An influencer marketing strategy solves the problem of organic social media activity by businesses only generating 1% reach with no engagement, as pointed out by Avinash Kaushik. As consumers increasingly turn to social media influencers rather than ads to inform purchase decisions, influencer marketing has become the next big thing. This course will teach how to develop an influencer engagement strategy to overcome challenges and improve the odds of a successful influencer marketing campaign.

1. Explain the ugly social media
marketing problems that an
influencer strategy solves.
Learning objective of Module 1, Lesson 1

2. Avinash Kaushik points out an ugly truth
• Avinash Kaushik says, “Kill all
the organic social media
activity by your company.”
• He explains businesses of all
types, including Google, got
on social media platforms like
Facebook and started pimping.
• “And, all it does is get you 1%
Reach, max, with almost no
engagement,” he points out.
Source: Avinash Kaushik, Occam’s Razor, “Stop All Social Media Activity (Organic) | Solve For A Profitable Reality,” June 7, 2017

3. Creating remarkable content is critical
• 4.6 billion pieces of content
are produced daily.
• That’s why creating remarkable
content is critical to success.
• Creating more low-quality
content merely contributes to
the glut of tweets, videos,
whitepapers, emails, listicles,
Instagrams, webinars,
infographics, podcasts, eBooks,
GIFs, blogs, and memes.

4. Interest in influencer marketing is spiking
Source: Google Trends, social media marketing, influencer marketing, and content marketing, Nov. 29, 2017

5. Definition of influencer marketing
• It is the practice of engaging
internal and industry experts
with active networks to help
achieve measurable business
goals.
• Those who incorporate
influencers into their social
media marketing earn an
average of $6.85 in media
value for every $1 they spend.
Source: Joshua Nite, TopRank Marketing Blog, “What Is Influencer Marketing? Definitions, Examples, and Resources,” May 2016

6. “Influencer marketing is the next big thing”
• As the world has shifted to
social media, consumers look
at fellow consumers to inform
their purchasing decisions.
• Instead of looking at ads, as
they did in the past, they now
look at each other and at their
favorite personalities.
• This is why many believe
influencer marketing to be the
next big thing.
Source: Adweek, “10 Reasons Why Influencer Marketing is the Next Big Thing,” July 14, 2015

7. What is the value of influencer marketing?
• On average, businesses are
making $6.50 in revenue for
each $1 spent on influencer
marketing.
• 70% are earning $2 or more,
and the top 13% are earning
$20 or more.
• But, 30% are either breaking
even or failing to generate a
return on their investment.
Source: Tomoson Blog, “Influencer Marketing Study,” March 10-16, 2015

8. How do you improve the odds of success?
• In this course, you will learn:
• The strategies and tactics for
overcoming the main
challenges when rolling out an
influencer engagement strategy.
• How to develop the business
case for launching an influencer
relations program.
• Why “Keeping Up with the
Kardashians” may not be the
best social media influencer
marketing strategy.
Source: Rutgers Business School Executive Education, “How do we get started with influencing influencers in our marketing campaigns?,” Aug. 8, 2017

9. Quiz: Explain the ugly social media marketing
problems that an influencer strategy solves.