Noun [influ-bassa-gers] : The collective term used to describe those people you know are really good at social stuff, can influence people – you’re not sure how though, and make your brand look amazing…or not
Broken into their separate ‘titles’, Influencers, Ambassadors and Bloggers are three audiences that can no longer be bunched under the ‘online media’ audience sub heading – they are very much their own audiences that required a tailored strategy with a separate set of objectives. Understanding these objectives and how they live within each audience ‘profile’ is imperative to a campaign or brand strategy within online environments.
Defining the difference between the three audiences and how they’ll impact or serve your brand would be the first step*:
An influencer is an individual with a great social, online and/or public following that run their platforms as businesses. They have high engagement rates and offer their audiences relevant, interactive content. Identifying these individual’s relevance to your brand would require you to understand their type of engagement, their social activities, their peers, their brand preferences and their fans/followers. Delivering experiences or value added opportunities that would engage not only the influencers themselves but also offer opportunities to or for their fans or followers to do the same. Payment for influencers varies from financial compensation through to product exchange
An ambassador is a publicly well known individual who is paid to endorse your brand both publicly and within their own capacity. Ambassadors are often from a specific industry or used for ATL or other marketing material and brands use ambassadors to encourage spend from within their fan groups or environments.
A blogger is an individual who had set up a specific blog relevant to their interests or hobbies. By delivering regular, optimised content, their fan base grows. Bloggers are often included as part of the media compliment to write about the experience they have formed part of the presented by a brand. Bloggers grow into well followed and influencers with high engagement levels
Tight contracts with a specific length of time often govern arrangements made with ‘Influ-bassagers’ and it’s important that the details of the expectations required from both the brand and individual be defined and agreed upon from the get go. We believe it’s fundamental for brands and their agencies to work with ‘Influ-bassagers’ as partners and not as service providers or suppliers so work with them on ideas that will serve both their audiences and your brand, and both deliver rich, engaging and relevant content within the pertinent audience environments. Try to become part of the audience so you’re better equipped to understand the content and context – an invaluable edge you’ll have with your campaign and its results.
The beauty of successful ‘Influ-bassager’ partnerships is that they’ll remain fans of your brand, product or service long after the contract date expires
*Definitions are based on our own experiences and research