is a recommendation-based marketing method
Influencer Marketing
CC Media Director Güven Çelikkaya explained Influencer Marketing, the new marketing trend, to The LOOK.
Can you talk about yourself and your work life?
I was born in 1983 in Istanbul. After graduating from Yeditepe University Department of Radio/Television/Cinema, I completed my MBA degree there. I have been working as a director in online digital games and content area for more than 7 years. I managed many popular mobile and online game projects in Paramanya in Turkey and MENA. Projects I have carried out in game publishing have won international awards both in Turkey and Europe. At the same time, I worked as Project Coordinator and Mentor at StartersHub, which has a significant place in Turkish entrepreneurship ecosystem. I have been working as the Director of Operation at CC Media since June 2016. I try to travel around the world, get to know different cultures, and I am an amateur globetrotter taking pictures of places I have been to.
Can you give some information about CC Media? How did you cross paths with CC Media?
CC Media is a new generation media firm operating in Influencer Marketing and Online video content area in Turkey and MENA. We carried out "Influencer Marketing" and "Online Video Content" work together with social media celebrities with many followers such as Youtubers, Twitch TV broadcasters, and Instagrammers. Our operation team is in Istanbul, but with our Dubai office team we also perform Influencer Marketing and Video advertising in the Persian Gulf Region. I was invited by the founding partners whom we had worked previously to conduct the project at CC Media. Influencer Marketing being a fast-growing area and the idea to create an outstanding Turkish entrepreneurship firm were the most important factors for me to start at CC Media.
Technology consumption is increasing at a fast pace and social media has become an indispensible part of our lives. What do you think the future trends will be, and how will our lives change?
Social media becoming so common has increased the importance of user-oriented content, which causes a change in the structures of traditional media outlets. In a couple of years from now, we will witness that large-scale media companies and especially TVs lose most of their power and are replaced by individual content producers. At the heart of this change will be Influencer Marketing for sure. Technological developments apart from social media are of course on the way. Especially Augmented Reality (AR) implementations will bring about great changes in marketing, education, military, and entertainment in the next 2 years. The increasing use of artificial intelligence will also have a direct effect on our lives. We can say that it will be the new black and change the course of humanity.
As a keen follower technology, how does Güven Çelikkaya spend his holidays? Do you like travelling? What does holiday mean to you?
I travel a lot both for business and leisure. Up to now, I have been to 36 countries and 41 cities in Europe, South America, Asia, and the Middle East. I have seen many places in Turkey in the South-east, Black Sea, and Aegean regions. Travelling means a journey to understand a whole new world and different cultures for me because the more I get to know various cultures and people, the more I get to know myself. Apart from popular tourist attractions, I also try to visit places local people go to and live in. My first stop is always museums and historical places. Also, I try to taste local food and delicacies (though not as appealing to my taste as Turkish cuisine)
What are your expectations of hotels you stay and what details do you wish to see there?
Being walking distance to the city centre, clean and quiet are my preliminary criteria while choosing a hotel. I prefer to stay in old but clean hotels in the centre to the ones away from the centre at the same price. In Turkey, I like to stay in boutique hotels or mid-tier hotels instead of big and crowded holiday resorts.
Recently, Influencer Marketing has been one of the most talked about topics. What is Influencer marketing and how does it work for brands?
To put it in a nutshell, ‘’Influencer Marketing’’ is all the promotion and marketing activities organised to affect and direct a target consumer group to buy a product or service in social media networks by individuals having the power to impress people in their social media accounts. Also, Influencer Marketing is a recommendation-based marketing method. When an influencer shares her/his ideas about the product used, its effect becomes higher compared to other marketing methods.
Influencer Marketing has completely changed all the marketing terms we have known so far. While in traditional marketing methods the message reaches the consumer through the brand itself, in Influencer Market the message is sent by consumers who used it in the first hand as an experience. The fact that consumers do not see this as an advertisement makes it a more effective method.
Social media becoming so common has increased the importance of user-oriented content, which causes a change in the structures of traditional media outlets. In a couple of years from now, we will witness that large-scale media companies and especially TVs lose most of their power and are replaced by individual content producers. At the heart of this change will be Influencer Marketing for sure.