{"id":42593,"date":"2016-04-20T09:44:31","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T13:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/post\/?p=42593"},"modified":"2016-04-25T09:38:27","modified_gmt":"2016-04-25T13:38:27","slug":"birchbox-zappos-new-type-influencer-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/birchbox-zappos-new-type-influencer-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Birchbox and Zappos: The New Type of Influencer Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">Influencer marketing isn&#8217;t new; using celebrities to sell products is an age-old practice. However, a new type of influencer marketing &#8212; using regular customers as brand spokespeople &#8212; is on the rise. <a href=\"https:\/\/nrf.com\/news\/customers-are-the-new-celebrities\"><span class=\"s1\">Highlighted in a National Retail Federation (NRF) article<\/span><\/a>, &#8220;Customers Are the New Celebrities,&#8221; this trend of curating a group of select social media users to elevate a brand message and generate sales is being led by a few savvy retailers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tapinfluence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/TapInfluence_Retail_SB_FINAL.pdf\">report by TapInfluence<\/a>, influencers are revealed to be important to brands for four key reasons: they reach a targeted audience, they create trust, they generate active engagement, and they help drive return on investment. Though it requires legwork from the brand to identify regular customers with loyal internet followers, the four tenets resonate for these individuals. Retail Touchpoints, reporting on a NRF Big Show 2016 session, noted that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.retailtouchpoints.com\/topics\/digital-marketing\/use-influencer-marketing-to-connect-your-brand-with-shoppers\"><span class=\"s1\">81 percent of consumers make purchase decisions based on friends&#8217; social media posts<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Millennials may also be at the heart of this changing consumer preference. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.business2community.com\/marketing\/2016-influencer-marketing-swell-01438442#8MZiY2oHp9qEtTlp.97\"><span class=\"s1\">Research indicates<\/span><\/a> that 74 percent of millennials are most likely to trust their friends and family when it comes to product\/brand conversations, and 68 percent trust peer reviews. According to a Business 2 Community <a href=\"http:\/\/Free Webcast: Sales Primer for Non-Sales Founders Learn more \u203a Business 2 Community Home Page Digital &amp; Social Sales &amp; Marketing Business &amp; Finance Life &amp; Entertainment Technology &amp; Innovation US &amp; World News BrandViews Marketing The 2016 Influencer Marketing Swell by Ami Iannone January 28, 2016 Twitter Facebook Google+ LinkedIn Flipboard 0 61 SHARES And how you can ride the wave Influencer_Marketing_SwellInfluencer marketing has had a triumphant rise into the mainstream as marketers and brands alike embrace social marketing and realize that followers alone are not equivalent to currency. Brands and agencies continue to search for ROI on social media marketing as they notice that their brand messaging alone may not be telling the entire story. Why is Influencer Marketing on the Rise? Yep, you guessed it, those pesky millennials again. Traditional ad buys just aren&#8217;t doing the trick. Millennials are streaming their TV online and paying to avoid advertising placements in all of their entertainment. Even if those traditional ad placements can make it through ad-blocking software&#8211; recent research from PageFair finds that as many as 22.7% of browsers are using ad blocking software&#8211; those messages usually don&#8217;t resound with this consumer group. Millennials want depth and authenticity from brands. Recommended for You Webcast: Sales Primer for Non-Sales Founders So What Does Work? Peer influence Millennials trust their friends way more than they trust brand messages. Research finds that millennials are much more likely to trust peer recommendation over brand advertising. And 53% of the Millennials surveyed said that user-generated content has an influence on their purchase decisions. Creativity Millennials want valuable, creative content. They appreciate humor, style, and thoughtfulness in advertising. Native advertising has been growing for this very reason. When advertisers know their consumers and understand the content they are engaging with, they can mimic that content style and implement brand messages into those formats. Influencer marketing combines these two tenets: find the consumers where they are and provide them with meaningful brand content from a familiar and trusted voice. How Can I &#8216;Ride the Wave&#8217; to Benefit My Brand? Feel it out. Try to focus a portion of your social media advertising budget to exploring influencer marketing in 2016. Isolate this marketing to determine how it compares with other strategies and whether it is a good fit for your brand. Learn how to launch an influencer marketing program on Instagram by downloading our free planning guide! Quality and quantity. Unlike traditional media buys, it&#8217;s not all about reach. Don&#8217;t think that an influencer has to have 100K followers to make an impact. Find your ideal influencer who has a lifestyle fit with your brand, affection for your brand, and a content style that reflects the values of your brand. Get creative. Don&#8217;t think that you can just have influencers post the same traditional kinds of ads onto their channels. Those messages won&#8217;t resound with your consumers no matter who they are coming from. Make sure you&#8217;ve spent some time creating an interesting campaign, hashtag, and creative angle for influencers to interact with your product. Brands like ZTE have done this very well by promoting the launch of their new phone with a combination of humor and tech influencers. Share Tweet Email More Author: Ami Iannone View full profile \u203a More by this author: Netflix Is Joining The Influencer Marketing Movement Benefits of Instagram Account Takeovers Do Your Instagram Influencers Need to be Celebrities? Follow Ami Iannone: Ami Iannone on the Web Ami Iannone on LinkedIn Ami Iannone RSS Feed This article originally appeared on Capturing Moments and has been republished with permission. Find out how to syndicate your content with Business 2 Community. Sponsored content on Business 2 Community How to Conserve Energy and Save Money How to Conserve Energy and Save Money By PECO Do you want to save your business money? Here's where to start. You May Also Like The Doors to Design: 10 Essential Terms Every Marketer Needs to Know Is This Tiny Stock the Next Big Thing? Venture Capital News How to Hack Sales [Interview] Brisk Blog Recommended by Around the Web Top Stocks for 2016 Venture Capital News Why Are Millions of People Falling in Love With Customer Service Bots? 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When Is It Most Beneficial To Give Gifts To Loyal Customers? 159 Image: Proven Tips for Improving Sales Productivity Proven Tips for Improving Sales Productivity 157 Image: B2B Influencer Marketing: 5 Tips on How to Work It, and Improve Your Market Share B2B Influencer Marketing: 5 Tips on How to Work It, and Improve Your Market Share 149 2 AD SPONSORED Debunking negative reverse mortgage myths Sponsored by LendingTree.com Image: public relations strategies PR Gaining Greater Respect &amp; Influence in Marketing Strategy 139 Should You Invest in a Direct-Mail Postcard Marketing Campaign? 131 Image: Why Your Photos Are Losing Business (and What to Do) Why Your Photos Are Losing Business (and What to Do) 122 Join our Community Twitter Facebook Google Plus LinkedIn Pinterest StumbleUpon SlideShare Flipboard RSS Sign up for our newsletter today: @ Webcasts White Papers Apr 20 Sales Primer for Non-Sales Founders Apr 27 Improving Your Sales Funnel: How to 3x Leads, Sales, and Lifetime Value May 02 The Future of Competitive Intelligence on Mobile Advertising May 11 Growth Hacking Live: 30 Ways to Boost Your Startup in Real-Time\u200b Recommended Cloud Sales Apps: Featured Shared Commented #1: Shawn Rice Shawn Rice Latest - Iggy Azalea Definitely Responds To Rumors About Possible Breakup With Nick Young #2: Personal Branding Blog Personal Branding Blog Latest - How to Not Be Just Another Boring E-commerce Site #3: Kevin O'Brien Kevin O'Brien Latest - 3 Simple Do It Yourself SEO Tips #4: Imani Mixon Imani Mixon Latest - 10 Super Simple Social Media Marketing Tips #5: Ben Slepp Ben Slepp Latest - The Doors to Design: 10 Essential Terms Every Marketer Needs to Know Our Contributors Apply to become a B2C Contributor \u2191 Back to Top About Business 2 Community Privacy &amp; Terms of Use For Advertisers Job Board\"><span class=\"s1\">article<\/span><\/a>, millennials are leading the charge when it comes to demanding creative advertising content. Not only does blanket messaging no longer work, but personalized, valuable and interesting content is expected. Reviews from people they know and trust can have more of an impact than traditional advertising.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.zappos.com\/\">Zappos.com<\/a>, a leader in the influencer marketing space, works with lifestyle and fashion bloggers on an ongoing basis to drive trial and review, notes Jaclyn Ruelle, senior vice president, account director at MullenLowe. The online shoe and apparel retailer works to identify blogger partners that are representative of its brand personality &#8212; quirky, upbeat, fun and stylish &#8212; to produce authentic content focused on Zappos&#8217; products and customer service.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In fact, allowing your brand to be represented in a less-than-perfect light could be a bonus. &#8220;Customers prefer to buy from <a href=\"https:\/\/nrf.com\/news\/5-non-obvious-retail-trends-2015\"><span class=\"s1\">brands that are human<\/span><\/a>,&#8221; said Rohit Bhargava, CEO and founder of Influential Marketing Group, during his NRF Big Show 2016 presentation. Bhargava cited this dynamic as one of five nonobvious retail trends in 2015.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Birchbox, a company that sells sample-size new lifestyle products and grooming tools through a monthly subscription box, is another example of a retailer doing influencer marketing right. Instagram is the primary platform for Birchbox&#8217;s influencer marketing efforts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Last May, Birchbox <a href=\"http:\/\/www.socialmediaexaminer.com\/5-brands-on-instagram-that-succeed-with-influencer-marketing\/\">partnered<\/a> with a blogger who has a large following to &#8220;curate&#8221; a box. The blogger&#8217;s curated box resulted in 18,000 likes and reached more than 550,000 consumers. Birchbox also allows influencers to <a href=\"http:\/\/fullbottle.co\/how-birchbox-uses-instagram-influencer-marketing-to-sell-physical-products\/\"><span class=\"s1\">take over its corporate account<\/span><\/a> on holidays like Mother&#8217;s Day, resulting in fresh, unique content for its Instagram account.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Marketing Dive <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marketingdive.com\/news\/why-influencer-marketing-has-a-metrics-problem-and-how-we-can-solve-it\/412845\/\">reported<\/a> social influencers can be a powerful media channel, but there are challenges setting and tracking the right metrics. The success of Zappos and Birchbox with influencer marketing is due, in no small part, to the fact that they knew how they would measure success before they started. Zappos tracked how much its bloggers influenced individual sales, while Birchbox recorded how many reaches and likes its Instagram campaigns generated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Social influencers&#8217; value can be an important part of a retailer&#8217;s overall marketing plans &#8212; above and beyond its ability to be measured. By using regular customers in influencer marketing, and having a clear understanding of what determines success in any given campaign, retailers and brands can be sure to set themselves apart from their competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Influencer marketing isn&#8217;t new; using celebrities to sell products is an age-old practice. However, a new type of influencer marketing &#8212; using regular customers as brand spokespeople &#8212; is on the rise. Highlighted in a National Retail Federation (NRF) article, &#8220;Customers Are the New Celebrities,&#8221; this trend of curating a group of select social media [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1183,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"coauthors":[103023],"class_list":["post-42593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-social-media-marketing","tag-birchbox","tag-bloggers","tag-brand-advocates","tag-brand-influencers","tag-content-marketing","tag-customer-reviews","tag-greg-petro","tag-influencer-marketing","tag-influencer-marketing-campaigns","tag-instagram","tag-likes","tag-social-audience","tag-social-followers","tag-social-influencers","tag-social-media","tag-social-media-marketing","tag-social-reach","tag-zappos","editorial_type-columnsopinions","person-greg-petro","blog_channel-off-the-retail-record"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Birchbox and Zappos: The New Type of Influencer Marketing - Total Retail<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By using regular customers in influencer marketing, and having a clear understanding of what determines success in any given campaign, retailers and brands can be sure to set themselves apart from their competition.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/post\/birchbox-zappos-new-type-influencer-marketing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The New Type of Influencer Marketing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By using regular customers in influencer marketing, and having a clear understanding of what determines success in any given campaign, retailers and brands can be sure to set themselves apart from their competition.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/birchbox-zappos-new-type-influencer-marketing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Total Retail\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-20T13:44:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-04-25T13:38:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Greg Petro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"The New Type of Influencer Marketing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MyTotalRetail\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MyTotalRetail\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Greg Petro\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/birchbox-zappos-new-type-influencer-marketing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/birchbox-zappos-new-type-influencer-marketing\/\",\"name\":\"Birchbox and Zappos: The New Type of Influencer Marketing - Total Retail\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-20T13:44:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-04-25T13:38:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/#\/schema\/person\/418946d9809f9e50d3a0715614e8f41c\"},\"description\":\"By using regular customers in influencer marketing, and having a clear understanding of what determines success in any given campaign, retailers and brands can be sure to set themselves apart from their competition.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/birchbox-zappos-new-type-influencer-marketing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/birchbox-zappos-new-type-influencer-marketing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/birchbox-zappos-new-type-influencer-marketing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Birchbox and Zappos: The New Type of Influencer Marketing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/\",\"name\":\"Total Retail\",\"description\":\"The Retailer&#039;s Source for Content &amp; Community\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/#\/schema\/person\/418946d9809f9e50d3a0715614e8f41c\",\"name\":\"Greg Petro\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/23494c9101089ad44ae88ce9d2f56aac\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Greg Petro\"},\"description\":\"Greg Petro is founder and CEO of First Insight, a technology company transforming how leading retailers make product investment and pricing decisions. 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Greg is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Fashion Institute of Technology, as well as a frequent speaker at the graduate business schools of Columbia University and the University of Pittsburgh. Greg also speaks and at a number of industry conferences, where he educates his listeners on how retailers can use technology to identify and deliver what their customers really want. 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Greg has a 25-year history in the retail industry with a career spanning merchandising, sales and management. But while at one of the world\u2019s leading supply chain technology firms, he saw a need for retailers and brands to re-engage with consumers to determine which products would be top sellers well before costly investments are made to bring them to market. In 2007, Greg Petro founded First Insight Inc., a technology company that delivers what is now the world\u2019s leading predictive analytics platform for consumer-testing new products. Through engaging consumers online and mining social data, the First Insight platform empowers retailers and brands to introduce the right products at the right price, and target them to the right customers. Today, he serves as its Chief Executive Officer and President. Greg is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Fashion Institute of Technology, as well as a frequent speaker at the graduate business schools of Columbia University and the University of Pittsburgh. Greg also speaks and at a number of industry conferences, where he educates his listeners on how retailers can use technology to identify and deliver what their customers really want. Mr. Petro holds both MBA and Bachelor\u2019s Degrees from the University of Pittsburgh.","url":"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/author\/gregpetro\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1183"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42593\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mytotalretail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=42593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}