Q and A with: Nick Shackelford

Nick Shackelford IG is a co-founder of Structured Social, an online marketing, branding and consulting company. Nick’s path to marketing guru has taken some odd turns; he’s a former professional soccer player turned consumer product marketing wizard. His experience on the field has helped shape and mold his outlook, particularly when it comes to influencers. Below is a Q and A with Nick discussing how brands and marketers can navigate social media influencers successfully:

Nick, in sports most often the team with the best players wins. Is it the same when marketing campaigns have the best influencer?

Influencers aren’t the “end all and be all” of any campaign. The “best use” of the best influencer for the campaign is what matters.

What do you mean “best influencer for the campaign?”

Spending a million dollars on a Jenner or Kardashian seems like a winning strategy, but think that through for a second. Who is your target audience? Where is your target audience? Audience has to be the first focus, if not you’re setting yourself up for failure.

So why are influencers so hot right now?

Honestly, it’s because most people are lazy. Imagine walking into a marketing meeting and the CEO or company owner says “we need a new big idea right now?” Rather than invest into a detailed solution, most people will throw money at some celebrity to push a product, right? Joe Namath sells panty hose in the 1970’s, Dan Marino sells gloves in the 80’s, hell Lil John is helping push Hotels.com But none of these ideas are creative on their own because celebrity power or online influencer status isn’t a slam dunk when it comes to actually moving product.

So, how should a company choose an influencer? Or maybe…not choose one?

It has to be right for the campaign and the product. Someone with a million followers might seem great, but what if she has mostly teen girls and your product is geared towards dudes with beards? Or, what if he claims he has 2.5 million loyal Instagram fans, but none of them are verifiable or plugged in?

Wait, what do you mean?

Well, we all saw in the last presidential election the issue of bots and false accounts, but people buy Twitter followers to boost numbers and then marketing companies and consumer brands don’t do their due diligence. Imagine advertising with a TV show only to find out they’ve only got four people watching. Some social media “influencers” are that bad.

Then what’s the answer?

Influencers are great if they’re the right strategy. Otherwise, they’re a waste of money. Brands should consider micro-influencers which are social media accounts and personalities with between 10,000 and 500,000 followers. They are much more verifiable and they have specific audiences that help you measure ROI. It’s always about the audience and ROI, those two are the guiding lights of any successful marketing campaign.