[PRESS OFFICE] I’ve worked in the dynamic world of media for more than 16 years, and my expertise spans from free-to-air television to video on demand subscription services. It was always exciting to see commercials flight from various projects that I was involved in. Some of my favourites were the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Top Gear, the Star Wars Pop-up Channel, SA Idols, and many more.
There have been some marketing challenges along the way. As the top line became more critical to companies, it became more difficult to justify huge marketing spend vs impact to CFOs. For example, justifying marketing spend vs return on investment (ROI), and how to effectively measure the success of a campaign beyond reach and frequency.
Today, I am excited to work on a channel that actually drives brand performance – influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is more than a mere PR tactic and can be used to drive real return on ad spend. The advent of influencer marketing has made the spend rationale conversation easier for marketers and their ability to show impact on the top line.
Nfinity Media’s influencer marketing channels drive solid brand performance and show the effectiveness of this channel. Nfinity offers various influencer marketing solutions in both the B2B to B2C spheres. For this article, I have chosen to shine the spotlight on the effectiveness of using nano influencers, with a focus on our subsidiary, theSALT, the top nano influencer agency in Africa. theSALT is the only influencer agency in the market that gathers over 70 data points on each of its 120 000+ opted-in influencers. Importantly, none of this information can be scraped by using commonly used listening tools.
All businesses can speak to their customers through their digital channels and CRM platforms and get some level of engagement. However, it may not be at scale, consistent, or yield great ROI. theSALT finds real brand fans to talk about the products and services that they already use and love in relatable ways to their online audiences as well as their real-life social circles. The nano influencer agency works with businesses of any size, across multiple verticals (FMCG, MNO, Financial, Entertainment, Pharma, etc.).
Some of the most exciting case studies that stand out for me so far are:
- A pharmaceutical brand targeting pregnant women: theSALT were able to source women in their third trimester of pregnancy who were already using this particular product. The campaign doubled the product’s buying efficiencies.
- An MNO driving app installs and awareness: The campaign delivered three times improvement on cost per install (CPI) and trended twice on Twitter on the launch day.
- Broadcast channel driving click throughs: Campaign results showed 40% uplift in brand sentiment and improved on cost per link click (CPL) by 2x.
These are just a few examples that show our capabilities as an organisation, and that influencer content outperforms standard advertising. The reason for this is because people are influenced by those they know and trust.
Contact us today for us to take you through our solutions and for more great case studies showcasing the impact of influencer marketing on brand performance.
Albert Makoeng is seasoned performance influencer marketing expert with 16 years’ experience in media, marketing, sponsorship and digital advertising. He has held senior position at DStv, BBC, ESPN and led teams across 20 African markets.
