Your Weekly Influencer Marketing Update 🚀
18.01.2021
☀️ Happy Monday! ☀️
Likes, shares, comments: don’t be misled by past engagement rates
A fantastic follow-up from our newsletter last week where we discussed the topic of engagement rates and the industry’s over-reliance on the metric.
According to the article, there is no standard formula to determine engagement rate; the most common method is to calculate the average number of audience interactions and divide it by the number of followers x 100.
Slapping a number on the “ideal engagement rate” however is not easy; a study by Rival IQ found that the average engagement rate across all industries (and we can only assume all tiers/platforms?) is 1.22% (FYI; this Rival IQ report was released in March 2020).
According to the article,engagement rates are not broken down by types of posts (a specific category or sponsored/organic content) and the combination of organic and sponsored content across a range of different topics makes future performance a guessing game at best. This means that rejecting potential “influencer partners” based on historic engagement rates could translate to a bad business choice.
The ability to put paid media spend behind influencer content means that you’re able to put content in front of a very specific audience, and is yet another reason why historic engagement rates may not show a full and clear picture.
If you’ve set a 3% engagement threshold and you’re in talks with someone who consistently delivers 2.8% - look at audience match, personality, style, value, aesthetic, and diversity. Above all, campaigns should be built around meaningful content in order to reach cumulative engagement goals.
💡 Our Opinion
A great opinion piece, and one that we can fully get behind. Context is so extremely important when it comes to influencer marketing. We outlined this thoroughly in this piece that was published last year. Things to review in combination with engagement rates:
✔ Audience gender, age, and location.
✔ Keyword metrics.
✔ Average total/absolute engagements.
✔ Sponsored/organic post ratio.
My advice to everyone in influencer marketing (both brand/agency/talent agencies) is to review metrics and actually use these data points when discussing long-term partnerships and pricing - in order to provide the industry with more stability and clarity. When discussing partnerships - the conversation has to transcend payment - expected (engagement) outcomes should be clearly discussed.
🏭 Industry Headlines
Mayoral hopeful Andrew Yang says NYC should have TikTok 'hype houses'
“NYC is the creative capital of the world and if we want it to stay that way we need to engage young New Yorkers," he said in a statement. "The simple fact is the arts, entertainment and tourism industries are going through a brutal depression right now and there’s no idea too big or too small. Silly as it sounds to some, TikTok is a massive social media and creative outlet for millions. Why wouldn’t we try to create news spaces to foster that kind of tool? Undercounting young people’s role in our City’s economic and artistic recovery would be a massive mistake."
'We have the most engaged and passionate audience': One Esports on building a gaming community
“Since launching in late 2019, One Esports has invested heavily in an esports media platform, with its team and business designed to champion esports, its athletes, and its fans in South East Asia.
To win the hearts and minds of the esports community, the platform aims to offer an integrated experience comprising events, esports coverage on oneesports.gg, engagement on social media, and long-form and streaming content.”
Modern Customers Want Brand Communities, No More Advertising
“The wise combination of brand community marketing and influencer marketing is the explosive mixture for customer engagement and loyalty, resulting in higher conversion and customer retention rates. What converts today is the authentic human connection, and influencer marketing incorporated into the brand community provides it. An excellent example is a video by Vince Lia, the owner of White Castle (a regional hamburger restaurant chain), featuring the feedback of the famous social media influencer Casey Neistat.”
What happens when a major beauty influencer supports the Capitol mob
“Given the larger context of the current U.S. political landscape, and especially following the events of January 6, brands need to be extremely careful about who they associate with,” said Mary Keane-Dawson, the CEO at influencer agency Takumi. She said that, given her recent comments, Ensing is “an unsavory candidate for any brand partnership.”
'Hard graft': UK influencers scramble to justify exotic getaways in pandemic
“The influencers themselves, meanwhile, were not keen to expand on their social media statements. Of the 23 contacted by the Guardian only Crossley’s agency provided a statement on her behalf. Twenty-one did not respond, while Danyluk’s agent asked if the influencer would receive a fee.”
UK Government Paid Influencers £63,000 To Promote NHS Test And Trace App
“As part of the wider communications strategy for raising essential awareness of the NHS Test and Trace service and the importance of testing for Covid-19, we have been working with key micro and macro influencers to reach young adults in a channel they regularly engage with, as we also use traditional marketing and advertorials to reach adults via print, radio and TV advertising.”
Why Adidas treats esports deals like media partnerships, not sponsorship deals
“While G2 is currently known as a team of professional gamers, it wants to become a media business focused on video games. So rather than only funding the gear the team wears, Adidas could do the same for the content around it. From podcasts to reality TV shows, original shows to lifestyle content, G2 plans to be more like Disney than Real Madrid F.C, said Carlos Rodriguez, CEO of G2 Esports. “
How User-Generated Content Made Vaccine PSAs That Much Better
“Mischief sifted through real scenes the agency found on social channels and other outlets and obtained approval from the creators. ‘We tried to pick a wide variety—the joyous moments like someone having a baby, or the spontaneous, which is what the hug was about. We just wanted to capture the emotion and raw energy.”