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Aug 20, 2026
Influence Beyond the Algorithm
Influence Beyond the Algorithm
10
15
00:00
16:20
Transcript
0:01
Welcome to Off the Record. I'm your host, Marquisha Everett. Thank you so much for joining in on another episode of the pod.
0:08
Today, I wanna talk a little bit about influencer marketing and how, um, businesses and, and organizations can truly be incorporating this into their plan to, to solve real-world problems.
0:20
Um, influencer marketing, in my personal opinion, is one of those things that have become a buzzword. Um, and people don't really know what it mean, um, and they're not quite sure how to, you know, leverage it.
0:35
But at the end of the day, influencer marketing is just a old tactic that we've taken, dressed it up, made it sexier, uh, a little bit more palatable for today's, um, you know, society, but it's word-of-mouth marketing.
0:51
And word-of-mouth marketing is simple. Somebody in your circle was like, "Hey, I tried this product. It was fantastic. You should try it." Or, "Hey, I went and had this service done.
1:08
It was not great. I wouldn't recommend it." So then that influences you being like, "Yeah, I'm cool. I'm, I'm not gonna try it at all."
1:17
Um, but at the end of the day, influencer marketing is just about people trusting people. [chuckles] Influencers, um, with today's technology, they've taken word of mouth to the next level.
1:30
Before, word of mouth was me and a friend sitting at breakfast, and I'm like, "Oh, I'm in the hunt for, you know, a pair of new running shoes."
1:40
And she's like, "Oh, well, you know, I run, and I wear, you know, these shoes because of A, B, and C, and I would recommend them because of D, E, and F."
1:52
Or on the flip side of that, "I wear-- I bought these shoes because of A, B, and C. I end up not liking them because of D, E, and F, and I would not recommend them."
2:03
And I'm like, "Okay, either I'm going to try or not try based off of the recommendation that they've given me." Now, with today's technology, that's just taken up a, a notch.
2:15
So instead of it being a one-to-one conversation, you go on social media, and there's a unboxing, or there's a review of some sort.
2:25
And instead of talking to just one person or, you know, a small group of people that you know, uh, the influencers, in this case, are talking to hundreds and thousands, and in some case, millions of people about what they enjoyed or what they didn't enjoy, right?
2:42
Um, so it's not complicated at all.
2:46
So we have to figure out how do we take influencer marketing and use it as a overall strategy and not just, you know, a tactic, um, when we're trying to get out of something or we need help with something, because that's what I've seen.
3:01
And influencer marketing works. That's what I try and tell people all the time. If you could tie influencer marketing back into your business objectives, it works. So you should start with your business problem in mind.
3:12
So if, for example, you're like, "Hey, I want to, um, tap into a younger audience," you go and you find influencers that mirrors the audience that you're looking for.
3:26
And I'll, I'll keep using this, uh, younger audience, for example. You find an influencer. Make sure that the influencer has the similar audience that you want, not just 'cause they're young.
3:40
I see a lot of people make that mistake. "I want a younger audience. I go hire a younger influencer." Okay, but are they aligned?
3:47
Um, when they talk about their demographic, is it the demographic that you've been trying to pull in to your business objectives? Do they have that built-in credibility there that's gonna help you leverage?
4:01
That's the most important part. Can they help you solve a business problem? Um, [chuckles]
4:08
I tell people all the time, if you're partnering with a influencer, really you're just partnering with them because of borrowed trust. They can do something quicker than you can, right?
4:22
But if you are defining what your business objectives are, they're bringing you an audience, they're exposing you to an audience, and then you have to have other tactics in place in order to keep that audience, right?
4:37
So if you're, um, open up a new area, and say it's a, a premium area, hospitality is off the roof, uh, food and beverage, there's some entertainment up there, you know, yada, yada, yada, and you're trying to grow a demographic that likes luxury, right?
4:56
They're, they're a younger or maybe a middle-aged audience. They like luxury. They're willing to go to things. They're willing to pay for things.
5:03
Okay, you go and partner with the influencer who has a very similar demographic as you. Those people could be event goers, not necessarily a fan of sport or even, um, your brand. But they go to events.
5:21
They give reviews. They have, um, the, the trust built with a fan base, and they have the power to move an audience, and I think that's what people miss sometimes.
5:31
Sometimes we're so focused on follower count that we're not looking at the engagement. I think about, um, local influencers that's like, "Hey, I'm gonna do a pop-up tonight at seven o'clock."
5:43
They announce it at four thirty, but the pop-up is sold out. You want those type of people. And again, you want them because you can clearly see that they are influencing the people. But they bring you this audience
5:57
You have to then be prepared to say, okay, they've they brought us this event goer audience. How do we continue to engage them? So the influencer plan is a part of the strategy.
6:11
And it's just one of the many tactics that you're going to use to continue to tap into this audience once the influencer brings them to you.
6:18
Now, once you find the right influencer that's going to help you solve a business problem. I think the most
6:30
important thing that I can stress to any brand or organization is to trust the influencer. Give them the concept, right? Give them the play. Sit down, talk about it. This is the messaging.
6:45
This is what we're trying to achieve. This is the deliverables. This is the timeline. Here's a call of action that we need you to have, right? But do not try to script their content like a radio ad.
6:59
Do not try and script it like you do a TV ad because that is where you're going to fail.
7:05
These people, these influencers have done a really good job and they've become successful because they figured out how to use their voice in a very organic way to build a following, to build trust with this following.
7:20
And if you want them to be successful in working with you. You got to allow them to cook, so to speak. Like, yes, you can have final say in what it looks like, but do not take away the creative voice.
7:38
Do not take away the uniqueness that makes them them because it's not going to work for the partnership. But then their followers are going to start to question their authenticity.
7:50
And you don't want that because then you have an influencer on their heels and they're like, hey, y'all, I had to do that for the check. And that's the last thing that you want to like happen.
8:03
Think about influencer marketing as like a part of your strategic communications plan. It's a part of your community outreach. You're trying to build relationships. You're trying to deliver a message.
8:20
You're trying to raise funds. You're trying to sell tickets. Whatever that is, consider the influencer a part of that ecosystem across your other channels that's creating awareness and engagement. And if you can do that,
8:37
that is going to be the game changer on if influencer marketing is working for you, in my opinion. And I would say it needs a budget. It just can't be like,
8:51
hey, I hope this person will do this for free tickets or for credential, you know, backstage passes to this concert. Have an actual budget for it. This is a career for people.
9:06
This is how they are building their livelihood. So don't consistently rely on like complimentary tickets and swag and that sort of thing to get people in the door because then you're not going to get the right partners.
9:23
Right. And like that's the key for it. So think about the relationship that you're trying to build, not just the post.
9:35
So if you're like, hey, each year we spend X number of dollars on OTT and then we have this money set aside for billboards. Then we have this set aside for our paid SEO and digital marketing campaign.
9:52
Do the same thing with influencers. And that's not to say you have to work with the same influencers every time, but have a budget to where you can go and get the right fit.
10:02
And you're not just getting essentially what what you can based off of what you have to offer, have something more to offer than just, you know, trade value.
10:12
And sometimes, you know, you will get people that once you build those relationships, maybe you're not even asking them to come out and do something. You're just saying, hey,
10:20
thank you so much for partnering with us on this. We have, you know, this benefit concert that's going to feature X artists.
10:29
Would you would you like tickets to go and you give those a complimentary tickets as a thank you, but also as a retention? Because what I will say is it's important to make sure that influencers are,
10:46
I would say, treated well, that they have a good experience in working with you, your team and your organization, because that will also determine how successful your strategy with influencer marketing is.
11:01
Because just like marketer to marketer talk to each other, CFO to CFO talk to each other. And it's this community of people understand that influencers are a community as people as well.
11:12
And you have to have a good relationship with them in order for your brand to have a good reputation with other influencers to like work with you. Right. Every touch point matters. Think about your communication.
11:26
How long does it take you to respond to an email? How how long is the the payment structure? And I'll come back to payment in a little bit. How long did it take you to pay them? Did you get them all of the details?
11:43
Was it easy for them to pull up to the event park, get their credential, come in? That sort of thing. Like you have to think about the logistics.
11:51
And I tell people all the time I'm working with a client right now and we're building out an influencer marketing plan. I'm like, you got to think about these people as VIP. And it's like, but I'm paying them.
12:01
And it's like, yes, you are paying them. But you need to make sure that they have a good time in order for them to convince their audience that you want to need. Right. To come to your event and have a good time.
12:14
You don't need to just have, um, a market to influence. You have to market through the influencer, right? Like you essentially have to make the influencer a brand ambassador of who you are and what you're doing.
12:31
And then I mentioned this, but payment. Oh my God. For creators, for influencers, they absolutely hate working with organizations and teams and brands because we take so long to pay them.
12:48
We have to make sure that if we are trying to truly be in this space where we're getting creators and influencers to work with us, that we have policies and procedures in place that allows us to pay in a timely manner, that allows us to not just pay, but onboard, right?
13:09
Like, do you need, um, W-9? Do, you know, do they have to sign HR paperwork? Do they have to do a background check?
13:16
Giving them all of this information up front so that the process is smooth and easy and they don't feel like your policies is getting in the way of the other work. That is going to be key and critical, critical.
13:31
So don't be afraid to have conversations with your, your business office, your HR. Hey, listen, this is what is happening, um, in business right now. We're gonna need to be able to do some of these.
13:42
How can we go about getting that done? And truly going in and coming up with plans that speaks directly to this so that people aren't hanging in the balance. You know, like
13:55
waiting, uh, net 30 for $1,500 as a organization or a brand may seem like nothing to you, but that could be somebody's rent money, right?
14:06
So then they're like antsy and are like, "Yeah, I can't work with them again because they don't pay me on time."
14:11
So just make sure that the policies are in place because, um, that's going to be, I think, a difference maker in whether those people have a good time or not. So
14:24
what I would encourage people to do when thinking about influencer marketing, one, define the, the object-- uh, hmm, define [laughs] the goals and objectives of what you are, um, trying to do.
14:40
Make sure that the influencer, um, fits those objectives. Make sure that you're choosing influencers that speak to
14:53
audience, that speak to, um, uh, brand alignment, right?
14:59
Remember that the biggest audience doesn't always mean the best engagement, so being very intentional about who you select, why you select them, having policies and procedures in place that allows you to onboard, pay, and truly, um, uh, treat these influencers like, um, you know, em- employees and part of the strategy and that sort of thing so they are not feeling bogged down.
15:28
Have a budget for it. Think about it early. Think about it often. Be able to pivot where you can. But
15:37
definitely think about influencer marketing as a strategy, not a one-off, and I think that there could be some success there.
15:46
Um, if you are doing something in a space of influencer marketing or you have examples that you wanna share, please by all means, uh, share those with me and I can make sure that either I mention them on another pod or we have a newsletter that we can put them in.
16:01
But I definitely wanna highlight the work that, um, people are, are doing. So thank you so much for joining.
16:08
Uh, until next time, remember that the headlines tell you one story, the strategy tells you another, but the best conversations are gonna happen right here off the record.
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