For our third week of Influencer Month, Mosh showcases how it’s using micro and macro influencers to grow engagement for its brands across social media.
“When we created Mosh Social Media ten years ago, influencing was all about having a brand presence on social media – a new space for your brand to stand out. Fast forward to 2019, and the term ‘influencer’ is an established, ever-growing online movement, a strategic step up the social ladder, and proven brand-building success. Wondering if the buzz is all it’s cracked up to be? Our experience connecting our clients to relevant, authentic content creators has been hugely beneficial to growing a dedicated online community of engaged followers, as well as creating a return on investment.
Connecting with Your Community
In the beginning, we really took the time to experiment with all different kinds of influencer marketing, from micro to macro. Initially we delved into the macro community – influencers who had a considerably large following. We carried out a committed search for influencers who not only had a respectable following but were also receiving engagement on their posts. Engagement rate is a key metric for measuring successful content for us because it’s not just about high figures which have no significance – it’s about reaching the right people and recording how many of those engage with our content.
Before sending out gifts, the process involved sourcing influencers, directly contacting them, requesting their media pack and creating an influencer agreement for our clients, so we could arrange quantity of posts and any other terms. For us, working with macro-influencers can often be a contract led relationship – sourcing someone with a large and engaged following, establishing a plan that works for both the client and the influencer, but also finding that perfect fit for the brand. Connecting with someone that can align to your brand’s ethos is at the core of the search.
We saw great results from this, in particular with beauty brand Only Good. Following the launch of a new product, we collaborated with big names such as Mandy Duncan, Laura Snelling, and Hannah Barrett who would create posts and stories for their followers. The success was all in the numbers – just one of Hannah’s stories would reach 20,000 people in less than 24 hours. It’s not just the reach that is impactful here, it’s being able to reach such a high volume of people in a short space of time that really supports the interest in the influencer realm – not many other avenues would allow such an active brand presence in a consumer’s world, as this does.
A Shift to Micro
Working with macro-influencers is awesome, but over time, we also started to delve into the micro-influencer space and the results were even better! Depending on your objectives, micro-influencers are ideal for dominating a market with a niche – whether that be a food or beauty brand, when an influencer is completely dedicated to that domain, it really is a savvy social partnership.
We found the benefit of using micro-influencers can not only be more cost-effective for our clients, but we were also discovering an underground community of content creators. The results being, you get to work with people who are passionate about your brand – they are also driven to share heaps of content out of a pure connection with your company, rather than because of any formal request. And they’re super flexible! Not only is this great for a brand because you have polished user-generated content on your page, but it also creates brand credibility and a real representation of your brand. You’re breaking down any barriers that previously may have existed between a consumer and brand and bringing that level of communication closer.
We have found this to be most successful with brands such as Only Good through the launch of a new product or when you’re launching a brand’s social media presence for the very first time – a key strategy for Cinderella. A baking brand with a huge history in New Zealand but no online presence. Put together a social media strategy that includes launching all future products online and do mass send-outs to Instagram’s biggest foodies and you have a food community invested in being the first to try, buy and post about it.
Looking to the Future
So, what’s the end goal? We’ve found that connecting with influencers not only drives a spike in traffic to your online following, as well as a return on investment, but we’re also seeing a new generation evolve. Those who were once followers and fans of a brand’s page are now coming forward and creating their own sharable content – a new line of influencers excited and interested about engaging with brands and establishing themselves as the future generation of influential content creators.”
This story is part of a StopPress series examining influencer Marketing. To read more on Influencer Marketing, click here.
