The world of social is constantly changing and evolving. To keep up with all the latest news and trends, social media coordinators and managers need to stay on their toes. For Bozell, that’s where Sprout Social comes in. As the ultimate social management tool, this nifty software allows for time-effective coordination of social platforms for all clients – including monitoring, reporting, engaging and strategy-building.

If that wasn’t enough, Sprout also hosts Sprout Sessions, a digital conference in which they team up with industry professionals for a week-long, 10-session series.

Influencer marketing is one of the most rapidly-evolving industry trends (it didn’t even have a name four years ago!), so it’s vital for agencies to be on the lookout for the latest news and trends to fit their clients’ brands. Needless to say, we were pumped when Ben Trihn, head of entertainment and influencer marketing for Postmates, led a session on influencer marketing. We took notes like the wind and here’s what we learned:

Utilize influencers to reach your target audience.
Instead of encouraging social influencers to push products with the end goal of increasing direct sales, give them some freedom. Basically, let the professional blogger/YouTuber/Instagrammer do what they do best – authentically connect with their audience in a meaningful way, all while personally recommending your brand.

“Let your learnings dictate your next campaign and continue to improve for the future.” -Ben Trihn

Humanize your brand.
Don’t just focus on influencers to boost sales and generate engagement, but find ways to help them build entertainment and content that do right by your brand. Depending on the nature of your brand’s industry or product, influencers can serve up authentic, user-generated content that works to humanize your brand and make it more accessible.

“At the end of the day, influencer marketing is PR.” -Ben Trihn

Bigger isn’t always better.
While some brands think it’s all or nothing, don’t discount the effectiveness of micro-influencers, who can be extremely useful for a brand looking to shift their focus to a specific, granular target audience, while sticking to a budget.

“Micro-influencers are 10 times more likely to influence an in-store purchase over a celebrity.” -Ben Trihn

All in all, influencer marketing isn’t going anywhere. With so many different tactics and approaches, it’s worth a look around the influencer world to see who’s out there – you might just find an influencer who’s a perfect fit for your brand’s goals and target audience.