5 Influencer Marketing Stories You Need To See

While the results from your Q1 campaigns are starting to take form, there’s still time to optimize your influencer marketing plan for 2016. Check out ION’s roundup of the top Influencer Marketing stories this week to catch up on the latest news on the collaborations between brands and their ideal social media creators.

Lord & Taylor’s Native Woes May Just Be Tip O’ The Iceberg

MediaPost reports that Lord & Taylor has now settled with the FTC over their wildly successful yet rules-infringing influencer marketing campaign last year. While the eye-popping numbers are exciting (11.4 million potential impressions plus 328,000 brand engagements), the lack of initial disclosures on the Instagram photos posted by 50 compensated influencers is what brought the government in for a look. The details of the campaign, made public from the proceedings, are worth a review. MarketingLand also notes that a second settlement just happened today, involving a Machinima campaign last year. Clearly, the FTC is enforcing the updated rules they outlined earlier this year.  Read More at MediaPost

How Do US Teens Hear About New Brands?

Marketing Charts has compelling new data about how teens and adults find out about new brands. While the difference is only statistically interesting in a few cases (notably: teens don’t watch as many television commercials), the most interesting aspect of data is how Word of Mouth exceeds television for teens and digital tools are increasingly useful. Cost-effective digital strategies like Influencer Marketing can deliver similar reach and better targeting than television at a fraction of the cost. Read More at Marketing Charts

Why Facebook prefers native over ‘valueless’ banner ads

Marketing Dive notes that Facebook’s careful study revealed that only two types of ads were providing real
value to brands: native and video. Thus, they’re ready to get out of the banner ad serving business. While banner ads aren’t dead, those defending their use must understand the diminishing returns and higher costs to show them aren’t a winning combination. Read More at Marketing Dive

Google Warns Influencers And Brands About Manipulating PageRank

A good reminder about the how Influencer Marketing is about delivering authentic content and built-in
audiences, not link-based SEO. Google issued their warning to influencers and brand alike to be careful partly because their own PageRank system is all about influence. Their concern about brands gaming the system with thousands of paid influencer links is real and the simple solution is a nofollow tag that will ensure domains gain the organic influence (and search result ranking) they deserve. Read More at ion.co

Who’s Manipulating Whom: The Coming Wave of Personalization

Data-driven decisions happen on both sides. Although this Ad Age article is highlighted for its clear-minded
take on how YouTube Red gives the viewer much more control than Netflix’s hyper-categorized recommendations, it’s also a welcome reminder about how personalized experiences are not just marketing goals. Gen Z consumers make choices to help that targeting and they now have an expectation that data will inform how brands make products and communicate with them. Read More at Ad Age