James Madison University

Challenge: Strategic Influencer Marketing Research For College Student

When Dr. Kelly Naletelich was planning for her upcoming Social Media Marketing Course at James Madison University she has a clear goal; to teach her students about strategic decision making. To do so required incorporating data-driven tools into her curriculum that not only reflected relevant market trends but would support her students as they enter the workforce. If there was one social media channel she knew she had to include, it was influencer marketing. To accomplish this required incorporating an industry tool into the course curriculum that would make her students experts in influencer marketing campaign strategy.

Solution: Use Meltwater Influencer Marketing Data For Student Research Projects

As part of the course, students partner with a client (brand) to create a strategic social media marketing plan that includes organic and paid campaigns. Organic social media planning was already part of the curriculum, but Dr. Naletelich wanted to also include paid social planning and she wanted it to focus on influencer marketing.

"Influencer marketing has become a key component of social media, so I knew I needed to incorporate it into my curriculum. By using Meltwater Influencer Marketing, I’m not only teaching students an extremely relevant topic, but they are receiving applied skills that will make them highly competitive upon graduation.”

Dr. Kelly Naletelich, Assistant Professor, James Madison University

Students receive a budget from their clients. Using Meltwater Influencer Marketing's industry-leading discovering and vetting technology, they identify relevant influencers that align with brand goals and objectives. The students then propose influencers to the client, teaching the students professional skills in pitching, budgeting, and client management.

Success: Students Receive Access To Industry-Leading Data

Dr. Naletelich wanted to make sure that the students use Meltwater Influencer Marketing in multiple stages of their strategic social media marketing plan to teach the importance of data-driven decision-making.

“My students love the ability to drill down and vet influencers using Meltwater's data. It’s really interesting for them to see how important audience demographics and authenticity is for successful collaboration. Klear has made them immensely knowledgeable in influencer marketing strategy.”

Dr. Kelly Naletelich, Assistant Professor, James Madison University

Internal Analysis

Before pitching influencers to collaborate with, the students use Klear to perform an Audit of their client’s social media presence and to perform competitor research. This ability taught students the importance of conducting marketing research before creating campaigns.

Influencer Vetting

Once they have performed thorough market research and understand their client’s objectives, the students use Klear to discover potential collaborations. They leverage all of Meltwater Influencer Marketing's comprehensive influencer insights, including True Reach, audience demographics, and audience authenticity.

Influencer Marketing Proposal

The students are required to create a comprehensive influencer marketing proposal that outlines the rationale for selecting specific influencers, and the expected outcome of the campaign.

For the student projects, Dr. Naletelich tends to partner with Non-Profits, so most social media campaigns are focused on social impact. This is great as non-profits tend to require more support, and the values of the organizations tend to motivate the students. Thanks to the James Madison student, in this past year several brands, received strategic influencer marketing support from over 20 strategic social media marketing plans and were able to make data-driven decisions for success and impact campaigns. Furthermore, over 100+ students learned how to create research-backed influencer marketing campaigns by working with an industry-leading tool.