6 years ago Jenny left the world of media and publishing to create the influencer marketing insights platform that the brilliant, big, fashion brands she was working with needed. Wearisma is now a key part of the influencer marketing activity of brands as diverse as New Look, Ann Summers, Made.com, Michael Kors, Clarins and Hermes. Working with such a variety of brands means Jenny and her team are at the cutting edge of how Influencer Marketing is evolving.
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Getting Started
Seeing that social media was transforming the way brands engage with consumers Jenny founded Wearisma in 2015.
When she started the company, she was unsure of how influencer marketing was taking shape. Wearisma’s first product was an affiliate app that helped brands through influencer recommendations. They eventually added more functionality to help brands gain better insight into this type of marketing.
Finding The Right Influencers For Your Brand
It used to be that marketers looked at influencer marketing as just finding someone you know on social media, bringing them on board, and getting them to talk about your brand. But as the number of influencers have significantly grown, it has become harder to pick out who to tap for your influencer campaign.
What you want to do first is identify what your brand stands for and the purpose of your communication. Then you can look for people who are already supporters of your brand, and people who are active in your space.
Next, consider the performance of your influencers and their level of engagement. Lastly, find out if they have audiences that are relevant to you.
About Tokenistic Marketing
This refers to picking out influencers because of their profiles and not partnering with those who are part of communities your brand claims to support.
The importance of having influencers who fit your brand the right way is showing your audience that you’re marketing in a more deliberate and thoughtful way, and having someone who has the same vision as you. This will have a great impact on your brand and provide better results.
The Right Number Of Influencers
Jenny says it’s all about building a community of people who genuinely like your brand and your product enough to talk about it.
So you can work with any number in the beginning and trim it down but what’s important is having a continuous engagement, building community, and maximizing brand advocacy.
Insider Tips
If we’ve inspired someone to take their first step with influencer marketing – what do they need to know to give themselves the best chance of success?
Jenny goes back to her 3 criteria and recommends that you look at:
- The influencer’s brand fit
- If the influencer talks about your brand or the topics relevant to your brand
- Whether the influencer has the right audience
Once you’ve started of course you’ve got to ‘keep optimising’! So what’s your favourite way to improve influencer marketing performance?
Jenny says that for influencer marketing, like any other marketing channel, you have to measure, measure, measure.
Look at your KPIs, your metrics, and then figure out where you can improve.
If someone listening wants to learn more about influencer marketing is there one cheap/free resource you’d recommend?
Go to Wearisma’s website to access free tools which show you the benchmarks of engagement rates.
They also have a brand advocacy report that has useful information on how to create advocacy and build communities, plus videos to help you create a community.
Crystal ball time – what’s coming up in the next 6-12 months that we should be getting ready for in influencer marketing?
Brand advocacy and driving maximum volume of positive advocacy for your brand will be the focus for influencer marketing.
Don’t forget to engage both with your customers and influencers, because they’re critical to generating positive brand advocates for you and your brand.
Interview Links
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