Keeping Consumers Engaged
Being a brand manager or owner is now even more difficult since social media was added to the marketing mix. The number of digital advertising options rises daily, and keeping up with what actually engages the consumer - and leads to sales - is a hard trick to master. In fact, it's like trying to capture smoke.
As soon as you jump onto one social media platform, another one emerges that you 'have' to do if you want to compete. And another. And another. It's a vicious never-ending cycle. And it all takes a tremendous amount of time to do yourself or money to do with help. And then there is the social media influencer - that individual who might bring your brand a pot of gold. If you do it right. And get lucky. In this blog, Hollywood Branded outlines 6 steps to help you have that chance of making luck turn into reality as you traverse the minefield of social influencer planning to land on the right side of a winning campaign.
Make Your Brand Stand Out
Before you even start, a brand manager needs to decide what the best platform to concentrate an earned social media program on, and which is best for paid advertising support to increase fan base and loyalty. Social media today for brands requires dollars to be spent and cannot solely rely on hopes of organic likes and shares. Regardless if Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Vine, Snapchat, WeChat, Weibo, or… is chosen, the most important question the brand manager should next ask is: What is the best way to stand out from the competition and actually get noticed on this platform? That I can afford.
One sure-fire tool to gain notice is through well-thought-out social media celebrity partnerships, which not only catch targeted consumers' notice and attention through differentiation and relevance but also use the influence factor to increase sales and truly engage the consumer.
With consumers spending an average of 4.4 hours of leisure time daily actively engaged in content on their many screens, paying celebrities to post a shout-out on social media or interact through video or contests is now a mainstay of brand marketing.
Here are 6 tips to successfully create a successful celebrity-based social media campaign including social media posts.
1. Trusted Source & Authenticity
Word-of-mouth recommendations are the most trusted form of advertising, and combined with the fact that celebrities are highly influential amongst consumers, the organic appeal of celebrity social media campaign posts offers a multitude of benefits to brands. With a celebrity influencer behind a brand posting about a product, there is not only an aspirational element, but the post is more trusted amongst consumers.
In fact, Nielsen found that not only do an overwhelming 70 percent of consumers trust recommendations from their favorite celebrities, celebrity followers are more likely to engage, reshare, and recall than an average adult user.
The goal is for the brand to choose a celebrity who is trusted already and who is genuine to who they are as an individual. This should extend to being an authentic brand fit. Without this fit, the campaign is doomed to fail from the start.
2. Targeted Reach
A sponsored advertising post is typically not received well and is often seen as an invasion of the consumer’s newsfeed. Inversely, a brand message embedded in a celebrity post is delivered in that celebrity’s voice, and in the hundreds of thousands or millions of newsfeeds of users who have personally opted to follow that celebrity. The way the post enters the consumer’s social media feed – from someone they follow such as a celebrity makes the engagement possible. This celebrity following tends to be very large and made up of very enthusiastic consumers who are the most likely to engage and interact with brands.
The goal is to partner with a celebrity who fits the brand and whose fan base naturally aligns with the brand’s target market. The message will then be delivered to a receptive consumer and by someone the consumer has personally opted to follow.
3. Transparency
At times it is blatantly clear that a celebrity post has been paid for by a brand. Unless it is clearly listed as part of the post, consumers are not always able to discern between what celebrities have been paid to endorse, versus a mere personal recommendation. The Federal Trade Commission in fact has begun to mandate that transparency should exist with celebrity posts that appear in follower’s newsfeeds in order to avoid deception. Regardless, consumers are aware that celebrities are brand spokespeople, who participate in brand advertising platforms of all types. The influence factor is not negated nor is engagement reduced when a celebrity’s post includes a notation that it is indeed a paid post. What is important to consumers is an authentic fit between the brand and the celebrity that speaks to a realism of probability. The consumer believes that if the brand is a ‘bad brand’, it is unlikely the favored celebrity would choose to support it. Regardless if that is true or not.
The goal is to work with the celebrity to create the right scripting that supports the authenticity of the partnership, regardless if the post has a disclaimer that is brand-supported. Most still don’t… but the government is cracking down on brands and their agencies. Not the influencer...
4. Who To Choose
Based on the budget and who the core consumer is, consider choosing from the broad array of celebrity influencers available, ranging from A-List actors to reality stars to lesser-known YouTube celebrities who still pack a punch with large followings, and everything in between. The most important thing to keep in mind? That the celebrity is the right fit for the brand.
Don’t knock non-A-Listers – their names often have a stronger affinity to a brand’s core demographic - as who they are seems more attainable than the aspirational world of high celebrity. Brands should not bypass all reality stars, who have often earned an unfair point of view. While a season of “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” had 1.9 million18 to 49-year-old viewers per episode, Kim Kardashian alone has more than 20x that in Twitter followers. A $250,000 fee to have Kim post to her account may be well worth the cost to a brand if it is an authentic fit. Reality stars often have a higher kinship and ability to be relatable to a brand’s core demographic as their lifestyle appears more attainable than blockbuster A-list celebrities with the perfect life and style.
The goal is to see who resonates well with the desired demographic – be it a sports figure, actor, musician, or personality – and be someone who is open to working with the brand versus just taking money and quickly creating a single social media post. The idea is to find a partner for the campaign in the truest sense of the word.
5. The Fee
Paid celebrity posts differ from a traditional paid digital ad campaign where max budgets are established based on follow or click rate. A flat fee is paid, and is based on three factors:
- the celebrity’s caliber (A-list will always be sky-high and not necessarily the right fit),
- the celebrity’s fan base reach which is typically determined by how active they are on each social media platform, and
- by what the brand wants the celebrity to do with the post and how many posts are part of the campaign.
Depending on the product and the caliber of the celebrity, fees can be negotiated from simple trade out up to $50,000 per post, or even a six-figure (plus!!) social media campaign.
The goal for the brand manager is to truly understand the desired outcome in order to determine what budget is worth putting against the campaign. Too low and the entire campaign may be a miss, too high and it may be too overpowering for what is realistically needed to push consumers into purchasing mode.
6. The Offer
After the budget range has been determined, research who are appropriate celebrity brand ambassador options, and then reach out to the talent's management team with an offer letter. What is asked of the celebrity will be what determines the fee, and all of those asks need to be presented upfront. Celebrities are notorious for not adding on more without raising the budget if a request comes in later – even on items that may have been easily included if included in the first offer.
Websites that typically have accurate information and offer celebrity contact information include www.imdbpro.com, www.whorepresents.com, and www.contactanycelebrity.
The goal is for the brand manager to create a well-thought-out short document to send that details the entire ask of the celebrity, the budget willing to be paid, and any special requests needed – including even the signed photo for the boss. And then…get the agreement in writing! Make sure any deal you negotiate is papered outlining every term.
The ideal social media practice is to create an integrated campaign using traditionally paid compliments by an occasional celebrity partnership that fits the brand, both of which are layered over an earned media plan that offers daily interaction with followers.
Get Some Help
The best option for brand managers to create a successful partnership utilizing celebrities for social media? Work with an entertainment agency to research the options and guide the processes. Ensure the agency has strong relationships and excellent knowledge of Hollywood. The agency will know what extras can be negotiated, saving the brand dollars along with time, and crafting a successful social media campaign utilizing the right celebrity that meets both the budget and consumer target.
Want to learn one extra tip? Check out the episode of our podcast for a little more information!
So Now What?
Want to keep learning about influencer marketing and celebrity endorsement deals on social media? Check out these other blog posts...
- Transparency In Influencer Marketing
- Brand Guide To Kourtney Kardashian's Instagram Posts
- Celebrity Endorsements with Bollywood Influencers
- How To #7: 5 Steps To Tell If An Influencer Has Fake Instagram Followers
- Celebrity Influencers: Celebrities Don't Write Their Own Social Media Posts
Interested in learning the ins and outs of making Influencer and Celebrity Marketing work? Access Our Full-Length Videos, Transcripts, Audio Files Infographics & More! Hollywood Branded's Influencer Marketing School advances your influencer marketing game. These courses are for brand and agency marketers to provide insight into how influencer marketing strategies work, and the best practices and strategies to make them do so.
