Influencer marketing is an extremely successful marketing strategy of today for brands and companies to improve brand/product awareness, increase general or online engagement. Also increase sales of the product or service. They achieve this by relying on certain people who have an audience or following to buy or try the product or service and in simple terms refer the product to their followers.
This marketing strategy using influencers is similar to both affiliate marketing and celebrity endorsements where they are all paid to promote a product by a company, brand, or product producer. Influencers have more engagement than celebrities usually provide while promoting a product and the influencers have a far greater reach than a normal affiliate would have.
Who are Influencers? Why are they important to a brand?
Influencers are individuals who have built up an audience through their work of content writing, blogging, videos, streaming, etc., on different platforms. The explosion of the internet and the social media platforms that come along with it have created so many more content creation and sharing options than ever before for people. People can build an audience by putting out quality content that people want to consume and engaging with their followers. These people become influencers when they reach a level of connection with their audience to the point that they can influence their spending and shopping habits.
Brands and companies of today leverage this relationship that exists between the influencer and their audience and the fact that consumers are more likely to buy something when referred to the product by someone they trust. The influencer has a certain level of trust and authority on the product or service and the audience is willing to trust the influencer on whether or not it is a good purchase for them.
How does the Influencer marketing strategy work so well in getting consumers to buy the promoted product or service?
Influencer marketing works on the simple principle of how influencers can impact their audience’s purchasing decisions due to the amount of trust placed on them by the audience.
Influencers have a certain amount of reach when they are promoting a product as they can promote something to their audience that has already aligned themselves with the influencer. Although this reach is not as big as a celebrities endorsement due to the personalized bond the influencer is capable of having with their audience, the promotion of the product resonates more coming from an influencer and is more impactful on their spending habits. Brands have the benefit of tailor-made marketing strategies based on the audience and niche that the influencer has adopted and maintained.
What are the different types of influencer marketing?
There are different types of influencer marketing strategies for an influencer to implement when trying to promote a brand or product. These strategies will be dependent on the type of influencer is used to promote a specific product or service.
Influencers are differentiated based on the size of their following and the niches that they participate in. The different influencers based on size include:
- Nano Influencers are influencers who constantly engage with a thousand to ten thousand followers. These influencers are a cost-effective option for brands and companies for promoting their products.
- Micro-Influencers are the influencers that have at least a hundred thousand followers. These influencers help companies and brands in acquiring more focused leads due to their strong bond with their followers.
- Macro Influencers are semi-famous in their own right and have an audience of at least one million followers or thereabouts. Brands can rely on them to promote the product as much as possible due to the sheer size of their followers.
- Mega Influencers are practically celebrities and if a company has the budget to afford one, they will have no problem in getting their product to be promoted to the most amount of people.
Influencers are also differentiated in the content they produce and how they built up their audience and followers. The way they are different based on these criteria include:
- Parenting influencers provide tips and tricks to new parents and families regarding parenting and everything related to raising kids. These influencers promote toys, clothing brands, and educational services intended for kids to their followers.
- Fashion influencers promote clothing brands and accessories to their audience and gained a reputation due to their fashion sense. Most of their content is centered around reviews of fashion products and shopping hauls.
- Beauty influencers grew their audience through beauty tips, makeup tutorials, and product reviews. These influencers promote beauty products like makeup, hair care products, and skincare products.
- Travel influencers review travel-related brands like airlines and vacation planners to their audience. They also recommend tourist destinations and activities for their followers to try out. They also provide travel tricks, hacks, and tips to their audience.
- Gaming influencers usually interact with their audience through videos and streams of them playing games. They provide tips to their audience regarding games and reviews about games. They promote games, gaming-related products, and gaming accessories.
- Sports and Fitness influencers promote physical activities involving sports, working out, and other activities. They provide motivation and instructions to their audience. They promote workout gear, sports equipment, supplement products, workout plans, eating plans, and foods.
Once an influencer knows what product or service that they have to promote they can choose an influencer marketing strategy that is most appropriate for them to influence their follower to buy it.
Here are just some of the influencer marketing strategies that an influencer can choose from:
- Contests and giveaway events are a great way for influencers to drum up attention for the product. It is simple to implement and mutually beneficial for both parties. The influencer promotes a giveaway or a prize which is usually the product or a discount for the product. The giveaway or contest provides great engagement which furthers the influencer’s audience and reach while promoting the product.
- Pre-release offers are available for influencers to promote a product as the influencers can entice their audience with exclusivity. This pre-release offer will only be available for a consumer who is a follower of an influencer.
- A guest blogging marketing strategy or a guest advertisement strategy is when an influencer produces a blog or video promoting the product on a company’s primary promotional platform like their exclusive website.
- Social media takeover strategies where the influencer takes over the social media accounts of the product and brand to bring their follower’s eyes onto the product.
- Gifts and unboxing events are another great way for influencers to drum up interest in the product and get their followers excited about the product.
- Job Referrals Strategy is also a great method of influence marketing. Refer jobs to your friends and earn money online upto $10 for every referrals.
So what is the influencer marketing impact?
According to research from Mediakix influencer marketing is considered to be effective to very effective by eighty percent of the brands that used influencers.
Awareness and brand popularity are a big indicator of whether a consumer would purchase a product or service. More than seventy percent of marketers agree that the quality of customers is significantly better when it comes from an influencer than when it comes from other marketing strategies. The customers who buy a product or service through the promotion of an influencer are significantly more likely to buy a product and buy the product in larger quantities.
Despite more and more money being pumped into influencer marketing will continue to increase for years to come however influencers already provide marketers a great return on investment with a great return on investment for every dollar invested. Influencer marketing is so cost-effective at the moment that the brands can afford to experiment with different influencer marketing strategies till they hit the right one for them.
The mere fact that influencer marketing has shown no signs of slowing down despite the economic crunch. Due to caused by the pandemic displays the invaluable quality of Influencer marketing has to brands and companies. The brands and companies get access to their target customer with a never before seen ease that other marketing strategies.
Read more:- What to Do Before Getting a Tattoo: A Complete Guide