ICYMI: Influencer Marketing, Twitter Event Targeting, Social Media Branding and More Articles

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Influencer marketing was a big topic this week that received a lot of engagement. The gamut ranged from how to create an influencer marketing strategy to how to communicate your ideas to this audience. Plus additional tips, tricks and tools you can immediately implement into your social media marketing.

To read the full story, click the headline of each article.

Learn How to Create a More Effective Influencer Marketing Strategy
By Ashley Zeckman
TopRank Marketing Blog

“Who is more influential to you than the people closest that you respect and trust?” – Lee Odden

In the time that I’ve been at TopRank Marketing, I’ve had the opportunity to witness first-hand how influencer marketing can be an incredibly powerful way to build credibility for a brand, and create connections with the right people.

I remember that one of my first experiences with influencer marketing was an interview that I did with Avinash Kaushik (that was of course facilitated by Lee Odden). I was overwhelmed by how humble and happy he was to collaborate with me. Why? Because Lee and the team at TopRank Marketing had found ways to feature him previously and begin building that relationship.

Today, it has become much more difficult to capture and hold the attention of many in-demand influencers. Many companies are unsure of how exactly to effectively identify, qualify and recruit influencers into their digital marketing strategy.

Last week, TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden presented to a packed room at Social Media Marketing World with the intent of enlightening, inspiring and instructing marketers on how to effectively add influencers to their digital marketing programs. Below are what I would consider to be some of the top takeaways from this information packed presentation.

How to Get Your Ideas to Spread with Influencer Marketing
By Ash Read
Buffer

When 50 fashion influencers on Instagram posted a picture of themselves in the same Lord & Taylor dress, it sent out signals that this dress was a must have fashion piece. The following weekend the dress was completely sold out.
lord-taylor

This Lord & Taylor campaign is a perfect example of the power of influencer marketing.

65% of brands now run influencer campaigns and according to an infographic by The Shelf, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from other people—even if they don’t know them personally—over promotional content that comes directly from brands.

We’re more likely to buy a product if it’s recommended by a friend than pushed at us by an advert and an eMarketer study found that advertisers who implemented an influencer marketing campaign earned $6.85 in media value on average for every $1 they spent on paid media for influencer programs.

Influencer marketing opens up endless opportunities for brands to amplify their content, connect with consumers and build relationships more organically, and more directly.

But how do you get started with influencer marketing? What makes an influencer? And how can you build relationships with influencers?

In this post, I’d love to give you the lowdown on influencer marketing and some actionable tips to help you find the best influencers for your business.

How to Use Twitter Event Targeting for Business
By John Unger
SocialQuant

Does your business have special sales or events that go hand-in-hand with holidays or other occasions?

Do you offer products and/or services with a higher demand during particular seasons?
If so, Twitter event targeting will make great addition your social media marketing toolbox!

Using event targeting gives you access to a hyper targeted audience by positioning your ads around trending topics.

Read on to learn how to use these Twitter trends to benefit your brand:
What is Twitter Event Targeting?

Event targeting lets you create marketing campaigns around trending topics on Twitter. Piggy backing on what people are already talking about is an effective method to get your brand’s message heard.

You may have already done this to some extent on your own. You might use trending hashtags, or write your content based on trending keywords.

Event targeting is an easy way to scale those methods and reach a wider audience with less effort.

On Branding: How a Digital Agency Goes Start-to-Finish with a Social Media Branding Strategy
By Kevan Lee
Buffer

Imagine having a way to control how you’re presented online, a way to identify yourself or your company and differentiate yourself from others.

Sounds a bit like social media, right? Sounds a bit like branding.

The two go hand-in-hand. Branding happens on social media, and social media is an outlet for the voice of your brand. Many people have found success with personal branding and company positioning online, and agencies have come along to help people with both.

One of these agencies, Januel + Johnson, was kind enough to let us peek inside the way they run social media for their digital agency and how an emphasis on branding extends to the very root of all the content, scheduling, and engagement they provide with Buffer. Get the specifics on how J + J find success for their clients with a 360-degree brand strategy, with social media and Buffer at the heart.

16 Writing Tools for Social Media Marketers
By Robert Morris
Social Media Examiner

Do you create copy for social media posts?

Do you want some tools to help you improve the quality of your posts?

Whether you work on your own or with a team, there are tools that make it more likely your social media posts will publish without errors and with correct word counts.

In this article you’ll discover 16 writing tools for social media marketers.