Influencer Marketing

SheSpeaks CEO, Aliza Freud, Talks Influencers with Cynopsis Media

August 12, 2014

With 74 percent of consumers relying on social media to inform their purchasing decisions (ODM Group) and 90 percent of consumers trusting peer product recommendations (Nielsen), it’s no wonder that brands have flocked to influencers for help. Our CEO Aliza Freud, an expert on word-of-mouth marketing, sat down with Cynopsis Media to discuss trends in influencer marketing

Cynopsis: How would you define an influencer?

Aliza: They can be large or small in terms of audience size, but all influencers have one thing in common: when they provide opinions, information or perspective, others take notice and potentially act on it. At SheSpeaks, we categorize influencers based on a number of criteria, including: a) size of audience; b) social platform of influence e.g., blog, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube; c) quality of engagement with audience (i.e. does their audience engage with them and act on their recommendations?); d) quality of content they create.

Cynopsis: Brands seek to use influencers as promotional tools, especially on blogging sites and YouTube. Why?

Aliza: The combination of diminishing returns from traditional forms of advertising and the power of consumer recommendations at scale is what has really tipped the balance. After all, consumers love hearing what people like them think about a product or service. Recommendations from a friend or someone you know is the number-one way to influence consumer purchases ­ way ahead of a brand’s advertising or promotion. For brands, that begs the question, “Why am I focusing on pushing my banner ad when I can use influencer content at scale and get better results?”

Cynopsis: More and more brands see women as influencers. Why?

Aliza: Women are driving the explosion of social media. They index higher in usage of social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, and they also drive more engagement and usage on these platforms. Combine that with the fact that women also love to share stories about products and services they use, and you have a powerful tool. Smart brands have realized that socially savvy women can create compelling stories and content about their products and services, and that they have an interested audience.

Cynopsis: So how can brands influence influencers?

Aliza: At the end of the day, it’s the basic recipe for any relationship: reach out, be respectful, engage and respond, have a dialogue.

Cynopsis: What brands use influencers well?

Aliza: The entertainment business has excelled with influencers. Game of Thrones (HBO) is a great example of this. They provided creative assets and content to their “super fans:” they then created awesome content that went viral.

This article originally appeared on Cynopsis.com.

Want to Work With Us?