SHIFT Archives: The Best of Q2 2016

As each year comes to a close, we like to sneak a peek into the SHIFT archives to see our content hits and misses. When devising a content strategy for a new year, it’s important to take note of what worked (and why) to plan what’s to come next year. Want to see how to do this for your blog? Here’s how.

Our top posts from the second quarter of 2016 focused on PR and marketing technology skills, Facebook branded content, and measuring influencer performance. Let’s take a look:

PR and the Marketing Technology Skills Gap

Keeping up with the technological advances and the digital resources available to professionals is a difficult feat. So how does the PR and Marketing team members at SHIFT keep our heads above the water? Prioritize and share.

First and foremost, we prioritize learning about both new and existing tools such as Google Analytics, social advertising, survey best practices and keyword/SEO research, to name a handful.  With training courses and evolving policies allowing associates to both share and set aside time to identify new key trends, we’ve established an environment that promotes forward thinking. A technological skill set is a must to execute effective PR and Marketing campaigns in the digital age so what is your company doing to bridge the skills gap in the year 2017?

6 Ways Facebook Branded Content Changes the Influencer Game

In April of 2016, Facebook decided to change the game and reporting methods for the typical influencer. So what was the big change? Any influencer or publisher producing Facebook branded content is REQUIRED to tag the brands they represent within their posts.

So how does this impact marketers? We’re able to spend more money on Facebook to promote earned media, especially while working for influencers.  Additionally, it allows marketers to try truly monitor and measure influencers’ content directly; the resulting transparency should enable to change influencer pricing based on the data instead of allowing the influencer to set the price.

What does this change for influencers? As a result of brands promoting influencer content, the change provides new opportunities for rising influencers. Consequently, this changes how marketers also think about influencers based on a post analysis perspective as opposed to the overall influencer. Read more about out how this has industry-wide ramifications and changes the social network industry trends.

Are Influencers Overpaid? A Data-Driven Exploration of Influencer Metrics

As marketers and communicators, we understand that social media engagement is a large part of marketing in the digital era, which is where influencers come in.  A typical influencer has the trifecta: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts or at least a combination of one or two of the three.  So why hire an influencer for your company? Simply put, to build awareness, trust, engagement, and get a return on investment.

So how do we know if our influencer is performing?  There are a handful of metrics to consider including awareness, engagement, clickthrough, and brand baseline data.  All helpful in measuring the true influence and effectiveness of an influencer.  Pin down your companies goals and what exact needs you have, this should illustrate for you which data points are valued above others for your campaigns.  Discover how to focus your selection process and valuation of influencers are based on those goal-oriented metrics. Make the most of those influencer campaigns!

Lisa Zanchi
Marketing Analyst

[cta]