The current sheltering at home strategy presents CMOs who use influencers with online opportunities to stage events that appeal to their brand. A huge amount, 92 percent, of marketers recently surveyed by marketing research firm Econsultancy said that staging productive events online will be crucial for at least the near future.
Consider the options
Brands that had to cancel scheduled “live” panel discussions can still do this digitally. A consideration might include adding the brand’s influencer who could share his//her experiences with the product and maybe even serve as moderator.
Similarly, if the brand had an influencer marketer scheduled to make a live presentation, the same could be delivered livestream. These could also be recorded and made available to expand its reach to other audiences.
“Live” brand demonstrations which had to be scrubbed could also be rescheduled into “live” influencer demonstrations. If that strategy is employed, brands would be wise to thoroughly familiarize the influencer with the product a week or two beforehand to afford the influencer the experience of not only using the product but also speaking about it from experience.
Infographics
A 2018 survey commissioned by Content Marketing Institute revealed that respondents remembered 65 percent of the visual information they saw up to three days later. That may help explain the coincidence of why 65 percent of CMOs use infographics. Brands teaming with their influencers to create appropriate infographics and cite quotes from the influencers will likely have a higher success rate.
Podcasts
Podcasts have been popular with B2B marketers and now may be a good time for B2C brands to publish their own and test the potential. Until the pandemic, the community of podcast listeners had been increasing and were known to have more spendable income.
Influencers can be useful on podcasts, particularly if they’re also key opinion leaders. An advantage of initiating podcasts is that the brand controls all the content and can measure listens and clicks.
Influencers who already do podcasts bring a built-in audience. If it’s an influencer already used by the brand, that’s a double advantage. The only disadvantage to a brand is lack of access to the metrics.
YouTube videos
As reported in earlier articles, video continues to gain in popularity. An October 2017 survey by Google revealed that 86% of users went to YouTube to learn something new. Those numbers are likely higher today. Using the brand’s influencer as a host or narrator will heighten interest in the content because it is something its target audience is interested in, challenged about, or finds educational.
Audience engagement
Although online events can and should be interactive, they don’t promote engagement as much as “live” ones. Influencers can play a big role in helping by giving their personal perspective of the brand. Creative strategies to encourage participation by the audience, including gamification and quizzes, also help maintain interest and participation. The latter is also helpful in maintaining interest by filling gaps between presenters.
If the platform being used includes the ability to allow an audience to submit questions, encourage them and be sure the influencer is prepared to answer the most anticipated questions. If the influencer is unable to respond, have someone handy who is knowledgeable and can answer the question. The same “live” chats can be replicated directly on Twitter and Google Hangouts.
