Editorial - Influencers and vanity metrics

Introduction - The problem with vanity metrics

What’s an easy way to make almost $10 million?

For a group of New Zealanders, it was to set up a business that sold fake Instagram likes to users around the world.

Unfortunately for them, they got so successful in their endeavours that they attracted the attention of Instagram’s owner, Facebook, which has ended up pursuing them through the US courts.

I use that example to illustrate the scale of the fake follower and engagement industry. It spans thousands, probably tens of thousands of businesses worldwide. Some are small bot farms. Some, like our New Zealand example, are quite substantial and successful businesses.

And these businesses have a ready customer base, which includes the majority of Instagram users worldwide, if a study over the Summer is to be believed.

Users are to blame, to a certain extent so are the social networks with their emphasis on validation (hence why it’s positive that Facrebook is considering hiding Facebook and Instagram likes), but so are we - brand marketers.

Aviation brands are one of the main users of so-called ‘influencers’ and very often the big number, ‘how many followers does this person have?’, is still the starting point.

This was a topic I discussed with Misael Trujillo. who invited me onto the ‘Promote the Hell out of It’ podcast.

The discussion revolved around everything from how the fake follower industry works (the services you find on Google are by and large resellers, making a mark-up) to why the social networks don’t do more to crack down on the practice (possibly because they’d see a sudden numbers drop if they did so).

But coming back to what we do as aviation marketers, what’s the solution, should we disregard follower numbers completely? That’s obviously not practical, we still need some kind of metric to give us an idea of reach, but it shouldn’t be the most important one, let alone the only one.

The importance of credibility and content

Instead, I personally recommend starting with two criteria - credibility and content.

First of all, is the individual in question credible?

Do they know the topic, and is there a community that is engaged and following what they are saying (look at the comments).

Have they been recognised elsewhere, for example in independent blogger awards? If in the travel space, do they write anywhere else, for example in mainstream media or for travel guide books?

And is the content they produce of a high quality, and does it fit with our brand?

5. Start with those two factors. Then move onto other metrics.

A guide to sonic branding with DLMDD

Do you have a recognisable sonic brand, and should you have one? What do your passengers hear when they board your aircraft? How about if they ring up your customer services line?

If you are an airport operator, what kind of sounds do passengers hear in different areas of the terminals and lounges?

To look at these questions in more detail we’ve partnered up with DLMDD an agency which builds brands through sounds.

Among other things we’ve got a review of a selection of boarding songs, we look at the latest research as to why sonic branding should be taken as seriously as visual branding, and we provide some pointers as to what you should be doing next, if looking to create a consistent and effective sonic brand.

As always, if you are working on a marketing campaign that you think we should know about, please email me - editor@airlinemarketingmonthly.com

Dirk Singer - Editor, Airline Marketing Monthly / Content Director, SimpliFlying