Overview

Influencer Marketing is a vital tool that brands must utilize to stay relevant in today’s fast-paced business climate. By allocating media spend to Influencer Marketing, companies can target niche consumer segments that have been unavailable in the past. Ken Kerry and Luke Slota will examine the importance of the role Influencer Marketing plays in increasing brand awareness, trust, and purchase intent.

#ThoughtLeaderThursday

On November 18, 2021, Script to Screen, a Direct-to-Consumer agency, held a #ThoughtLeaderThursday webinar.  Script to Screen Co-Founder, Ken Kerry, interviewed Luke Slota, SVP of Influencer Marketing at Havas Edge, the largest growing, performing marketing agency in the world with offices in Europe and Australia, and will soon expand to Japan and India.

Our Guest

Luke Slota is the SVP of YouTube and Influencer Marketing at Havas Edge. He is responsible for overseeing all strategy and implementation of the Influencer Marketing channel. Luke has been successful in scaling dozens of small test campaigns into evergreen acquisition channels spending tens of millions of dollars annually. Luke brings varied and valuable experience to his role with nearly a decade of time spent in the influencer space. He has held every position in influencer media, from coordinator, all the way to VP of Influencer Marketing. Luke believes that strong relationships on the network side will always lead to better opportunities on the brand side.

Luke served in the US Army from 2002-2005 as an Airborne Infantry Squad Leader in both Iraq and Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Upon completion of his enlistment, he attended SUNY Cortland and majored in History and Communications.

Why Influencers?

Influencer Marketing is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placement from influencers, people and organizations who have a purported expert level of knowledge or social influence in their field.  Dedicated influencers are top performers.

Influencer Marketing should be at the top of every smart company’s priority list as it can help

you target new audiences and build consumer trust in your brand. By building your relationship and placing integrations in context with the influencers, they can sample your product and be enthusiastic about it, so they truly believe in the brand. In turn, they will bring the product to their loyal following. This is what brings value to the company and its product.

There are 4 Types of Influencers – Nano (1K–10K followers), Micro (10K–100K followers), Macro (100K–1M followers) and Mega or Celebrity Influencers (1M+ followers). Large companies often opt for Macro Influencers simply because of the reach they have. They can reach more than 20 times the audience of Micro Influencers, which helps when brands are trying to broadcast a message to a large, often diverse group of people.

YouTube – Ken asked Luke to explain the importance of the content in line with the context of the YouTube platform. “It is the understanding of working the ad reading to your content without disrupting it, so your audience isn’t upset. The value is that the ad doesn’t get stiff.  The audience listens and watches the full ad because it’s entertaining. They want to hear the influencer’s/creator’s recommendations.”

Highlights

[00:01]  Opening

00.19  Introduction

03.16  Let the influencer try your product

06.24  An influencer’s audience is your audience

07.59  Dedicated influencers move your brand

11.13  Influencers can open your eyes to new markets

13.55  Trusting your media team leads to success

31.24  Consider the value your influencer creates

38.39  Closing remarks