Borenstein Group

Washington DC’s Expert Top B2B|B2G Digital Branding Agency

Alexa Kelly

What Influencer Marketing Is and What It Is Not

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Influencer marketing is everywhere these days. It’s a buzz word in the air for every marketing guru out there. But what is influencer marketing really? In this blog post, we will cover what influencer marketing is and, just as importantly, what influencer marketing is not.

An influencer is someone with a large following on social media. The best ones have highly engaged and loyal audiences. They are likely experts in their industries and have the power to affect the perceptions and behaviors of others.

Influencer marketing means hiring an influencer to promote your product or service, borrowing the influencer’s reach. It is an effective technique, as consumers do not like being advertised to and rely on tools like ad blockers to avoid these messages. As traditional marketing has less and less credibility, influencer-based marketing becomes more powerful.

It leads to improved word-of-mouth for your product or service. It provides social proof, which is the idea that when someone supports something, others will follow. It can expand your reach, brand awareness, customer loyalty and conversions.

Before you approach an influencer, make sure you have clear goals in mind. It also means following FTC guidelines carefully. You must always disclose when a post is a paid advertisement.

On the other hand, influencers are not robots for hire who will do whatever you command. This form of marketing means investing in a relationship with an influencer and his or her audience, not expecting a robotic output of your orders. You should not tell an influencer what to say about your product or service. They know best how to communicate with their fans, so you should let them drive the creative.

Unfortunately, influencer marketing is not a guarantee of ROI. Although studies have shown that this form of marketing is effective, you must go into it knowing that the message may not resonate with your target audience.

Influencers are not just traditional celebrities. An influencer can be anyone with a significant social media following who is trusted in a niche industry.

Influencer marketing is not just a trend. It has been around for a long time, and it will continue to grow as other forms of marketing and advertising become less effective.

Looking to up your influencer marketing game? Turn to the experts at the Borenstein Group, a Top DC marketing agency. We can get your influencer campaign started and successful right away.

What’s Brand Authenticity and What It Isn’t

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Honesty is the best policy. This statement is especially true when it comes to brand authenticity. More and more consumers demand authenticity from brands. But what does brand authenticity really mean? Here are a few key components of what brand authenticity is and what it is NOT.

Brand authenticity means being honest and transparent with all current and potential customers. Transparency means showing how you run your business as well as how you create your products or services. You can provide additional product info such as how your product is made, where it is sourced, and a complete list of ingredients.

Being authentic also means apologizing for mistakes. You do not want to sugarcoat your problems. It is better to own up to your missteps than to pretend they never happened or that they were not as bad as they appeared. Admitting your faults makes you seem more vulnerable and ultimately more trustworthy to consumers. Of course, admitting your wrong is only the first step. You also have to solve the problems you have caused in an honest and forthright way.

Consistency is key for brand authenticity. You want to make sure you follow through on your promises because actions always speak louder than words. Part of this is also responding to customer questions and concerns quickly and honestly. Across all platforms and social media, you want to stay on top of customer comments and respond as rapidly as possible. Take time to build relationships with your customers based on authentic two-way communication.

You may want to also focus on the story behind your business. Why did you start your company in the first place? Why are you passionate about your products or services? What is the ultimate vision for your organization? Sharing this authentic story with your employees and customers will help them trust you as an authentic, genuine company. This ultimately leads to deeper customer loyalty.

Another way to build trust is to speak up on social issues. Investing in corporate social responsibility means giving back, so your company stands for something more than just turning a profit. Acting with integrity and donating to causes that make the world a better place will have your company looking more authentic and trustworthy in the eyes of consumers.

Now that you know some examples of what brand authenticity is, here are some examples of what it is not. Being inauthentic on social media is a way to destroy trust in your organization. One way to do this is to buy likes or followers on social media rather than earning them organically. Another example of inauthenticity is to use stock photos rather than real photos taken of your company.

Additionally, jumping onto trends that are irrelevant to your brand is an example of what brand authenticity is not. In 2014, DiGiorno used the popular hashtag #WhyIStayed in a tweet that said, “#WhyIStayed You had pizza.” Unfortunately, the hashtag referred to victims of domestic violence. Trying to hop on a trend without thoroughly researching it can lead brands to seem inauthentic and untrustworthy.

Failing to stay true to your company’s products or services is another example of what brand authenticity is not. In one incident, LG France tweeted from an iPhone, showing that the company’s employees do not use its products. True brand authenticity means staying true to your brand at all times and not letting slip-ups like that take place.

Are you interested in making your brand more authentic? Contact the Borenstein Group, a Top DC marketing agency. We can improve your brand authenticity in no time.

What is Influencer Marketing and 4 Tools to Kick-Start Your Campaign

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Influencer marketing is one of the hottest topics in the marketing world today. Many marketers are clamoring to start their own campaigns working with the world’s biggest social media stars. But what is influencer marketing really? And what tools can you use to find and connect with powerful influencers?

An influencer is someone who can affect the perceptions and actions of others. They can convince their many followers to read a book, try a recipe, or buy a product. In the context of influencer marketing, an influencer is advocating for a product or service on behalf of a company or organization. You are borrowing their reach, in a sense, by having the influencer share your message with their social media followers in exchange for free products, money, or other forms of compensation.

Influencer marketing is so effective because consumers trust third-party endorsements of brands more than messages directly from the brands themselves. They have built up a relationship with the influencer, so they trust their opinions on products and services, even if it is a paid sponsorship. Influencer marketing also gets around the tricky problem of ad blockers. Ad blockers prevent people from seeing banner ads on the internet. Even with ad blockers in place, potential customers would see influencer marketing posts alongside regular editorial content.

BuzzSumo is a popular tool for connecting with influencers. You can find the most popular content around a specific topic and identify who shared it. You can also search for influencers using keywords and hashtags. Another feature of BuzzSumo allows you to filter by different types of influencers such as bloggers, journalists, and companies.

Klout is a useful influencer marketing tool to help you gauge the influence of your influencers. The platforms give everyone on social media a score from one to 100 based on how influential the individual is. The higher the score, the higher the influence. An average person has a score of 40. Celebrities have Klout scores over 90. You will likely want to work with influencers who have a Klout score of 60 or above.

Traackr is an influencer marketing tool that helps you create, manage, and track your influencer marketing campaigns. You can use Traackr to search for new influencers to become your potential partners and see in-depth metrics about the influencer’s online activity. Traackr helps you monitor how well each of your influencer marketing campaigns is performing, including the mentions and engagement they generate.

Famebit is an influencer marketing tool owned by Google that connects brands with YouTube creators. To use Famebit, you submit your creative brief about your product or service. Then, YouTube creators will send you pitches about what kind of video they would create about your company’s offering. You select the proposal that works best for your organization.

Is your company interested in trying influencer marketing? Partner with the Borenstein Group, a Top DC marketing agency. We can connect you with top social media influencers to get your campaign off the ground right away.

Top 5 Recruitment Advertising Trends to Attract the Best Talent

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Your company is only as strong as your employees. That’s why recruiting is an essential process for every company. You want the best and the brightest on your team, and you can only achieve this through effective recruitment advertising. If you have never worked in recruiting before, you may not know where to begin. Here are the top five trends in recruitment advertising to get you started.

  1. Social recruiting is one of the most important trends in recruitment marketing this year. Social recruiting refers to using different social media networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, to recruit qualified candidates. As a first step, this means posting open job advertisements on your company’s social media channels. Social recruiting also includes searching for candidates and encouraging them to apply for open positions via social media.
  2. Remarketing ads are another recruitment marketing trend to consider in your recruiting toolkit. You may have seen remarketing ads as you shop online and see an ad following you. Say you found a sweater on a website but did not make a purchase. Later on, you may see a remarketing ad for that sweater as you browse a different website. The same principle can apply to recruitment advertising. Remarketing ads can appear to candidates who showed an interest in your careers website but have not yet applied for open positions.
  3. Artificial intelligence (AI) is also on the rise in the world of recruitment advertising. Instead of spending hours on end sorting through cover letters and resumes, recruiters can outsource some of these more rote tasks to AI technology, saving them time and effort in the recruitment process. Recruiters can also deploy chatbots as part of the hiring experience. Candidates can ask routine questions to chatbots to quickly learn valuable information without needing an actual recruiter to jump in.
  4. Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important trend this year for recruitment advertising. A key component of SEO is making sure your careers website is optimized for mobile devices. As more and more people search for jobs on mobile phones, search engines and potential candidates alike will appreciate a mobile-optimized website. SEO also involves keyword research as well as the creation of top-notch content, such as blog posts about open positions.
  5. Texting is another recruitment advertising trend this year. Recruiters can send text messages to potential job candidates at various stages throughout the recruiting process. With everyone spending so much time on their phones, it is no wonder that texting is an effective way to reach job applicants.

Are you recruiting job candidates to your company? You can receive expert advice and support from the Borenstein Group, a Top DC marketing agency. We can help you have excellent recruitment advertising for all stages of the recruiting process.

What is Reputation Management and How Does it Work?

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In the business-to-business (B2B) world, what people think of you matters. It affects the number of customers, the quality of your sales and ultimately your bottom line. Your reputation both on and offline makes a huge difference for your company. But what is B2B reputation management and how does it work? We’ll answer these questions in this blog post.

Brand reputation is never fully under your control. It’s what people say about you when you’re not in the room. Reputation management is the act of improving and protecting the reputation of a company, product or service.

SEO is an important tool in reputation management. It grows sales, and it helps you appear at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). SEO also pushes positive content above negative content in search results. For good SEO, you should regularly update your company blog using targeted keywords. Link building is another important component of SEO, which you can achieve by guest blogging on other websites and linking back to your website. Pay-per-click (PPC) ads can also boost your online reputation in addition to SEO.

Testimonials are another key component of B2B reputation management. You want to have real, genuine, up-to-date testimonials on your website painting your company in a positive light. Detailed case studies can also boost your reputation. Actively solicit feedback from customers to build your cache of testimonials. Of course, negative reviews are hard to avoid. You should respond to negative comments, or any comments, quickly and without getting defensive. You also need to monitor any mentions of your brand online using a service such as Google Alerts, so you can respond to any feedback at a moment’s notice.  

Being active on social media can boost your company’s reputation. You will also want to invest in content marketing to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry. Having a strong public relations program can help in this area. PR representatives can generate positive press, inform customer opinions, improve brand perception and increase your web presence.

Leveraging your employees as brand advocates can help with reputation management. Make sure you monitor your employees’ social media accounts and online content to make sure they are presenting your company in the best possible light. You will also highlight how your company benefits society. Having a strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) program can do wonders for your reputation.

Are you looking to better manage your B2B company’s reputation? Turn to the Borenstein Group, a Top DC marketing agency. We can help manage your reputation to boost your bottom line.

How to Earn Authentic Customer Testimonials

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    You can tell potential customers all day long how great you are, but they probably will not listen to you. Brands are not credible in the eyes of consumers. Do you know who they will listen to? Other consumers. That is why customer testimonials are so powerful. Here are a few ways to earn authentic customer testimonials.

Customer testimonials are a form of social proof. In other words, people are more likely to follow the actions of others. We will be more likely to purchase a product or service if we see that other satisfied customers have purchased it already. Customer testimonials also play on our fear of missing out or FOMO. We want to be part of the crowd, not missing out on the latest and greatest the marketplace has to offer.

You can look for organic and authentic testimonials on your social media accounts. Facebook pages allow followers to leave reviews for different companies. Source the reviews you receive on Facebook for testimonials on your own website. Also, look for testimonials left on your Twitter and Instagram accounts. You can ask followers specifically to send in their reviews via social media. By leaving your customer a recommendation or endorsement on LinkedIn, they may leave you a testimonial in return.

Another way to encourage customer testimonials is to incentivize them. Offer a free upgrade or a discount in exchange for an honest testimonial about your product or service. If you have a rewards program, you could also give loyalty points in exchange for reviews. An additional technique is to offer a testimonial swap. If you and your customer have both used each other’s services and are satisfied, then you can both write reviews for one another. You could also offer your product or service for free to get feedback, which is especially useful if you are still establishing your customer base.

To get authentic testimonials from customers, you have to ask open-ended questions about their experience with your product, services or company in general. You want to ask specific questions to get specific answers. Testimonials should focus on the tangible impact you made for your customer and should not be vague. One potential question to ask customers could be would you recommend this service to a friend, and if so why?

You can ask for testimonials from customers via email, over the phone or in person. It helps to ask immediately after your project is done or after they have gotten value from your product or service. That way, you are still fresh in their minds. You could send out a survey via email with questions asking for a testimonial. Be sure to also save emails with kind, organic comments from customers and ask their permission to publish the testimonials on your website.

Are you looking to boost your customer testimonials? Turn to the experts at the Borenstein Group, a Top DC marketing agency. We can help you quickly earn authentic customer testimonials to boost your bottom line.