Sameen Faisal

Honestly, my journey into the world of influencer marketing was like discovering a hidden talent that I never knew I had, completely unexpected and surprisingly awesome! And that is how I found my true calling. Before that I didn’t know what I was doing. I was moving from marketing to digital marketing, experimenting with different kind of areas, but when I jumped into influencer marketing and digital PR, I realised that this is what I enjoy the most. I've always had this passion to connect with different kinds of people even before working with Astera and engaging with them in unique ways and that is what really drew me to influencer marketing in the first place. I also noticed that traditional methods of marketing and advertising are getting outdated and influencer marketing offered a fresh, dynamic way to connect with audiences who'd developed an aversion to traditional ads.

Before working at Astera, I was working with an emerging startup and there we were on the hunt for ways to complement our campaigns and create buzz about our product. And guess what? We found that working with influencers was like striking marketing gold. The results we saw were nothing short of amazing. And the best part was you can choose influencers whose content resonates with your target audience.

So, when I joined Astera, I couldn't resist the temptation to dive back into the world of influencer marketing. Little did I know that influencer marketing in the B2B realm was a whole different ball game. But, with a sprinkle of trial and error, we managed to crack the code and started seeing a positive ROI from our influencer collaborations.

And that's how I became the go-to influencer marketing expert around these parts. I've been on this thrilling ride ever since, enjoying every twist and turn along the way.

It's been a rollercoaster ride, let me tell you! When I started, influencer marketing was like the Wild West of advertising. We were all learning on the fly, trying to figure out what worked and what was a social media tumbleweed.

At first, my role was all about finding the perfect influencers to sprinkle some stardust on our events like webinars and product launches. It was like trying to assemble the Avengers for marketing campaigns, finding the right heroes to save the day.

But over time, the industry has evolved and matured. We've moved from throwing money at influencers and hoping for the best to employing data-driven strategies, sophisticated analytics, and laser-focused targeting. Today, Now, it's not a sporadic rendezvous with influencers; it's a full-blown commitment. It's an integral part of our marketing and PR campaigns.

In short, my role has transformed from being a hopeful gambler to a calculated strategist, and it's been one heck of a journey!

Everyone remembers the hype when Chat GPT was released in early 2023, the AI hypes, every industry was shocked. Then, a lot of companies started to integrate AI in their processes and products because it would help in enhancing their ROI. Astera also took the opportunity by integrating AI into our modules. A lot of our competition was announcing AI integrations in different ways and we didn't want to get lost in the noise. So we came up with an engaging way that resonated with our target audience and stands out. We went with a launch webinar, but finding the suitable influencers was pretty hard because the hot topic at that time was about the AI and there was this ongoing debate for and against AI so we had to make sure that the influences that we're getting on board are in line with what we stand for when it comes to AI so it took us a lot of time to identify the right influencer. What really made the whole campaign shine was the influencers trust in what we were doing at Astera. They were so passionate about the AI and data space, and it really boosted the credibility of what we did.

We also got them to promote our feature video, which I don't think a lot of influencers do because they're very skeptical about endorsing a product or a brand, but they agreed. It never hurts to ask an influencer to promote something outside the deliverables if you have a good relationship with them. The feature video that was promoted by them gained us a huge amount of traction and even some MQLs in the end, and we're still engaged with those influencers. So, I feel it all comes down to how you engage with influencers and the relationships that you build over time because long-lasting relationships really help you in the end. Obviously, they're going to be in that space for a long time, and you will need them later down the line as well, so it's very important to engage with them in a very strategic way.

The first KPI that I give priority to is obviously engagement rate. Likes, comments, sure are important. If your campaigns aren't driving any engagement, you know that your influencers aren't resonating well with the audiences, that's why I think engagement rate is important but its not end of the game.

Conversion rate is another thing that you need to measure, its where the hidden treasure is buried. Through conversion rate you can track website traffic, click through rate and see if there is an attribution to your influencer campaign. If we're talking about D2C brands, they're focusing more on the engagement rates. It's very important to them, because that is what attracts their audiences. In B2B space its very different as they care about the quality of the influencers and how credible they are even if they have less followers.

Last one, what people tend to overlook is authenticity alignment. This one's a bit abstract, but it's vital. It’s important to measure how well the influencer's values align with your brand. If they're all about eco-friendliness and you're selling gas-guzzling SUVs, you're in for a bumpy ride. Authenticity leads to trust, and trust leads to conversions. That’s how it really works.

Obviously the biggest one is finding the right influencers. When it comes to B2C space, you have a lot of platforms and tools to hunt for influencers. But with B2B space, I don't think there's any platform with big data of influencers, so I need to go through LinkedIn and Twitter, and search using specific keywords and hashtags, and it's really time-taking.

Second, is measuring the ROI. In B2C space, the metrics and ROI are measured by evaluating different metrics, like engagement rate, conversion rate, which is like pretty evident. But in B2B space, the primary goal is indeed to convert prospects into customers but influencer marketing campaigns can be challenging to directly link to sales due to the high investment, extended sales cycles, and numerous touchpoints a prospect encounters before making a purchase decision.

I feel that AI would be the center of attention. It'd make things easier for people like us. I predict that AI will be playing a role of matchmaker for brands and influencers helping them find their perfect influencer match.

Secondly, with traditional digital advertising getting pricier and search moving to social media, creators are becoming the go-to source for brand discovery and trust. So, the influencer marketing slice of the brand budget pie is only going to get bigger.

Thirdly, influencer marketing is stepping into the limelight. It's like the cool kid who just joined the squad, and everyone wants to hang out with them. It's no longer just a B2C thing; it's making waves in every industry. And lastly, I would say that authenticity would be the name of the game. Audiences will no longer be interested in scripted ads or fake endorsements. Brands and influencers will have to keep it real to resonate with their audience and drive conversion at the end.