Online influencers are an increasingly important way for companies to find new customers and drive sales. But if you’re a marketer hoping to target consumers, it’s important to understand how the social media industry works.

In this episode, Emily Hund, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, explains that influencers grew out of Great Recession-era job cuts that forced people in creative fields to innovate.

She offers advice for brands developing influencer marketing strategies. You’ll learn how to find the right influencer for your brand and how to measure success. Hund recommends starting with a small experiment to get familiar with the process before making a larger investment. You’ll also learn why longer-term creative relationships with influencers can produce stronger results than one-off endorsements.

Hund is the author of the book The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media.

Key episode topics include: strategy, social media, entrepreneurship, social marketing, customer strategy, influencer marketing.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the full HBR IdeaCast episode: The Ins and Outs of the Influencer Industry (2023)

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