United States

Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

While influencer marketing has become a mainstay for marketers, this doesn’t mean that marketers should start getting comfortable. As social apps start to integrate more creative functions to suit their users’ needs, an increasing number of users have started to become creators in their own right. 

Anyone with a smartphone can create content, but those that create unique, high-quality content have risen to join the ranks of top influencers. 

However, marketers often only consider partnering with ‘traditional’ influencers — influential tastemakers that usually have a large following. While these individuals may not necessarily create posts of high quality, their ability to leverage their fans makes them attractive to marketers seeking to promote their brand.

While creators can become influential and influencers do often create their own content, they aren’t one and the same. Marketers shouldn’t make the mistake of conflating them. Here’s why:

Influencers and content creators have different impacts on their audiences

Marketers increasingly understand the need to shift from ‘vanity’ metrics such as ‘likes’ towards engagement metrics such as ‘views’ and ‘impressions’. This also means that influencer marketing isn’t used just for the purpose of attracting eyeballs. Brands must engage the individuals that best suit their campaign objectives and KPIs. 

For example, a beauty brand looking to raise brand awareness might engage a beauty influencer to create a sponsored post, then track impressions on their posts, or audience growth on their social media. 

A YouTuber that uses the same products as part of a morning routine video or beauty challenge, on the other hand, can generate interest in your product that leads to greater click-throughs to your product page.  

The main difference is that influencers act as an amplification channel for your content or product, driving awareness through reach, which can generate sales with the right target group. 

Content creators, on the other hand, incorporate your product into their own content styles — be it beauty routines, funny challenges, or breathtaking photographs. These creators may not have a large following, but often have loyal audiences that are already interested in the form of content they produce. As such, they score greater points for relatability.

Think of influencer marketing as a form of brand partnership

Gone are the days when influencers are willing to plug your brand or product in exchange for free goods or cash. Influencers now hold greater accountability to their followers, meaning that it is imperative for them to be honest about sponsorships and create more authentic content. 

According to Campaign, some factors that determine if a user decides to follow an influencer include how “real” their content is, how well-intentioned their posts are, and whether or not the content or products they endorse are in keeping with their usual style. 

This means that influencers are likely to be more selective with the brands that they choose to work with. An influencer such as Liv Lo (@livlogolding), for example, builds her personal brand around her sustainable lifestyle and the use of environmentally-friendly, organic products. Liv Lo features cruelty-free skincare brands on her Instagram page and isn’t shy about criticising brands that aren’t as supportive of environmental initiatives.

@livlogolding suggests that she will stop supporting coffee brand Alfred due to their lack of sustainability efforts

Top influencers hold even greater prestige and control. Apart from being awarded ‘verified’ badges on platforms such as YouTube or Instagram that cement their status as top dog, high-profile influencers are being provided exclusive features that allow them to directly drive social commerce. 

Last year, Snapchat invited 5 top influencers to gain access to their in-app store function, allowing these influencers to sell their merchandise straight from the app. Instagram’s Creator profile, which was initially beta-tested on a small group of users, now allows influencers and creators to have more flexible profile controls, access to a dashboard of performance metrics, and the ability to create shoppable posts. 

Creators are also being recognised for their influence. Events like VidCon celebrate the unique achievements of video creators and educate brands on how they should navigate the changing influencer landscape. 

It’s clear that marketers can no longer expect to mould an influencer to their needs. Instead, marketers must learn to accept that influencers and creators are their own mini-brand. A successful partnership, therefore, depends on aligning the needs and values of both parties.

In order to find the right partners, use Meltwater’s Influencer Marketing Software or Klear's Influencer Discovery Platform. We help you to find influencers based on your audience’s demographic as well as your target market, industry, or topic. Their fans are already familiar with brands in your industry, ensuring that your content effectively targets the right audience. 

Just like celebrity endorsements, influencer partnerships work well in the long-term

Influencer marketing should not involve too many one-off partnerships. As consumers seek out relatable, authentic content, “momentary endorsements” become less attractive to most brands and influencers. After all, consumers place less trust in influencers who readily promote a variety of brands. 

Marketers should strive to create long-term partnerships with the influencers that they engage. While long-term partnerships generally reflect well on both the brand and its partner, these partnerships also help both parties solidify their fanbase. 

Influencers who work with brands on a longer-term basis can leverage a variety of posts that better reflect their relationship with the brand over time. For example, an influencer is likely to attend events hosted by the brand, speak about related social issues, and review the brand’s products. If an influencer praises the brand’s offerings, their fans are more likely to believe them.

@soniachew announces a year-long branded partnership with Acuvue Singapore

@soniachew attends Acuvue’s OASYS launch event

Brands that embark on long-term partnerships may also benefit from the influencer’s follower circles. These audiences are likely to relate the influencer with the brand and thus confer a sense of trust towards the products that they endorse. This also means that audiences are likely to feel a greater emotional connection with the brand, leading to more sticky customers.

Content creators, too, are valuable partners. Brands that make creators their partners can turn the artists’ style or content form into a part of their brand identity. This is especially true for organisations that manage recurring events. 

Arts House Limited, for example, manages the Aliwal Arts Centre, which organises the annual Aliwal Urban Arts Festival. While the lineup for each year differs, the Urban Arts Festival consistently showcases local street dance crews and musicians. The festival has become synonymous with local street culture, while the Arts Centre has become the go-to venue for local indie dance and theatre shows.

Dance duo @scrachmarcs consistently collaborates with the Aliwal Arts Centre for their annual Aliwal Urban Arts Festival

@scrachmarcs posts their original choreographies and videos of their classes on Instagram

Brands like Arts House Limited show a keen understanding of their own appeal and their audience’s interests. Likewise, brands that seek to effectively engage influencers as long-term partners must create campaigns that appeal to their key audiences.

Meltwater’s Audience Insight reports allow you to understand the communities that drive conversations on your social media channels. Our tool helps you to discover your audience’s consumption habits, analyse shifts in their demographic, and identify key influencers within these groups. You can then use these insights to determine the trends and topics that resonate with your audience. 

To move ahead, brands must shake off old conventions

Now that we’ve highlighted the reasons why marketers should understand the value of both traditional influencers and content creators, it’s imperative that they formulate an influencer marketing strategy that includes both facets.

As the social media landscape continues to change and include newer apps, functions, and trends that steal the headlines, social media marketers too must adapt to make sure that they stay ahead of the curve.

Why Your Idea of Influencer Marketing is Outdated

Once marketing departments cultivated influencer relationships it’s imperative to support them because these public figures are important to your brand.

You’ve built a great product and an authentic brand around it to match. You’ve started to see brand advocates give unsolicited testimonials, and creating content that reinforces your brand’s positioning.

Good job! But how will you keep this momentum going? It takes time and attention to nurture these budding influencer relationships and maintain them over time. And it’s over time that these relationships will pay off. That’s why finding creative and valuable ways to recognize your brand’s influencers is essential.

It seems obvious that the easiest, most cost-effective thank you would be simply to acknowledge and thank your brand influencers for their mentions. But many brands don’t seem to notice—or care—about these mentions. This lack of acknowledgment is a HUGE missed opportunity.

Reading Tip: Are you wondering how much influencer marketing costs? Learn more about influencer pricing.

When someone is a big enough fan of your brand to spend their time, for free, to create content that mentions you, you need to make it a priority to reply to them! This acknowledgment can be as simple as a comment on a blog post, or a social reply when they share the content. To make sure you’re on top of mentions, you can use social listening platforms.

Again, this seems like a no-brainer, but not many brands share influencer-created content unless it’s sponsored by—or exclusively about—the brand. Influencers can be an excellent source of relevant and engaging content that’s relevant to your audience. By sharing their content, not only are you helping them increase their audience, you’re showing that you’re tuned-in to YOUR audience and their content interests as well. They will appreciate every new follower that comes from this simple act. 

Wouldn’t you jump at the chance to get an inside look at what it’s like to work and play inside your favorite brand’s workplace? While it’s not practical to invite all your brand influencers to shadow staff, what about hosting an exclusive happy hour or open house that allows them to mingle with your employees?

In addition to making them feel like an extended part of your brand family, it’s entirely likely they’ll create content about their experience. This sort of behind-the-scenes content can be incredibly valuable to employer branding efforts.

Do you have a customer advisory board? If the influencer is a regular product user, they may be a good candidate to round out your group. However, be conscious of the reality that customer advisory groups often have competing organizational demands for their attention. In that case, creating a formal external brand ambassador program might be a better way to give influencers VIP status and recognition.

For example, I’ve been invited to a number of brand advocacy communities over the years that have used Influitive to create targeted opportunities to involve brand advocates in promoting brand activities. Sprout Social has gone in a slightly different direction. They’ve created an exclusive Sprout All Star program (which I’m part of).

As a Sprout All Star, I have access to a private Slack group where I can network and collaborate with other All Stars, keep apprised of the latest product changes, and have a direct line for feedback or questions. All Stars also have an opportunity to work with Sprout on co-created content, and frequently have their content shared with and elevated by the community. The All Star program is an exemplary example of recognizing influential partners and providing them with something valuable in return for their ongoing support.

When someone is a passionate brand fan, chances are, despite that love, they still have many ideas about areas of improvement for your product and services. So get them involved in your campaign! Involve them in your BETA testing and give them sneak peeks of or early access to new products. It can feel incredibly rewarding to see your suggestions make it into everyday use of a product you love beyond simply being asked to post things on Instagram without a chance to comment.

If you’re struggling to identify the best way to recognize an influencer for their brand advocacy, there is one guaranteed tactic you can use: ask them what you can do to help them grow their career or business.

Their replies could be anything from an introduction to potential clients, giving them access to high-profile people they are looking to build a relationship with, or exposure via your social media. It could even involve 1-on-1 time with a key executive in your organization for an hour to help them think through a vexing business issue. You may not be able to accommodate all the requests from each of your brand’s influencers, but it’s very likely these conversations will give you some insights into your influencer community-at-large that you can apply more broadly.

Your Partnership is About More than Just Advertising on Social Media

At the end of the day, finding the right content creators is only the beginning of what should be an ongoing strategy. Every online marketer knows how valuable they can be in helping you reach your target audience on Instagram, SnapChat, LinkedIn or wherever the data has shown you they are - and, as part of your social media marketing campaigns. Every new follower exposed to your brand is an asset to you.

Influencers are also often loyal customers and when they start working with you, they enter into a partnership that can benefit everyone involved. In advertising your products or services, they become part of your team and it helps to reward them accordingly. Not to mention the word-of-mouth component that we know is so powerful in marketing.

Your influencer marketing strategy must extend to creative ways of building and maintaining brand awareness, keeping up your relationships with big celebrities and micro-influencers too. Share hashtags, leverage niche interests you share and start increasing engagement as a priority. In doing so, you can grow your social media profiles, but more importantly, start helping and rewarding both parties to make it a lasting and beneficial relationship. 

Although the term thought leader has become a bit cliched, becoming a trusted and respected industry expert is at the top of many influencers professional development list. How can you help them achieve that? You can provide them with speaking opportunities at your annual conference or regional networking events, or even co-present with them at an industry conference.

If public speaking isn’t their thing, you can make a point of featuring your influencers in your content, and put a budget behind promoting that content, including mentions of that influencer.

Influencer recognition needs to reflect both your company’s unique culture and the depth and value of the influencer relationship. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to influencer recognition. Try out a mix of these approaches, then ask influencers for feedback, and see if these tactics have the desired result. And don’t forget the power an unexpected handwritten note accompanied by a piece of branded swag or another thoughtful token gift can have on making an influencer’s day.

To learn more about creating and building on your relationships with influencers, read our blog, Finding the Right Influencers to Partner with Your Brand.

7 Ways You Can Do Better at Recognizing Your Influencers

The Coronavirus Pandemic has had a quick and fast impact on the way we live our lives. People around the globe have been asked to stay home as much as possible and practice social distancing. Now, more than ever, there is a need to quickly and effectively adapt, transform, work together as a team and manage crisis situations and communications across the board.

Watch this webinar on How to Upskill Social Media and Comms to Think Fast and Act Now.

Those who can, are working from home. For many, remote work is a very new experience. And, school and business closures mean many are having to work from home while sharing a space with loved ones. This means it is essential to ensure that projects run smoothly and collaborations can still ensue.

Klear’s Influencer Management Tool –  want to help you make a smooth transition to remote work, and have outlined some of their top 5 features that will help teams manage their influencer campaigns while working from home.

1. Influencer CRM: Keep The Whole Team Updated on Project Status

Working from home does pose its own challenges, like not having immediate access to a coworker. Especially when you work in a team, you may need to ensure that you have everything mapped out in front of you; what project you are working on, when the project is due, and roadblocks that depend on your coworkers.

Klear’s CRM is a great way to see the status of your entire influencer campaign at a glance. Their CRM has some built-in features that help the entire team stay aligned and maintain clear communication:

Notes: Team members can directly share feedback regarding specific influencers in a campaign. Do you like them, love them, would you never want to collaborate with them again? Add a note so everyone on your team knows how you feel. Everyone with access to Klear can view your notes.

Owner: Don’t step on any toes, even from the safety of your home. The owner tab within the CRM lets you know who’s managing communication with a specific influencer. This way everyone on the team knows where responsibility lies.

Agreements: Klear helps users avoid emails by allowing most communication to happen within the Klear portal. You can send and sign influencer agreements within Klear, and easily see the status of an agreement (signed or pending).

Remember, when most communication is digital, there is a lot of subtexts. Less is usually not more, so write detailed notes so no one misinterprets you.

2. Influencer Tagging: Let Your Team Know Who You’re Interested In

Klear’s influencer search engine is a great tool for you and your team to find the perfect influencer for a new campaign. If you’re used to tapping your coworker on the shoulder and scooting over to a friend’s desk to review a profile, influencer tagging will help you maintain the same workflow. Once you’ve identified an influencer you want to collaborate with, or that have enjoyed collaborating with, simply tag the influencer.

Tags are color-coded and can have names. For example, if you see an influence that would be perfect for you #RedLabel campaing, give the influencer a red tag and name it “red label”. All influencers under a specific tag will be listed together and accessible for the entire team to view.

Though it doesn’t feel the same as enjoying a coffee together while your review potential influencers, influencer tags will at least ensure that everyone is on the same page. Influencer tags also ensure you are your teammates aren’t doing extra work of vetting the same influencer.

TIP: Klear recommends giving your tags funny names to lighten the mood.

3. Download & Share PDFs: Influencer Profiles and Campaign Reports

Now that you’ll be having meetings and projects syncs over Zoom or other video chat platforms, it’s important to come prepared and easily share information with your coworkers. Klear lets you easily download PDF files of influencer profiles and campaign reports, so all of your important information is visible and easy to digest on one document.

Influencer profiles are great to share with coworkers or clients when vetting a potential candidate. Profiles can be downloaded to a one page PDF file, and includes important metrics including True Reach, Klear Score, audience demographics, top content and more.

Campaign Profiles are a great way to review and share the success of a campaign once it’s been completed. Reports included Total Post, True Reach, Engagements, and EMV. Campaign reports also offer a breakdown of each individual influencer’s performance. This is a great resource for the entire team or important stakeholders to get a full picture of how a campaign progressed.

TIP: Review campaign PDFs together with your team during a video chat, so everyone is seeing and reviewing the same information in real-time! 

4. Content Approval: Know Which Influencer Content Will Go Live

Of course, it’s always essential that you review influencer content before it goes live. Whether you are in the office or working from home. But, it’s important to remember that your entire team has access to this tool. Share submitted content with your coworkers so everyone knows what is scheduled to go live, or so others can give feedback on the content you’re not feeling 100% on.

TIP: If an influencer submitted content that you love, let the rest of your team know. Right now everyone needs some good news and some light-hearted content. 

5. Feedback Portal: Keep Everyone Involved, Not Just Team Members

Working from home can feel lonely. Especially if you’re part of a dynamic team that is used to brainstorming sessions and sharing feedback. If you miss getting feedback from coworkers, even those not immediately involved in a project, try using Klear’s new feedback portal.

Separate from notes in the CRM, which is for Klear users. Their feedback portal lets users easily receive feedback from those without access to Klear. This is a great resource for agencies looking to get a client’s input, or larger organizations looking to keep other departments in the loop.

Reading Tip: Does Working From Home Work for PR and Marketing Agencies?

Simply send a link that invites a collaborator to share feedback on every influencer and relevant content. All feedback is private between you and your collaborator.

TIP: When feeling overwhelmed, ask for feedback, even from people who aren’t completely relevant to the project. It’s also a nice way to touch base with co-workers you wouldn’t interact with during your daily tasks. 

NOTE: This blog post was written by Lena Young, the Director of Communications from Klear.

#WFH: 5 Ways To Manage Your Influencer Campaign While Working From Home

Connecting with influencers is a win-win! Influencer marketing helps to raise brand awareness and improve credibility by association with industry leaders. Through influencer marketing, we can connect with experts that have a large following and therefore reach. It’s important to tap into our influencer’s audiences as they are likely to be relevant to our brand.

Tip: Learn how Make-A-Wish America uses the Meltwater suite for their national communications strategies and PR campaigns.

How to start your NGO influencer marketing strategy?

First of all, using the leading Influencer Marketing platform Klear makes influencer marketing a whole lot easier!

Using the influencer contact database, we can search a keyword related to our industry such as “Non-governmental organisation” (NGO) and scroll through the different search results. We can also refine the influencer contact database search further using other filters to remove unwanted content. Results can be listed according to a specific date range, for example, if we wanted to find influencers that have written articles in the past month, then we can do so using the date drop-down menu. The influencer contact database tool allows it to be very easy to discover influencers we otherwise may not be able to find. It also saves us time that we would spend manually searching for influencers or waiting for word-of-mouth to take effect.

Don’t take our word for it, find out for yourself! We can dig deeper into the results by opening the influencer’s content and finding out what they’ve been writing about. This provides us with a great talking point when we do engage with our influencers – something that’s needed for relationship building.

With our influencer contact database tool, we can quickly find the contact details of influencers, and then the world is our oyster!

By clicking on the influencer’s name, the tool will bring up contact details including email, phone numbers, and social media profile pages, allowing us to engage with them in any way we see fit. With one-click access to contact details, we save time doing detective work on Google and social media.

Any contacts that we want to save for future influencer marketing campaigns can be added to a list, which can be filtered by location, beats and job roles. We can ultimately stay on top of our PR by sending out press releases to our selected contacts via the Meltwater media database. So we don’t even have to copy and paste details into a separate software, the platform does all the work!

To measure the ROI of our influencer marketing relationships, the influencer database tool measures key analytics such as open rate, click to open rate, and the number of contacts who have unsubscribed to the release. By giving us metrics and information on how engaged the recipients are, we can analyse the exact impact our press releases are having on our targeted influencers, which helps to improve our future influencer marketing strategy.

Who should we be following in the NGO space?

We used the influencer contact database tool to find 5 top people that have influence in the NGO sector. Get up to scratch with influencer marketing with our list of top NGO influencers to follow and connect with!

Duncan Green @fp2p
Duncan is Oxfam’s Senior Strategic Advisor, who writes informative blogs daily on Oxfam’s website, ranging from world inequality to critiquing a project proposal. With over 30k followers, Duncan is at the top of our NGO influencers list.

John Vidal @john_vidal
John is the Guardian’s Environment Editor, generating content regarding all things environmental. With many of his articles including charities and NGO’s, John has been placed in our top 5 NGO influencers list. Follow him and his community for a pick of environmental content!

Howard Lake @howardlake
Being the Owner and Publisher of UK Fundraising, Howard has accumulated a strong following through providing valuable content. UK Fundraising is a go-to guide for news on charity events, fundraising tips and advice, and forums.

Graham Walker @GW1962
Often writing about charities and NGO-related events for Johnston Press, Graham is one of our top influencers in the NGO segment. If you we want to read great content about important charitable events and news, Graham is our man!

David Leask @LeaskyHT
As the Chief Reporter for The Herald, David covers many topics including regional news, politics, and crime, with many of his stories including news and information about charities. As a result, David is one of our top NGO influencers so why not give him a follow?!

For tips on how to work with influencers effectively, check out our influencer marketing blog post.

Boost Your Influencer Marketing with Our Top 5 NGO Influencers

Education and nonprofits often feel that their limited resources shut them out of innovative marketing opportunities. But having a strong community and strong mission opens up possibilities with influencer marketing. When you're ready to implement an influencer program that'll work for you at any budget, we have the guide.

Although much of the influencer marketing conversation centers around consumer brands and their partnerships, influencer marketing is also a valuable lever for not-for-profit and higher education organizations, especially when they inspire micro-influencers within their networks.

One organization that does an excellent job of enabling passionate advocates to get involved and spread the word about their organization is charity: water. They fulfil their mission to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries by encouraging everyday people to create giving campaigns in their name. This has resulted in couples raising funds in lieu of wedding gifts, to children asking for donations instead of dolls, to YouTube influencers celebrating follower milestones.

Social Media Can Build Awareness that Leads to Action

Another organization with passionate followers actively sharing the organization’s content on social is the Best Friends Animal Society. With over a million Facebook likes, and almost 200,000 Twitter followers, Best Friends does a great job of engaging with community members and making it easy for them to take action. This level of social engagement has, in turn, led to attracting the attention of pet-loving social media influencers, including one very popular french bulldog, Walter Cronkite, who threw a fundraiser for his birthday.

“I created a special hashtag for Walter’s birthday (#WaltersCheesyBday – ’cause he loves cheese!), and let our Instagram friends know that, for everyone who posted using the hashtag, I would be donating $1 per post to Best Friends, up to $100,” says Walter’s mom Carrie. “Much to my surprise and joy, not only did people post like crazy, but some even offered to MATCH my donation! The posting window was 24 hours, and we raised $636.00! Not bad for a spontaneous fundraiser.“

It’s interesting to note that this collaboration didn’t come about through outreach on Best Friends’ part—it was a byproduct of their overall community-building, influencer relations, and social media engagement. But they smartly noticed an opportunity to collaborate and further cultivated the relationship.

“This wasn’t an official collaboration, just something I decided to do completely off-the-cuff to celebrate Walter’s birthday,” says Carrie. “I reached out that morning to my friends at Best Friends letting them know what I was up to, and they were completely supportive.” In a continuation of this partnership, Walter and his mom partnered with Best Friends for their Giving Tuesday event, and have been actively involved in getting the word out about their 2016 Holiday Super Adoption.

GUYZZZ! my sassy playbuddy @rita_the_frenchie has ALSO offered to match donations today to @bestfriendsanimalsociety!! i'm so honored. this is the best bday ever. so happy to help all the animals in need! #WaltersCheesyBday 🎉

Although it may seem more difficult to appeal to an influencer without a big marketing budget or a sample closet at your disposal, there are a number of ways to identify influencers who will be open to partnering with you. Start by identifying influencers in your network, and creating low-time commitment ways for them to show their support. Amplify those efforts and activities conducted on your behalf, and create additional opportunities for these influencers to spread the word about your organization.

Even if your organization doesn’t lend itself to adorable instagrammable pets, if you’re regularly sharing your organization’s content on social media, it’s easy to start identifying influencers within your network.

“I work across several social media platforms and use tools to privately tag various groups of our constituents, including different types of influencers,” said Christina Sponselli, director of social media at the University of California, Berkeley. “I also watch our audience’s interactions with posts and our alumni network, which we’ve developed in-house.”

Sponselli and her team recently concluded a successful 24-hour fundraising campaign, Big Give, that used social media channels to drive over $11 million in donations. Key to this success was a highly-engaged community that was nurtured over time.

Get ready to join with other Haasies to change the world! Together let's go beyond ourselves and strengthen the student experience 💪. Give back on Nov. 17 #CalBigGive #Haasome

“We engage with them online, including resharing posts, privately and publicly messaging them, and we have a social media ambassador program, ambassador.berkeley.edu,” said Sponselli. “This program makes it easy for our constituents to share their Cal pride.”

Biggest thanks for your generosity and support in this year's #CalBigGive. Together we were able to raise over $1.2 million dollars for Haas. You've been able to prove once again that we are a dedicated community of doers committed to making BIG impacts. Thank you for making this a #haasome place to be!

With Meltwater's influencer marketing solution, you can identify social influencers based on their location, audience size, engagement rates, and audience demographics.

Using your analytics tool, take a look at your organization’s top twitter, Instagram, and Facebook mentions. If you see that mention has a significant amount of engagement, including likes/retweets, add the sender to your prospective influencers list as they have an audience that is shown to be receptive to content about your organization. LinkedIn doesn’t give you as much insight into how any one individual’s sharing of your content influenced the increase of its reach. However, LinkedIn’s profile inclusion of causes individuals are passionate about, and their volunteering history provides an opportunity to uncover supporters who have significant networks you may potentially be able to leverage.

A mix of in-person and online events and one-time volunteer opportunities are a great way to identify potential influencers within your network. That’s how Walter Cronkite’s mom, Carrie, got involved with Best Friends. “I was familiar with Best Friends Super Adoption events, and my friend @chloetheminifrenchie asked us to appear at their NYC Holiday Super Adoption in December 2015,” she said. “I love what Best Friends is doing—so many animals needs forever homes!—and was impressed with their hard work, dedication, and integrity. We stayed in touch, and they asked me to appear at and help raise awareness of their Super Adoption event this past spring as well.”

It’s likely that you have passionate brand-advocates-in-waiting already participating in activities related to your cause in the local community. By tapping into those activities and building relationships, you have an opportunity to work with influencers who will be eager to share your story.

“As far as pet influencers go, we are PASSIONATE about animals and committed to helping them as much as we can,” said Carrie. “Almost every friend I have in NYC contributes in some way to rescue organizations, whether it’s on a local or national level. We foster, we raise funds, we donate toys, we do as much as we can. When it comes to partnering with nonprofits, we definitely do our homework to make sure the nonprofit does everything they say they do. Plus, the social media pet community is very tight, so we can always get a reference. As far as pitching goes, I answer everyone who reaches out to me on social media. So long story short – reach out to us! We love getting involved!”

Higher education institutions have the benefit of a built-in community, but Sponselli notes that it takes a deep knowledge of that community to move them to action. “What are their interests and passions about your school? What school traditions resonate? Collaborate with your colleagues who meet with alums. Sharing information with one another is a great way to truly understand your alumni.”

Influencer marketing is an excellent opportunity to expand your organization’s audience and reach, while creating more content that engages the community. As you plan for 2017 marketing and communications activities, think about influencers in your network who could be future partners. By nurturing relationships with passionate fans and advocates, you significantly increase the chances of knocking your 2017 communications and fundraising goals out of the park.

No matter your mission or business goals, getting your audience involved in community activities is mission-critical in today’s business climate. To implement a robust influencer marketing program, download our Influencer Marketing Guide.

Influencer Marketing

Why Your Idea of Influencer Marketing is Outdated

7 Ways You Can Do Better at Recognizing Your Influencers

#WFH: 5 Ways To Manage Your Influencer Campaign While Working From Home

Boost Your Influencer Marketing with Our Top 5 NGO Influencers

How Nonprofits Can Identify and Work with Influencers

Build an Employee Brand Ambassador Program

The Ins-And-Outs of LinkedIn Influence

4 Top Paid Influencers You Probably Never Heard Of—But Can Learn From

The Power of Influencer Marketing: Fyre Festival Case Study

How Key Influencers Can Help You During Crisis Communications

Influencer Marketing

Why Your Idea of Influencer Marketing is Outdated

7 Ways You Can Do Better at Recognizing Your Influencers

#WFH: 5 Ways To Manage Your Influencer Campaign While Working From Home

Boost Your Influencer Marketing with Our Top 5 NGO Influencers

How Nonprofits Can Identify and Work with Influencers

Build an Employee Brand Ambassador Program

The Ins-And-Outs of LinkedIn Influence

4 Top Paid Influencers You Probably Never Heard Of—But Can Learn From

The Power of Influencer Marketing: Fyre Festival Case Study

How Key Influencers Can Help You During Crisis Communications

Interested in learning how Meltwater can help you? Fill out the form to learn more.