In 2017, Every Brand Needs to Have an Influencer Strategy. This statistic, part of a report from PR and content agency Good Relations, was an eye-opener for me as I prepared my presentation for InfluenceTHIS, Toronto’s premier conference for Canada’s most innovative content creators. Today, brands mostly realize that social video is it’s own platform that requires a different type of content creation and having an influencer strategy is little more than table stakes for a successful video content strategy. Influencer Strategy for Brands Some sectors and industries are going to be more appropriate for influencer partnerships than others. In the gaming industry, for example, 97% of views come from influencers rather than brands or publishers, and those influencers are averaging an engagement rate that has an ER30 of 4.1x (4x more engaging than the average video). Influential content creators like VanossGaming or Rooster Teeth are proving to be significantly more influential among gaming audiences than studios like Electronic Arts or Rockstar. Of course, not every influencer or trend is going to be the right fit for your organization. What are the content trends in my industry or surrounding my product? Maximize your message resonance by working with trending creators and content formats that both of your audiences will love. There’s so much potential for brands and publishers in this space, and all you need to do is start experimenting.
solely on the recommendation of an online influencer? This statistic, part of a report from PR and content agency Good Relations, was an eye-opener for me as I prepared my presentation for InfluenceTHIS, Toronto’s premier conference for Canada’s most innovative content creators. As several speakers echoed during the conference, influencers are the ones who are driving content marketing growth and innovation — and as I noted, increasingly in video formats.
In April alone, Tubular tracked 8 Million influencers who collectively drove 759 Billion video views on social platforms across the web. This compares to 180 Billion total monthly views for media and entertainment organizations, and 24 Billion views for brands. In the influencer economy, it’s not just about mass reach (although top influencers can achieve this), it’s really about engagement. Influencers have an ER30 of 2.1x (Tubular’s metric that benchmarks engagement rate across all online video). Media and Entertainment publishers have an average of 1.3x, and brands 1.2x.
What Makes Influencers So Influential?
What is it about influencers that make them so … well, influential? And how can developing a solid influencer strategy be a valuable resource for brands and publishers alike? Ultimately, it’s authenticity that cuts through the noise in the digital video space, and influencers — more so than any brand or publisher — are able to use this attribute to spur digital engagement and loyalty. People are always more willing to trust a verifiable human than a faceless organization, which is what gives them the kind of power over purchase recommendations that Good Relations identified in its study.
When I worked at YouTube in 2011, it was considered cutting edge for brands to merely upload their TV commercials to YouTube. Today, brands mostly realize that social video is it’s own platform that requires a different type of content creation and having an influencer strategy is little more than table stakes for a successful video content strategy. It’s no longer enough to just produce an ad with an influencer or send out free product to influencers in the hopes of a shout-out. Instead, how do you build from that foundation to create a truly meaningful and unique content…
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