Influencer marketing is more than a buzz word. It’s an important form of marketing using user-generated content that places focus on influential people. Bloggers and influencers are a great way to get the word out about your product, brand or company. To put this tactic in action, we identify individuals who have influence over potential buyers. Aside from vanity metrics like followers, we look at engagement and engagement rates to determine if an influencer is a right fit for our project.
Influencers are growing in both popularity and increased ability to persuade their followers. And they also are a powerful resource for both social media reach and overall marketing campaigns.
Several of our clients leverage influencers to increase awareness of their brands, events or services. Keep reading to learn more about how influencers could help you with your marketing goals.
Influencers establish authentic content
Influencers offer a sense of authenticity to brands by showing viewers a “real” experience. People like to see recognizable faces using a product or having a great experience. This is often more engaging than seeing a model or product photo. It’s much more relatable and authentic, which elevates the overall trust of your product or brand.
With one click or swipe up, customers can have an influencer-advertised product at your doorstep or a reservation for a service.
Influencer marketing reaches new audiences
Influencers can open doors to a new audience. For example, we have several clients looking to expand their audiences to a younger demographic. With their current followers and marketing, they’re reaching the same audience they’ve always reached. By bringing in influencers, we open the opportunity to not only showcase a certain demographic using our client’s services but also the influencer is showcasing their audience while widening our network.
Influencer marketing works because it connects with consumers where they are. The rise in digital consumption continues to grow, especially because of the pandemic. Even in a digital world, human connection between the brand and the audience is essential.
Leveraging influencers starts with quality, authentic matches
When bringing in influencers, my role is to research and communicate with potential matches for a campaign. For example, one of our clients has several upcoming concerts, and we want to make sure that the influencer is a fan of the band or artist so we can capture them genuinely enjoying themselves (instead of someone who might just say “yes” to free concert tickets and not really do their best to promote their excitement).
Just because someone has 25,000 followers, doesn’t mean they’re the right ones for your business. Search for the best influencers that will represent your ideal clients.
We get to know influencers, along with their likes and dislikes, so we can offer them campaigns accordingly. In Tulsa, our influencer network is pretty tight knit, so getting to know and build great relationships with even a few influencers can lead to other opportunities within their networks.
Influencers are more budget-friendly than you might expect
Influencers also can be an incredibly cost-effective option for our clients. Often, many are willing to work for trades, exposure to new followers and/or lower dollar amounts. For example, gift bags or VIP experiences not only makes influencers feel special, but also will make it easier for you to reach your goals.
The majority of businesses can’t afford the million-dollar budget needed for celebrity endorsements. This is where micro-influencers come into play. Influencer marketing helps many brands and businesses create trust and establish authority with their target audience.
We’re spending more time on social media than ever before, thus we spend so much more time getting to know products and people via this outlet. This is incredibly helpful in “top of mind” marketing, as we often ask influencers to run a “campaign” (meaning they speak to the value of the product/service several times through stories/posts) to ensure that are keeping the product/service appearing in their followers’ feeds.
To dive into influencer marketing, talk to your account manager or contact us.
