Today ION held their first of three exclusive webinars geared toward brand marketers who work with influencers. The topic focused on discovering, connecting and activating influencers in the most effective way.

“The Internet has been giving power to these niche audiences,” said ION Talent Director Steven Lai. It is because of this transference of power that brands have been increasingly invested in forming relationships with those creators who command influence on different scales to collaborate.

Influencer StatsIt may surprise you that food is the hottest topic for influencers, followed by lifestyle.

“Conversations are happening every day around your brand,” Lai went on to say. “It’s not happening on your brand’s channels. It’s happening on these creator’s channels.”

In fact 90 percent of content mentioning brands comes from non-brand-owned channels. But it isn’t as easy as seeking out any and all of these conversations to leverage. There is an in-depth process ION goes through to ensure that marketers are finding what is essentially their brand’s “soulmate.”

Behind the scenes look at today's webinar, getting into the nitty gritty of the world of influencer marketing. #ION

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And like all well-forged relationships, of principal importance to Lai is that both the brand and the influencer have the same outlook on values. This isn’t something easily mined through data and stats or even through current methods for finding and connecting influencers, but it’s something ION has spent a considerable amount of effort and 25 years of brand management experience in order to create an optimized matching platform.