Influencer Marketing News and Tips

Give Influencer Content Programs a Promotional Edge with Digital Advertising

Steve Slater Content Marketing, Digital Advertising, Influencer Marketing

It happens almost every single time. I’m finally settling in to stream a few episodes before I go to bed for the day. I fire up the old Netflix machine and there it is… options… lots of them.

There are shows I’ve seen before that I might want to watch again. Genres that I’m interested in. Highly rated shows. Maybe I watch one of those trending shows that everyone is talking about? I mean I’ve never seen that Making a Murderer show… did I miss out on that one? My mind continues to jump around with the unlimited options in front of me.

When you have virtually unlimited options in front of you it’s almost impossible to make a choice. This is probably why I’ve watched the American version of the Office about one million times (either that or it’s a really good show).

Give Influencer Content Programs a Promotional Edge with Digital Advertising

Lee Odden Shares How to Supercharge Your Content with Influencer Marketing

Elizabeth Williams Digital Summit, Influencer Marketing

Sitting across the aisle from a renowned digital marketing strategist and speaker on a daily basis has tendency to allow you to take for granted the knowledge stockpile that is just a few feet away. Tuesday was a good reminder of that.

When Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Marketing, promised the crowd at the 2017 Digital Summit Minneapolis 45 minutes of content in his 25-minute closing keynote, he was not joking.

Eloquently arranged into this 25-minute time frame, Odden opened eyes of marketers to the still-in-it’s-infancy-field of influencer marketing, and how influence can literally supercharge marketing programs. But, don’t take the summary from just me, his desk neighbor. Audience members let me wrangle them on the way into post-conference happy hour to share their favorite parts of the presentation too.

Lee Odden Shares How to Supercharge Your Content with Influencer Marketing

25 Influencer Marketing Platforms & Marketplaces

Emily Hinderaker Influencer Marketing, Online Marketing

Marketers around the world are searching for ways to better connect with their audiences and it’s become very clear that consumers place more trust in consumers than brands. That means, the true power lies with the customer, which means many brands have had to adapt their marketing strategies to create better experiences for their audience.

One way to do so is by incorporating influencer driven content into the digital marketing mix.

For B2C brands, incorporating influencers is already a well-established practice. But for B2B brands, the concept is much newer. In a recent report that we developed with Altimeter Group and Traackr, we found that only 11% of B2B companies are running an ongoing influencer marketing program, yet 80% of these marketers rate content marketing most impacted by influencer marketing.

25 Influencer Marketing Platforms & Marketplaces

Declare Independence from B2B Influencer Marketing Blunders: 5 Tips for Success

Emily Hinderaker Influencer Marketing

Today marks the birth of American independence. While it took collaboration, respect and strategic thinking to persuade Continental Congress to formally adopt the Declaration of Independence 241 years ago, the impact and importance will forever be remembered throughout history. This is a lot like influencer marketing (although, Congress will not be involved).

Just like the Declaration of Independence, it has taken a long time and a lot of work (on the part of marketers and journalists) to get influencer marketing where it is today. In a recent report conducted by Traackr, Altimeter Group and TopRank Marketing, data shows that only 15% of B2B brands are running ongoing influencer programs, which opens up huge opportunities for the future of B2B brands and influencer marketing.

Declare Independence from B2B Influencer Marketing Blunders: 5 Tips for Success

The Secret to Creating Scalable, Quality Content and Better CX – Infographic

Lee Odden Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Content Experience Influence

A woman walks into a retail store and looks around, not finding what she’s there for. She approaches a sales associate and asks, “Excuse me, can you show me where the top of the funnel is? I need to be confronted by every touchpoint of your predetermined sales process before I can purchase something”.

Not one of your customers is doing this.

So why do brands continue to drive content marketing programs based on a linear, sequential buying journey? With so many consumers numb to brand messaging and increasingly blocking advertising, how can marketers do a better job of connecting with and engaging customers with content?

The Secret to Creating Scalable, Quality Content and Better CX – Infographic

5 Essential Insights on Influence and the Future of Customer Engagement

Lee Odden Influencer Marketing

Future Marketing Influential

When planning for 2017 and into 2018, many marketers have placed a high priority on customer experience and the content that helps make the best customer engagement happen.

At the same time, companies are challenged to create a variety of engaging content on a consistent basis coupled by the fact that consumers are less trusting of brand communications and advertising.

There are many suggested solutions to the challenges of creating consistent, high quality experiences for customers that range from integrated technology platforms to cognitive marketing applications incorporating big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning. This is one of the key roles that a savvy agency can play for brands: to help develop a digital marketing strategy and corresponding technologies needed.

5 Essential Insights on Influence and the Future of Customer Engagement

Squashing the Influencer Marketing Buzz(words): What You Really Need to Know

Ashley Zeckman Influencer Marketing

On Google, there are more than 14 million results for the phrase “influencer marketing”. And within those result, most of what you’ll find are “What is Influencer Marketing?” posts (P.S. you can find one from us here). But the problem is that most of these posts have a different variation of what influencer marketing is, who needs it and what you should do. Talk about confusing!

Some of the types of definitions you’ll find include:

Using influencers to spread your message on your behalf.
A form of marketing that focuses on specific individuals.
Promoting services through influencers that can have an effect.
Incorporating influencers with a large social reach into marketing.

Squashing the Influencer Marketing Buzz(words): What You Really Need to Know

20 Inspiring & Actionable Influencer Marketing Tips for The Modern Marketer

Ashley Zeckman Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing

The heat is on for marketers to incorporate influencers into their marketing strategy. The problem is, the sheer amount of bad advice about influencer marketing can make it difficult to separate the good from the bad.

While the pursuit for influencer marketing success doesn’t appear to be slowing down, many marketers are unsure which direction to go. In fact, the new Influence 2.0 report that we developed in partnership with Altimeter Group and Traackr, 48% of marketers are still experimenting with incorporating influencers into their marketing.

The way that different organizations define influencer marketing vary greatly. However, TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden describes influencer marketing as:

“Developing relationships with internal and industry experts with active networks, to co-create content that helps drive measurable business goals.”

20 Inspiring & Actionable Influencer Marketing Tips for The Modern Marketer

Behind the Marketing Curtain: An Interview with Influencer Marketing Wiz Amisha Gandhi, SAP

Caitlin Burgess Influencer Marketing, Interviews

From emerging social media channels to the rise of artificial intelligence, the exciting cyclone of change often drops us marketers into unfamiliar territory—and we have to find our way home.

Thankfully, the marketing industry is flush with talented marketers leading the way, and we often look to them for tactical insights to navigate the winding road and avoid fields of deceiving poppies. However, in our thirst more knowledge, we often don’t get to see who these leaders are in full living color.

To bridge the gap between person and marketer, we’re kicking off an exciting new “Behind the Curtain” interview series—which, if you haven’t guessed, is inspired by Dorothy Gale and the classic film, The Wizard of Oz.

Behind the Marketing Curtain: An Interview with Influencer Marketing Wiz Amisha Gandhi, SAP

Supercharge Your Marketing at Digital Summit Los Angeles #DSLA

Lee Odden Influencer Marketing, Marketing PR Conferences

Coming off the supercharged sun, surf and sand themed social media extravaganza of SMMW17 in San Diego last week, I am now literally sitting on a beach.

Here on the West coast of Costa Rica, with the waves crashing, birds singing their songs in the trees and the distant sounds of kids laughing as they play in the sand, it’s a great time to reflect and look forward.

Before I completely check out of the digital world for the week, except for an occasional photo on Instagram of course, I wanted to share some of the things I’m looking forward to most at my next conference April 4-5: Digital Summit Los Angeles.

Supercharge Your Marketing at Digital Summit Los Angeles #DSLA