116 & west influencer marketing preview image blog graphic

10.31.23 | Read time: 4 min

How to Implement Influencer Marketing

Sophie Campbell

Welcome to the age of the influencer.

Those ubiquitous beings on our small screens wield tremendous power. Influencers have evolved into trendsetters and real-time product testers, with “81% of social marketers describing influencer marketing as an essential part of their social media strategy,” says Sprout Social.

As they started to saturate your TikTok or Instagram feed, influencers began as frequent social media users with thousands of followers. Today, marketers harness these influencers’ followings through influencer marketing to better reach their target audiences. Where traditional media has long been known for delivering brand awareness, influencer marketing has exploded due to the ability to target niche audience groups and established trust influencers have with their audiences.

Feeling skeptical of influencer marketing? Let’s dive in to find out exactly what it is and how it can be a game changer for your business.

Influencer Marketing Explained

Brand partnerships have existed roughly since 2006, when bloggers and marketers began coordinating paid content together using the platform PayedToPost. During this time, marketers paid bloggers to mention their brand in a blog post or write about their product in a review.

Since then, influencer marketing has exploded. Influencer Marketing Hub reports that influencer marketing has grown into a $21.1 billion industry. This is a big jump from the early days of TikTok and Instagram Reels in 2017, when the market was $1.7 billion.

Influencer marketing involves a partnership between a company and a popular social media user. In exchange for marketing a business’s products or services, influencers receive money or products. Influencers have a significant impact on consumer purchasing decisions, to the point that consumers trust them like family.

There is a common misconception that only celebrities can be influencers. While it is true that celebrities are in the influencer game, Shopify reports that 77% of brands prefer to work with an influencer that has a smaller following, known as the micro-influencer.

infographic that on what percent of brands prefer to work with micro influencers

Here’s a breakdown of the influencer tiers:

Micro-influencer: 10,000-100,000 followers

Macro-influencer: 100,000-1M Followers

Mega-influencer: 1M+ Followers

Basically, the bigger the audience, the higher the cost.

While a mega-influencer may make sense for a national brand like Chipotle, a smaller local business simply trying to reach their city’s residents, such as in Boise, wouldn’t need that reach. Instead, various Boise or Treasure Valley-based micro-influencers utilized throughout a marketing campaign would be more effective in reaching their target audience.

Just as we pay a higher rate for ads on top-rated radio or TV stations, marketers pay more for mega-influencers to talk about their business on social channels like Instagram and TikTok. To better understand how social media influencer marketing can be successful, let’s talk about how TikTok has changed the game.

influencer marketing mock up of person interacting on a social media platform

TikTok Boom

A social media platform launched in 2016, TikTok is now one of the most downloaded apps in the marketplace. The platform keeps its users scrolling with short-form videos created for and by users. Influencer partnerships feel less commercialized, as the platform is geared toward authentic reactions and real-time product use. This “real” feel to content has made TikTok the prime spot for influencer marketing.

While Instagram still carries the load, with 99% of Influencers using their platform, 66% of influencers are now using TikTok, according to Digital Information World. Marketers are following their audiences, incorporating TikTok into their influencer marketing due to the platform’s younger audience and precise algorithm. This algorithm offers a personalized user experience, feeding recommendations for new and relevant content. Buffer identified the key elements of TikTok’s algorithm: engagement, user interactions, video information, and device and account settings. These elements work together to serve relevant and popular content unique to each user.

It isn’t just the Gen Z audience and endless feed of relatable content that entices marketers; short-form video also has the highest ROI. In addition, users are investing time on the app, spending an average of 56 minutes per day watching TikTok videos, reports Insider Intelligence. The platform has also proved to be great for lead generation and engagement.

With the growing social influencer market, influencers generate value on these platforms. Here’s how some platforms are keeping creators motivated and engaged to stay creating on their apps:

YouTube has begun short-form video monetization to lure TikTok and Reel users to create using their short-form videos.

Instagram and TikTok started subscription services, meaning that creators can monetize by offering exclusive content and benefits to their most engaged followers at a monthly fee.

influencer marketing ring light content creation example

Best Practices

Jumping into the world of influencer marketing can be intimidating. But not to worry. Here are some best practices to keep in mind for your influencer marketing strategy:

Choose a social platform that best suits your audience. If you want to reach an older audience, TikTok isn’t the place. Evaluate what social platforms your target audience uses and put your energy into reaching them there.

Evaluate influencers based on follower growth and engagement metrics. While some influencers have a large following, their posts may have little engagement (comments, shares, saves, etc.). Consider these metrics when partnering with a potential social media influencer for your brand.

Review what is or was trending on TikTok with TikTok Shop. This is TikTok’s updated list of what’s currently trending. You can use it to forecast influencer marketing efforts for an upcoming campaign by viewing the topic with the highest click-through rate or looking at what was trending last year.

Stay nimble. The right influencer for your audience may change, which can happen quickly. Remember to review your efforts and reach and be open to exploring new social influencers that better align with your business.
Need help implementing influencer marketing? Get in touch.

<< Older Post

Newer Post >>

Back to News

10.24.23 | Read time: 4 min

30 Years of Brand Building, One Logo at a Time

116 & West

Trauma, domestic violence, and homelessness are hardships that affect people of all ages. In Spokane, Washington, Volunteers of America | Eastern Washington (VOA) leads the charge in addressing the needs of those who are experiencing these challenging situations, both youth and adults.

Since 1985, VOA has run the Crosswalk emergency youth shelter in downtown Spokane for the city’s adolescents and children. As needs increased, VOA expanded its services to include Hope House, an emergency shelter for adult women, and YAS—Young Adult Shelter, a shelter for young adults aged 18 to 24.

VOA chose 116 & West to execute visual branding on all three facilities, continuing our agency’s three decades of work on these projects.

How it Began

In the late 1980s, we partnered with VOA to develop a visual brand for Crosswalk. This facility is a safe and secure shelter for teens and provides clothing, showers, hygiene products, life skills training, employment readiness, and family reconciliation services.

We designed a youthful logo depicting a home and a shining sun to convey warmth, hope, and a brighter future. This logo represented Crosswalk for over 30 years.

A Design for Hope and Safety

In 2020, VOA replaced their aging Hope House facility, in operation since 2001, with a new women’s shelter for Spokane, a facility for women experiencing homelessness and needing protection from street violence. With this next chapter, it was an opportunity to update the Hope House identity with a new logo.

We designed a new logo depicting a symbolic house and flower growing from the h-shaped doorway. The intention behind this logo is to be welcoming and appealing to women, conveying protection, caring, and shelter — a place with a warm bed, supportive services, and programs to get women back on their feet.

Needs Beyond the Teen Years

As overnight shelter, case management, and housing resource needs increased for young adults older than those served by Crosswalk, VOA began construction of a new Young Adult Shelter (YAS) in 2021 to serve individuals and couples aged 18 to 24. The YAS needed a visual brand welcoming to young adults of all genders and identities.

The facility provides overnight services, case management, and housing resource specialists. It is a secure environment intended for young adults to get their lives back on track and then re-enter society. Our creative team designed a logo building on the symbolic home surrounded by light rays, sheltering a vibrant plant – a visual representation of a safe, stable, trustworthy place where young adults can “outgrow the system.”

A Fresh Look for Crosswalk

As the VOA brand family evolved and the needs and interests of youth changed, it became clear that it was time to rebrand Crosswalk. This youth shelter needed a logo that would appeal to today’s youth while conveying the care, protection, and services offered to gain stability, trust, and confidence to achieve the life they want.

The logo design consists of a striped crosswalk that visually connects the image to the name, with a vibrant flower growing from its center. The design communicates a safe, protected path for growth despite adversity. The custom typeface is contemporary, approachable, and designed to appeal to a younger audience.

A Kaleidoscope of Color

Over the course of three decades, our design team developed a cohesive family of colors across all three VOA entities. For YAS and Crosswalk, we used colors that would appeal to a younger generation – bright, optimistic colors, like sun yellow and lime green, are paired with darker, richer colors. All three logos share the same dark blue to generate color consistency and unity. The yellow from the Crosswalk logo complements the Hope House colors, creating an updated palette that brilliantly creates a perfect rainbow. Overall, the palette is energetic and hopeful, appeals to the various age groups they are targeting, and fits the range of services and facilities VOA represents.

Brand Guidelines

The VOA staff is now empowered to use its complete brand family. Audiences will now make a connection across its facilities due to the visual association of the same dark blue and symbolic growing plants. By developing comprehensive brand guidelines that describe the brand attributes, logo formats, colors, typography, and logo usage, VOA staff can use it in various applications. This document ensures that VOA and its vendors can implement each logo correctly to build brand awareness, develop brand equity, and strengthen the impression of the organization’s different brands.

Brand Building Sets You Up for Success

With an effective brand family design and comprehensive brand guidelines, VOA can market its services and products, knowing that the visual brand conveys important attributes to its target audiences. Whether used in print promotions, signage, websites, social media, traditional advertising, or digital marketing, these brands serve as symbolic ambassadors, representing the organization wherever and whenever they are seen.

Beginning with strong brand imagery is one of the keys to effective marketing. It’s a win-win for our agency and our clients. With strong brand imagery, VOA can better reach its audiences and promote facilities, services, and programs to improve the lives of those experiencing homelessness.