Stop Snickering: Influencer Marketing is Serious Business

Where did influencers come from? One day we’re all living in a world where “going viral” was about your bronchitis (nothing pandemic-ky, just chicken soup-y). Then out of nowhere, the invasion of the Z’s happens; they overtake our media towers like an army of zombies, and next thing you know, BOOM - they’re holding the world hostage to their TikToks. That big fat expensive mainstream commercial your brand just produced is adorbs; let’s hope that you’re crazy lucky and it gets a smidgen of the eyeballs that Addison Rae commands from lifting her pinky finger.   

For those of us old enough to remember the good ol’ analog days (not me, of course), it all defies logic. The strange power of influencers is one of those mysteries of the universe, like black holes and mullets. Hold on, let me look this up. Yup, confirmed - there’s an updated edition of Genesis:

“...Then God said, ‘Let there be influencers;’ and there were influencers. And God saw the influencers, that they were good; and God divided the influencers from those who don’t have at least a million followers; and it was so.”

There you have it, straight from the good book. So what are brands to do with this new kingdom of cool? Here’s a tip: how about not taking this new reality for granted. Not only do you need to play ball with influencers, you need to treat the game with respect, yo.

Because influencers mean serious business for your brand.

Let’s set aside whether influencers themselves always take their work seriously (they don’t all have a spotless record of professionalism, and that’s a separate talk that I have with the occasional megastar offender as they ignore me while playing on their phone, my voice sounding, to them, like a grownup in “Charlie Brown.” Those chats are really special.)

Most influencers I deal with bring their A-game to the work with my brand clients. The problem I see in the marketing landscape is that many brands treat influencers like an afterthought. Something to get around to after they’ve done their real marketing. Influencer budgets are what these marketing types scrape from the bottom of their Manolos (or, in our virtual world where nobody wears shoes anymore, what they scrape from the bottom of their fuzzy slippers.) 

Strong influencer content isn’t just about posting a selfie on the fly. Sure, authenticity is the name of the game. Part of the beauty of influencer content is what it’s not; polished, perfectly lit, airbrushed, and misted with spritzer from La Mer. But keeping it real doesn’t mean keeping it real-ly lazy. 

Brands, I’m going to be that girlfriend who tells you when you have kale in your teeth. It’s tough love from the heart. Stop treating influencers like a point of purchase impulse buy, that sample size of lip balm that you throw in the cart at the last minute. It’s time to start paying attention to the influencer world, not treat it like a novelty act unworthy of your focus.

Because guess what: your competitors are not asleep at the wheel. They’re putting some real muscle, budget, and creativity into the content they’re developing with influencers. Whether it’s strategic campaigns like Charli D’Amelio for Dunkin Donuts or resourceful event marketing with multiple touchpoints, influencer marketing is paying off for brands, bigtime.

Exhibit A: Take the masterful TikTok stunt that influencer Lexi Hensler performed to promote the Peacock’s streaming of The Office. Forget about phoning in a 15-second “whatev;” Lexi created a hilarious sketch that had all of the bells and whistles of a commercial, complete with costumes, props, and homemade chili. Lexi even teed up a cleaning service to scoop up the mess from her planned chili-spill all over fresh carpet. 

The result was riotous fun that instantly went viral. Take note, my brand brethren: let your influencer talent have creative control and you’ll get far more mileage than if you just dictate a script. When you put some thought into your influencer strategy and then combine it with great content, the result can be marketing magic.    

Exhibit B: the Paint and Sip event that Peacock created for the “Punky Brewster” relaunch. Cute as a button, sending everyone squealing with delight to their Instas. We delivered kits of drinks and art supplies to celebs and influencers, like Tori Spelling, Tammin Sursok, Glozell, yada yada yada. The mandatory virtual angle didn’t even cause one frown line because everyone was too busy having a ball, connecting over wine while they painted on Zoom. The conversation flowed, everyone was posting their works of art, and the whole experience was - pardon the hype, but it’s true - magical. 

The result was so much more than a simple promotion post about a new show. The organic experience unlocked emotional elements that were compelling in their own right and made the show promotion far more authentic and powerful. To drive even more traffic to the show, we hit on multiple platforms, including Gen Zs putting on their best 90s Punky Brewster-style look and doing TikToks and Reels, getting millions of followers to post the dance, with a parade of micro-influencers also amplifying the rah-rah. 

Flip your mindset about where your marketing budget needs to be. If you’re thinking that the main course ribeye steak has to be big network commercials and everything with influencers is the optional sauteed mushrooms on the side, you’ve got it straight up backward. Far more people will see your brand marketing on social media than they ever would in a TV ad. Fun fact: While everyone is fast-forwarding through your expensive commercial on network TV, YouTube and TikTok videos are getting tens of millions of views in seconds, with integrated brand content that makes an impression without viewers even being aware of any marketing. My 10-year-old daughter discovers every product she wants not from a Disney Channel show but from her fave YouTuber or on TikTok.

Also read: Little-Known Secrets of Successful Celebrity and Influencer Brands

Listen up, brand marketing dinosaurs (and remember, I say that with love because we’re friends and I care about you): why are you spending all of your budget on a billboard in Times Square? Why are you spending all of your time worrying about whether Good Morning America will give you a shoutout? More people will see you on social than any of these channels, so stop treating influencer marketing like the ugly duckling in the corner who you’d never ask to prom. You’re waiting for the Bigger Better Deal to call, and I’m here to tell you that influencers are the BBD. 

Funny side story: I was talking to an influencer rockstar about a Major Network’s Brand Name Show That You All Know. I asked him if he had seen said show and he complained about how it wasn’t available to watch for free. I was completely confused.

“It’s on TV - you can see it for free,” I said.

He insisted it wasn’t free and it was unavailable for him to watch. And thus began a “Who’s on first” comedy act for a few minutes until I finally got it into my old-timer’s brain that those young whippersnappers don’t consider cable TV “free.” 

“Nobody in my demo has cable,” he said, with not a small amount of condescension. “The network should have streamed that show.”

The Z’s stream everything. 

I wiped the spider webs from my hair and looked around for my granny cane. Here I think of myself as pretty “mod,” a “groovy” marketer who works with the hip kids and “gets it.” But even I had to do a whole-brain transplant to grasp that the next generation doesn’t look at cable TV as a must-have expense. They simply don’t bother.

And why should they? Their zombie-invasion brethren are all on social, watching each other or streaming just the shows that they choose a la carte. No need to pay for the whole menu when you’re only eating one particular salad, right?

So here you have these millions and millions of Zs on a totally different wavelength, while a bunch of genius brand marketers throw absolutely all of their energy into ignoring them. You’ve got influencers who have way more views on their YouTube post than a network commercial could hope to command, but brand marketers don’t want to part with more than a few bucks of their giant budgets to create something interesting with influencers that would connect with this next gen. 

It’s not enough to pay lip service. You do need to invest some budget and thought into making influencer content influential. Special content needs to be programmed and planned; you need to treat the influencer world with the same TLC as you would with a professional campaign. Plan your content the way you would a Super Bowl commercial, putting as much thought into this creative as anything else you do with the rest of your marketing.

Think about event marketing as your North Star; you want to create an experience with an emotional connection that feels authentic. “What’s the coolest campaign I could do on social media that would be all the rage?” you should ask yourself. “What will people remember?” “What will go viral?” “What are those Instagrammable moments?” Spend time thinking about this creative, planning it, figuring out what will be trending, doing your research, understanding what has worked before. Honestly, you need a social media strategist to put the big picture into focus (ahem).

Think of stunts like the Ocean Spray skateboard video; granted, it wasn’t Ocean Spray’s idea, but they hopped aboard that runaway train and rode it for all it was worth.   

And, P.S. - don’t just talk to your echo chamber of fellow dinos; get feedback from actual influencers. They know their audience and platform better than you, so stop talking and start listening (again, all said with love). Influencers are only going to pony up to the coolest campaigns, so you’d better put some energy into making this worth their while. They don’t need you and your piddly dollars - these people are raking in mega-dinero and views, and they’re not going to put their names on the line for cheesy marketing where they’re holding up your product like a 50’s mannequin. Their integrity is on the line every time they back a brand, and if they come across as phony or lame, their followers will vaporize.

Think of events like the one I produced, “Country Music Happy Hour,” which promoted NBC’s special, “95 Years at the Grand Ole Opry.” We mixed old-timers, like the songwriter who created the “The Gambler,” with a variety of influencers (with cowboy hates on), creating an incredible event that everyone gushed about. Even with the constraints of being virtual, we taught line dancing, played “Name That Tune” and had an Opry trivia contest. We programmed it like a real event, with a full run of show, and the experience had everyone posting in an authentic and genuinely exciting way.

And we didn’t forget about TikTok, either; we launched a campaign with influencers dancing and singing to their favorite country songs. 

Or look at the campaign to promote the Golden Globes, where TikTokkers posted their red carpet look transitions, from street clothes to glam, with the hashtag #globesglam. We delivered Golden Globes cookies and champagne to some of our influencers, and the crowd went wild - they all posted because all of the fuss was irresistible. We created an experience with a bunch of touchpoints - from funny comedy reels to a photo setup with Brooke Burke and her chef that ran in all of the weeklies - and the result was lightning in a bottle.  

Content is still king, so treat your influencer content with the respect that it deserves. There’s big money in the influencer world for everyone involved, so please, brand brethren, stop rolling your eyes. Lean in, maximize the incredible investment that is available to you, and join the future of brand marketing.

P.S. - The kale is gone from your teeth; all good now.