Page 91 - The Content Code: Six essential strategies to ignite your content, your marketing, and your business - PDFDrive.com

Before we get into the tangible benefits of social influence marketing, it’s
important to know that not all influencers are alike and not all influencers fit
every business situation. “Influence” tends to be jammed into one big category
when in fact, it’s nuanced. Consider this breakdown of three types of influencer
and how they might impact a content ignition strategy.

The Celebrity

Kim Kardashian will happily promote your content for $200,000 per tweet. That
kind of promotion might seem silly, but it also works … and it has for more than
a century.

According to Thomas Mickey, an advertising and PR industry historian, the
first paid celebrity endorsers were probably the stars of P.T. Barnum’s circus
troupe in the 19th century. “Barnum would have his most popular clowns and
entertainers go in advance to the next city,” he said. “They would be the faces on
the posters and the newspaper ads and it was quite effective. That was the first
example of using the power of a character in the media of the day to get a
consumer to take action.”

When motion pictures and radio were introduced at the turn of the century,
technology became the enabler of a new era of celebrity … and companies loved
having these glamorous stars use their products. Celebrity endorsements became
commonplace and the most popular program hosts and stars would simply
mention the show’s sponsor during the broadcast as a means of funding the mass
media entertainment. Companies like Proctor and Gamble, Johnson & Johnson,
and Kraft built their businesses by funneling millions of dollars into the hands of
newly emerging advertising agencies, who eagerly lined up celebrity talent to
promote the household products.

The most popular stars of the era, Charlie Chaplin and American baseball star
Babe Ruth, endorsed everything from cigarettes to cereal. Ruth’s popularity as a
pitchman grew to the point that his earnings from advertising far exceeded his
salary as an athlete. He was the first individual in history who had to hire a
business manager and an accountant just to keep track of all the money he was
making from his paid product testimonies.

Today many companies still align themselves with stars. These celebrities
have vast audiences and may not even have a deep connection to the products
they’re promoting. And the cost? Well, for most businesses, it’s simply out of
reach. Aligning with a celebrity can also be risky, as dozens of brands learned
when golf star Tiger Woods’ personal life turned scandalous and dominated the
news and public opinion.