HOMEBlogInfluencer & Celebrity Marketing Expectations for 2017, Part 2

Influencer & Celebrity Marketing Expectations for 2017, Part 2

5 MIN READ

In Part 1 of Influencer and Celebrity Marketing Expectations for 2017, Cynthia Srednicki CEO & COO shared the first five of her influencer marketing expectations for 2017. Gerard T. Rogan, Founder & COO of Dreamweaver Brand Communications joins Cynthia in Part 2 of Influencer and Celebrity Marketing Expectations for 2017 in predicting how the celebrity and social media influencer marketing landscape will roll out in 2017.

In case you missed Part 1, Cynthia Srednicki, CEO & CMO of Dreamweaver laid out why 2017 will be the breakout year for influencer marketing. Those reasons were:

Influencer Marketing is Powerful
It is Sexy
Influencer Marketing is Social
Everyone and Their Brother Is Talking About Influencer and Celebrity Marketing Consumers Are Not Interested in Pain Advertising

It does not need repeating, but social media is part of most people’s everyday lives. According to the Pew Research Center, 72% of adults in the United States visit Facebook at least once a month, needless to say social media is a powerful presence in our daily lives. Brand and businesses leverage social media for a variety of reasons; some to raise brand awareness, others to drive traffic to their site or to sell products. Social media and celebrity influencers are ideal to integrate into to your brand communications marketing strategy to accomplish much more for your brand than just drive website traffic, sell products or improve social media reach and impressions. As we enter 2017, these are our final five predictions for influencer marketing and why your brand or business should consider a brand ambassador, celebrity or social  influencer.

6) Influencer Marketing Helps Your SEO 

In addition to building your brand and driving sales, influencer marketing improves your search engine ranking. User-generated content or UGC account for over 25% of the search results for the world’s leading top 20 brands. The equation is simple. The more people that mention or tag your brand and influencer on social media, the more social signals Google receives, the more relevant and popular you will be on Google.

SEO-INfluencer-Marketing-Benefits.jpg

These UGC statistics from DMN tell a dramatic story about the power of user generated content:

  • 59% of millennials use UGC to inform others of their decision to purchase major electronics
  • 54% of millennials use UGC to tell others about their decision to buy a car
  • 53% of millennials use share UGC about their mobile phone choice
  • 45% of millennials share UGC about their hotel choice and experience
  • 40% of millennials share their hotel and travel plans through UGC

Making a brand’s content more relevant and personal is critical for 2017. Audiences enjoy sharing their UGC-hence the ever rising popularity and use of social media – and savvy marketing agencies understand that. An agile marketing agency like Dreamweaver Brand Communications uses the creativity of the consumers’ UGC and weave it into the brand’s story.

Social media enables you to incorporate your influencer into the stories of your target audiences. Even better, social media amplifies UGC and the consumers’ stories, and the influencer is front and center. 2017 will be the year that current and potential customers become very excited about your brand or services because your brand or services now are organically and authentically part of each person’s social media timeline. 2017 is the time to infuse UGC with a brand influencer into your integrated marketing strategy. Even better, with advanced social media listening services available, your brand can not only monitor but engage with current and potential customers.

7) It is a Form of Native Advertising

In district contrast to traditional advertising or social advertising, which, let’s be honest, interrupts the consumer’s experience, the beauty of native advertising is it places your brand and products within the organic content.  By integrating an influencer, your content becomes a much more powerful marketing solution all the while providing a more authentic and pleasurable experience with your brand. According to AdWeek, Social Times, 70 percent of adult internet users prefer to learn about a brand or product through content versus traditional advertising. Integrating brand influencers into your content not only increases brand awareness, but it also increases purchase intent. According to one study conducted by Dedicated Media, native advertising increases purchasing intent by 53 percent.

8) Influencer Regulations Are Here to Stay 

Since the celebrity and social media influencer industry continues to evolve, the FTC regulations on influencer marketing will naturally evolve. At Dreamweaver Brand Communications, we expect the hype and “excitement” surrounding FTC influencer guidelines to die down in 2017. Influencer and brand ambassadors got unnecessarily worried.

Influencer-FTC-Rules-Regulations.pngIn fact, Gerard T. Rogan of DBC believes “Signs of a growing and healthy industry are additional federal rules and regulations as long as they are no too burdensome.” After all, even marketers are consumers and need protecting. Influencer marketing agencies should view the FTC rules and regulations as a roadmap to success not as an obstacle. Taking a 360-degree view, at Dreamweaver, our influencer marketing specialists put together a simple 3 step roadmap for influencer marketing content for social advertising.

 1) The audience benefits because the influencer content they consumed is enjoyable.
 2) The social media influencer or brand ambassador benefits because they produced fantastic content in conjunction with the marketing agency and brand.
3) The brand benefits because the influencer content is part of an integrated brand communications strategy and plan that meets and exceeds business goals and objectives.

9) Survival of the Fittest: The Social Media Influencer Platforms that Survive and Thrive are the ones that solve brands business challenges

At Dreamweaver Brand Communications, we take pride in matching celebrity influencers and brand ambassadors for over 15 years without the aid of fancy platforms. Our long-standing personal relationships allow us to deal directly with the decision maker and cut through much of the red tape. In 2015 and 2016, we experienced a spike in influencer marketing websites and platforms did not solve the real issue: find the right influencer.

The influencer marketing platforms that survive will solve the influencer marketing agency challenges when working with influencers. Finding influencers is relatively easy, working with them and managing them is the challenging aspect. Platforms that provide ROI, influencer campaign insight and integrated reporting will survive in 2017. However, with the size of the influencer pool steadily growing, personal relationships with influencers and celebrities like Dreamweaver maintains will be invaluable in 2017 and beyond. Campaign management and reporting is the easy part, matching the right influencer, micro-influencer, brand ambassador, or celebrity with the right brand is the tricky part that no algorithm can solve.

10) Brands Will Dominate the Social Media Influencer Networks

Cynthia Srednicki of Dreamweaver Brand Communications expects “a power shift to influencer platforms that provide brands the tools to build from the ground up their unique influencer networks based on buyer persona with built in analytics and simple reporting.” Cynthia goes on to say “It is a no-brainer, marketers understand the brand the best so why shouldn’t they have more control. Influencer marketing technology should not distract or restrict from the brand/influencer relationship but rather enhance it. Brands that use influencer technology to turn influencers into brand advocates will win in 2017.”

Visit Dreamweaver’s Brand Communications Influencer and Celebrity Marketing page to learn more about integrating an influencer into your integrated marketing plan.

5 Qualities To Look For In A Brand Ambassador
By Cynthia Srednicki
| 5 MIN READ
The Ultimate Guide to Influencer Marketing Campaigns
By Cynthia Srednicki
| 4 MIN READ
How Influencer Marketing and Google AdWords Can Work Together
By Cynthia Srednicki
| 2 MIN READ

© 2019 Dreamweaver Brand Communications, LLC