Since the internet came into existence in 1983, brands or promoters have come up with different and creative ideas to influence the targeted audience. In today’s digital landscape, the audience is bombarded with advertisements. To do that brands use digital marketing in various ways and now the most prominent form is Influencer marketing.
What is influencer marketing?
So if you have ever come across social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Tik-Tok, Snapchat, or something, where you might have observed that people are holding products from various brands and telling you how to use them to reap the best results from those products. If so, then you have also encountered influencer marketing.
So in plain words, Influencer Marketing is a form of digital marketing where a brand leverages the influence of social media personalities(influencers) and targets their specific audience. The influencers come along with credibility and loyal fan following within a particular niche, and when they endorse a brand or product, their audience perceives it as a genuine recommendation. While this kind of marketing does foster brand awareness and trust, it also leads to successful sales.
Think of it like this, Social Media influencer is a marketing tool that helps boost brand awareness, discoverability, SEO, and much more and too among your target audience only.
Types of Influencer Marketing:
The value of the Influencer marketing industry is expected to be $21.1 billion in 2023 and is showing 18.8% growth yearly. With this kind of growth, Influencer marketing has become a necessary tool for established and even more for upcoming brands.
Before further dwelling on the part where we are in the vast ocean of types of influencer marketing, let us clear your minds about what kind of influencers are available to choose from so that you can make more informed decisions.
So basically influencers are divided on their fan following or the audience they can reach out to. Here is simple data for you which is self-explanatory.
You probably would have achieved some clarity about the type of exposure you are looking for. Now let’s discuss the type of influence Marketing to further analyze what would be the best approach for your brand.
- Sponsored Content: This may seem odd but this is the one most traditional method of influencer marketing. In this marketing technique, the influencer uses your product in the most genuine way possible, boasting every single perk of your brand like the most essential requirement in day-to-day life. It could be a video or photo posted on the social media platform by your designated social media influencer. The main advantage of this strategy is that everything looks genuine as the influencer does not need to develop any kind of sales pitch for the post.
👉 Here you can compensate the influencer with a flat fee or you can come with a pay-per-click arrangement.
- Affiliate links or discount codes: Now this strategy requires a more analytical approach than ‘Sponsored content’ marketing. Here you can provide your desired influencer with a discount code or unique link to share with their audience. Now for better audience reach you can also provide influencers with a sample of the product you are looking forward to promoting so that a a realistic video based on their experiences can be created.
👉 Here influencers receive 10-20% commissions on every sale made through their unique link
- Contests or giveaways: Playing the lottery might be a risky game but it is embedded like a core program into the human mind, and even the anticipation of winning a lottery releases dopamine which is also known as the ‘feel-good’ hormone. And that is why strategies of promoting brand awareness through free giveaways generate better outreach than any other strategy. In this strategy, influencers offer free prizes to their followers in exchange for brand engagement. Followers will also be sharing the same among their community for a better chance at the lottery. Now, these kinds of engagements only provide only small-duration boost, so make sure you combine this with other strategies as well to keep the demand running.
👉 You can compensate influencers by providing discounts or free offerings for this
- Influencer’s content on your channel: Everybody likes getting recognition for their efforts, and if you have a good brand presence then most of the time you will end up featuring the influencer’s ad on your channel. This type of collaboration not only helps the brand to reach a wider audience but also helps influencers to gain more followers and upgrade their level.
👉 This is a win-win situation for everybody, hence no formal payment may be required.
- Brand Ambassadors: Choosing a brand ambassador for your brand may be the oldest form of influencer marketing. You take a well-recognized face of the industry create several ads, with them promoting or consuming your brand, and run these through all media platforms and Voilla! You have the perfect recipe for brand promotion.
👉 Hiring influencers in place of celebrities is not only budget-friendly, but you can also leverage their social media presence for a longer period by creating brand awareness.
Benefits of Influencer Marketing
In 2022, it was expected that 75% of brand marketers intended to dedicate a budget to influencer marketing. Why pay someone extra if you are already spending enough on branding and marketing? So in this ever-evolving paradigm of marketing, you must regularly update your strategies, but after a while a pause arises, because you might have captured your targeted audience but not efficiently enough to convert them into leads. And that’s where influencer marketing works its charms. They just don’t raise brand awareness but also derive sales through their followers. How let’s discuss that in brief:
- Increased Credibility and Trust: These influencers have their following and whenever when they promote any product user tends to trust them as they perceive that the content coming from the influence is genuine and knowledgable. Leveraging this an influencer can interpret your brand with better credibility
- Positive impact on sales: Effective influencer marketing campaigns can directly influence purchasing decisions. When an influence presents your brand or product among your target audience in a positive light it motivates them to try similar products which often leads to successful sales
- Cost-effective strategy: Compared to traditional advertising methods, influencer marketing presents itself as a more cost-effective way to reach your target audience. You can partner with micro-influencers or can negotiate performance-based deals to maximize your return on investment.
- Boosts SEO and opens doors to New Opportunities: Content posted by influencers includes backlinks, which could be to your website or to the product page, which ultimately increases your search engine ranking and delivers organic traffic to your website.
How to Develop a Successful Influencer Marketing Strategy?
So you have decided to give Influencer marketing a go, and now you have arrived at a situation where you have to come up with a strategy that will not only boost your brand but also align with your future expectations.
Let’s discuss the recipe for a successful influencer marketing strategy
- Define your goals: It is very essential that you have a clear image of your brand in your mind beforehand you reap the benefits of influencer marketing campaigns. Determine what you want to achieve with your campaign. Do you want to increase brand awareness, drive sales, or generate user-generated content? Be clear about the idea and make sure your goals are feasible.
- Target Your Audience: Everything is not conveyed 100% efficiently every time. Hence, until and unless you have a clear picture of your brand it will be impossible for you to convey your brand efficiently. Make sure that your target audience is efficiently under your brand you need to target the audience that resonates with your brand so it will be easier for you to present your brand.
- Right influencers provide the right branding: The vast network of the internet also exposes your brand to potential threats as well. Choosing an influencer without thorough research could harm your brand image, so make sure you choose an influencer who is not only genuine but also understands your brand values and your content style.
- Develop content that people crave: Collaborate with the influencers to create content that is not only engaging but also informative and showcases your brand in a positive spotlight. Brands often get neglected when the content is not compelling enough.
- Track the performance: Tracking the key metrics such as reach, engagement, and website traffic helps you learn about the success of your campaign but also guides you on how to tweak your campaign for better results.
- Build lasting relationships: Influencer marketing is not a one-time investment, as the world evolves the strategies evolve hence you must develop strong, collaborative relationships with trusted influencers. This also helps you to maintain persistent growth over time.
Risks to Consider Before You Proceed Ahead
If you have read so far, you might be thinking what could go wrong? Remember every positive thing comes along with its negative impacts. This negativity could not only affect your campaigns but could leave your brand in ruins. Seems strange? Keep reading ahead while we elaborate on the risks that come along with Influencer Marketing:
- Out/in-fluencers: While the internet introduces your brand to a new world of opportunities the same path exposes your brand to threats of fraud. There are many fake profiles with fake views and followers, and collaborating with these people will present the same image of your brand to the world. Identifying genuine and relevant influencers could be time-consuming but you must partner with an influencer who genuinely connects with your brand and whose target resonates the same.
- Lack of transparency and disclosure: Now you have chosen the right influencer but what if the influencer was incapable of interpreting your brand? That is why make sure that you communicate with influencers about your brand/product visibility. They should use clear communication and appropriate hashtags while representing your brand otherwise it will reflect poorly on your brand as well.
- Measuring Success and ROI: Before initiating a contract with any influencer, ensure they understand your expectations from the campaign for your brand. Identify key metrics that align with those goals. Use analytics to track these metrics and measure the campaign’s performance.
- Influencer Scandals and Controversies: Associating with an influencer who has a controversial image can also damage your brand’s reputation.
What does the future hold for Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is a continuously evolving landscape, with the rise in technology the trends change at a pace that is difficult to keep track of, but if you are in the right hands you can make an impact at the right among the right audience. Here are key developments to watch in the field of influencer marketing:
- The Rise of Micro and Nano Influencers: As brands look forward to authenticity and targeted engagement, micro and nano influencers are expected to gain even more prominence. These influencers often engage with their communities and possess a strong element of trust with their audience. This resonates with the Indian government’s Creator Awards 2024 initiative, which aims to recognize and empower micro-influencers who are not only creating positive and informative content but also presenting India’s positive image in the world.
- Leaving Behind the Traditional Metrics System: Brands have aligned towards quality over quantity, with the growing importance of meaningful engagement, brands are leaving behind the vanity metrics like follower count. Analyzing engagement rates, comments, and brand sentiment has gained more popularity among brands and it also allowed them to identify influencers who can generate genuine conversations and brand interaction.
- Social Commerce: $958 billion, which is what social commerce sales in 2022 were expected to be. Integration of social commerce with influencer marketing has provided users with a seamless shopping experience. Consumers can easily discover products through their trusted influencers and can make purchases directly through the social media platform. This capitalized on the impulse buying triggered by influencer recommendations.
- Authenticity with long-form content: Scripted endorsements and heavily edited content have lost their effectiveness. Users are now looking forward to relatable influencers who can share their genuine reviews about products and in this case, Log-form videos on YouTube help the consumers gain better knowledge of the brand and the product. This format not only fosters a deeper connection with the audience but also makes the audience understand the brand’s UPS cultivating a better relationship.
- Focus on Influencer Ethics: Influencer ethics and brand responsibility will always be under discussion. While the brands will be held responsible for their partnership with any specific influencer, the influencer will also be questioned on promotions of unrealistic beauty standards. Initiatives like Creator Awards 2024 play a vital role in promoting ethical content creation practices among influencers.
Influencer marketing is an essential tool to compete in today’s marketplace, where brands can reap benefits from the existing influencer’s fan following on the other hand influencers are always looking for recognition. Implementing trend-based strategies and collaborations with ethical influencers can make a brand presence felt worldwide.