The first edition of the Create & Co conference series was held on June 5. The event, organized by Made In, our collaborators, was held at the Sofitel in Montreal, and brought together people working in the web and social media space.
Attendees included Quebec-based online influencers (bloggers, YouTubers, Instagrammers, etc.), brands, who are looking more and more towards influence marketing, and agencies, whose role is to develop strategy and measure impact. These opinion leaders shape brands’ messages in order to increase the campaign visibility and find new ways of reaching audiences. Influence marketing relies on the reputations and communities of prominent players in the digital space, as well as their creativity, in order to transmit informational or promotional messages.
The event listed nearly a dozen sessions on topics including content strategy, SEO, Google Analytics, creating a Snapchat strategy and more. The keywords we retained at the end of the day? Authenticity, creativity, SEO and analytics!
We spoke with Vanessa Pilon, Quebec TV host and influencer, to get her impressions on the collaboration between influencers and brands on social media. She shared with us the key to a successful partnership.
*Christèle Simeoni’s interview with Vanessa Pilon to follow in the next article
Brands and their agencies have their own set of responsibilities and obligations. Before including influencers in their digital communications strategies, they first need to immerse themselves in the needs and interests of their users. There are many free tools to do this: Google Trends, keyword planners, online communities, etc. Once you know what your users want, it’s easier to figure out who is most likely to influence them (and on which platforms: social media, blogs, forums, etc.).
Influencer research is based on a collection of qualitative and quantitative data:
- Classification by area of expertise and audience size
- Engagement metrics on social platforms
- Domain Authority and Social Authority
- Natural fit with the brand
Many other factors will also come into play, and you’ll be able to focus on those during the outreach phase (for example, if the influencer has previously made mention of either your company or the competition). “As a brand (or agency), it’s important to get away from the classic advertising model, and make the most of the insights you gather before launching your campaign,” points out Matthieu Casanova, Inbound-SEO Team Lead. “This will help you develop authentic relationships with your identified influencers: co-creation of content, exclusive interviews, invitations to events and behind the scenes looks, etc. When an influencer campaign integrates logically with a company’s inbound marketing strategy, and satisfies the objectives and expectations of all stakeholders involved (the brand, the influencer, and above all, the audience), you can consider it a success!”
Not sure how to get started? Adviso can help you structure your influencer campaign by:
- Clearly defining your objectives
- Analyzing the content offering in your market
- Using research tools to prepare in advance of your campaign
- Studying the factors that might impact the success of your campaign: online reputation, previous collaborations, optimization of the influencer’s platforms
- Measuring the impact of the campaign and drawing insights for future campaigns
This article is the first in a series on online influencers. Stay tuned for more in the coming articles, where we’ll share the essential elements of an effective influencer campaign with Instagrammers and YouTubers.
Thanks to Christèle Simeoni and Matthieu Casanova for their collaboration in writing this article.
