Do Influencers #AD's actually work?

Personally, I find it really difficult to write about things I don't have an opinion on. This week I think people expected me to talk about the clearing campaign photography we've had done, but honestly... I don't have anything groundbreaking to say about it. Yes it was busy and slightly chaotic, but the experience was great and the photos are looking amazing, and exactly what we'll need to pull off our new idea. So what more is there to say? Job done. I will treat you to a couple of BTS shots though, just so you feel included in the mayhem...

What I wanted to talk about instead is something that us 'marketeers' hear about a lot... and that's digital influencers. Basically, asking people who have a lot of followers in the digital space to promote your products/services to their audiences. While we've been choosing the inventory for our clearing campaign, social influencers has been a topic of conversation, and today I wanted to look into it in a bit more detail. 

1) Is it actually effective?

If you look at the stats, yes it works. A lot of media agencies will tell you it's the only truly effective way to market to students or Gen Z nowadays. In fact, Activate by Bloglovin's research has found that 67% of marketers think influencer marketing campaigns helped them reach a more targeted audience, which leads to better overall results. And why wouldn't it? To the younger audience it's essentially like being recommended a product or service from a friend, and what could be more convincing than that? 

2) When DOES it work?

Let me preface this with... I watch a lot of YouTube. And I've seen my fair share of influencer ads. From personal experience (and I imagine it to be the same amongst some), sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. The best brand work I've seen through digital creators has definitely always been the longer campaigns. If I see a creator post one #ad for a brand and then never speak about them again, I'm not believing a word they're saying. But when influencers and brands have lasting relationships it has more value to the audience. Plus it's got to be a partnership that makes sense. (I cannot emphasise this enough). 

For example: Liza Koshy works out everyday, and posts Instagram stories/Snapchats about it regularly. Liza Koshy also happens to have 15 million subscribers and 15.6 million Instagram followers. So Nike approached her. Makes sense, right? A match made in heaven. And then this happened. 20 MILLION VIEWS?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? I actually enjoyed sitting through what was essentially 8 minutes of advertising! As well as that, she created her own pair of shoes with Nike, plus they got her to host a whole bunch of panel events with athletes - both of which built value and trust with her audience. But credit where credit due, the advert only worked because it was still 100% Liza. Full of puns, double entendre, physical comedy, and most importantly... complete transparency. 

3) When does it NOT work?

When influencers promote something that you wouldn't associate them with. Or when it's forced, sounds rehearsed, or when the creator hasn't been organic. Just today I saw a vlogger promoting the DVD release of Maze Runner: The Death Cure on his channel and on Instagram. But I never saw him go and see the film in the first place, plus I've been watching him for a year and I've never even seen him set foot in a movie theatre, so why am I going to trust him to recommend me this? So fake! Yeah I watch YouTube, but I'm not dumb. (Wait, was that an oxymoron?). 

Wrong partnerships are the curse of the digital space. It would be like us asking a creator who attends another university to make a sponsored video about us. Who on earth is going to believe that? Getting your target audience to listen doesn't work if you don't have the right thing to say. 

So there you have it. A little insight into how I think marketing with digital influencers works and how it doesn't. Something for us definitely to think about, as it seems that's where a lot of marketing is headed in the future. If you have any thoughts then let me know, YouTube is easily one of my favourite topics of conversation! 

Until next time. Over and out. 

What on Earth am I doing?

In short: a lot! You know how I mentioned in my last post that coffee was an important part of my job? I’ve had the caffeine shakes non-stop for about a week now. To avoid this looking like the ramblings of a very busy marketing assistant, I will divide it up into neat sections.

Videos

I have produced a lot of videos since I last blogged. When a department comes to me and asks what they could be doing to market their department better, I will normally suggest that they do a video. Kids these days (I feel like at 23 I can now say this, plus, as the Brownies I volunteer with keep pointing out, I will be a quarter of a century old next year) are all about content. I know when I was applying to universities, I barely read anything on the website (sorry whoever has Angela’s role at the University of Leeds - I know how much work goes into writing for the web!). Here’s a by no means comprehensive list…

Life Sciences: Fancy dressing up like those people on CSI and dusting for fingerprints? Then check out the Forensics facilities video and apply to the course.

Computer Science: The Computer Science andTechnology students showcased their final year projects. There was everything from virtual reality computer games to robotic arms controlled by the movements of a human’s and I was there to capture the action. There’s some great research going on in the department!

Dance and Professional Practice: The very talented dance students were kind enough to let me film some of their rehearsals and edit it together with some interviews that they did for me. They had nothing but praise for both the course and the lecturers. I had Sia's Chandelier in my head for about a week afterwards.

Sport: I have edited together some footage that the IT department filmed before I arrived here to create a talking heads video. Again, there is some fascinating research going on in the department, not to mention a lot of very fancy equipment. Fancy going in a Bod Pod anyone?

All of these videos are on, or will be on, the University of Bedfordshire's YouTube channel.

UCAS

Everything has been go go go for the UCAS convention that we are having here in June. I have been organizing some leaflets and business cards for some of my departments including English Language and Communication, Teacher Education, Education Studies, Sport, Computer Science and Technology, and English.

Making Friends

This is probably my favourite part of my job. I get to meet so many people and I have finally got to meet all of my departments. I have worked quite a bit with Life Sciences in the last few weeks as well as Performing Arts and English. Most recently I have done some filming with the Sport department and will be filming some more of their labs after I get back from New York. I finally don’t get the ‘she doesn’t even go here’ (Mean Girls reference!) feeling when I go over to the Bedford campus.

Catch you later!

Clud.