Influencers Have the Power to Make Brands Matter in Culture

If you were to ask a group of U.S. teenagers who their favorite celebrities are, you’d be surprised, especially if you work for a brand who’s looking to stay relevant in the eyes of these teens. You wouldn’t hear the names of big box office celebs such as Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie. Instead, you’d  hear names such as Michelle Phan, Bethany Mota, and PewDiePie. (Ault, 2014). This is important for all brands trying to speak the same language that teenagers do because social influencers, and particularly word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing generates more than twice the sales of paid advertising, and have a 37% higher retention rate on their consumers (Wong, 2014). Brands who want to stay in the conversation online between consumers and social media influencers need to find ways to partner with influencers in an organic an exciting way.

For example, influencers who reach out to their followers and engage with them, ask for feedback, recommendations on what to eat, what they’d like to see them talk about in their next video, those influencers will be able to influence their audience in ways brands can’t do on their own. Shawn McBride, a SnapChat influencers with 350k followers, produces engaging content on the platform and creates opportunities for authentic brand integrations into his snaps by “just being himself,” which is what brands should want when they partner with an influencer (Bergen, 2014).

But just because an influencer has x amount of followers doesn’t automatically mean that they will help you and your brand with its objective. A way to understand if an influencer can help your brand is though the following lens: Influence = Audience Reach (# of followers) x Brand Affinity (expertise and credibility) x Strength of Relationship with Followers (Wong, 2014). Ultimately, the influencer partnering with the brand has to have credibility with and a strong connection with its fan base in order for the partnership to work and feel authentic.

Social media influencers aren’t just big online. Media dollars from companies such as YouTube are investing in their talent by using traditional media to help creating awareness of their stars offline

So the next time you think about how to create a partnerships that will have reach and hit the teen demographic, influencers should be the first option you go with.

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