Influencer marketing is a type of marketing where companies partner with influencers, who have a significant following on social media platforms, to promote their products or services. Influencers can affect the buying decisions of their followers, and brands leverage this influence to reach their target market. Most influencers work hard to earn their followers’ trust and are selective about the brands they work with. As a result, it is not uncommon to hear an influencer say something like “I only endorse products that I believe in” or “I only endorse products that I tried and had a good experience with.” Here is how influencer marketing works. A firm identifies an influencer it thinks is a good fit for its brand and target market. There are also agencies, like Top Rank Marketing, that connect brands with influencers. Once a firm selects an influencer for its brand, it reaches out to them to propose a partnership. If the influencer has an interest in the proposal, the firm normally discusses the details of the partnership, such as the type of content it wants the influencer to create, the compensation, and when it wants the content posted. The influencer then creates the content, such as a sponsored post or a video, featuring the business’s product or service. They may also provide a discount code for their followers. The influencer promotes the content on their social media channels, reaching their followers and hopefully others as well. The business tracks the campaign’s results by examining variables such as engagement rates, clickthrough rates, and sales. This feedback allows the business to assess the effectiveness of the influencer’s campaign.....

Discussion Questions:

1. Three Ships Beauty is the focal firm of Chapter 5’s “Opening Profile.” Describe the profile of an influencer that Three Ships Beauty would select to promote its products.
2. Based on the informal rule-of-thumb that influencers get paid $100 per 10,000 followers per post, how much did April Wilkerson receive for her “How to Build a Deck” video (based on her YouTube following) and how much did Adam Northwest receive for his post on Iams dog food and WHISTLE smart devices (assuming Iams and WHISTLE split the cost of the post)? Are the numbers higher or lower than you anticipated? In each case, do you think the sponsorship of the post yielded good value for the sponsors?

3. Find an example of an influencer on Instagram or YouTube and describe one of their sponsored posts. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the highest), how effective is that post for the sponsor?
4. What do you think is the future of influencer marketing? Do you think it will become more popular or less popular in the years to come? Explain the rationale for your answer.