Written by Anjali Rego, Corporate Communications Specialist at Corus Entertainment
- What is the most significant shift in influencer dynamics in recent years?
- How do you differentiate yourself from other influencers when competing for campaigns?
- How do you determine rates?
These questions and more were addressed by Jenny Shin, President of CPRS Toronto and CEO of Milestones Public Relations and Talent Management, and guest speakers Krystal Ng-A-Mann (also known as dineandfash), a lawyer, content creator and lifestyle blogger and Bria Weaver, Freelance PR and Marketing Consultant during the recent event titled ‘The Evolution of the Influencer in PR,’ sponsored by Business Wire.
Michelle Dias, Vice-President of CPRS Toronto, welcomed the attendees and the panellists to the event before handing over the baton to Shin, who moderated the session.
The shift in influencer dynamics
Weaver kicked off the conversation talking about how her entrance into the industry 10 years ago focussed on bloggers and has now moved on to social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
Ng-A-Mann began her journey as a full-time influencer four years ago when brands were reluctant to get into influencer marketing. She is now a part of more extensive campaigns with significant amounts of money being spent and long-term investments in influencer relations.
Seeing a campaign come to fruition
As an influencer, Ng-A-Mann explained her experience in seeing a campaign come to fruition. In most cases, she has already worked with a PR agency or a brand, who are aware of her work and her metrics. However, Ng-A-Mann shares her media kit and audience metrics, the percentage of Canadian following being a vital metric before the campaign. Post-campaign, Ng-A-Mann shares screengrabs of comments and messages she receives while being mindful of the privacy implications of sharing comments, especially in messages.
What’s it like to work as an influencer?
Ng-A-Mann explained the two aspects of working as an influencer – the admin part where she answers emails, negotiates contracts, meets deadlines and the creative part where she establishes her voice and provides value to her audience. She has recently shared her fertility journey and has attracted a whole new audience.
Ng-A-Mann also mentioned there were times when her calendar was very busy with campaigns, especially during the holidays, and then there would be times when campaigns were slow. Even though Ng-A-Mann’s calendar fluctuates, she creates organic content for her followers rather than depending on sponsored content all the time. Ng-A-Mann emphasized the importance of prioritizing organic content over sponsored content as it is more relatable to followers and increases her number of followers and engagement rate.
Macro vs micro vs nano influencers
Shin, Ng-A-Mann and Weaver discussed what makes an influencer a macro-influencer, micro-influencer and nano-influencer in terms of the numbers of followers. Still, they could not achieve a consensus on the number of followers. Weaver suggested combining macro, micro and nano influencers across engaged audiences. At the same time, Ng-A-Mann mentioned that when the number of followers was too large, their audience would spread too far, and the brand message would not always reach the right audience.
Credibility and accountability
Shin, Ng-A-Mann and Weaver stressed the importance of credibility and accountability. Weaver announced her pilot project – The Influencer Review – an online tool where PR agencies and brands can post reviews of influencers and rate their experiences working with them.
Ng-A-Mann explained the best practices as influencers where they have to use the product or service they are endorsing and speak about it truthfully. They also have to mention whether they have paid for the product or received it as a gift. Ng-A-Mann admitted hesitancy towards declaring sponsored posts initially, but now she is open to it because more work is involved in promoting a product in her voice that aligns with her values.
Rates of influencers
Shin spoke about her challenge in convincing clients that they couldn’t expect influencers to create content for free or in exchange for swag. When determining rates, Weaver is not afraid to ask influencers for past successful campaign case studies to ensure her clients’ maximum ROI.
When discussing rates and negotiating contracts, Ng-A-Mann mentioned she did not favour having a standard rate card and being flexible when negotiating rates based on the value they bring to the brand, the scope of work, the deadline and its complexity. Being a corporate commercial lawyer, Ng-A-Mann reviews contracts for herself and other creators but advises them not to use online templates because she notices a big disconnect between brands and influencers regarding usage terms, copyright and ownership. Ng-A-Mann also discourages charging rates based on cost per impression (CPM) because following and engagement can be purchased, inflating the quantity instead of quality.
Ng-A-Mann gets approached for pro bono work for non-profits, and she donates several posts and stories. However, time constraints don’t always allow Ng-A-Mann to help everyone, even though she wants to, especially if she has a relationship with the brand or a connection to the cause.
Pay to Play and Whitelisting
Ng-A-Mann explained that Pay to Play is a legal concept where brands are obligated to pay the influencer to create the content, but they are not obligated to post it.
In terms of whitelisting, Ng-A-Mann explained how the reach of sponsored content is lower than organic content and how brands are aware that Instagram wants users to pay to play. Ng-A-Mann prefers brands to pay to promote her content as it helps her reach new audiences. However, the whitelisting is done by the brand, and she is not in control of the parameters, thereby attracting trolls and negative attention.
The event ended with an informal conversation with the panellists and the attendees.
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