Strategy & Promotion Document THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK: A GUIDE TO TRUE BRANDING ELEANOR THOMPSON
CONTENTS 03- Concept
29- Promotion
04- Rationale
43- Budget
05- Target Audience
45- Social and ethical
08- Market Analysis
48- Risk Assessment
13- Competitor Analysis
49- Timeline
16- Primary Research
50- The future of the concept
19- Content Strategy
52- Reference List
CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
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THE CONCEPT The Influencer Handbook: A Guide To True Branding is a thoughtfully curated digital handbook that guides influencers and social media users along an authentic personal branding journey that will navigate them down the correct path to working with the correct brands that work for them in the most beneficial approach possible all the while honestly and successfully building their social media platforms. The Influencer Handbook does not just stop at The Guide to True Branding. Alongside the handbook, there are several additional platforms that provide free content and opportunities for consumers. www.TheInfluencerHandbook.com is an innovative site where consumers can purchase their guide but also delve into exclusive content and showcase their personal brand. The site contains a weekly blog that contains small snippets of guidance and information on authentically growing a platform on social media. In addition to the blog, the site is home to 'The Influencer Handbook' discover page where influencers and those aspiring can sign up to feature and be discovered by brands that align with their style, platforms and personal brands on a weekly basis. The discover page is promoted through a weekly newsletter sent out to all those who are a member of the site. As a final addition, The Influencer Handbook hosts a successful social media account on Instagram where daily tailored posts and stories are uploaded through engaging content aimed at the desired target market.
CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
As stated by The Forbes Marketing Trend Forecast (2019), the days of carefully curated content are over. Brands are no longer interested in working with highly endorsed celebrities to promote their products or services. Instead, they are investing their budgets into influencer marketing, influencer marketing is successfully now a billion-dollar industry that is only predicted to grow, The digital world of marketing is often evolving to stay on trend and focused on the movement surrounding it. This was showcased more recently from the most effective social media platform instagram, which has erased the concept of being able to see likes on instagram posts. There is very little guidance on how influencers themselves can shape their personal brands and social platforms into these trends, the guidance available is frequently directed at brands and businesses. Through primary research, it is evident that influencers can develop the wrong intentions when first setting out to succeed on social media and within influencer marketing. Influencers and social media users can often fall for placing their following numbers over their engagement and interaction rates, brands and businesses now crave trust and loyalty from those they work with, whether this is influencers or consumers. The Influencer Handbook: A Guide to True Branding is a guide bringing influencer marketing back to the authentic roots that it has fallen from through the cracks of social media saturation and the obsession with social media popularity.
90% of Marketers state influencer marketing results have been as good as or better than pre covid.
88% of marketers prefer to work with influencers who have 100,000 followers or less. 35% of marketers prefer influencers with 10,000 followers or less.
54% of marketers leverage agencies or additional automated platforms for influencer marketing efforts.
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RATIONALE
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TARGET AUDIENCE Persona Jennie is a 21-year-old psychology student from the North East preparing to graduate and continue on with a masters degree, she also works part-time in retail. Jennies social life is at the forefront of her social media, her outfits and looks even more so, giving her social media accounts a personalised aesthetic. Instagram is the main social platform that she posts on almost weekly. Shopping and styling is the main hobby of Jennie's and this is something she enjoys showcasing on her Instagram, posting a new outfit with every post. Jennie finds that she gains influence and guidance on Instagram from influencers that she follows and keeps consistently up to date with. Admiring how some influencers make a living from the platform, this is something Jennie would love to do but believes that the organisation and content planning would all be too stressful.
Jennie Gray Newcastle Student 21
06 Will Mccann Model/ Student/ Micro-Influencer Bristol 17
TARGET AUDIENCE Persona Will is a 17-year-old male model and social media micro-influencer, who is also a full-time student from Bristol, UK. Wills career is the main source of his social media content and posts as well as his aspiration for travelling around Europe and various UK cities to attend events and festivals. Will's dedication to his social platforms over lockdown really boosted his following at a rapid rate, this included on Instagram and TikTok. Will prides himself in only working with brands that align with his style and aesthetic. Due to the overwhelming rate that his followers grew within a short period of time, Will has struggled with engagement and the fluxation of followers changing on his account, despite his content being consistent.
How do my target audience infrom my strategy?
The concept is aimed at Generation Z and early Millennials Social media users that want to grow their social platforms Keeping a consistent social platform Styling a personal aesthetic that suits a personal brand A simple and easy way to create content and social media planning, especially when it is not a full-time role
A graph to show the social platforms that are most successful with Generation Z
In the U.K., Gen Z spends an average of 10.6 hours online each day. 62% of Gen Z checks Instagram, while 60% visit YouTube, daily. Gen Z logs on to social media for roughly two hours and 55 minutes each day. This is almost an hour longer than the average millennial. (HubSpot Blog, 2021)
(Source - Business Insider Survey,2020)
Globally, over 3.6 billion people use social media and the number is only projected to increase to 4.41 billion in 2025, as stated by Jenn Chen (2021). The year 2020 was a significant one in social media. The pandemic pushed more people to spend time online and find more ways to engage with each other and overall shifted digital trends and development. When analysing Instagram, they introduced many new features in 2020. This included Instagram reels, which were introduced to the suite of Instagram videos, fulfilling the networks desire to work closely with creators.
MARKET ANALYSIS
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According to Christina Newberry (2021), Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users and 500 million of them use Instagram Stories, with the largest demographic on the network is women aged 18–24 years old. In addition to this, 90% of US marketers name Instagram as the most important social media platform for influencer marketing, however, Tik Tok could definitely be on the run-up to replacing this within the future.
POLITICAL Paid advertising and industry standards Brand accountability consumers now more than ever want to see that the brands they support hold similar values so they can feel good about where they do business
SOCIAL The increase and growth of social media. The vast movement of social media trends. Covid-19 increasing the consumption of social media by 72% during the lockdown. The vast growth of TikTok being used by the high end or more traditional brands in terms of influencer and social media marketing.
ECONOMIC
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A challenge imposed by the excessive investment in social networking companies as dependence on advertising may be influenced a current economic crisis. Every person and company is its own media brand - and there are significantly fewer barriers to reaching people.
TECHNOLOGICAL More than ever before, people are using social media as a means to stay connected through online communities. 2020 heightened the desire for individuals to feel a sense of togetherness while remaining at home via technology and social media
STRENGTHS Launching into a billiondollar industry that is only predicted to grow within the future A new industry and landscape therefore it is consistently evolving Social media and most media outlets are at the forefront of marketing and predicted to stay
WEAKNESSES
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OPPORTUNITIES Expanding into a market that has a lot of potentially unexplored areas and niches. Marketers are willing to invest large amounts of their budgets into the market and subject of influencer marketing.
Competing with agencies Dealing with influencer fraud Working with a lot of brands or influencers who are tied into other marketing contracts with agencies or bigger influencers/ celebrities
THREATS
O
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The increased legislation of brands becoming against influencer marketing The reputation of influencer behaviour being portrayed, especially in media
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Product
Positioning
Price
6 P's
People
CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
Promotion
Process
Product The product being sold is a downloadable PDF guide, The Influencer Handbook: A guide to true branding. Analysing consumer demand before producing a product is essential. Through primary research this is where the niche need for true branding was found, ensuring time or money is not wasted on products that the desired target market does not want to buy. Even after creating a product, checking back with customers during development to ensure that the correct product is being developed and to the highest quality of standard possible. Positioning Where will this product be sold and seen by consumers? Because the product is based on social media and influencer marketing, it is clear that this is where the target market will be seeing the product advertised, making it crucial to link all socials to the website where the guide can be purchased. Instagram will be the main platform that the product is placed on, using paid advertising and influencer marketing to promote.
PricePrice = Value Understanding that the customer is receiving their value for money, A price that is too low usually means that the customer will perceive the product as cheap, or that it isn’t an excellent service. On the other end of the spectrum is the item is too high, it becomes difficult for the customer to see the value. After analysing the startup personal investment of £4,000 and how much the product would need to break even and make a profit, the price of the guide will sit at £14.99.
People Communicating and interacting with consumers in a trustworthy and relatable way is important to create solid brand relationships. Using an existing influencer as the face of the product allows consumers to feel more connected with the brand and product as a whole. Focusing on what the people buying the product want is highly valuable for the brand, one happy customer can lead to five sales. In terms of the people building up the brand, there will be a lot of creative individuals making up the team - including copywriters from a variety of areas such as blog and email marketing content as well as web designers and influencers themselves. Promotion Knowing how the brand is going to make people aware of the product and how it is going to be advertised in order to sell, as well as knowing what consumers want to know about the product before actually buying it is highly important. Instagram is going to be the main platform for promoting the product, using influencer marketing by sending free copies to relevant influencers who believe in the product all the while analysing analytics to make sure each promotion is gaining interest and benefiting the product. Process Analysing the process that goes into delivering the product to the consumer, from creating the product content with photoshoots and research to launching the product and the steps that go into delivering it to customers, to handling customer feedback or even complaints. The process of the brand journey will clearly define not only how your business will run, but also how it will grow.
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Competitor Analysis The Influencer Handbook: A guide to true branding and the platforms that surround the concept is primarily original and does not house much competition, with the element of being largely targeted at influencers as opposed to brands or businesses however there are a few businesses within the digital world that cross over into similar concepts. When analysing competitor Analysis the main competitor is a company called 'Social Tenacity'. Social Tenacity is an authentic influencer marketing agency that is targeted at both influencers and businesses.
What the company offer: A podcast dedicated to authentic influencer marketing Free business evaluations An exclusive facebook group for influencers Tips and training via a Youtube channel A free guide for businesses on ' 5 lies your upline is telling you' for businesses.
What The Influencer Handbook offer : A Guide to True Branding on social media Free and exclusive content via a blog An exclusive membership A strong opportunity to become discovered and work with a large range of brands Access to a consistent Instagram account posting relevant tips and on brand content
Running: 3 Years CEO: Brooke Elder Following: 11.7k
CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
14 Gleam Futures is a talent-led media and entertainment business. Their expertise are is in talent management; spotting and elevating talented creators who have a unique ability to inspire, entertain, educate and inform super-engaged audiences through high quality digital and social media content. Through their in-house influencer marketing agency Gleam Solutions, they partner with talent both on and off the Gleam Futures roster to create award-winning influencer marketing campaigns for brands such as Kellogg’s, Honda and Coca-Cola.
What the company offer: Strategy, creative, talent selection and vetting Successful campaign deliveries, distributions and reports Create TV, radio and podcast ads They work with high-end brands They manage organic and paid campaigns
Running: 10 years Following: 73.2k
What The Influencer Handbook offer : Up to date guidance on influencer marketing for influencers Free and exclusive content through consistent social channels and a branded website A strong opportunity to become discovered and work with a large range of brands
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Authentic Influencer Agency is an influencer management service based on Instagram that deals with influencer collaborations in the form of paid or gifted promotions. What the company offer: A management service Work with global brands Create exclusive opportunities Have a website and an app that offer authentic matches between brands and influencers
Running: 1 year Following: 5k
Competitor Analysis CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
What The Influencer Handbook offer : A Guide to True Branding on social media with the strong potential and aspiration to expand into a management agency Opportunities to work with a large number of well-known brands An on-brand and consistent website with access to an exclusive membership Access to a consistent Instagram account posting relevant tips and on brand content
CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
Primary Research "At the beginning my intentions were so wrong, only thinking about gaining followers etc which is completely the wrong mindset to have. I’m at a point now where I just do it for me and naturally have found the best way to grow your platform is engaging with your audience." AMY STOKES
The types of primary research conducted The primary research conducted around this concept was based on creating real conversations with real people over social media. These people also being the desired target market on Instagram. I targeted Women aged 18-25 who are influencers, aspiring influencers and personal content creators. Taking to Instagram relevant influencers and social media personalities were scouted and targeted to answer a few simple questions surrounding social media culture and more specifically the guidance that there is to support influencers on their personal brands and platforms. The influencer targeted were mainly Micro, however, there was also a few Macro influencers taking part. An interview with Micro influencer and face of the guide Amy Stokes was also conducted mainly looking into the engagement.
Key primary Research Takeaways Brands are no longer looking to use influencers through their social media popularity - they now focus on engagement rates, relationships and consistency more than anything when using influencer marketing. Influencers creating a relationship with their followers is massively important Social Media is lacking authenticity and loyalty It is beneficial to create a style for a personal brand There needs to be more guidance for influencers as it is extremely difficult to sustain a profession over Instagram
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How my primary research shaped my concept
BUSINESS PLAN | JANUARY 2020
Primary research played a crucial part in developing the Influencer Handbook concept. During the primary research section of the development of the project, the direction of the final outcomes was not yet clear. However after conducting multiple conversations and small interviews with the desired target market, it became apparent that there was a niche gap or authenticity through self branding and influencer marketing.
CONTENT STRATERGY My outputs
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How my final outputs of the concept link together
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THE WEBSITE THE INSTAGRAM THE GUIDE My main final output of the concept is The Influencer Handbook: A Guide To True Branding. The guide however needs a platform that it can be bought and advertised on.
The website is the home to The Guide and the location of where it will be sold alongside additional content such as a blog section and a discover page for influencers. The website and guide however need a way of being promoted and directed at the desired target market.
The instagram and the content posted on there is essential for promoting the concept, through various ways such as influencer marketing, paid ads and collaborations as a way to really get the concept noticed and recognised.
The Influencer Handbook: A Guide To True Branding
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The Guide
The Guide
The Guide 24
Branded Website www.TheInfluecerHandbook.com The website is the home to The Guide and the location of where it will be sold alongside additional content. There will be a section where you can purchase The Influencer Handbook: A Guide To True Branding through a shop feature. The additional content will include a weekly blog that will post up to date content and guidance around the topic of influencers, social media marketing and everything in between. Another section of additional content that features on the site is the discover page - The discover page is a less saturated and more custom edition of the Instagram discover page, the purpose of the discover page is to help influencers and those aspiring to work more consistently with brands that essentially work best for them and vice versa. The website also allows you to sign up to become an exclusive member - being an exclusive member allows you priority access to featuring on the discover page and access to a weekly newsletter which is sent to all partner brands giving them the opportunity to also find influencers that work for their brand.
https://elleethompsonn.wixsite.com/mysite-4 CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
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Mobile and Desktop Mock Ups
The Discover Page The Shop Page
Mobile Mock Ups CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
It is important for The Influencer Handbook website to be easy and accessible for consumers via their mobile devices as they will most likely be accessing the site via social media, which is generically used on mobile phones.
Desktop Layout Mock Ups
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CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
Promotion The Influencer Handbook: A Guide To True Branding will be delivered in several promotional ways. This will include social media posts, stories and engaging user-generated content as well as newsletters sent out to members. Influencer marketing will logically be at the forefront of the promotional aspects of the concept. Using context from the guide itself Influencers will be effectively be promoting the product and concept and encouraging usergenerated content from other consumers.
https://www.instagram.com/the.influencerhandbook/
Instagram Story Mockups Instagram stories are equally as important as Instagram stories when using social platform. Due to Instagram's algorithm stories have developed to become a lot more engaging than Instagram posts. Recent Instagram features including the 'swipe up' link and product tagging features make Instagram stories a lot more engaging and easier for consumers to gain instant access to buying branded products. Making sure Instagram stories are on brand and within the theme of the product being sold is really important and allows for consumers to recognise the branded posts and become familiar with the content, overall creating successful relationships all the while looking aesthetically pleasing.
Instagram Grid Post Mockups
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Giveaways Giveaways are also a really effective way of generating followers and attention to the brand's socials and products. The Influencer Handbook will be promoted through a giveaway on the brands Instagram account a week before the launch of the guide, this will help increase awareness of the product and allows an increase of followers to generate on the social media account. Followers are something that brands can struggle with during the first phase of starting up on social media. A giveaway that needs to be shared to the consumer's stories and involves them to tag their friends and followers, allows for a lot more attention being drawn to the profile and creates a reach to consumers that may not be within the brand's platform and algorithm. Collaborating with another brand on a giveaway can expand the reach massively and also benefits all parties involved. For the Influencer Handbook giveaway, the brand with be collaborating with asos with an exclusive opportunity. Asos will send the winner a goody bag of products and posted to the asos Instagram account.
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CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
Collaboration Amy Stokes is a Micro influencer and brand ambassador who will be the face of The Influencer Handbook in the form of collaboration to endorse the product to the correct desired target market. Amy's followers and personal target market align with the brand's target market. Amy is also a very suitable face of the guide as she stands for what the brand does. Amy will be an engaging collaborator for The Influencer Handbook, promoting the guide from her social channels talking honestly and openly about her experience and journey with the guide and she will be on hand and open to answering questions and queries consumers may have on her personal account.
CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
Influencer Marketing Of course, influencer marketing will be the main form of promotion for the handbook. However, the influencers promoting the brand must be on brand and fitting with what the concept stands for, they must be authentic. Three different micro-influencers will be paid to promote the product each month to align with advertising budgeting. A small selection of influencers will also promote the guide in exchange for the product free of charge onto their social feeds, this is something a lot of micro-influencers will often reach out and offer your brand. The main successful outcome of the influencer marketing concept in terms of promotion would be for this format of marketing to develop into the word of mouth marketing, this is a successful outcome in terms of influencer marketing. This means that in time consumers will be influenced by those sharing the product on their stories and feeds and therefore replicating the same through user generated content.
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Instagram Takeover Instagram takeovers are a great way to direct a large amount of traffic over to a brands social channels. Takeovers usually work in that an influencer will take hold of the brands account for the day, posting content to engage with their followers as if it is their own account. The influencer will usually take over the brands stories or host a live on their account or via Instagram stories creating realistic content.
BUSINESS PLAN | JANUARY 2020
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CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
Tik Tok TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms to date and also one of the most authentic social media platforms to use for social media marketing. However using traditional advertising techniques on TikTok is not beneficial, you need to blend in to stand out on TikTok. This is why The Influencer Handbook Tik Tok account will recreate topics and tips from the weekly blog posts uploaded to the brand site, in a fun and tasteful way - whether this is incorporating tips and guidance into relevant TikTok trends, or simplifying the content to be more FYP friendly and targeted at TikTok users.
Influencers Brand Ambassadors EMMA FLEMMING Emma is a Micro influencer with 12.3k followers on instagram. Emma runs a personal blog alongside her social platforms. She orginally featured on a reality show which allowed her to gain a following of people her were interested in her and her views.
AMY WARD
AMY STOKES
Amy Ward is a fashion and beauty influencer with 31k followers on instagram. Amy posts consistent outfits and inspiration aimed at her audience of followers. She also posts frequently on her stories engaging with her followers on a daily basis.
Amy is a brand ambassador and engaging Micro influencer with 8.5k followers on instagram. Amy is also the face of The Influencer Handbook: A guide to true branding! Amy is a fashion and lifestyle influencer.
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Promotion through featuring on other creators podcasts to create awareness
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A recent surge in their popularity has seen a boom in the number of people listening to podcasts all over the world, and those numbers are climbing every day as more and more people discover them. According to the latest data, there are currently over 950,000 podcasts and 30 million episodes available, according to (ppl,2020). Julie Solomon is an expert in digital marketing, PR, and personal branding and host of the chart-topping podcast The Influencer Podcast. Julie often has guests from the industry feature on her famous podcast to talk about all things influencers. Featuring on The influencer podcast in the week following the launch of The Influencer Handbook is a great opportunity to create brand awareness and elevate a lot more coverage to the product and what it is all about.
CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
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User Generated Content User-generated content is an excellent way of increasing engagement and driving an audience to the brand's platform. User-generated content is any content—text, videos, images, reviews, etc.. that is created by people, rather than the brand itself. Brands will often share user-generated content on their own social media accounts, website, and other marketing channels. It can be difficult for brands to decide what user-generated content is posted from people as it is all about real people and real reviews, however, brands can set the tone through their own influencer marketing. Research shows that consumers believe that user-generated content is 35% more memorable than other media.
CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
84% of millennial consumers claim that user-generated content on company websites has influenced the way they do online shopping
JOSE ANGELO GALLEGOS
Social Media Scheduling A social media calendar and scheduling can help you visualise all your planned posts for the next weeks or months ahead. In addition to this, it will help posts and stories to be created in advance so that there is always something ready to share. Linking Instagram to various other social platforms can save you time and allow you to post to several platforms at once without having to do too much work. Social Media scheduling is certainly something The Influencer Handbook will be doing to benefit content creation and organisation on social media.
Social Media Advertising Social media advertising allows brands to turn any post into an ad. The Influencer Handbook will be dedicating a large amount of the brands annual budget to social media advertising. Social media advertising can be quite simple, as long as the brand is targeting their marketing ads at the correct target audience or this could result in a loss of money that has been invested into advertising. Using Instagram advertising the brand needs to dedicate a post or story that will be promoted via settings that include where to send users, who should see it and how much to spend. Instagram allows you to also link Facebook advertising, Instagram has developed an advanced all-in-one tool for creating ads across different placements on Instagram, Facebook and more.
The types of advertising we will be using
Video Ads
Story Ads
VIDEO ADS ON INSTAGRAM CAN BE UP TO ONE MINUTE LONG, SO THEY GIVE A CHANCE TO GIVE USERS A CLOSER LOOK AT THE BRAND, THE BUSINESS, AND THE PRODUCTS.
500 MILLION INSTAGRAM USERS VIEW STORIES EVERY DAY. USING INSTAGRAM STROY ADS ALLOWS FOR A MASSIVE AUDIENCE REACH.
CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
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Newsletter Signing up to become a member of the influencer handbook automatically signs users up to our weekly newsletter. The newsletter will be delivered to recipients emails accounts every Tuesday at 9 am. The information on the newsletter will be to promote the influencer handbook discover page allowing brands to align themselves with the right influencers that work for them. The Newsletter will also have an additional page that promotes a partner brand of the week. This is a brand that has worked with influencers through our site and success has progressed from both parties. The final segment of the newsletter will promote the latest blog post uploaded to The Influencer Handbook website with a direct link straight to the blog.
BUDGET 2021/2022
43 Production start up month
Second edition launch
BUDGET
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All realistic Costs Start Up Investment - £4,000 Total Annual expenses - £3,749 Money Leftover - £251
Guides priced at £14.99 each To break even I would need to sell 251 guides to make £3,762.49
10% Annual profit = £4,123.90 To make a 10% profit I would need to sell 276 guides to make £4,137.24
20% Annual Profit = 4,498.80 To make a 20% profit I would need to sell 301 guides to make £4,511.99
50% Annual profit = £5,623.50 To make a 50% profit I would need to sell 376 guides to make £5,636.44
CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
SOCIAL AND ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY 45
When using influencers for promotion via influencer marketing, it can rarely, but sometimes have a negative effect if the influencers maintain a bad reputation. Once they post something it is out there for the world to see, this is something we see regularly with YouTubers, they document their whole lives and people pick their content apart. An example of this is more recently when YouTuber David Dobrik was slandered by media outlets and social media users for some indecent content produced by himself and some associates many years ago resurfaced. As a result, David was dropped by all of his sponsors and let go of all his brand deals and is yet to return to any of his social media platforms, as of May 2020. This just goes to show how much of an effect negative influencer behaviour can have on the influencer and the brands that they work with. This is why it is so important for brands to align themselves with the correct influencers but you can never predict how they are going to behaviour within the public eye.
CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
Influencer Behaviour
OVERCOMING INFLUENCER BEHAVIOUR
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This aspect of working with influencers may only come as an issue when influencers and brands are connecting via The Influencer Handbook discover page on www.TheInfluencerHandbook.com. Although The Influencer Handbook is just the connection between partner brands and the influencers, it is important that this connection stays professional and as controlled as possible, as any miscommunications or unlawful attitudes could damage the brand and those associated. When analysing how this issue could be overcome if it ever became a reality, it is logistically that any influencers working with brands via being connected through The Influencer Handbook discover page to sign a brief contract that outlines the following: Influencers working with brands through The Influencer Handbook discover page must understand that if they are associated any inappropriate actions on social media or within reality, this could result in an instant dissociation of work and relationships between themselves and the brand(s) they are working with at the present time. Influencers will receive the digital contract via email before partnering with a brand where they will digitally sign it and send it back to The Influencer Handbook and a copy will be forwarded to the brand they have partnered with before any partnerships or collaborations take place. CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
(Source: @influencersinthewild via Instagram)
DIVERSITY
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Diversity is an essential part of any brand and what they stand for within today's society, and so it should be. The influencer handbook is for everyone and anyone who wants to be an influential user on social media, there really are no limits. Anyone of any, gender, ethnicity or background is welcome to start their personal true branding journey with The Influencer Handbook. Although the guide is mainly tailored to a more female aesthetic, this is not to say it isn't for males. The content within the handbook and on the additional platforms linked to The Influencer Handbook are purely for anyone with the aspiration to succeed on social media.
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RISK ASSESSMENT AREA OF RISK
ASSESSING AND OVERCOMING THE RISK
RISK FACTOR
Sales Targets
Meeting sales targets can be difficult within the first year of creating a brand. However, setting weekly targets and budgets on top of monthly and annual budgets can help sales to stay on target.
Medium
Not gaining enough awareness on social media
Instagram's algorithm can really determine the awareness that the brand is generating on the platform this can make it difficult to reach a wider audience. Using the correct marketing and advertising tools this could be achieved more rapidly and efficiently.
Medium
Going over the set budget
Having a set budget is definitely beneficial and essential and depending on how successful the brand is doing it can be difficult to remain within budget, for example, if sales are down and you need to increase advertising. Making sure the budget is balanced out efficiently in different areas can stop this from happening.
Retaining customers for future phases of the concept Not enough consistency or progression on the website
Keeping consumers engaged is challenging, although The Influencer Handbook is an expert in engagement so this factor will be handled correctly but will be sure to get kept consistent and scheduled ahead of a second phase launch.
Making sure enough brands and influences are signing up to the member's section of the website can be challenging, although I believe that because it is a free service that is still beneficial this will put the feature at an advantage however it will not be being promoted as much as the guide but it could be possible to include this within influencer marketing and promotional aspects of the concept to raise awareness and keep the progress consistent.
Low
Low
Medium
TIMELINE From start-up to launch
February
March
April Determine the niche subject area the brand will be launching into and define this with the product title Find a collaborative face for the concept who represents the brand well Set up social media platforms Establish a website domain Plan a photoshoot for the following month
Primary and secondary research into developing a niche area of interest Construct a brief business plan and a start-up investment budget of £4,000 Analyse which platforms and software are needed to develop the concept
May
Product and content all finalised and curated Start to create awareness through carefully selected brand ambassadors and influencer marketing on social media Website launch (22nd May) 2 weeks before product launch (5th June) First blog post on how to stay authentic on social media during a pandemic (27th May) Giveaway goes live on Instagram (29th May) a week before the product launch
June
Conduct an on-brand photoshoot with Amy Stokes the face of the guide Start to develop research into structured content for the guide Begin producing content for the social media channels to raise brand awareness Develop website content working with copywriters and web developers
The first newsletter is sent out to all members who have already signed up (June 1st) The Influencer Handbook launches! (June 5th 6.00pm) Email is generated to all members to notify them of the launch (June 5th) Podcast feature with Julie Solomon (June 7th) Influencer Takeover with Racheal Davis (June 12th) Giveaway ends (June 15th)
1-year plan 50
The future of The Influencer Handbook
CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
2021/2022
As shown within my budgeting and timeline process there will be a second phase launch of The Influencer Handbook. Taking the content and guidance from The Influencer Handbook: A Guide To True Branding the next phase would be to turn this information into reality and into a management agency where influencers can be guided 1-2-1 through the agency. The Influencer Handbook will still be able to purchase and will be a continuous product that runs alongside the agency and everything they stand for. The agency will target Micro-influencers mainly and will be responsible for making brand and influencer deals, brand ambassador deals and overall enquires from both clients and partner brands.
3-year development plan
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2023 2022 2022 sees the development and launch of The Influencer Handbook management agency, however throughout 2022 this developed more successfully and gains some additional platforms alongside the already existing social media and website - this being The Influencer Handbook- A podcast.
By 2023 trends within social media and influencer marketing will have changed, and influencer marketing is all about consistency. So in 2023, there will be an updated relaunch of the Influencer Handbook: A Guide To True Branding making sure consumers are staying up to date with the latest digital trends - this will be offered at a discounted prices for those who have already purchased it within the past.
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Reference List https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-ads-guide/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carriekerpen/2019/12/17/thestate-of-social-media-2020-where-we-are-where-were-goingand-what-it-means-for-women/?sh=4c260f2858ef https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/gen-z-stats https://izea.com/2019/02/19/influencer-podcasts/ https://juliesolomon.net/about-julie https://www.instagram.com/influencersinthewild/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2020/04/ 08/credibility-and-trust-are-key-to-authentic-influencermarketing/?sh=420c39ce48ed
https://www.instagram.com/socialtenacity/ https://www.gleamfutures.com/
CREATIVE STRATEGY | THE INFLUENCER HANDBOOK
https://www.tintup.com/blog/user-generated-content-statsstudy/
https://authentic-influencers.com/