So you want me to talk about

your brand?

Nobody knows :-PMichael Paredrakos @mpared

Managing Director

Who am I?

and I’ m here to talk to you from an influencers point of view!

If you are an influencer …how come

we still don’t know you??

Well, you might know my “little blog”! It is called ….

and for some strange reason ,that still eludes me, it became huge!It has been online since 2009

It has made it on the list of :

Blogrank :Top 25 in the world for Trends, Advertising, Music, Animation

Brand Republic’sThe BR 200 : The web’s most influential bloggers

Used to be an Adage Power blog 150 ( top 50)

Plannersphere: Best Strategy blog in the world

It is featured in Alltop

Content from

The Curious Brain was reposted in even more huge sites than mine

Mashable

Buzzfeed

Swiss Miss

Huffingtonpost

boredpandaigmurredditlaughingsquidthisiscolossalitsnicethatthisisnthappinessbrainpickings

Mega artists like Róisín Murphy, Ellie Goulding, j.viewz, etc have also shared its content online

Nowadays you can even see me sharing my content live on tv at “L’Oeil de Links” of canal+ in France

So a few brands/music labels/ agencies and artists out there believe that my little blog has a major influence online that can help them

spread their message/ art/ music to a wider audience..

and so I get more than a few emails everyday

But why brands want to use influencers like me ?

Influencers (not that I’m biased) are how in the the future most brands will spread their messages.

No one looks at banner ads anymore.

And more importantly...200 MMMMillion people are using ad blockers and this is expected to increase in the future

In Greece adblock penetration now is almost 40% Source : https://blog.pagefair.com/2015/ad-blocking-report/

Food/Drinks$11.11/$1

Retail/Apparel$10.48 /$1 Travel

$7.04/$1

With certain categories performing even better!

$1.00Spend on Influencers $6,85

In return

=

More over according to recent studies influencers yields killer returns for your brand!

Source: http://www.theshelf.com/the-blog/holiday-marketing-2015-infographic

Bloggers like me influence purchases. Blogs outrank social networks for consumer influence

Source: socialmediaexaminer.com

According to data from a research study conducted by Research Now:

Nearly nine in 10 consumers (84%) make purchases after reading about a product or service on a blog.

Among consumers between the ages of 18-34, blogs ranked as the most important source of information

to make buying decisions.

Among consumers between the ages of 35-54, blogs ranked as the second most important source

behind friends, family, and colleagues

Source: http://www.corporate-eye.com/

But let’s see how I decide whether I will share something positive about your brand in my blog and across my social media online.

3 Tell you pr team/ agency not to send them an email with subject “ For Immediate Release” they usually go straight in my spam folder

The following might be

pretty basic

1. Make sure that you initially contact an influencer in a language that he or she understands

2. Don’t send them a generic email directed to all the bloggers out there. Make your email personal and make sure that you know his name and what his/

her blog is about

4. If you are a brand or an agency don’t expect that an influencer will share your content for free just because it is very “creative”

Are they any definite ways

for an influencer to share your content?

1. They most obvious ways is to Include them on your media budget ( people with influence are very protective about their audience they usually only share something branded if there is a payment or free products involved)

3. Give them a world wide premiere or provide them with very unique content to share

4. Include them if you can in your creative process. Respect their rules! They know what works and what does not work for their audience. Let them tell authentic stories

5. Don’t ask for how much a post costs! Let them know your needs and your budget. This usually works in your advantage and you get more free posts and social mentions in return

2. If you can't offer to them money offer to them a unique experience, a trip, a chance to mingle with other bloggers

But the most important way to get an influencer to share your content is to have more personal relationship with him/ her

Don’t forget they are humans too! Go out for a cup of coffee or drinks.

Show them that you think of them as you publishing partners

How to choose an influencer that is perfect

for your brand?

There are 6 crucial things to always consider

Traffic

The easiest metric to rely on is blog traffic. If an influencer has a lot of daily visitors, then you can pretty much

guarantee a certain amount of impressions.

But have you learned anything from banner ads? Impressions don’t necessarily mean

engagement or conversion.

Social networks

It’s possible for an influencer to have a low or mediocre blog following, but have a huge social media reach.

Total Reach

You must consider the big picture. Start by figuring out your influencers’ blog traffic .Then move on to every single social

platform that the influencer is using.

Either combine total fans or ask the influencer for more specific data about his or her reach.

Here’s the most crucial things to consider4

Engagement

Influence is not just about numbers. An influencer can have high reach but also a high bounce rate.

Are people commenting, liking, retweeting and sharing?

Fan demographic

Start with your own demographic data — what age groups, location

etc make up your biggest customer segments? FInd influencers that have an audience that likely falls in those

specific targets you want. Make sure that those two audiences align

ContentThe number-one most critical thing to consider when choosing

influencers is whether or not the influencer’s content, interests and voice matches the interests and goals of your brand.

Whoever you choose to partner with will be an extension of your brand. Make sure that you search

what your influencer shared in the past

Choosing an influencer with great content

is essential.

https://tweetreach.com/

https://klout.com/

http://www.alexa.comhttp://alltop.com/

http://www.socialmention.com/

http://www.blogmetrics.org/

https://moz.com/followerwonk

There are also some free online toolsto determine the power of your influencers

http://buzzsumo.com/

1.When you want to extend your reach and build a large audience especially in a new social media channel

2. When you want to associate your brand with a certain topic authority.

3. When you want to have high impact in your advertising campaigns

Since influencers already have big audiences and they’re trusted by their followers, the

content they create about your brand can have higher impact and potentially greater reach and WOM than your mainstream traditional approaches

Source: http://www.tapinfluence.com/

When to use an influencer like me?

But are Influencers

really your brands advocates?

Influencers are not your brands advocates!Usually they show zero brand loyalty .

Unless they are some incentives involved…they will never speak about your brand

The answer is probably

Brand advocates aren’t paid to talk or discuss, they do it with their own free will,

because the love your brand and to most people that feels more real and trusted

In my view a brand advocate is created through a combination of high customer satisfaction and trust

and not so much through your advertising efforts

+ =

It has to do more with your brand values, your company ethos and how you treat your customers. These are the things that build trust. Trust has to be continually earned but it creates happy customer.

And a happy customer is a customer who will tell others about your company

So ask yourself do your customers trust you? Can they depend on you to deliver on your brand/ advertising/ product claims & promises?

If not you will never grow the base of your advocates!

Since trust in traditional advertising is eroding especially

across Europe , brand advocates are no longer

a ‘nice to have’, they are a ‘must have”

for most brands out there

Passionate brand advocates can be powerful allies

for your brand but you must understand

how to create them or engage with them!

Give them some extra incentives to make repeat

purchases

Offer exclusive previews of products

to make them feel ‘in the know’of ‘first to try .You can even

co -create with them

Empower your employees to go above and beyond

to exceed customer expectations

Focus on WOWing the customer with amazing

branded experiences and random acts of kindness

Publicly recognise and thank them.

Focus on delighting and pleasing

customer’s right from first point of contact

with your brand.

Be honest, accountable and operate ethically

We live in transparent times.

In my humble view you can do this by making them feel valued and by making them feel part

of your brand

When to use brand advocates?

2. When your strategy is to prioritise one-to-one referrals over reaching lots of people.

Advocates have smaller reach but their influence on their own small networks is stronger and more personalised 3. When you want to keep expenses low .

Advocates may not expect compensation, but will probably be pleasantly surprised, and become even more engaged with your company, if you reward them in a meaningful way.

http://www.tapinfluence.com/

1.When your strategy is to build long-term positive word of mouth.

Brand advocates will continue to talk about your brand – even outside of marketing campaigns but you need to provide them with high customer satisfaction and trust. That means continuing investment on creating positive experiences with your brand/ product/service

So ending the difference between influencers and brand advocates:

Advocates are long-term brand followers, they don’t need to be incentivised so much, they have genuine passion for your brand but you need to give them reasons to talk to amplify your message

Influencers need incentives and have zero loyalty

So when thinking about who to use to spread the word about your brand, make sure to understand the differences!

Thank you :-) Stay Curious

http://www.avakon.com/http://thecuriousbrain.com/