Digital Influence

Unleash the Power of Influencer Marketing to Accelerate Your Global Business

Joel Backaler

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9783319783963
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Digital Marketing
• Index: Business

This book brings order to the chaotic and rapidly evolving world of influencer marketing by providing readers with much needed context, frameworks, and best practices. Written for busy marketing professionals working in both domestic and international markets, it addresses these topics in a highly actionable and engaging manner.

Digital Influence covers everything from how to identify the right influencers and determine "level of influence" to collaborating with influencers and measuring ROI. It turns out, it's not all about paying online celebrities outrageous sums to post sponsored content. Backaler also provides much-needed context for why influencer marketing is flourishing today, and perspective into what a more technologically-enabled, globally-connected future will look like.

Ultimately, people want to learn from trusted peers, not faceless companies. Better than any corporate marketing function, influencers understand how to make best use of social media platforms and tailor content for their respective cultures to engage consumers in their home markets. Business leaders should arm themselves with Backaler's book to ensure they're not left behind.

© The Author(s) 2018

Joel BackalerDigital Influencehttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78396-3_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Joel Backaler¹

(1)

Glendale, CA, USA

Joel Backaler

End Abstract

Starting in 2011, with aggressive overseas acquisitions and offices opening around the world, Airbnb kicked off its international expansion. Fast-forward to 2018, and the company now operates in 15 countries and has enlisted more than 4 million ¹ people to host strangers in their homes.

So many American companies have previously failed to translate their success overseas. There’s a variety of reasons why brands fail to expand successfully, whether its failure to compete with local companies, an inability to tailor products for a new audience, or simply not doing the necessary up-front market research.

How did Airbnb do it? The right balance of global strategy and local implementation. Critical to success was the company’s use of Local Influencers (individuals who can influence the actions/decisions of a loyal group of local online followers with regard to their particular area of expertise), to drive brand awareness through a series of cleverly designed campaigns. Some of the most memorable include:

“Local Lens Series” Paris

In early 2015, Airbnb launched an influencer content series featuring various thought leaders, creatives and experts in key cities sharing their views on must-see/must-try local experiences. ² For example, in Paris, Airbnb worked with local bilingual food and travel writer Clotilde Dusoulier to author a “Local Lens” blog post on “10 Perfect Food Experiences in Paris,” offering recommendations for “where to splurge on dreamy pastries” and “Paris’ best baguette.”

“Night At” South Korea

In late 2015, as part of its “Night at” campaign and to support its expansion plans into South Korea, Airbnb worked with K-Pop sensation G-Dragon, ³ holding a contest where lucky winners could spend two nights in his recording studio in the heart of Seoul. This led to a flurry of social media and traditional media attention, as well as a spike in Korean Airbnb user registrations.

“Don’t Go There, Live There” London

In 2016, Airbnb’s London team designed an exclusive experience townhouse in London, where visitors could come and experience local food and music. The purpose was to show travelers “the real London” not found in guidebooks. It enlisted 25 Local Influencers to amplify the event on social media—while 1400 guests visited the townhouse over four days, several millions learned about it online as a result of the influencer engagement. ⁴

These Local Influencers—both celebrities and online personalities—opened the door for Airbnb in market after market across the globe. Why should Airbnb directly tell customers how great their service is? Better to leave it to Local Influencers who can speak with authenticity and authority.

Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, explains, “By early 2011, we were primarily an American company. But it became very clear that international is really important. We’re a travel company. Us not being international is like your phone not having email… So it became very clear that we had to be international – we had to be a GLOBAL travel network.” ⁵

For Airbnb, Local Influencers made a foreign brand a local one. That’s the difference.

***

My day job is as an international marketing strategist at Frontier Strategy Group, where I help senior executives from many of the world’s largest brands. Part of my job is to pay attention to major global trends, and every now and then I am captivated by something I am seeing in the marketplace and decide to write a book like this one. I dive deep, obsess over a million details, and attempt to synthesize what I have learned into actionable, executive-level findings.

If I have done my job, I will keep readers like you a step (or two) ahead of the next big thing. That was the point of my last book, China Goes West , which tells the story of Chinese brands expanding beyond China’s borders to take on Western multinationals.

When I set out to write Digital Influence, I intended to tell a story that was primarily an international one, like the experience of Airbnb that begins this introduction. I thought the story would be about brands that found international growth by using Local Influencers to jump-start their expansion.

When I started research, however, I discovered the international side of influencer marketing is only a small part of a much bigger story that demanded to be told. And when I started interviewing “influencer marketing insiders” like marketing executives, agencies, and influencers, things started to get messy…

Influencer marketing is young and unsettled. I found I needed to address many fundamental questions before I could consider introducing the international story.

What types of questions you may ask?

Take the most basic term, “influencer.” It is highly disputed within the industry—in Peter’s foreword, for example, he reveals that not even influencers like to actually be given that name. Instead, alternative terms get thrown around like “content creator,” “talent,” “KOL,” “YouTuber,” “blogger”… if you can read Chinese, there is even “网红”.

Beyond a lack of standard terminology, there is also a lack of industry best practices across each phase of working with influencers:

• How do you identify the right influencers for your brand?
• What does it take to get an influencer to respond positively to your outreach?
• Which forms of brand–influencer collaborations are most effective?
• How do you measure Return On Investment (ROI) and also make sure you can trust the data you’re using for measurement?

One of the major points I make in the book is influencer marketing is a global phenomenon that is developing rapidly, and companies can tap into Local Influencers to advance their international strategy. But that is far from the only aspect of what you are about to learn.

In fact, you are about to get an in-depth look into a topic that is generally only written about at a surface level, with clickbait headlines about “How Many Thousands of Dollars Brand X Paid Influencer Y for a Post” or “The Top 10 Steps to Getting Instagrammers to Promote Your Brand.”

I am going to take you from the basics, to the practice, to the global relevance. And ultimately, I will give you a peek at where we are headed.

You are not just learning from me. You will hear from more than 100 individuals I interviewed during the writing of this book, ranging from Fortune 500 executives to high-growth start-up founders to agency leads to influencer software vendors to influencers from around the world.

There is a lot packed in here. I hope you find the insights valuable—both today when you think about how these case studies, frameworks, and methods can be applied to your business, and later on, when you use it as an ongoing resource to build (or rebuild) your company’s approach to influencer marketing.

A few final words before we begin our journey together:

Definitions for terms like “i...