Latest news with #InfluencerMarketing
Forbes
7 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
The Five Pillars Of A Savvy Influencer Marketing Strategy
As Chief Strategy Officer at Linqia and co-host of the Creator Economy Live podcast, Keith Bendes is a top voice in Influencer Marketing. Influencer marketing has become the hottest channel in marketing, and the industry's market value is estimated to reach over $30 billion in 2025, according to Statista. Every major marketing event from Cannes Lions to Advertising Week is now dominated by creator and influencer marketers, with brands trying to understand how they can be social first and part of the cultural zeitgeist. There's a lot of talk about how to execute influencer campaigns effectively and case studies on great influencer activations. However, there are not enough frameworks on how to structure influencer marketing as a practice in the broader scheme of marketing and media. So, let's take this time to outline the five pillars of a savvy influencer marketing strategy as a blueprint for how CMOs and marketing leaders should be thinking about influencer and the impact it has across pretty much every other channel. 1. Paid Media Fuel Creators can be an incredibly powerful source of content for your paid media needs. Every brand has many different messages and styles of content that they want to strategically target to different audiences, so let creators be the ones to power that content pipeline. One valuable strategy is 'narrative mapping.' To do this, draw a grid of rows and columns. (You can also use Google Sheets.) On the columns, write down every core message your brand can state; then, on the rows, note all of your key audience segments. The result is a map of every message and audience combination that you should be testing in paid media. For most brands, there are going to be A LOT of cells in that grid. That's where creators come in, as they offer a highly efficient way to generate that much content at significantly lower cost than traditional production. 2. Cultural Relevance The currency of brands in the year 2025 is cultural relevance. If you aren't relevant, your time is limited. Right now, culture is primarily dictated by social media, with the result being that all brands want to be social first to be part of the trending conversations that dominate the social discord. This has led many to chase trends endlessly. While most experts would rightfully tell you that your brand shouldn't be trend chasing, you should be participating in relevant cultural conversations. Algorithms reward this content, and it keeps your brand in people's feeds. Just make sure you actually belong in those conversations. Then, think hard about whether it should be your brand itself showing up, or whether it should be real people who represent or support your brand. The latter is where creators play an incredibly important role, as most marketers who are being honest with themselves know that people do not want to hear from brands; they want to hear from other people. 3. A Discovery Engine Social search is skyrocketing, especially among younger generations. They are both using the social platforms as a search engine and relying on social videos when conducting traditional searches on Google, which indexes social content. Every brand should be connecting its search and influencer efforts to ensure they have content that answers consumers' most common questions. Your social posts should have strong copy that leverages top search keywords, discoverable alt text, strategic text overlays in the first three seconds, etc. Now, this doesn't mean you should sacrifice great content in the name of search. In fact, your culturally relevant content is often going to be completely different from your search-optimized content. But too many brands don't have any influencer search strategy, and that's a problem. 4. Community Building Brands need to constantly engage their audiences in a way that's entertaining and effectively communicates brand values. If you look at brands like Liquid Death, Poppi, Wendy's, e.l.f., consumers seek out these brands because they want to see what they will say and do next. Part of that is about building social channels and content that is consistent and, thus, something people want to keep coming back for; part of that is focusing on real-life experiences that develop a much closer connection to the communities the brand serves. Creators play a crucial role in both: Brands are increasingly turning to creators to attend physical experiences, not only to create a better experience for attendees, but to extend the message to the millions of people at home. We are also seeing much more episodic content from brands that want to create content that people will continuously tune in for. Mohawk Chevrolet is a great example of this, as is the Converse partnership with Amelia Dimoldenberg. 5. A Trusted Source To Sell Your Product/Service Every brand wants to skip to this step, which explains the significant growth in affiliate and commerce creator partnerships over the last few years. While finding trusted sources should be a core pillar of every influencer strategy, this often involves a very different approach from the other pillars and requires different types of creators and very different messaging goals. The way to partner with creators to drive sales may look different for every brand, depending on the product/service and brand story. Some may lean heavily into testimonials, others livestreams, others giveaways. For some, the hard sell on social media isn't right at all because no one is going to immediately buy that product during a scroll session. The most important thing to remember is that you need to give yourself time to experiment and find what works. If creators can't successfully drive sales, then they will never sign up for a compensation model that's based on it. Find what is successful. Then, creators will want in. Now What? The five pillars give you a valuable framework to build an influencer strategy. Now, the important thing is to get leadership alignment. Doing all five effectively requires cross-department collaboration and real budgets for each. Make sure you have those things. If not, be honest about which of the five you can really tackle successfully. Forbes Communications Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
YouTube Outlines Advanced Creator Collaboration Tools at NewFronts 2025
This story was originally published on Social Media Today. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Social Media Today newsletter. YouTube's announced some new tools to help brands collaborate with creators on promotions, including an AI-powered search option that will help brands find relevant creators on any given topic. The feature is a new element of YouTube's 'Insights Finder' (currently in beta), which provides advanced discovery options, using Google's latest tech. The new creator discovery element aims to connect brands and agencies with relevant creators, based on conversational queries. Enter in your search terms, and the system will produce a listing of YouTube creators in your chosen subject niche. There's a range of customization filters for your searches, so you can drill down to the exact right match for your campaigns. And once you find the right influencers for you, you can reach out direct from the listings. It's not available to everybody just yet, but YouTube's hoping that its advanced creator matching tools will soon provide more capacity to link brands up with the most relevant creators in very specific niches. YouTube's also announced some updates to its Creator Partnerships Hub, including improved campaign performance metrics, and updated creator profile displays. It's also launching a new API that'll be 'focused on connecting brands with creators,' As per YouTube: 'Soon, eligible influencer agencies and SaaS platforms will be able to supercharge their creator tools with creator insights.' That'll give more third parties the tools they need to facilitate branded content opportunities. YouTube's also bringing Partnership Ads to Display and Video 360 campaigns, while it's also expanding its creator Takeovers offering, which provides more opportunity to maximize your messaging by aligning your promotions with select creators. Takeovers enable brands to pay for custom messages from creators that are shown ahead of their videos. So you can have, say, MrBeast endorse your product directly, giving you direct, focused reach in popular clips. YouTube first announced Takeovers last year, but it's now expanding them to more brands and creators. Some interesting promotion options, which could help you spark more interest in your offerings. Recommended Reading YouTube Softens its Stance on Profanity in Content and its Impact on Monetization Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
09-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
7 Things LinkedIn Influencers Don't Tell You About Growth
7 things LinkedIn influencers don't tell you about growing on LinkedIn LinkedIn influencers love showing off their follower counts but never tell you what it really takes to get there. They post screenshots of milestone celebrations and sell their "secrets" in masterclasses. The truth? There's a massive gap between what they showcase and what happens behind the scenes. LinkedIn growth demands more grit, time, and hard work than anyone admits. Their highlight reels hide the daily grind that actually creates results. I quadrupled my LinkedIn following in 2024. From 7k to 30k followers in one year, with consistent action and repeatable moves. Here's what those LinkedIn gurus aren't telling you. Only 1% of LinkedIn users create content regularly. This tiny fraction claims nearly all the attention, opportunities, and business. People sign up, post sporadically, then wonder why nothing happens. But building influence takes deliberate effort sustained over months; not casual posting whenever inspiration strikes. LinkedIn influencers claim they built their following with "just 20 minutes a day." Pure fantasy. During growth phases, they spent hours daily on the platform. No one accidentally becomes a LinkedIn master. Accounts with massive followers work harder than they admit. They study engagement patterns. They test different content types. They track what performs and double down on winners. They respond to comments immediately and nurture relationships through DMs. Success comes from treating LinkedIn as a serious business asset, not a casual social network. Many founders try skipping the learning curve by hiring someone to handle their LinkedIn. Big mistake. You need to understand the game before you can teach someone else to play it. The first few months demand your personal attention. Write your own posts. Study your analytics. Feel the disappointment when something flops. Learn what topics resonate with your specific audience. Experience the dopamine hit when something takes off. This firsthand knowledge becomes invaluable later if you decide to bring on help. Your team can't capture your voice if you haven't found it yourself. Outsourcing your entire LinkedIn presence kills authenticity. LinkedIn users spend 7 minutes and 42 seconds per session on average. In those precious minutes, they can spot generic content instantly. They crave genuine connection with real humans who understand their challenges. The accounts gaining serious traction share unique perspectives from individual experiences. Your unique insights, personal stories, and hard-won expertise can't be replicated by a third party who hasn't lived your journey. An agency can repurpose your stories, but they can't make them up from scratch. People winning on LinkedIn genuinely enjoy the platform. Their enthusiasm shines through in every post. If you secretly hate LinkedIn, your audience will sense it. Your reluctance seeps into your writing and dampens your impact. Find aspects of LinkedIn that appeal to you. Maybe you enjoy writing powerful hooks. Perhaps you love connecting with like-minded professionals. You might get satisfaction from tracking your growth metrics. Lean into whatever sparks your interest rather than forcing yourself through a process you dread. Growing your account comes with unexpected side effects. Strangers slide into your DMs with bizarre requests. Former colleagues suddenly watch your every move. Random people from high school resurface to champion you. As your visibility increases, boundaries become non-negotiable. Learn which messages deserve responses and which connections warrant your time. Success demands selectivity. Your growing influence makes your attention increasingly valuable. Guard it carefully and direct it intentionally. Telling your origin story for the hundredth time tests your patience. But consistency requires repetition. The audience discovering you today hasn't heard your journey before. Research indicates people need approximately seven exposures to your message before taking action. The challenge is finding fresh angles to share your core message. Look for new examples, different perspectives, and various formats to keep your content interesting. Your fundamental story remains consistent while your delivery flexes. Maintains your sanity and your audience's attention. Every successful LinkedIn creator battles moments of doubt. They question their content quality, worry about judgment, and feel exposed. Discomfort signals growth. Your cringe reflex means you're pushing beyond comfort zones and taking risks that matter. Getting visible on LinkedIn requires courage. Sharing your thoughts with a professional audience feels vulnerable. But vulnerability creates genuine connections no amount of polished corporate content can match. The path to real influence runs straight through discomfort. It's evidence you're moving in the right direction. LinkedIn growth isn't mysterious. It just demands more persistence than most people can muster. Skip the gimmicks and focus on creating value consistently. Show up with intention day after day. Learn the platform's patterns by doing the work yourself. Your LinkedIn profile becomes a lead generation machine when you build genuine connections and share compelling stories. The results you want come from the work most people won't do.
