You have probably come across the term influencer marketing.
In simple terms, Influencer or influential marketing refers to the use of social media celebrities to endorse different products to the celebrity’s followers. It is a relatively new term that was born by social media.
However:
It uses the good old marketing concept of celebrity advertisements that you see on TVs.
Well, let’s start with a brief description of who social media influencers are. An influencer is someone who actively publishes either related to only a single niche or general topics, and has many people that follow his/her content. By many, I am talking of hundreds of thousands if not millions of followers.
Influencer marketing started as a passive source of income for the majority of the early influencers. However, as more and more businesses continue gaining interest in social media advertising, it has become a full-time job opportunity that businesses are willing to spend fortunes over.
Just think about, why would a business pay Kylie Jenner up to a million dollars just to publish a single post of their product on her Instagram account? It’s simple; they are making huge profits from it. Otherwise, nobody would dare to do it at a loss.
Consequently, if you run a business, but you are still hesitant of marketing your products through influencers, you definitely need to start right now.
Here is why:
It’s the most effective form of internet marketing
I know you want to disagree with me especially if you do social media marketing. But before you do so, read this.
There are different types of internet marketing methods such as display advertisements, YouTube ads, Google ads, and Facebook Marketing. However popular some of these methods are, they are losing their effectiveness.
The thing is, online ads have become so popular that instead of enticing internet users to buy or interact with them, they are acting as distractions. Consequently, people have started using ad blockers to prevent them from being displayed. Well, you know what happens next.
Even for Facebook ads, you have to work really hard for your ads to bring you the results you expect.
This is what is making influential marketing the go-to marketing method for many companies. Unlike social media and other online ads, influential marketing does not create the feeling of being compelled to buy or distraction.
Influencers have a certain level of authority, trust, and respect on their followers. Therefore, the majority of their followers often find it easier to purchase the products that the influencers recommend due to the emotional attachment of trust. You don’t get this in other advertisement methods.
Pin-Point Niche Targeting
The majority of influencers often create content that is related to a specific niche: for example, interior décor, fashion, recipes, and sports. It goes without saying that every single of their followers must in one way or another be interested in that specific topic. Otherwise, they wouldn’t bother following.
If as a marketer you can manage to find the influencer that post content that is specifically related to your niche, you are guaranteed of a pin-point customer target and high returns for your products.
Additionally, even for the influencers that post on general topics, their following mostly includes people from the same locality. This makes customer targeting a lot easier.
High-quality content to the right audience
The majority of the big influential marketers have invested in image and video editors that create the ads for them. Also, they already know what kind of content, videos, and ads their audience like seeing and are most likely to react to.
Hiring influential marketers gives you the rare chance of accessing free, top-quality content that appeals to your potential customers. Additionally, influential marketing often has a longer lasting effect since the posts are never deleted.
Anyone who visits the influencer’s profile can see the advertisement even months after your contract with the influencer is over.
Increased interaction with the advertisements
Influential marketers know all the tricks that are used to make posts go viral. For example, they know what hashtags to use, what emojis to use, and what descriptions to use to make their audience like, comment and share the posts.
This is something that you cannot get from any other form of social media marketing, especially if you are just beginning.
Audience Trust
Just a quick question, which one would you be more likely buy: a product that you find being advertised for the first time on Facebook, or a product that a person you follow on Instagram or YouTube recommends?
I bet it’s the product from your favorite YouTuber. Why? Well, it’s simple. People often tend to trust information from people they have interacted with or met before, as compared to strangers.
Similarly, people are more likely to purchase your product that is advertised by an influential marketer, as compared to a Facebook ad.
Fairly cheap
I would say it is not as cheap as you would expect. But here is what you need to know.
The demand for influential marketers is skyrocketing. Consequently, the big influential marketers have started raising their charges to unaffordable rates for many businesses.
As a result, businesses are resolving to reach out to micro-influencers who do not have such huge followings. They are more affordable which is why I would recommend businesses to look for them.
Beware though, as their demand increase; they will also start hiking their charges. Being the smart businessperson that you are, the solution to such a problem will be climbing down the ladder a little more and reaching out to nano-influencers.
That is if you find the micro-influencers too expensive.
Final Words
Influential marketing is an unexploited land that holds unlimited potential for businesses. If well planned and managed, it is guaranteed to bring tremendous results, all the more reason for businesses to start engaging in it.
Regardless of the high promises, influential marketing should not be treated as the end means all marketing strategy. This form of marketing also carries with it a load of limitations which should also not be ignored.
The best way would be combining it with other forms of social media marketing for optimum results.