Everywhere Agency is a social media, content and influencer marketing firm. This is their content marketing blog posts archive.

Influencer Networks: More Than the Sum of their Parts

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Once upon a time, here at Everywhere Agency, before there were influencer networks, we had a giant Excel spreadsheet with the names of hundreds of bloggers from near and far who published on platforms like Blogger and Typepad. We were a social media marketing agency who used these “mommy bloggers” to post and increase the reach of our clients’ messages and drum up awareness for their products and initiatives. We tracked, tagged, and became increasingly overwhelmed by the sheer size of our spreadsheets – and an influencer marketing agency was born.

 

Over the last 8 years we have expanded, grown, and developed into a fully-fledged influencer marketing agency – evolving right along with the micro-influencers who helped us create successes for our clients. As their content (and their rates) gained a larger share of the marketing mix, we saw that an influencer marketing wave was about to hit – ready or not. We took our lists of names and built our newly trademarked database and search system, InfluencerConnect® as a solution for scaling.

 

These days, everyone and their mother seems to have an influencer network or a new platform for running campaigns, which has led to a lot of philosophical questions here at Everywhere Agency about what having a network really means. We’ve sat through a litany of demos of platforms promising to allow us to sit back and count our cash but have hit a roadblock at every turn. As the self-serve ads and databases of influencers continue to saturate our market, the differentiators of our agency and in-house network, Everywhere Society, are becoming increasingly important to distinguish. Maybe one day they will get it right, but until then, here’s why we refuse to join the ranks of automated platforms.

 

You’re building our unique stories, not pushing out ads: We don’t spoon feed our influencers content to share. We give them parameters and inspiration – and then get out of their way. We pay these people, not just for their numbers, but for their ability to create quality content and to offer authentic narratives that feature our brands in an organic way. We find that content that’s been pulled off a technology platform, always feels like “brand speak” does not perform as well, and automation is inherently not authentic.

B***h Better Have My Money: Many of the platforms available require you to process payment through their service. The majority of influencers are freelancers, meaning that they don’t have the security of a regular paycheck. At Everywhere, we pay within two weeks of proof of campaign completion even when our client may be paying us on a net 60 basis. We have discovered that reliable payment, processed quickly translates into influencers going above and beyond the call of duty. They’re more open to making edits, creating extra social shares, and generally enjoy working with us more. When MODE went down in flames, they left a wake of unpaid content creators that had no one to contact, and no way to recoup their payment. Trust in payment is just another way we build our relationships.

 

Human Touch: The database “push messaging” eliminates the level of contact we want to have with our network. Despite all the growth and evolution we’ve experienced over the years, there are a few things that didn’t change in our approach to influencer marketing. We still write individual emails and read every word of the blogs that are produced for our clients. We still pick up the phone to answer influencer’s questions and hug them when we meet IRL at conferences. We still send flowers when they have babies and cry when we lose one of our own. Humans form relationships – and are more likely to do their best work for someone they like and have a genuine connection with.

 

Essentially, we have an influencer network built of people – with names, families, aspirations, and more importantly, a point of view – and we still care a whole lot about them. Until we can find a form of automation that doesn’t cheapen our relationships, we’ll happily continue to do things our way.

4 Ways to Rock a Blogging Conference

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If you’re in the influencer world, you know that a blogging conference is a great way to get connected – whether it be with brands or other influencers. Maybe you’ve never been to one but you want to and now you’re ready to take the plunge. Don’t worry – everyone starts out a newbie and can go on to conquer a conference!

Conferences can be intimidating, especially if you’re going alone. Then there are so many, it’s easy to wonder how to choose the right one. Some of my favorites are Mom 2.0 Summit, the Women in Travel Summit, ShiftCon and Blogalicious. Ultimately, you’ll want to go to a conference with a theme and sponsors that would fit in naturally with your blog content.

If you’re new to the game, here are four ways to make the most of any conference!

 

  1. Network, network, and oh yeah, network!

Conferences are less about what you know and more about who you get to know. Of course, you’ll want to learn a lot at sessions – but do take advantage of the ample opportunity to network! We don’t have to tell you that influencer marketing is all about collaboration. Sure, you run your channels, and you’ve built your brand, but you don’t become a success all on your own. You have to grow your audience and content, and who better to learn from than other influencers?

Influencers have told us before: “It’s a competitive market.” Instead of thinking that way, look at them as people who are trying to be great and maybe you each have what the other needs to get there. Sharing is caring! We love meeting and working with different influencers, and conferences are a great place to get that face-to-face time.

We have a Facebook group for all of the influencers in our network, Everywhere Society. It’s a place where all of our influencers can connect with each other and foster those relationships. Conferences allow you to do that in real life. Don’t shield yourself from making a new #BloggerBestie because they could be competition – they need you as much as you need them.

 

  1. Pack the right things

The most obvious things in the (influencer conference) world are most likely what you will forget to pack. Grab the suitcase, add these things, and when you’re done you can take your “ready to go” selfie!

  • Business cards: First and foremost, bring them! It’s the tangible connection between you and everyone you meet. Not bringing business cards signals that you’re not prepared or that you aren’t that serious about your blog.
  • At least one backup charger: Unless you have some new, magical phone with an endless battery, you’ll need it. Every sponsor has a photo opp, and the rest of the day you’ll be on social media and snapping pics with your new #BloggerBesties – all of those will suck the life right out of your phone.
  • Notebook: We can’t stress this enough, even in 2017, you’ll want to write things down in a non-digital format. You’re going into session after session, and you’re meeting people and brands that can propel your brand forward in between them. Trust us, you’ll have a lot of notes to look back on because it’s truly too much to remember

 

  1. Have a plan and know it!

From the moment you buy your tickets, don’t be surprised if you get an email at least once a day. Don’t disregard them as spam and delete them, but read them and form a game plan. Conferences pack as much as they can into a very short time frame. You’ll want to do it all and meet everyone, but be strategic and focus your time where it’s going to be the most beneficial to you. Know the brands that you’d like to work with and have your pitch ready. Make them want to reach out to you once they’re back in the office! But make sure you grab their cards so you can follow-up.

 

  1. Engage

Every conference has a hashtag. Not only are other influencers using it but so are brands. Make yourself known before you ever even get your badge at check-in and join the conversation early on. Want to take your engagement up a notch? Be a conference ambassador. We love taking members of Everywhere Society to conferences with us – either as brand ambassadors or agency reps. Our #BloggerBestie Ady of Verbal Gold recently went to Women in Travel Summit to represent society and encourage all these phenomenal travel bloggers to join our network. This was a major value add for us as we’ve recently taken on some major travel brands. Leticia Barr attended Mom 2.0 Summit with us as a brand ambassador for our client Domain.Me. This is an awesome way to gain a sponsorship to a conference and build a relationship with a brand.

 

The only thing left to do is decide which conference is in your future. Here’s a list of some conferences we’re considering attending this fall. Will we see you there?

Choosing Influencers for Client Campaigns

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I feel the need to demystify something about the process of choosing influencers for client campaigns. It may surprise you, but at Everywhere, we do not crowd around a conference table, look at the slate of applicants and pick our personal favorites. We all had our fair share of suffering on behalf of the “populars” during our respective high school years, and even though we can recite the majority of the “Mean Girls” script by heart, we don’t make our choices based on who we’d let sit with us. In fact, which influencer to pick for a campaign is ultimately driven by the client.

So how does it work? Have you ever heard the old saying, “There are two things you never want to see being made: laws in congress and sausages”? Well, it’s about as complicated as that – although as an agency we’ve tried to streamline the system to avoid the messiness.

When we launch a campaign with a client, we review their goals, and identify what success will look like. At Everywhere Agency, we also use a platform we’ve built called InfluencerConnect™ to help us sort and match influencers based on their profiles. Each client has different wants and needs based on their target demographics, so we review their priorities as follows.

  • Theme: What does the influencer blog about? If we’re doing a fashion campaign, sorry, we don’t need food bloggers,(even if your outfits slay on the regular). If we’re doing an entertainment-related campaign, we need to find folks who write and post about that topic on social media frequently.
  • Quality of Content. We read your blogs – not just the front page, but we scour your blogs. We stalk influencers and review their content going back months and months. We have one client that is looking for gorgeous images – they like to repurpose influencer content on their own channels, so we’re really looking a the quality of photography. If it’s a content-heavy post, we’ll pull samples of your writing style to show the client. Most clients have non-competes, so if we’re working for Coca-Cola, but you just did a campaign for Starbucks, you’re out. Some clients are averse to anything overtly religious or political. So, if you’ve mouthed off about the recent political happenings in our country, you’re out. I’m not suggesting influencers censor their content – just be aware that some clients shy away from content that is overly opinionated.

We also look to see if influencers have a natural affinity for the brand. Would you write about the brand even if you were not paid? Does the brand relate to the type of content you share? Our clients are Macy’s, Carter’s, OshKosh, Cox Communications, Mattress Firm, and others. These are products and services you’ll find in everyday American households. When choosing influencers, we look at your content to see whether our brand content is a fit.

  • Audience & Location: If you’re a member of Everywhere Society, you know we often ask, “Where are the majority of your readers based?” We do a ton of hyper-local campaigns for Macy’s. Fantastic for you that you have readers coast to coast and in Canada, but not so great for a location-specific campaign. This is where we can often book influencers with lower numbers because we’re really looking for hyper-local readers.

It also matters where you personally are located – which might not be where your readers are concentrated. When we worked with Orkin, we needed influencers who wrote about entertaining and outdoorsy activities and were based throughout the Southeastern United States. So imagine, when we are reviewing influencers and we have three great candidates based in Miami, somebody is going to have to take the cut because we have to ensure we’re reaching other parts of the region. Typically, reach and audience will be the deciding factors – not who we like best.

  • Platform. What’s your primary platform? For super visual campaigns, we may need an influencer who has amazing Instagram numbers even though his or her blog UMVs are just so-so. We sometimes look at the totality of the platforms where you create content, and other times, we’re really just looking at one specific platform. Last year, we had to source a millennial SnapChat influencer for Cox Communications for a very specific region of the country..
  • Reach. Yes numbers matter, but they aren’t the end-all, be-all. Some clients want us to source celebrity influencers, but that’s the rarity, not the norm. Today, more and more of our clients want to deploy multiple micro influencers for campaigns. So yes, numbers matter but blog UMV’s are no longer the holy grail. Your Instagram or Facebook audience may be just as impressive to a client as your blog readership.
  • Demographic. Some of our client campaigns are focused on a specific demographic: entrepreneurs, baby-boomers sending kids to college, moms of newborns, parents who are raising their children bi-lingual. We narrow down those demographics in our search for influencers.
  • Above & Beyond Influencers. Once we’ve evaluated all these different quantifiable categories, we can consider what we at Everywhere Agency know about you the influencer. We call this the “Above & Beyond Factor.” We love influencers who repeatedly exceed expectations on client campaigns. They don’t just get their links in on time, they create awesome content, they ask questions, and they show true passion for the brand. Yes, many campaigns have bumps in the road that we have to work through, but it’s the working relationship with you that matters at this point.

Our InfluencerConnect™ platform helps us weigh what’s important to the client, but we can’t just rely on technology. We read your work, and we provide detailed notes on why we’ve recommended you. We make strong recommendations for influencers who we think will be a great fit, and sometimes we fight for you. But even though we are in your corner, at the end of the day it’s the client’s choice as to which influencers they will use for a campaign.

So, to any influencer who has not “been picked” for a campaign in a long time, it’s not because we don’t love you. We (heart) all our Everywhere Society members – that’s why we invited you to join in the first place! It’s not personal, nor is it the luck of the draw. It’s just complicated and a little bit like making sausages.

Society Spotlight: Danielle Lucia Schaffer

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With four children under the age of ten in tow, Danielle Lucia Schaffer is a boisterous, blonde, Italian ‘mombshell’ hailing from New York City who tells it like it is. Wife to San Diego’s first green dentist, this mom makes the juggle and struggle of mommyhood seem effortless. Her blog, City Girl Gone Mom, aims to entertain, educate, and inspire by sharing tips through her parenting wins – and occasional fails.

Taking her momager role quite seriously, Danielle guides her tribe through a healthy, active life, capturing some of their greatest moments on and off camera. Danielle is fun, fearless, and would stop at nothing to protect the Schaffer Six. No offense to her husband, but she rules her roost and has plenty of wisdom and wit to share with fellow superstar moms. She also has a column on the TODAY Parenting team!

Danielle Schaffer City Girl Gone Mom

 

Society Spotlight Quiz

  1. What are you reading these days? “This Little Piggy Went To Prada” …I am four deep into kids and nursery rhymes with a twist is all I got!
  2. Tell us about your most epic childhood birthday party. When we all dressed up like Michael Jackson and tried to reenact “Thriller.” Got to love the 80’s. Such a great era to be a kid in! I still listen to the music!
  3. Who’s your spirit animal? Sienna Miller. I just love that chick’s style, but if I really had to pick an animal, it would be a horse – I am like a stallion kicking in its corral!
  4. Okay then, so who’s your doppelganger? Drea de Matteo and Carolyn Bessette
  5. If you were a cocktail, what would you be? A white wine spritzer… One of my favorite drinks – classy, cool and crisp!
  6. The one product you absolutely cannot live without is: Bobbi Brown Tinted Moisturizing Balm (a necessity)
  7. Shout-out to your bloggy BFF! I really like @Mommy.Diary. She’s a sweetie!
  8. Confession time: Who was your first celeb crush? Brad Pitt. I dreamt he married me. I still remember the dream. He was a keeper!
  9. What was your first concert? How was it? Apparently, my hippie mom took me to a Bob Segar Concert front row when I was 2, and he put me on stage with him! Where was the iPhone when we needed it?
  10. Who’s your ultimate blogspiration? Cupcakes and Cashmere. I simply adore her!
  11. So, you’ve got writer’s block. Tried and true trick for getting over it? Wine and reading something I haven’t read. For me… I love US Weekly! Celebrity lives inspire me. Hahah.
  12. Top 3 pet peeves in life: Being the last one up to lock down the house, being late or people being late, and people showing up exactly on time to work. Show up five minutes early! I am a tough one!
  13. What’s your number one blogging/content creation tip? Growing your tribe and getting out of the car this school year.
  14. We love working with you and hope you feel the same about us. What’s been your fave Everywhere campaign to be a part of? I really love this last one I did for you guys with OshKosh b’Gosh, Styling the kids for the holidays. It was a labor of love! It was so hard to get my boys to smile for me, but the images came out great!

 

 

 

Micro-Influencers for Meaningful Results

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The newest trend in digital marketing is the use of influencers. Common perception is that an influencer is someone with millions of followers, but contrary to popular belief, an influencer can be someone with only a few hundred readers who are hyper-local and regularly engage with their content.

An often-overlooked group and potentially the key to leveraging influencers to your advantage is to use what’s called a micro-influencer. These influencers focus on different types of content specialties and reach target audiences of every thinkable niche. Micro-influencers have smaller followings but a much more relevant voice in their community. This tactic prioritizes quality over quantity – thus earning more valuable engagement, which will likely convert to sales.

According to Nielsen, a staggering 84% of consumers trust the recommendations of friends more than traditional advertising. In other words, they’re more likely to purchase what their favorite Instagram fashionista is wearing as opposed to Blake Lively. It’s a concept of relatability. Utilizing a group of carefully selected micro-influencers who strike a chord with your target demographic can – and often will – bring your brand more awareness than one post from a celebrity.

Ever wonder why influencer marketing campaigns work for others but not you? Maybe it’s a matter of your approach. Micro-influencer strategies aren’t one-size fits all – every campaign should be tailored to the specific goals of your brand.

When working with micro-influencers, the first trick is to think about the audience you want to reach. Do you need to get your brand in front of fitness fanatics in Columbus, Ohio? Working with health-oriented bloggers who have a substantial and loyal local following in that area is going to be your best bet.

Next, you need to be sure that the content they naturally create relates to the content you’d like to sponsor. Having a micro-influencer is only effective if their voice and perspective aligns with your brand. Choosing the right micro-influencer can help you achieve significant results AND connect you with genuine brand enthusiasts.

At Everywhere Agency, we are constantly running hyper-local campaigns for Macy’s. It’s our job to find influencers in specific locations to encourage their readers to attend in-store events. Depending on the event, we look for influencers who write content that relates to what’s going on and have a substantial amount of readers located close to each individual store. While a blogger with a huge nationwide audience seems attractive, they won’t reach the very niche, targeted demographic we are trying to hit.

Micro-influencers offer authenticity and a tailored approach for the brands that work with them. At a fraction of the cost, their engaged followers and unique perspectives make micro-influencers a dominant resource for marketers. These influencers are dedicated to their audiences and the content they put up on their blog. Nearly any brand can find a micro-influencer who aligns with their specific audience. Consumers today are craving a more authentic connection to brands – and you can give them that experience by collaborating with micro-influencers.

FTC Guidelines for Influencer Marketing

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There is a fair amount of panic these days about FTC guidelines, mostly driven by a handful of celebrities (like the Kardashians) who neglected to disclose the fact that they received financial compensation in exchange for social shares.

The FTC has even cracked down on major brands like Lord & Taylor for flagrantly defying the rules. To remind you, last year, the retailer paid 50 fashion influencers several thousand dollars each to post a picture, all wearing a flouncy paisley dress. It might have seemed random – but it wasn’t. They were compensated to post the picture, and as such, they should have let their followers know that this post was inspired by the love of money, rather than the love of paisley dresses.

Flouting of the rules gets negative media attention, including a recent front-page story in the New York Times, and causes major heartburn for legal teams at big brands – leaving them fretting over whether their influencer campaigns are compliant. So, how do you know if your influencer marketing team is following FTC Guidelines? Well, it helps if you understand both the ambiguities of said guidelines AND the explicit rules.

The philosophy behind the FTC guidelines is fairly straightforward. Any influencer who receives a product or compensation in exchange for a social share or blog post must disclose to their readers in a way that is clear, conspicuous, and unambiguous. Some marketers seem confused because there are no hard and fast rules. Mary K. Engle, the FTC’s associate director for advertising practices, explained to the New York Times, “We’re not prescriptive … but it has to be unambiguous.”

I understand the angst this causes rule-followers who want to have a hard and fast decree, so I’ll share a few more clues straight from the mouth of Mary Engle of the FTC, like this one: “The disclosure has to be placed in such a way that the consumer is not going to miss it.”

Imagine the average reader scrolling through his or her Facebook newsfeed. What will stop them dead in their tracks and clearly and unambiguously alert them that this post is sponsored by a brand? The word “ad” seems pretty obvious to me. Put a hashtag in front of it, and you’ve officially joined the ranks of paid influencers.

Some social media stars try to get fancy and use all sorts of catchphrases and clues as a workaround to the guidelines. Favorites include #spon, #collab, and #Co. Spon sounds like something a fish does, and collab makes me think you’re just super collaborative. Co? What does that mean? You’re starting a company?

Mary Engle seems to agree, “We’re seeing disclosures that are ambiguous, given the context of the culture of these platforms,” she said in PRWeek, “…#Ad and #sponsored is fine, but not #Spon and #Sp or #Collab or #co.” So, there you have it, straight out of the mouth of the FTC, #Spon, #Sp, #Collab, and #Co don’t make the grade.

Any agency or brand running influencer campaigns needs to be well versed in the guidelines. If they find them to be ambiguous, I suggest heading over to the nonprofit, Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA). WOMMA has been a devoted resource and the ethical guide to our industry since 2004. Here’s a link to their social media disclosure guidelines.

While the FTC may not provide a play-by-play for every scenario, it’s not that hard to stop and ask, “Is it clear? Is it unambiguous, and is the disclosure placed in such a way that the consumer is not going to miss it?”

Finally, when in doubt, always remember that #ad is ironclad!

National Dog Day Autotrader Event

Brands’ Best Friend: Pet Influencers Welcome

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Everywhere Agency knows that one of the quickest ways to likeable social content is to “Put on a dog on it!” We are canine enthusiasts, bringing our fur buddies to work regularly, ugly crying over dog rescue videos, and supporting pet adoption. Being both social media experts and animal lovers we’ve been following the trend of pet influencers for quite some time, and even way back in 2014, The Telegraph reported that 1 in 4 cats and dogs had their very own social media accounts. As of last week, we took our puppy love and social savvy to the next level. We have officially welcomed our first four-legged member to Everywhere Society, our in-house influencer network. Meet Indy the Goldendoodle.

pet influencer indy the goldendoodleOur dive into dog talent was inspired by our client, Autotrader. Everywhere was engaged to help produce #ParkandBark, an event celebrating National Dog Day. Autotrader used the event to educate dog owners about the best pet-friendly cars and accessories. Hundreds of dog guests enjoyed free treats, received swag prizes, and played in the costume photo booth. Pet experts schooled the crowd in dog CPR, the art of doggy massage (Shi-A-Tzu… Get it?), and puppies in need were available for adoption.

Everywhere also took this opportunity to reach out to a few A-list Instagram influencers, including Indy the Goldendoodle and Sparkles the Diva.

So why are brands so eager to add some canine appeal? It could have something to do with the fact that this year pet owners are projected to spend $62 billion dollars on their furry friends, according to the American Pet Products Association. Not to mention the added bonus that brand reputations are rarely ruined by the actions of a Yorkshire Terrier. Dogs breed happiness, with pups like ChloeKardoggian slinging products for Clorox and Boo the Pomeranian working as a liaison for Virgin Airlines, it’s hard to think of a brand that wouldn’t benefit from pup-endorsement.

If you know a great pet influencer looking for amazing brands, be sure to tell them to apply to Everywhere Society. Also, we will be attending BarkWorld, the premiere pet blogging conference, this October. If you’ll be there too, give us a woof because when it comes to pets and brands - we think this is just the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

5 Fashionable Reasons to Give Influencer Marketing a Try

Five Fashionable Reasons to Give Influencer Marketing Campaigns a Try

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We predict that 2016 is going to be “the year” for influencer marketing campaigns.

After all, nearly one in four marketers rate influencer marketing as the fastest-growing online customer-acquisition method, and nearly 60 percent of marketers are planning on increasing their spend in this area (AdWeek, 2015). It seems that everywhere you look online, there’s another popular Viner, Instagrammer or blogger touting a brand’s wares. As fashionable as influencer marketing seems to be, some brand marketers are still leery. What’s the ROI? How can I justify the spend? We contend that influencer marketing campaigns are more than the “new black.” What follows are five solid reasons to add influencers to your next campaign:

  1. Consumers trust third party recommendations. The latest Nielsen report concludes that a whopping 84 percent of people trust word of mouth marketing over any other form of advertising. The best influencers are friends with their fans and followers, and can offer up word of mouth about your brand.
  1. Influencers bring their community. After all, an influencer was once just an everyday person. Somewhere along the way, they took to social media to share their passions, their occasional rants and their point of view on their favorite topics. Their followers are like-minded, appreciate the way they think, and actively seek their advice. When you engage an influencer, you are essentially engaging that influencer’s entire community on behalf of your brand.
  1. Consumers crave authenticity. Cohn & Wolfe’s excellent study on authenticity indicates that consumers want honesty more than anything from their brands. If you choose an influencer with a true passion for your brand, you can build rich, authentic stories that tell your brand’s core essence. Furthermore, when you give an influencer the freedom to share his or her own personal experience with your brand or product, you’re creating trustworthy, honest content.
  1. The spend does not have to break the bank. The good news is that there are a variety of ways to implement influencer marketing campaigns without emptying your wallet. It’s okay to experiment and try a campaign with a few influencers on a smaller scale. Maybe there is an aspect of your brand’s story that is complicated (something that people are always inquiring about) that could benefit from a longer blog post or video share. You can easily manage expectations on an influencer marketing program with fewer dollars. The resulting shares and blog posts are measureable, reportable stories that benefit the brand, and could also help your SEO. As with the early days of social media, sometimes you need to experiment and prove your case to get more budget dollars.
  1. Influencers are amplifiers. No matter what your marketing message or campaign is, there are content creators out there who are willing to amplify it in your next influencer marketing campaign. They may already be an aficionado of your brand. They are waiting for you to reach out to them and provide them with the marketing tools to tell your story. Of course, they’ll want to be compensated for their efforts, but that’s true for any major publishing platform. And, when it comes to compensation, it’s important to be transparent, and thank heavens the FTC has guidelines around this!

So yes, influencer marketing campaigns may be all the rage, but for good reason. Getting influencers to speak positively about your brand on their social channels is a powerful word-of-mouth message. If you want to add a feather to your marketing plan’s hat, you might want to try it on for size.