A conference on influencer marketing, Click&Connect, was held in Riga: what local bloggers and celebrities debated

On 5 June, the Click&Connect conference on influencer marketing and e-commerce was held at the five-star Pullman Riga Old Town hotel in Riga. It was attended by leading online marketing specialists, as well as opinion leaders — bloggers and well-known people in Latvia. These included actress and singer Vita Balčūnaitė, presenter and public figure Elena Tonova, businessman and colourful personality Vlad Koryagin, editors of popular portals and magazines Evgenia Shafranek (brunch.lv), Inna Avina (Lyublyu!), Almaz Pirha (3ade.lv), fitness enthusiast and blogger Kristine Granta, one of Latvia’s most popular vloggers and Instagram bloggers Evelina Parkere, photographer and traveller Roberts Sils, showman and technical director of Dinamo Rīga Armands Simsons, and journalist and blogger Elena Vyushina.

As usual, the main topic of the conference was influencer marketing — discussions focused on how local businesses can use opinion leaders to promote their products and services, as well as on industry trends and specific features.

The Click&Connect conference proved to be an excellent place for businesses and influencers in the Baltics to meet and begin working together.

The discussion involving the influencers was lively: they are all strong personalities and agreed with one another on far from every issue. This led to the conclusion voiced by actress, singer and presenter Vita Balčūnaitė: “We are all very different. Each of us has our own principles and our own idea of which products and services we are willing to advertise and which we would never promote. For example, I would not advertise plastic surgery services if the procedure were performed without medical indications. I believe that we should accept our bodies as they are and learn to love them. But that is my personal opinion.” The only point on which all the opinion leaders present agreed was that none of them would advertise political parties.

The popularity of influencer marketing is growing in Latvia, as it is around the world, but there are certain nuances. “There really are more requests from businesses, but the problem is that businesses accustomed to conventional advertising want to see the same thing from bloggers. But that is boring! I have my own style and my own tricks. Quite often, a company wants to order a dry and lifeless press release from me, simply presented as if it were written in my name. Convincing them that this is not the way to do it is such a hassle that it is easier to decline the cooperation. Companies want something creative, but at the same time clean, neat and polished. Yet no one reads that, so such text does not work. Businesses are needlessly clinging to outdated marketing conventions,” said blogger and brunch.lv editor Evgenia Shafranek.

Fashion blogger Elena Vyushina recommends: “When choosing a blogger for cooperation, it is worth getting to know that person, clarifying their understanding of the business, and developing an effective campaign together that benefits both sides. A blogger also needs to maintain their public image, and it is important to them that advertising a particular product does not damage the community that has been built around the blog over the years.”

Before beginning a collaboration, it is worth studying the style of the particular blog or vlog, as none of the bloggers is prepared to change it for the sake of a single advertising message. “I am not going to turn my social media profile into a dump where anything can be advertised for money. My blogging style is what it is. If you like it — welcome; if not — goodbye,” said Armands Simsons, showman and technical director of Dinamo Rīga, categorically. He had simply been running his Instagram blog, talking about his life, family and work, when one fine day he discovered that an audience of almost 29,000 people found it interesting to follow him. “And suddenly I became an influencer. Wow! That was not my goal. But it is the 21st century, and it would be a sin not to take advantage of it. If you are not online, you do not exist at all,” says Simsons.

The quality of the audience should also be checked. Evgenia Shafranek recommends using online analytics platforms that show whether a blogger has “purchased” followers. One of Latvia’s leading YouTubers, Evelina Parkere, recommends asking a blogger during a personal meeting to show their phone with the analytics page open, so that everything can be seen with one’s own eyes, as cases of fraud have already occurred in Latvia as well. But even if the audience is “genuine”, it is worth considering carefully how closely it corresponds to the target audience of the particular brand.

“In Latvia, the use of opinion leaders to promote products and increase sales is only just beginning, which is why there is not always a clear understanding of the cooperation model. I advise starting by looking for bloggers with a relevant audience, then assessing the level of audience engagement, and only after that discussing the cost of a post or video integration. It may start at several hundred euros and reach several thousand if we are talking about bloggers with an international audience of millions,” says conference organiser and lecturer Alina Lisina, founder of the DreamCafe.lv agency. 

The conference featured presentations by prominent digital marketing professionals: co-organiser of the conference, internet marketer with experience in international markets and founder of Advanced Learning & Communications, Dmitry Krasnovsky, founder and executive director of leading Latvian email marketing company Mailigen, Jānis Rozenblats, head of successful Latvian IT start-up Scandiweb Anton Sapryko, digital marketing specialist at the Infinitum8 agency Kristiāns Patmalnieks, and head of the internet marketing agency Global Internet Marketing Yakov Udodov.

“We believe that our conference helps businesses not only improve the quality of their marketing strategies, but also find common ground and mutual understanding with local ‘stars’ and celebrities. They have a significant influence on the formation of public opinion both in Latvia and abroad. Every business should understand their importance and know how to ‘integrate’ suitable opinion leaders into its communications strategy,” emphasises Dmitry Krasnovsky.