbooks. The math is now entirely simplified: See that dress she’s wearing? Click once and you can get that much closer to rocking it even better (while checking out other products). No more disconnect. The more and more I investigate Instagram’s Stories update, the more it truly bears all the markings of a “front page”. The content is snackable, varied, and up-to-the minute. With solid new functionality rolling in at a staggering pace, Marketers would be wise to adopt these recent changes in both their Performance and Brand marketing strategies. And as always, Watch the Influencers. You might pick up another winning tip or two. December 16, 2016 Nico Emquies November 10, 2016 Nico Emquies What Instagram Shopping Means for Influencer Marketing November 10, 2016 Nico Emquies Many companies that have tried to tackle social commerce over the past few years have came and faded out. Companies like The Fancy for example, created an excellent discovery experience for unique and high luxury items but the site failed to really leverage social interactions to drive real everyday purchases from its users. Fast forward to today, and there is real hope for social commerce through the 800-pound gorilla in the social mobile space, Instagram. As a social platform, Instagram may seem like an unlikely candidate to succeed in the commerce space as historically (relatively speaking) social platforms have not had much success integrating commerce into their ecosystem. However, Instagram is different. Instagram is uniquely positioned because more than just a way to interact with friends or keep on-top of trends, Instagram is the world’s visual content sharing and discover engine making it the perfect fit for brands to share. Coming from the fashion industry, I have seen a transition away from brand websites being the host of their lookbook to Instagram becoming the new home where their lookbooks lives. This means that a brand’s website is nothing more than a shopping cart and checkout button. To date, the flow from a brand’s Instagram profile to a purchase has been clunky at best requiring users to go the brands bio, leave the app, click to that they’re leaving the app, launch a browser, wait for it to load, and then navigate a site. By making posts shoppable, Instagram isn’t trying to change user behavior it’s just further simplifying an existing one. So the big question- what does this mean for influencers? Influencer marketing to date has been benchmarked by upper funnel KPIs such as reach, views, and engagement/interactions. Publishers, creative companies, and PR shops have quickly accepted and adopted these benchmarks for measuring success. However, the digital media buyers and DR shops have been left scratching their heads a bit when it comes to upper funnel KPIs that are more focused on brand building than conversions. This may all change as making Instagram shoppable means that advertisers will have a more direct funnel meaning more of what influencers achieve will be more visibly attributable to brands’ bottom lines. What does this mean for brands? Though people won’t buy CPG brands like Coca Cola online, this may open up the door to a new set of clients who have been strictly conversion focused to more heavily invest in Instagram, and in interaction drivers like influencers. This could mean that influencer marketing will be a more viable option for those obsessed with direct response marketing and tracking. Tracking individual influencers performance will still be difficult. Unless influencers are selling products directly from their own content, attribution for a brand will still be difficult. There is no way currently of telling which influencer drove a specific user to a brand’s account let alone a purchase. Additionally, Instagram’s API doesn’t offer data to any third party on the identity of specific users that are following influencers or brands and definitely doesn’t offer transparency into sales data. How could this affect influencer pricing? From a marketing standpoint, influencers do much more than simply drive traffic, they build brand equity and establish brand positioning. This means that the dollar value of the sales they generate isn’t inclusive of all the value they create and they therefore can’t not be compensated simply based on sales generated on a given day. However, the additional transparency will lead to some adjustment towards influencer pricing. Many influencers who have based their pricing on assumption and bias will likely have to decrease their rates. Others who may be under charging may find that the added transparency may justify an increase in their rate. Instagram’s recent entrance into the social commerce space is a great first step towards monetizing the platform in a way that’s organic and unlike ads, doesn’t take away from the user experience. Influencers aren’t going anywhere and for Instagram and platforms like it, influencers are key content creators that add value by keeping users engaged. In terms of what Instagram can do to better leverage influencers, anything that allows influencers to better monetize their audience will keep influencers tied to the platform. November 10, 2016 Nico Emquies Tagged: blog September 26, 2016 Nico Emquies Influencer Marketing 101: Watch our CEO interviewed by Business Rockstars September 26, 2016 Nico Emquies September 26, 2016 Nico Emquies Tagged: blog Older Posts Back to Top Open Influence, 11520 San Vicente Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 90049, United States Los Angeles | Chicago | San Francisco | New York | Milan | London | Dubai | Hong Kong Terms of Use | Privacy Policy press: pr@openinfluence.com