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Influencer Marketing and Nonprofits By Kadi McDonald If you pay any attention to digital marketing trends one of the most popular buzz words right now is influencer marketing In fact I had a fellow freelance digital marketing consultant shoot me an email asking who some of my favorite Instagram influencers were because he was working on a pitch for a client Because I ve been researching influencer marketing and trying to become an influencer myself I answered his request with a ton of questions What is the brand you re pitching What do they sell Where do they sell it Who do they want to sell it to Who cares about it What is the product s price point Why do they want to work with an influencer After all that he simply said Okay you re way overthinking this I just Google d it Photo by Alice Donovan Rouse on Unsplash But I didn t overthink it Influencer Marketing is complicated Influencer marketing became a thing I d say in the last five years or so With the rise of ad blockers paid subscription services that let you completely surpass commercials and the ability to just skip ads on most videos after a few seconds advertisers and marketers had to do something to make sure that brands were still able to infiltrate consumer content consumption And ya ll they did it really well 1

So what the heck is an influencer As defined by Influencer Marketing Hub an influencer is an individual who has the power to affect purchase decisions of others because of his or her authority knowledge position or relationship with his or her audience Or an influencer could also be someone who sits in a particular niche market who has a following in that market Now it s super important to note that these people aren t just commercial spaces creating content that features your organization but a true asset to your company They should be viewed as a part of the team a part of the creative marketing process and bottom line should be handled as a partnership Is an influencer right for your organization Well in my humble opinion 100 yes But there has to be a purpose to your partnership Here are some things to consider before you go searching for an Influencer Do their values align with your mission and values This is one you maaaay need to do a little digging If you re an animal rights organization and you re checking out an influencer who maybe has a photo on their Instagram from 2014 featuring them with a real fur coat that could potentially be a red flag that their values don t match with yours You HAVE to do your homework on this one because it could make or break your brand Are you ready to give them creative control of content This is always a hard one because brands want to be in charge of what someone talking about their brand on behalf of their brand really says But that right there zaps the authenticity of the interaction and followers will see right through it Let your influencer be a part of the creative development at ground level It s important that both parties are happy with the output Do their followers match up with who your brand wants to attract When choosing an influencer you have to check out who actually follows them Your brand shouldn t be creating content based on demographics you should be creating content based on behaviors and attitudes It s important that you know who it is you want to reach and then check out who is actually engaging with the influencer s content Read comments click through profiles check out the networks of the followers do some social media stalking This data is important for you to check out before you pitch the partnership Do you have a budget Remember this isn t just something influencers do for fun This is a business and often their livelihood If you re approaching a top tier influencer it s likely they ve got tons of other organizations sliding into their DMs But you also don t want to lead with compensation Pitch the project and the partnership and then talk money when they ask to talk money 2

Is Your Brand Magnetic By Kadi McDonald Blame the algorithms Blame the bots Blame the 24 hour news cycle The internet is OVERLOADED with content And no matter how much blood sweat tears time and dollars you throw at your brand strategy there s a good chance you re not going to get noticed especially if your brand is lame It doesn t matter how impactful your cause and mission are if you don t have the right content and brand to support it you re going to get overlooked In fact according to Facebook the average social media user scrolls through a Statue of Liberty s worth of content EVERY day Yep that s the equivalent of 300 feet of content How can you build one of these magnetic brands Magnetic brands are those brands that people are already passionate about They follow these brands live them and breathe them And they talk about them without being prompted paid or rewarded They just genuinely love being part of the brand s tribe Magnetic brands are made up of three different pillars 1 They have a point of view 2 They a personally relevant to the consumer 3 They have a personality Photo by David Lezcano on Unsplash 3

So what can you do to cultivate a magnetic brand Here are some tips I took from SocialDeviant s presentation at Social Media Week LA Have a point of view and plant a flag Give people something to rally around Successful brands plant their flag and leave it there You don t see them zigging and zagging around changing their perspective or their focus Keep your point of view consistent to avoid confusing or overwhelming your audience Show don t tell Bring your purpose to life through interests and actions Everything that you do should revolve around your purpose By giving your brand interests and taking action you give your brand dimension and depth Remember a brand is what it does not what it says Define the behavior and the audience you want to attract When you think about the people you want to attract to your brand who are they What are they like What do they care about Don t get hung up on the demographics of your audience Pay more attention to their behaviors and attitudes instead Know the role and relevance of your brand What value do you provide as a brand When you re creating content and incorporating personality don t start with the question What content can we produce Instead think about what value you can provide to your audience and then create content to support that value Use the rules of attraction to guide your brand s personality The rules of attraction can be used when you re on a first date AND they can be used to help define your brand s personality 1 Make a great first impression Remember you only get one opportunity to make a first impression 2 Be yourself Be authentic and truthful with your content 3 Add dimension Don t just talk about one thing When you incorporate your brand s interests it gives you more to talk about and more ways to connect with your audience 4 Listen This should go without saying but you ve GOT to listen to your audience what they want what they care about what they like and don t like about your brand 5 Don t get to clingy Remember you want to attract an audience with your brand not with constant selling and gimmicks Bring value to your audience 4

What is SavageSocial and Will it Work for Your Brand By Kadi McDonald Whether you re perusing the kids clothing section at Target catching up on your Twitter Feed before bed or consuming any bit of pop culture you ve likely heard and seen the word savage pop up Obviously it s not a new word to the dictionary but it is a fairly loose term when it comes to the internet specifically social media So what does it mean to have savage social Let s face it brand social media accounts haven t always been known as a source of entertainment And certainly brands weren t encouraged to take on a personality of their own online You can blame it on the current political climate the rise of the millennial or simply a more progressive social media audience Whatever the case brands have stopped playing it safe and have gotten some serious attention by taking risky moves on social Whether they re taking a jab at the competition calling people out for being jerks trolling pop culture or just simply sharing a funny meme brands have used their savage albeit relatable tone to lighten the mood and bring consumers closer to their brand When should you be savage Deciding to incorporate a bit of savage personality into your brand absolutely needs to have a point In the nonprofit space you must tread a different path to avoid upsetting donors supporters board members and potentials of all of those things But when the opportunity presents itself there is nothing wrong with inserting some personality into your brand s social media voice Why be savage Humor and comedy are having BIG moments right now and brands are stepping away from an aspirational tone and moving toward an approachable tone to better reach their audiences Savage social helps create connections with people who care about your brand while also increasing the chances that people will see your brand There is so much clutter in the social space so having entertaining original humorous content can do wonders for your engagement Finally being savage can inspire people to take action like share your content and brand with their networks donate to your cause or even become more educated about your cause These posts were written by Kadi McDonald for TopNonprofits they originally appeared on the website www TopNonprofits com and are based on content from Social Media Week Los Angeles held at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica June 12 14 2018 For additional tidbits and conference coverage follow SMWLA on Twitter 5