What is the difference between starting your research at insights versus starting at discovery? 

Today, Peter Kennedy shares his experience building and using his company, Tagger Media, to create influencer marketing campaigns with data-driven research and insights on a topic versus looking for influencers for a campaign first. This unique approach brings his clients massive success and is unique among influencer marketing platforms. 

Peter Kennedy started Tagger Media about seven years ago. Previously, he had started multiple companies in many sectors, including travel, medical devices, and much more. His experience working in many industries has given him a unique perspective, which often allows him to fill in the gaps. He also has a marketing degree and background, which has helped him build Tagger Media into the top-notch brand it is today. 

Tagger Media originally started as a way to disrupt the music industry by finding musicians through influencers talking about musicians. The idea was to find amazing musicians before big networks. This led Tagger Media to find Billie Elish and Dua Lipa before they were well-known artists. Tagger Media also worked with Gary Vaynerchuk and Vayner Media early on because Gary immediately recognized Tagger Media’s value and the data they compiled that allowed you to understand your audience better. 

Today, Tagger Media is an all-in-one influencer marketing platform. They do everything from finding influencers to drive your strategy, compiling analytics and research, and creating your marketing strategy. Tagger Media handles everything on the influencer end, including influencer contracts, reaching out to them, sending proposals, payments, and campaign performance.

Why is Influencer Marketing Data So Important?

Tagger Media specializes in using data to create the influencer marketing workflow you want to work with. Tagger Media’s method is easy to use and data-intensive. 

There are so many ways to go about hiring influencers for your brands: 

• Hiring influencers by categories and niches
• What influencers and trends your competitors are using
• By geographic trends and demographics 

However, Tagger Media’s in-house program, Signals, is the first-ever creator listing that reports on every topic discussed on social media, making it an ideal way to hire influencers. The idea behind this program is to collect data on what influencers and creators are talking about, the quantity, the timing, and much more. This information can help brands have more data-driven marketing about what is actually happening, trending, and which influencers are the best for discussing your product. Signals help Tagger Media’s clients pick the right campaign topics and themes.  

An example of Tagger Media’s research on Signals about which brands and creators have talked about the Olympics since November 30th, 2021. 

Signals’ data helps Tagger Media and their clients take topics, such as the Superbowl, and see who is talking about it, when it’s being talked about, and how it’s being talked about. Signals can also help Tagger Media find influencers through specific topics like ethical beauty. 

Then, they can find which companies are continuously being mentioned by influencers discussing ethical beauty. It can also complete competitive analysis to see what brands used which influencers, what content they created, and the topics they covered. This data is invaluable to companies looking to use influence marketing to leverage their brand. 

This Signals’ mentions report details information about a competing brand’s insights, which helps Tagger Media’s client identify specific influencers that are ideal for them to work with to boost their share of the voice in relevant social media conversations.

Data can also be used to determine what kind of influencers a brand uses, such as nano, micro, and macro-influencers. By compiling data on this, Tagger Media can analyze how an influencer’s size may have helped or hindered their effectiveness on a brand campaign. 

Timing is also crucial. Data on the times of the year when a competing company hires the most influencers can be helpful for a company trying to develop its own influencer marketing strategy. 

An example of Signal’s data collection on the engagement rate of social media posts, their monthly engagement broken down by platform, and the performance of these posts over time. 

How Can I Use Data-Driven Research for my Influencer Marketing Campaigns?

Finding influencers through topic can be a great way to start your influencer marketing campaign. For example, Peter discussed a time when he helped a drug company focusing on bipolar disorder. Instead of looking for mental health influencers or at other drug companies, he started by looking at influencers discussing NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). 

This means that the influencers genuinely care about the topic for the brand campaign. Their audience is also often deeply invested in the topic, which is the ideal melting pot for an influencer campaign. By finding influencers through specific topics, a company doesn’t have to sell an influencer or their audience on a topic if they’re already invested in it. 

Key Takeaways from Peter Kennedy

Tagger Media was started due to a gap in the market. Peter says that many companies blindly start influencer marketing campaigns without much data. Don’t let this be you. Start your influencer marketing campaigns with thorough research and invest time looking at topics and who is repeatedly showing up as a champion for topics important to your brand, such as ethical beauty, mental illness, or easy parenting hacks. 

Study the engagement rate of specific terms. Terms that work for you now, such as ethical beauty, may not be as effective in the future. Terms come and go in popularity, so never assume that terms, hashtags, and topics that work now will continue to bring in success. Keep an eye on new trends, issues, and developments within your industry. 

Create new products and services based on what people are talking about, especially influencers who drive change in your niche. Many companies ask consumers what they’d like to see from them, but don’t forget to ask influencers in your niche and study the market gaps they point out. This can lead you to blaze a new trail in your industry with a product or service that fills a need.