I just returned from hosting our Social Intelligence and Film panel at the NAB show in Las Vegas where a common theme among our panelists was the use of social media influencer data in the content creation and distribution strategy. According to the panelists, this year, advertising spending across social media has reached $23.68B and will reach $35.98B by 2017. Is it working? Not necessarily, at least not for the film industry that’s seen their profitability flatten in recent years.

For this reason, filmmakers and producers are seeking out social media influencers not just to promote their films, but to be in their films as a means to feeding the publicity machine to fill theater seats. However ingenious, this approach does have its pitfalls. Let's face it, if you are only using flat analytics, or empty influencer data, like clicks and impressions then you’re only getting half of the story. Influencers are real people and cannot be enumerated by a single score, rating, follower count, etc. For instance take a look at @FearneCotton, a U.K.-based news reporter. She may have 7M followers, but reached 25M people by tweeting about the Foo Fighters Learn to Fly Rockin’ 1000.

According to our panelist and film producer, Billie Greif, “You can contract the wrong influencer for your content. It's not always about how many followers you have or how popular your name is.” In this changing world of social media, it's incredibly important to specifically identify the relationship the influencer has with their audience. Each audience and each influencer ecosystem must harmonize to ensure maximum ROI on advertising spend. Content creators seek to find who will actually purchase a ticket to see a film or tune in to our latest broadcast.

We have discovered that there is a need for a deeper understanding about influencers and how to integrate them into your existing marketing budget, and we have invented our own tradecraft and toolsets, providing services to industry giants and upcoming stars alike. Our approach combines existing tools and novel techniques which enable us to explore the forensic data and develop hyper localized strategies for our social campaigns. While there is no secret pool of influencers, there are ways to evaluate an influencer’s credibility, understand the relationship they have with their audience and analyze the power of their networks. Are people following them because they are funny or absurd, or are they credible voice? Either way, basing marketing strategy upon flat analytics is a film producer and distributor’s recipe for empty seats. Multi-layered influencer data fills this void.

To learn more about how VizSense is solving and simplifying the influencer marketing conundrum for today’s most visionary brands, corporations and agencies, contact us. We invite you to learn more about how to discover, understand and engage influencers at VizSense's Influencer Tradecraft Workshop by registering here.

Also, download our free film industry eBook, Making Sense of Influencer Engagement: The Essential Elements of a Successful Influencer Outreach for Today's Films.