This article is archived. Take a look at our new website for the latest news from the Travel Massive community.
Community and Events, North America, Workshops

Talking with Gregg Tilston and the Planet D about Digital Marketing for (with) Brands

Last month our Toronto community was treated to a talk by Gregg Tilston of the Flight Centre Travel Group. The topic of discussion was Digital Marketing for (with) Brands. It was a unique opportunity for both brands and content creators to get into the nitty gritty of digital marketing and understand all points of view.

Travel Massive Toronto White Elephant June 2015_17

Who is Influential

Your Wife – A Famous Chef – A Blogger 

While some may argue your wife is the most influential – ha ha, the difference between whether the famous chef or the blogger is an influencer may not be that far off from each other. Gregg suggested that brands treat everyone like they have a Klout score above 80. Because at the end of the day it’s about engagement! A individual that is not paid but can still produce organic engagement is very powerful for a brand.

Treat everyone like they have a Klout score above 80

In a brands mind an influencer is a content creator and the questions they ask of each one is:

  • What is the voice? Is it the right tone of voice? The right fit for the brand?
  • Who is your audience? What kind of influence can the content creator offer to that audience?
  • Will there be real engagement? The content creator can engage her audience on her personal channels but it is important for the brand to engage their audience with this information to boost or “cross-pollinate” the engagement.

Can a Brand Measure ROI?

Brands can measure their return on investment in a content creator by focusing on the following:

  • Community: Engage the influencer to build their own community.
  • Cross Pollinate: build on each others channels to boost engagement.
  • Content: Create an opportunity to drive SEO value.
  • Traffic: Opportunity to drive content to the influencer and the brands website.

Setting KPI’s and Expectations

Key performance indicators (KPI) and expectations must be discussed at the start of each campaign. What are the brands expectations and what will the content creator do to meet those expectations. Don’t assume that each side knows what needs to be done, have a conversation and discuss everything openly at the start.

Should Brands Pay for Content?

HELL YEAH!

Questions and Answers for Brands and Bloggers

Gregg’s short talk was not over yet! To help us understand the concept of digital marketing with (for) brands he brought up Dave and Deb Bouskill of The Planet D in a little panel Q&A.

Dave and Deb of the Planet D and Flight Center's Gregg Tilston
Dave and Deb of the Planet D and Flight Center’s Gregg Tilston

Gregg: What doesn’t work, when working with brands? 

Deb: Look for brands that fit in your niche. Money can be tempting but thing about your readers.

Dave: We’ve been approched by brands that are totally not suited for us. For example a candy company that may be better represented by a mom who can talk about the snacks she serves her kids not us.

Deb: Both Brand and Bloggers need to think about what fits.

Gregg: Twitter Chats – what are your thoughts on those? 

Dave: Remember the chat is only taking place between the influencer and the brand, you must get the audience involved.

Deb: Just looking at the tweet reach of the number of tweets (especially the same tweets over and over) is not about engagement. These twitter chats may actually turn off your followers, because of all the tweets.

Audience Q: What about automating content on twitter is this annoying followers? 

Deb: Automated content is ok, but engagement is real time. You have to answer back, use engaged tweeting, not just tweeting the same material over and over again.

Dave: Automation is good as long as you interact with your followers.

Greg: From a PR perspective we need the content in the right timezone, so automation is good to get the tweets and messages out to the right followers.

Audience Q: What about bloggers that are just starting out? How should they ask for compensation? 

Deb: Bloggers should be paid if they deserve to get paid. Build your brand, that will help you make more money.

Dave: There are many ways to make money travel blogging. Sell yourself as a brand. You also need to have an audience. You need to show your content and that you have influence.

Audience Q: On the other side of this – What if the brand can’t afford you? 

Dave: It’s always a personal decision who you choose to work with and if there is compensation or not. Do you want to further the relationship? You may want to test those waters, maybe down the road things will change and the brand will be able to offer compensation.

Gregg: Let’s talk about adding different talents to the same project.

Dave & Deb: If you want the different types of media then yes invest in the different content creators. Video vs post writing, vs social media. You have to educate the brand on how to measure the ROI of these different types of media.

Audience Q: How do you collect the data to share with brands? 

Dave: We use a number of tools: Tweetreach, hashtracking, manual reviews, feedback, google analytics (how many people read the posts), use social media analytics (manual process looking through facebook posts and checking engagement, Twitter now has a track hashtag option for each post and brands can provide you with a tracking link that goes into the post on your site.

It’s important to meet beforehand and manage the expectation if they want to be tracked.

Gregg: I would insist on the tracking links.

Deb: We like to give brands more information. Individualized hashtags that we can track. It’s also a great tool for us to measure ourselves and great information to include in a press kit. Sit down and discuss the objective, talk about what they want, it is in the brands best interest to get the expectations met.

Gregg: How do you build the relationships and plant the seeds? 

Dave: Talk to the brand about the budget. Look forward several months and plant the idea in their heads, that way when the new budgets are discussed your little seed is there and they can allocate funds towards making it a reality.

Audience Q: Engage the Brand vs. Being Engaged by the Brand? 

Deb: (re engaging brands) Go into it with a strategy and sell yourself as a whole package. If you come in with a strategy pitch try to make it so they can’t say no.

Dave: You can only knock on the door so many times: so when you do make it good. Go in with the right strategy.

Gregg: It’s sales. It’s important to show yourself.

Deb: Butter up brands in advance. Build that relationship, engage them on social media. Show them who you are.

Audience Q: How do you figure out your rate card? How do we charge?

Dave: Trial and error. Try to think about what your time is worth. (Laughing) however if they say yes off the bat – I didn’t ask enough! Weigh the value to your audience, is it something you want to do, a brand you want to work with etc.

Deb: Ask yourself if YOU are happy with your number. Everyone is going to be different depending on how much their audience reach is.

Gregg: Ask the brands what they are willing to pay for. Is it clicks, links, content?

Audience Q: How does it work for brands if we are a start up with limited budgets? How do we approach? 

Deb: You approach. We ask if the brand is the right fit for our audience and what we care about. Engage the content creators on social media, vs just a cold call email. Don’t be afraid to approach the bloggers because they may like what you are doing and how it fits with their readers.

Dave: It’s very important for bloggers to know their audience and their niche. It is important to reach that audience – not always about the numbers. Knowing your audience is EVERYTHING!

Audience Q: To disclose or not disclose the compensation/relationship with brands? 

Deb: we disclose, we are very clear on what we do.

Dave: Travel blogging is a very transparent industry.

Gregg: Brands want the disclosure because they can be held accountable to what is being said.

Question from Twitter: What brands do you recommend working with? 

Deb: Brands that work for you, your niche and your audience.

Audience Q: Will bloggers share “real experiences” if they are paid? 

Deb: it’s travel it’s not politics. It’s how you deal with It.

Dave: Discuss the experience openly with them, help them understand what went wrong. Sometimes the issues can educate the reader – just because this particular experience wasn’t for us doesn’t mean another reader might not think – hey this is more for me.

Gregg: If it is a bad experience we might not publish your experience.

Thanks so much to Gregg, Dave and Deb for sharing their expertise with us so openly. It was a very interesting discussion with helpful tips for both brands and content creators. 

Follow Gregg and The Planet D on Travel Massive.


© 2011-2021 Travel Massive Global P.B.C.
👋 This article is archived. Take a look at our new website.