“People trust people more than they trust brands.”
Influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing where an account that has established credibility and a large following, endorses your products. Influencers allow your brand to gain immediate trust from consumers. Whether your goal is to increase conversions or increase brand awareness – an influencer’s credibility is a valuable asset.
When including influencer marketing in your social media marketing strategy, finding the right influencer, is the key to success. A social media environment that is saturated with aspiring influencers can make this a difficult task for a social media marketer.
A good social media agency will look at more than just the number of followers that an account has when choosing an influencer. A good starting point is to ask, what do you want to sell and who would want to buy it?
When you better understand who your target consumer is and their demographics, you will be able to choose the most relevant social media platform. Once you have chosen the most suitable social media site, you can then look for an influencer.
An account that has a large following doesn’t necessarily have a large reach. Social media marketing agencies have noticed that the algorithms of mature social media platforms have become more restrictive, the content of an account isn’t exposed to all its of its followers.
Social media sites put their users first, they want to make sure they don’t get bored and to prevent that from happening, they will only show users content that they engage with. This stimulates the creation of quality content that users engage with. If a social media account posts poor content, it won’t be shown to many of their followers. Due to the nature of social media algorithms, high engagement rates are a critical component that a marketer must consider when choosing an influencer.
There are various ways to find Influencers, if you have been active on social media within your industry, chances are that you would have a good idea which accounts are of significance. If you have just gotten started or are an international brand which has many relevant influencers choose from, it is best to hire a social media agency or influencer agency to find your best fit.
When engagement is considered, micro-influencers become extremely viable options for advertising your products. Micro-influencers have less than 10 000 followers but on average get twice as much engagement than larger accounts do. When choosing an influencer, another very important aspect to consider is the influencers personal views and values. No matter how fantastic an influencers engagement rates are, if their values are not in line with your brand’s, their followers simply won’t resonate with your advertisement.
At the end of the day, influencer marketing is one of many marketing options a social media agency has to choose from. Our job is to find you the most cost-effective social media marketing solutions, to ensure this, the effectiveness of influencer marketing must be measured. It may be difficult to measure the effect an influencer campaign has on brand reputation and word of mouth, but there are other ways to measure key metrics such as website traffic and sales that can be directly attributed to an influencer.
Benefits of Influencer Marketing
Gain the consumer’s trust
One of the major benefits of influencer marketing is the ability of your brand to gain immediate trust from consumers. Whether your goal is to increase conversions or increase brand awareness– an influencers credibility is a valuable asset.
Market your products with a recommendation versus an advert
It’s not only trust that makes influencer marketing so effective, but the fact that a consumer can relate to an influencer more than a brand makes their endorsements seem less like adverts and more like sincere recommendations. Whose opinion do you trust more – McDonald’s telling you their burgers are delicious or a friend who has tried them?
Reach your target market
Another huge benefit of influencer marketing is the ability to reach an audience that is guaranteed to be interested in your product. When traditional marketers didn’t have the advantage of being able to reach specific audiences through targeted advertising, they took advantage of the influence that a celebrity had in order to reach their target market.
Increase your following
When collaborating with an influencer, there is a good chance that your social media accounts will gain some quality followers, which can be reached for free through your organic content strategy.
Save money
Despite all these benefits, influencer collaborations don’t necessarily have to cost money. Many influencers will endorse your brand in exchange for free products and mentions on your business’s social media accounts. When a monetary exchange is needed you don’t need to sacrifice a large portion of your marketing budget, especially when it comes to micro-influencers.
Frequently Asked Questions About Influencer Marketing
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing where an account, with established credibility and a large following, endorses your products.
Is influencer marketing effective?
Yes, if it is implemented correctly. Effective advertising content must be created in combination with the right influencer.
What makes a social media influencer a good choice?
Influencers are more relatable to the consumer than a brand and they have established credibility over time which allows consumers to trust them.
How do I know if influencers should be a part of my social media marketing strategy?
This depends on many factors such as the quality and cost of influencers in your industry, who your target customer is and how well other forms of advertising are currently performing for your business.
How much do influencers cost?
What an influencer charges will vary. This depends on the size of their following, their engagement rates and their experience.
Do I have to pay social media influencers?
Not necessarily, whether or not you have to pay an influencer depends on their following, engagement rates and experience within the influencer industry.
How do I track the effectiveness of an influencer in my social media marketing campaign?
Influencers can be given custom UTM’s which allow you to track website referrals and sales attributed to that influencer. You can also use social media analytics to analyse metrics like engagement, likes, followers, comments and reach.
How do I find social media influencers?
You can hire an influencer agency, pay for influencer search tools or search for top hashtags that are relevant to your business.
What is micro-influencer?
A micro-influencer is a person who has less than 10 000 followers.
Why are micro-influencers a good choice?
Micro-influencers have very high engagement rates are usually very relatable to their followers.