Episode 50 - Does Influencer Marketing Work for Government & Public Sector?

Influencer marketing happens when brands, and individuals with a large and engaged online following, partner on marketing and communications campaigns.

It’s a booming business in the commercial world and in 2022 its expected brands will spend over €15 billion on influencer marketing.

It’s also become a mainstream form of digital marketing as we see individuals, we follow sharing experiential reels and TikToks of their new favourite make-up, athleisure line or health supplement. 

But what role can influencer marketing play in government or public sector communications? Or does it even have a role? Well, that’s what we are going to investigate in today’s show. 

Coming up in episode 50:

• > Can public sector engage in influencer marketing?
• > How to approach influencer marketing as a government or public sector agency.
• > I speak to Sinéad Carroll, founder of Irish Blogger Agency, Ireland’s dedicated influencer marketing agency. Home to 600+ bloggers, vloggers, content creators and social media influencers with a combined reach in excess of 11million.

Joanne’s Column: Can the public sector engage in influencer marketing?

The simple answer is yes. But you need a plan and you need to be clear on your objectives. 

You also need to align with the influencer and that necessarily doesn’t start with the number of followers they have. But let’s have a look at the different types of influencers in terms of the numbers. 

• > Macro-influencers as accounts with 500,000-1 million followers. 
• > Micro-influencers are defined as accounts with anywhere from 10,000-50,000 followers 
• > Nano Influencers - defined as having fewer than 10,000 followers.

When mapping a plan there’s a lot to think about. Find out more in this week’s consulting segement. 

 Consulting: How to approach influencer marketing as a government or public sector agency

1. Going Bigger Isn’t Always Better There are various criteria that you should consider before partnering with an influencer. Here are my top five considerations when choosing an influencer for a public sector campaign.#1 Authenticity: Are they partnering for the right reasons and not simply for the cash. Have they evidenced of this approach in their published creator content? Will this collaboration be believable to the viewing public you are targeting?According to the Morning Consult study, 88% of people say it’s important for influencers to be authentic and genuinely care about their interests. #2 Alignment: Have they been creating content that is aligned to your public interest message? Or do they fit into your target market and have alignment in terms of their own personal lives or lifestyle or beliefs?

   #3 Activity: What content formats have they been creating? Is it creative, innovative and eye-catching, and engaging? Are they leaning into current social media trends and tactics?

   #4 Availability: Are they currently working with another brand or organisation that would not be a good fit with your public interest campaign? Sometimes it’s worth considering a micro-influencers as they are more likely to partner with organisations they actually love, want to support, and share with their audience.

   #5 Analytics: Be sure to look at the numbers behind the following. Ask for an insights report with the following metrics over 30 days: reach, impressions, engagement rate, hashtag analytics (recent or relevant campaign), top content, sentiment rate, testimonials from clients (similar organisations). 

   Are you interested in finding out more about influencer marketing for your next public interest campaign? Get in touch, drop me an email at info@publicsectormarketingpros.com. 

Interview with Sinead Carroll, Founder, Irish Blogger Agency

A career change from Banking after 15 years, led Sinead to set up her own business Mini Media in June 2015.

Her involvement in the blogging world through my fashion and lifestyle blog Yummy Mummy and through her other business Irish Blogger Agency.

Home to over 600 bloggers, vloggers, content creators, and social media influencers with a combined reach of 11 million.

Connect with Irish Blogger Agency 

Twitter @bloggeragentirl 

Facebook @Irish Blogger Agency 

Instagram @bloggeragentirl

Connect on LinkedIn

Resources

How To Create A Content Marketing Strategy in 30 Minutes

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Thank You for Listening!

Thank you for tuning into episode #50 to find out Does Influencer Marketing Work for Government & Public Sector?  If you are a regular listener, please rate and review our show.

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