Behind the Scenes of Influencer Marketing with Ashley Walsh

Written by: Emma Leishman

$16.4 billion is the number at which the influencer marketing space is expected to grow over the course of 2022 (Walsh, 2022). If that's not enough for you, by 2028, that number is expected to reach roughly $84.89 billion (Santora, 2022)! Consequently, it should come as no surprise why marketers have been increasing their influencer marketing budgets over the past few years.

But let’s dive a little deeper and try to understand what influencer marketing is all about with help from Ashley Walsh, an Account Director at North Strategic, which is a Canadian content, social media, and influencer agency. I will demonstrate how Ashley has shed some light on what an influencer truly is, how the selection process works, what ensures success, and one influencer marketing trend that's become increasingly popular.

Influencer vs. Advocate

Ashley sets the record straight between who an influencer is and who an advocate is, as these two partnerships often get mixed up.

An influencer, as per Ashley's definition, is an online personality who provides content creation for a brand that is sponsored. They are also someone who is contractually obligated to post content that fits the messaging that a brand provides them with.

On the other hand, advocates are consumers who advocate for a brand and their products on their own in response to the positive experiences they have with that brand. Advocates are not contractually obligated to post anything but rather, their content comes from a natural result of brand affinity.

The Selection Process

Now that we’ve got those two definitions untangled, there are certain things that need to be taken into consideration when selecting an influencer for a brand. According to Ashley, first the brand must define what their campaign is setting out to do – what their goals and objectives are. From there, identifying partnerships comes from leveraging identification tools to find influencers, reviewing influencer feeds for specific content and potential complications, validating their engagement rates, and more, all in order to find an influencer that shares similar values and visuals to the brand.

What Does Success Look Like

When it comes to ensuring the success of a partnership with an influencer, this can look like many different things for each individual brand. However, some key components are fairly crucial across the board, including contract agreements, creative guidelines, creative briefing considerations, and disclosure guidelines. All of these things ensure that the brand is being very clear about what they expect from the influencer, and in turn, the influencer is able to create content that meets the brands objectives.

One example of something that influencers and marketing teams should consider when striving to create a successful campaign, is the "No Edit Edit Aesthetic" trend that's becoming increasingly popular on social media. As seen above, influencers are focusing more on authenticity in their posts by creating content that is in-the-moment, unedited, and relatable.

Inspired by Ashley

Listening to Ashley, what her role is at North Strategic, and the influencer marketing world in general, has inspired me to look for jobs in these spaces. After listening to Ashley speak, a career in influencer marketing seems more attainable and tangible than ever before and I enjoyed learning how influencer marketing allows brands to become more human and tap into credible voices.

It seems as though it would be really exciting to be able to work alongside an influencer to come up with a brand deal that utilizes the brand voice, colours, tone, aesthetics, and experience. I also think that coming up with the logistics of working with both an influencer and a company all at once to create something unique for a brand deal would be extremely rewarding.

Small Q & A with Social Media and Influencer Lead, Ashley Walsh

Q: Are there any barriers when working with influencers like athletes and do you have to go through their organizations?

A: Yes you do, they usually have agents as well as a social media manager. Typically, the athlete has a marketing team so we don't usually talk with the athletes themselves but their teams instead.

Q: How often do influencers have to post to be considered a candidate for brands to sponsor them?

A: We don’t typically look at how often they post, but as long as they're actively posting and they match the kind of criteria that the brand is looking for, then it could be a potential fit. Most of the time, we look at their engagement rates and the type of content they're creating - more of their overall presence on the platforms rather than posting numbers.

To Conclude

Ashley and her insights into influencer marketing were extremely helpful in understanding how the space is evolving, growing, and becoming a crucial component of any digital media marketing strategy. It opened my eyes to the potential of an actual career in influencer marketing and has inspired me to search out jobs in the field, a field that is constantly growing and evolving for the foreseeable future.

References

Santora, J. (2022, January 13). 18 Influencer Marketing Trends to Watch in 2022. Influencer Marketing Hub. https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-trends/

Walsh, A. (2022, February 16). Influencer Marketing [PDF Presentation]. Influencer Marketing Presentation, Toronto, Canada.