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Summertime is here and mid-year marketing campaigns are in full swing. Before you head to Vidcon this week and calculate the engagement level of your latest campaign, here are 5 influencer marketing stories that you should definitely read before heading to the beach.
Unlocking Influencer Marketing
ION’s Take: Yahoo just released a report on how brands can get value from influencer marketing campaigns. While the full report spends a lot of time on Yahoo-owned Tumblr for its examples, the insight into how influencer marketing continues to evolve is welcome. A key point is how much influencer marketing can help in the entire content production cycle. Working with ideal influencers can help further define your audience, give you a partner with whom to collaborate on content, and the right distribution to reach your target customers.
Image: Yahoo
Microsoft’s LinkedIn Buy May Encourage More Influencer Marketing
ION’s Take: The biggest acquisition of a social media platform ever came up last week in the form of Microsoft’s purchase of LinkedIn. While the business-focused social network has no real rival in the space, could this connection create even more opportunities for B2B influencer marketing on LinkedIn?
With Microsoft’s $26.2 billion dollar acquisition of LinkedIn announced by marketing ninjas on Monday morning, many are talking about the synergies to be gained from the company’s largest-ever deal. While LinkedIn’s stock price has suffered this year due to earnings reports that didn’t meet Wall Street’s expectations, Microsoft clearly saw past that and realized that, in B2B, LinkedIn has no true social network rival.
Pew Research: Mobile Was Over 50 Percent of Digital Ad Revenue in 2015
ION’s Take: Mobile is eating the world of digital marketing, according to Marketing Dive’s astute review of the Pew Research Center report called The State of the News Media. While most of those mobile dollars go to the usual suspects (social and telco companies), Facebook research referenced in the report shows that only native and video ads provided real value.
The latest figures from Pew’s State of the News Media report found that $59.6 billion was spent on digital advertising last year, a 20% year-over-year increase. That growth rate is an increase over the previous three years where growth ranged between 15% and 17%.
Native Social Ads Grab Bigger Slice of Ad Spend: Report
ION’s Take: Not only will mobile ad revenue grow massively during the next few years, but the portion that is focused on native advertising will see a substantial surge thanks to its effectiveness.
Native social ad spend is growing quickly. Native social advertising is expected to increase its share of location-targeted mobile ad spend from 19.8 percent this year to 28.1 percent by 2020, according to a report released today by BIA/Kelsey.
Infographic: The Use of Ad-Blocking Around the World
ION’s Take: Interruptive ads are getting blocked more and more all over the globe, as Statista’s visual representation of data from the Digital News Report from Reuters shows. As more consumers are motivated to get away from increasing obtrusive ad units, even the cleverest brand campaigns fail to get seen. All the more reason why influencer marketing use continues to soar, especially among micro and mid-sized influencers who create compelling content that audiences don’t want to miss. Yet are brands ready to hire influencers at scale to target global users?
The past 15 years have been tough on publishers around the world. First the internet came around and sent circulation figures tumbling. Then mobile devices changed the way people consume news content once again. And now that publishers and advertisers have adapted to the new realities, ad-blocking software comes around to steal their lunch once again.