Tapping into what makes the influencer beloved by their audiences is the real secret sauce. Your voice, their tone. – Jill Sherman
The team at DigitasLBi North America work with some of the biggest brands in the world. As their Senior Vice President of Social Strategy and the national social capability lead, Jill Sherman is leading that charge. Here’s a look at her 2016 predictions, thoughts on influencer marketing, and her affinity for our space program.
What role do you see Influencer Marketing playing in brand marketing strategies in 2016?
Influencer marketing is going to play an even larger role. 59% of marketers say they plan to increase their influencer marketing budgets in 2016.* Part of the resistance for many brands to has been an inability to consistently track and attribute success, especially when influencers publish to their owned channels. But the largest barrier has simply been fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of walking away from what worked in the past. Fear of relinquishing control to influencers who want to create content in a way that feels authentic to their personal brand and to their audiences. I’ve seen brands throw YouTube vloggers into scripted commercials and call it influencer marketing. Not exactly. That’s not the beauty of this medium. Tapping into what makes the influencer beloved by their audiences is the real secret sauce. Your voice, their tone. (*Source: Tomoson Influencer Marketing Study, March 2015)
What is the most widespread mistake you’ve seen brand marketers make in 2015 that you hope they learn from in 2016?
So many brands are still focusing on high-value social platform actions—likes, shares and comments—to measure how social impacts consumer attitudes. But to really understand the value of social media as it relates to awareness and affinity value, brands need to move beyond vanity metrics into attribution and mixed media modeling.
What word do you hope is officially banned from the marketing vernacular in 2016?
“Funnel.” There is no funnel. The new cross-device, cross-platform consumer journey looks more like a game of Frogger. If you’re too young to get the reference, ask Siri 🙂
What marketing events are you most looking forward to in 2016?
Pivot Conference: http://pivotcon.com/pivotcon/
The 3% Conference: http://www.3percentconf.com/
Content Marketing World: http://www.contentmarketingworld.com/
When Jill isn’t working, her obsessions include Bill Murray films, mid-century Japanese art, and all things NASA. Want to speak with her more about social media, digital strategy, and Bill Murray? Find her on Twitter.