ANAs Influencer Marketing Guidelines Have Room For Improvement

Last month, the National Association of Advertisers released its first Influencer Marketing Guidelines, detailing how marketers approach disciplinary measures for brands.

The recommendations focus primarily on providing marketers with metrics related to consumer awareness, engagement, and conversion key performance indicators. ANA also recommended using these guidelines as a starting point, sharing them with internal marketing teams, and aligning with partner agencies to use these guidelines to measure and report on organic campaigns.

Influencer marketing has grown in popularity among brands in recent years, with a Meltwater study published in May showing a 27% increase in feed-sponsored posts compared to last year.

However, despite ANA's best efforts, influencer marketing guidelines leave a lot to be desired, according to Jason Lucy, senior director of marketing measurements at Real Chemistry.

Lucy said the recommendations are mostly generic and based on simple metrics that lack the nuances marketers need to better advise customers.

“Maybe it was just a way to open the door at ANA, maybe it was just a way to start a conversation and have good intentions, but it doesn't matter what we're going to focus on when talking to clients about performance. and what am I doing. Lucy said.

Lucy added that understanding the reach and goals of an influencer-backed campaign is critical for agencies, noting that delivering results to clients is a top priority. Considering the cost of time and resources, it is necessary to measure interactions with influencers on behalf of customers and, therefore, useful interactions with the audience. He said that this is not currently reflected in the current policy of the Afghan National Army.

The main value that influencers bring to the equation is their unique point of view and sense of authenticity, which amplifies their message and makes it more relevant to their followers. Lucy points out that influencer cascading effects when their followers continue to promote a message or content are an important part of today's marketing strategy but are missing from the guidelines.

“There is a secondary multiplier effect that offers unique value to influencer marketing,” he said. "But it needs loyal fans, people who are connected to powerful people and who are associated with authenticity. We want to be careful not to abuse it."

Looking ahead, Lucy said it's hard to tell what the future holds for influencer marketing, noting that the discipline has seen some tough adjustments in recent years. However, he predicted that this would not go away and that agencies and brands would find "the right balance" and talk smarter about strategies and metrics.

Lucy said the main question marketers need to ask themselves is how influencer marketing creates business value for customers. He said that marketers shouldn't sidestep the topic with a number of metrics, but instead should focus on discussing how far they've progressed in the consumer lifecycle, or journey from customer to patient.

“If we can focus on real value and impact, we will do better,” he said. “Hopefully we can reduce the noise a bit, tell a better story and do a good job that way.”

Don't classify people