How to Supercharge your PR Campaigns through Influencers

By Priyanki Brahma, Programming co-chair, PRSA Tri-State

Influencer marketing is now an essential component of every communications plan. Whether it’s business-to-business or business-to-consumers marketing, these individuals have taken up the job of promoting brands like no other. They are creative, engaging, and have a huge following on their social platforms. Consumers associate themselves more with influencers than a brand spokesperson and tend to often seek their tips while buying a new product or trying a new service. With the rising need for influencer marketing, corporates are making a conscious effort to vet more influential people who are increasingly becoming trusted advisers for both consumers and the brands.

PRSA Tri-State District held a speakers’ event on March 8 to talk about the importance of including influencers in public relations plans, and how they can be leveraged for maximum campaign visibility. The event, titled “How to SuperCharge your PR Campaigns through Influencers, included three dynamic and talented entrepreneurs, who have made their marks starting their own companies and becoming influential in their respective fields.

The speakers were:

  1. Daniel Saynt, CEO and founder of Socialyte, an influencer casting agency
  2. Courtney Spritzer, COO and co-founder of SocialFly, a social media marketing and PR agency
  3. Rae Holliday, co-creator and CEO of Stuff Fly People Like, a highly sophisticated fashion blog, and The Holliday Agency, a branding agency

Courtney Spritzer, co-author of “Like. Love. Follow.: The Entreprenista’s Guide to Using Social Media to Grow Your Business,” talked extensively about tapping into the network of influencers and engaging with the community to increase brand awareness. Rae Holliday stressed the importance of maintaining relationships with influencers and leveraging them during campaigns by making them brand spokespersons. And finally, Daniel Saynt talked about collaboration within the influencer and brand promotion space that helps make connections with consumers and results in successful integrated campaigns.

Stuff Fly People Like Co-Creator Rae Holliday stressed out the hard work of becoming a source of influence online by saying that, “Being an influencer is great, but you have to continuously prove your influence.” Influencers have the constant responsibility of creating original content that grabs viewers’ attention and engages them to take action. Brands closely monitor these activities and use the one that resonates the most with their customers.

The three speakers agreed that when choosing influencers, one needs to be mindful of the aesthetics of every social media platform. For example, an influencer might be great at engaging followers on Instagram, but may not be so great on Twitter or Facebook. Therefore, choosing the right online personality for your brand with the expertise of a particular platform is imperative.

All three speakers also said the quality of content and engagement level by the influencer must take precedence over the quantity of followers he or she may have. It is very easy to be swayed by the number of followers a person might have, but influencers must interact with their followers in order to be influential. Therefore, before choosing a potential influencer for a campaign, it is vital that all of their social media platforms is researched.

“Influencer marketing is an effective way to reach your customers through the social reach of popular bloggers and online personalities,” added Courtney Spritzer, and we could only but agree with her.

 

prsa-poster

 

Poster by Sofia Zafeiri, Social Media Marketing Co-Chair, PRSA Tri-State

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *