No matter how complex your organization, it’s time to start taking a holistic approach to influencer marketing.
While it is typical for influencer strategies to be cross-functional, this doesn’t mean efforts should be disconnected. All influencer programs should be tied to business goals so that various teams can learn from each other, and communication with influencers is always aligned.
To learn more about the advantages of having an interconnected influencer strategy, I sat down with Megan Conley, CEO and Founder of Social Tribe. Megan founded this social, content, and influencer marketing agency in 2009, during the dawn of social media, and has helped some of the biggest enterprise tech brands overcome marketing challenges, including Cisco, SAP, and HP.
Megan is the second marketer we've interviewed for “My Influencer Marketing Philosophy,” Traackr’s newest video series where we showcase those executing and scaling influencer programs every day. Often, marketers at different companies are facing the same hurdles. By sharing both their hurdles and triumphs, we hope to inspire you to overcome your own challenges while also pushing the industry forward as a whole.
Watch the video below and learn how Social Tribe helps enterprise brands gain executive buy-in and scale mutually beneficial influencer relationships.
“My Influencer Marketing Philosophy” with Megan Conley, Social Tribe
Who are you and what’s your philosophy on influencer marketing?
Megan Conley: Hi, I’m Megan Conley, I am the CEO and Founder of Social Tribe. We are an agency that specializes in social, content, and influencer marketing programs for enterprise brands. And my influencer marketing thesis is really thinking about how brands can effectively build holistic, integrated influencer marketing programs to really accomplish their business objectives.
How should enterprise brands scale influencer programs?
MC: So a key thing to scaling influencer marketing is to really think holistically about your influencer marketing program and that starts with breaking down silos within your organization, bringing in key stakeholders, and understanding what their objectives are. And then helping them understand how influencers can enhance and support their program goals. Then, you have buy-in all around and you can really take your influencer marketing program to the next level.
How can marketers gain influencer marketing buy-in?
MC: So at Social Tribe we really approach buy-in from two perspectives, the first is internal. It’s really important to build buy-in with key stakeholders and you do that by helping them understand how bringing influencers into their program can help them accomplish their objectives. And then when you are working with influencers, you want to gain buy-in from them by articulating and understanding how you can provide value to them and where they can bring value to you so that everybody understands that there is a mutual benefit.
What are the advantages of an always-on influencer program?
MC: I think the advantages of an always-on influencer program is that you can drive more value and you can build stronger relationships with your influencers.
A couple of years ago, when we started out in the social media world, people were also thinking of it as sort of a one hit wonder. And now, as marketing is becoming more sophisticated, we are realizing engaging our customers is an always-on activity, and so we need to build our programs in the same way.
Get More Influencer Insights From Social Tribe’s Megan Conley
Thanks to Megan for her time and letting me pick her brain on all things influencer marketing. To keep up with Megan, you can follow her on Twitter. To learn more about Social Tribe’s influencer work, check out 7 Lessons from the First Ever Influencer Marketing Tell All featuring more takeaways from our customer panel at Content Marketing World which included Megan Conley.
You can also watch the first episode of “My Influencer Marketing Philosophy” which features HPE’s B2B influencer strategist, Becca Taylor. Then, make sure to stay tuned for the next episode and get additional perspectives on influencer relations.