Authority, expertise, positioning, and engagement.
These four accurately sum up an influencer's job profile. Influencers create lasting relationships with their audience with an aim to impact them in a way that their decision-making gets influenced. They never blatantly impose their views. They are subtle, authentic, and relatable to their followers, making them a powerful weapon to have in the marketer’s arsenal.
Anyone who is in a position to exercise the four traits of being an influencer can be one.
Not many would consider Pope Francis to be an influencer, but he is one, and his impact on his audience is massive. In 2005, The Pope visited the US and preferred a Fiat as his ride. He wanted to give the message of a minimal lifestyle, which he did wonderfully well with a Fiat. After such an endorsement from The Pope, Fiat came on the map with a bang, giving the Toyota Prius a run for its money.
That’s the influence of influencer marketing. It isn’t glaringly obvious. It isn’t imposed. But it certainly is effective and tremendously invigorating for a brand’s success.
Not all influencers would have a reach like that of The Pope, but their impact on their audience is all that should matter. Even if an influencer can resonate with 1,000 followers, that would be 1,000 prospects ready to be converted as your buyers.
According to a recent survey, influencer marketing global market size is expected to grow to be worth $16.4 Billion in 2022, and social commerce is expected to account for 17% of the total e-commerce spending by 2025. So if you aren’t equipped with influencer marketing yet, it is time for you to get onboard.
Is Influencer Marketing Really Important For a Brand?
The consumer base in this digital era is ever-evolving and knows exactly where to route their attention. With a marketplace filled with campaigns and all brands seeking attention, influencer marketing is an effective tool to cut through and reach the right target audience at all levels.
From building brand awareness to consideration and finally making a purchase, influencer marketing penetrates across all levels of the consumer funnel.
Here are five ways in which influencer marketing can help your brand.
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Builds Brand Awareness
Far fewer people follow brand pages than they do influencers. So, influencers’ reach is often more than many brands, even if they are just at a micro and nano level. A single post by an influencer can generate massive visibility for your brand. If that post goes viral, you will definitely reap more than what you sowed.
By widening your audience base by talking to prospects, you have never even thought about targeting, influencer marketing enables you to expand your visibility like nothing else. An all-new demographic is waiting for you to tap in with influencer marketing.
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Improves Brand Credibility
Influencers are ordinary people outside the scope of business who are mere consumers. According to your target audience, they are just like them. Therefore, a review from them would have a more productive effect on the audience as they consider them to be impartial towards the product.
If you collaborate with influencers who have attained a high degree of credibility from their followers, you would see the same credibility being given to your brand when they endorse your products.
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Increases Engagement and Conversions
Influencer marketing creates a domino effect leading to conversions. Let’s understand how. Influencers’ followers tend to accept their word at face value and imitate their actions. When an influencer says good things about your product, that post would create an increased amount of engagement for your brand. If their audience believes that they are using your product, they would also want to use it.
So,
You choose an influencer;
He endorses your product;
His audience becomes aware of you;
They engage with your brand;
They get converted.
All because their trusted influencer likes you, creating the perfect domino effect that leads to more sales for your brand.
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Diversifies Your Creative Strategy
The saying ‘the more, the merrier’ is pretty apt when it comes to creative strategies. The more the ideas for a strategy, the better the outcome. The same goes for influencer marketing.
Influencers are called influencers because they have garnered loyalty from their followers by executing their influence on them. They do so by creating content that will have an impact on their fanbase. So, calling them masters of creative strategies wouldn’t be wrong.
When working with influencers, you can give the reigns for strategizing the content for your products and their placement to the influencers. This way, the creative output they deliver would be different than yours but impactful all the same. It suffices to say that varied and interesting content always wins.
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Let’s You Tap Into Key Insights of the Influenced
As I mentioned previously, influencers have a mastery over their followers, their thought processes, and their likes and interests. From tried and tested ideas to constructive SEO strategies, influencers have a lot of insights that can prove to be worthwhile for your business.
Influencer Marketing Strategy: Nothing Less Than a Civil Work Blueprint!
While the general perception is that influencer marketing is about finding someone with a decent number of followers, paying them to endorse your brand, and getting a truckload of sales overnight. It is not all rainbows and unicorns.
From finding the right influencer that stands for the values your brand supports to negotiating the terms, ideating and strategizing the concept, and finally getting the desired deliverables: influencer marketing is a challenging and tedious job.
We realized that lately, influencer marketing success had shifted its focus from follower count and popularity to authenticity and transparency. We dug deep into influencer marketing strategies so you wouldn’t have to worry about finding the right influencer for yourself.
Based on our research, we have listed some of the questions that can help you make your influencer marketing strategy:
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On which channel is your target audience? |
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How will you get the target audience interested in the product? |
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What is the content and the CTA? |
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What is the campaign budget? |
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How many influencers are to be used, and in what stages of marketing? |
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What is the duration of the campaign? |
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Is paid amplification to be used for influencer campaigns? |
From micro and nano influencers to big names in the industry, you can choose any one or more. As long as their audience falls under your buyer’s personas, you will be successful.
The key to an optimized influencer marketing strategy is to look for three things. Connecting and collaborating with influencers who are connected with their niche follower base, have product expertise and share authentic, relatable content, and have more possibilities of converting viewers to potential buyers for your brand, is all that matters when it comes to leveraging influencer marketing.
Don’t Forget Measuring Your Campaigns
A more nuanced approach while measuring any influencer marketing campaign helps get the true reach. We capture the true value of an influencer marketing campaign by looking at the result's quantitative and qualitative aspects.
We are here to assess and guide you in your influencer marketing efforts to generate the expected ROI. Get in touch with us info@tradebuilderinc.com to better grasp the concept.
