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How To Create An Influencer Strategy

Reading Time: 4 minutes

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This episode is presented by LoudCrowd, the social CRM where you can organize social tags, build a curated library of content, and segment UGC growth programs. Whether focused on spreading a movement, growing customer loyalty or growing your fan base, there is a UGC strategy for any organization! Learn more and sign up for a 10-day free trial here. 

Today, we’re exploring the world of influencer marketing. Specifically, what does influencer marketing look like in today’s landscape? And how can we engage with user-generated content to increase retention and loyalty?

Having worn almost every hat in marketing, Lacey Miller, Head of Marketing for LoudCrowd, is not slowing down. Tune in as we talk about brand ambassador programs, macro vs. micro-influencers, TikTok, and how LoudCrowd has helped over 80 of their most active brands reach 8 billion impressions collectively.

Join me the rest of this month as we continue our series on influencer marketing!

How marketing has changed over the last decade 

According to an article in Forbes, brands are expected to spend $15 BILLION dollars on influencer marketing just this year. Fascinating, right?

And digital ad spend is also up over 35%, even though multiple experts are saying digital ads aren’t worth it or aren’t as effective as they used to be. The point is, marketing continues to grow and evolve.

Lacey argues that Chief Marketing Officers are now really Chief Market Officers because they have to understand the market better than anybody else in their respective organizations. CMOs always have to be looking for the newest and latest innovations and trends in marketing because what once worked 2 years ago, or even 2 months ago, doesn’t always work anymore.

And this is where influencer marketing, social media, and user-generated content comes in.

If you’re interested in this world and thinking about how influencers can have an impact in your organization, start by considering your existing fan base. Who is already talking about you and having conversations? This is the easiest place to start.

The magic behind the curtain of LoudCrowd’s platform 

Marketers have a bazillion things going on, and that’s where LoudCrowd comes in. They help make marketers’ jobs so much more efficient through their social CRM platform that measures brands’ user-generated content, automates micro-influencer outreach, and helps with social tagging and organization.

Lacey believes that user-generated content matters most to an organization – think of it as earned media. Once you connect your social media accounts into your LoudCrowd account, you can see all of the people who are already talking about you.

The platform will populate all of these incredible images and stories. You’ll quickly see how people are using your product or spreading the message of your mission. Doing this on a spreadsheet is darn near impossible, so LoudCrowd was thrilled to discover this gap and be the one to fill it.

In fact, they took a sample size of 80 of their most active brands. Brands that people are CRAZY about, and they’ve helped them reach over 8 billion impressions, collectively!

The takeaway? You need a platform that can help you measure this, because user-generated content is happening all around you, whether you’re tracking it or not. 

Learn more about LoudCrowd and sign up for a 10-day free trial here. 

The 3 Rs of user-generated content 

Lacey talks to us about the user-generated content loyalty loop of reach, reward, and retain.

Reach your current audience, because that can attract new audiences. Take traveling for example. I might see a post of a beautiful hotel and then dig into the geo-tags for that hotel to see what others have posted about it. Is the hotel really as gorgeous as it looks on that brand’s social media account?

When you see your donors and fans posting about your mission on social media, implement a reward. And it can be as simple as setting up an automated reply on Instagram Stories.

Part of the reward is the acknowledgment. Fans just want to be seen and heard. Could you offer them a special download or a 10% discount? They’ve already tagged you, so they’ve opted in. Now you can have a 1:1 conversation in the general inbox and keep the dialogue going.

LoudCrowd allows you to take it a step further. Maybe you decide to segment some of these fans you’ve talked to, and now you want to invite the ones in Texas to an event you’re hosting in Austin. It keeps you top of mind, and it’s so freaking powerful.

When you put a tool in place that will help you automate processes, your brain can be fully focused on the strategy and the vision and the “what’s next” vs. spending a bunch of time copying and pasting a generic message with hints of personalization in it.

Lacey’s Ask

Lacey would love for us to follow LoudCrowd on TikTok at @loudcrowdinc. She admits that building a B2B TikTok following is not easy, but they’re putting together hilarious videos and working so hard on their strategy.

Notable Quotes from Lacey

“You have to innovate and change as people’s behaviors change; as technology changes.”

“TikTok will tell you that the authenticity of what’s happening on their platform is why it went from 0 to 60. It’s why it’s the most rapid growing social media platform there is – because people were going on there and just having authentic conversations.”

Resources & Links

Head to LoudCrowd to benchmark your UGC performance and sign up for a 10-day free trial!

Lacey invites us to connect with her over email at lacey@loudcrowd.com.

Lacey encourages us to follow @carriec on Instagram who invests in women-owned businesses.

Check out my NEW $27 mini-course, Visible Reach In A Week. In 30 minutes, you’ll learn how to create a $3 a day ad campaign that will drive brand awareness with your supporters.

Want to make Missions to Movements even better? Take a screenshot of this episode and share it on Instagram. Be sure to tag @positivequation so I can connect with you.

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