We are living in an age of influencers, where it seems like everyone is a social media star with millions of followers and fans. But what does this mean for businesses? How can they use influencers to promote their products and services? The answer lies in influencer marketing—a form of marketing that leverages the influence that people have on each other to drive brand awareness, increase sales, and build loyalty. Let’s break down how influencer marketing works.
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What is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing combines both traditional and modern marketing strategies. It transforms the concept of celebrity endorsement into a content-driven marketing campaign for the modern era. Given that influencer marketing ROI is among the highest among conventional digital marketing platforms, it is no surprise that more influencers are entering the digital marketing/content creation space and are in high demand.
Before selecting an influencer for your brand there are a few questions that you must ask yourself to maximize your ROI. Does the influencer align with your brand’s philosophy? Does the influencer’s follower base align with your target audience? How do different influencer types differ from one another? Who is the ideal influencer for your marketing campaigns? Continue reading as we breakdown a few answers to these questions.
It’s also important to note that there are different types of influencers in the digital space. There are macro-influencers (people with millions of followers) as well as micro-influencers (people with thousands or tens of thousands of followers), and nano influencers (people with 1-10k followers). Depending on your budget and goals, you may want to focus on one type more than another. Once you have identified the right kind of influencer for your campaign, it’s time to start building relationships. Reach out via email or social media and start engaging with them regularly. Offer up ideas for collaborations and be prepared to negotiate fees if needed. Once you have established a relationship, create a contract detailing what is expected from both parties during the collaboration period.
Who Are Social Media Influencers?
Social media influencers are invaluable tools for businesses looking to increase sales and brand awareness on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. By partnering with an influencer whose audience aligns with your target demographic, your brand can tap into a whole new pool of potential customers that you may not have been able to access otherwise.
An influencer can create sponsored posts on behalf of your business using specific hashtags or keywords that will help highlight your product or service within the platform’s search engine results pages (SERPs). Additionally, by working with multiple influencers at once your brand can increase both reach and engagement across all platforms.
Types of Influencers
The size of the audience and levels of brand affinity strongly direct the different influencer types on social media. And note, that having more followers does not always translate into having more impact, so it’s crucial to consider the various benefits and the advantages that each influencer provides for your brand. Not all influencers are created equal; there are several different types of social media personalities who specialize in different areas such as fashion bloggers, lifestyle bloggers, travel bloggers, and we expect these personalities to only expand as industries grow and continue to reach more niche audience groups.
It is important to understand the nuances of each type before partnering with any one individual so that you know what kind of content they produce and what type of audience they attract. For example, if you’re trying to promote a new line of fitness apparel then working with a fitness blogger would be more beneficial than working with a fashion blogger who specializes in luxury clothing; it simply depends on what type of message you want to send out to your target market.
Nano influencers (1K–10K followers)
The social media followings of nano influencers range from 1,000 to 10,000. The majority of the time, Nano Influencers have excellent interaction rates and a large active social media following. This type of influencer are often very outspoken supporters of the companies and products they adore, and their followers value their sincere advice and opinion. Lastly, they take the time to interact with their followers to strengthen their bonds and create strong and lasting relationships, which strengthens their authenticity with their followers.
Micro influencers (10K–100K followers)
A micro influencer has 100,000 to one million followers. Although they are not conventional celebrities, they have made a name for themselves as reliable sources of information in the areas they have been focused on. By creating strong, close-knit groups that are very engaged, micro influencers have established a solid reputation and credibility in their area. People in this group are highly engaged and interactive, which means that genuine marketing messages often have a larger chance of converting them. Lastly, Micro-influencers generate up to 60% more engagement than macro influencers, as select consumers may view them as more relatable.
Macro influencers (100K–1M followers)
Anyone with between 100,000 and one million followers is considered a macro influencer. Marco influencers frequently became well-known online and include well-known bloggers, vloggers, podcasters, and social media stars. They are professionals at using social media platforms creatively and producing high-quality user-generated content that can assist increase brand recognition and visibility as they create and continually keep up with social media content trends, and create content around those trends. These types of social media influencers are often expensive to partner with, however, they are typically more budget friendly than a celebrity or well-known athlete.
Celebrity influencers (1M+ followers)
Influencers with a following of one million or more are regarded as celebrities or “mega-influencers.” These influencers are frequently well-known due to their work as actors, singers, athletes, or online personalities. Celebrities are often the optimal influencer option if you want to reach large public audiences and receive significant exposure, however these types of influencers come at a significant cost, with the average cost of one post typically starting at one hundred thousand dollars or more.
Brand Employees
Who are the most powerful corporate insiders? Employees. Working for a company provides one a unique perspective on the industry, and expressing that perspective on social media may be a potent strategy for brands to win over the trust of prospective customers. Employee engagement as social media influencers can increase reach, follow engagement, and leads as this type of “influencer” is one who directly contributes to what makes that organization unique. A growth strategy for companies that recognize the value of employee brand ambassadors and word-of-mouth marketing is to encourage social sharing as part of the company culture.
Why Should Your Brand Use Influencer Marketing?
As the population continues to spend more time on the internet and particularly on social media for various reasons; staying connected with friends and family, browsing news, shopping, the need for these digital consumers to filter out any type of “digital noise” (ads, fake accounts, bot followers) will also grow. As consumers continue to tailor their digital experience to reflect the content they would like to see on their feeds, your brand will need to ensure that you are partnering with the right influencers to keep your audience engaged and your brand relevant in the social media space.
Build and Boost Your Brand’s Credibility
Brand Credibility boils down to two factors: your authority and industry knowledge, as well as whether or not your customers and consumers in general trust you. Credibility results from having built up trust and authority since it persuades customers to buy from you. Without brand credibility, consumers simply won’t feel confident in purchasing from your brand, which in turn has an adverse effect on sales, reputation, and company growth. Brand credibility is essential for customer acquisition and retention.
Utilizing influencers is an excellent method to build and boost your brands credibility as they bring authenticity and familiarity to your brand. Essentially, influencers can propel your word of mouth advertising and they can reach a wide array of audience with one post of piece of digital content. To get the maximum engagement and reach from your influencer(s), ensure your influencer marketing strategy includes a mix of content types such as product recommendations, testimonials, brand commentary and reviews.
Improve Your Brands SEO Rankings and Organic Traffic
Incorporating influencers in your social media strategy can go beyond posting your products or services on their platforms. Additionally, influencers can promote other types of your brands digital content such as articles, blogs, or a mention of your website. As a result, your website may receive high-quality backlinks, an essential part of any SEO strategy. This can aid in helping your SEO strategy as search engines like Google frequently modify their algorithm to weed out spam articles. Therefore, an influencer’s page that links naturally to your website or blog will rank higher in Google search results.
Create Your Influencer Marketing Strategy Today
To stand out on social media, brands of all sizes need influencers. Make sure your influencer selection is appropriate and that the platforms you have chosen for the implementation of your influencer campaign are optimal for the content and audience that the influencer tailors to. Remember that influencer marketing is a long-term marketing tactic; in order to stand out, brands must also continually develop engaging campaigns to keep their audience and potential new brand followers engaged.
