Vloggers and PR: When does it work? was the question of choice for our industry event last night. In association with PR Moment, our co-founder, Dan, took to the stage alongside top YouTube agent, Liam Chivers, to discuss how brands can work with influencers for commercial success. The event was packed out with over 60 attendees, including some of the UK’s top entertainment brands, FMCG companies, charities and a selection of influencers.

Dan discussed our strategy for identifying influencers and how we manage collaborative relationships to create engaging content for our clients, that delivers genuine ROI against objectives. Whereas Liam gave some fascinating insight from a talent management perspective. Having the UKs top influencers on his book, he is in prime position to showcase some fascinating brand campaigns using influencers, and demonstrate exactly how huge their reach is. One of his top YouTubers, KSI, owns the second most RT’ed tweet EVER, only behind that Ellen De Generes Oscars selfie. Which really puts into context the reach and power of these influential stars.

Following the presentations, the format switched to a panel, where Dan and Liam were joined by Channel Mum and Telefonica representatives. Channel Mum’s Founder, Siobhan Freedman, highlighted the parenting niche in the market, which brands can’t afford to ignore. Whereas Shivvy Jarvis, the Content Head of Telefonica, demonstrated that by investing in an owned content strategy, brands can make a relatively unsexy topic interesting to new audiences that didn’t previously engage with technology news.

Great debate ensued when the panel opened for questions; does size of channel matter? What kind of costs do influencers charge? What of ASA rules and regulations? If you’re interested in hearing more, do get in touch.

We also embraced the opportunity to showcase our brand new influencer tool, InCrowd, demonstrating how it can significantly reduce the time spent searching for the right influencer for a campaign. After all, relevance is the most important element that will affect the entire process, from creation to results.