Influencer Marketing: The New Era of Marketing
Youtube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=807cWb8AwLY
In its most simplistic definition, influencer marketing is “a collaboration between popular social-media users and brands to promote brands’ products or services”. In other words, your brand will connect with a social media influencer and pay them to create unique content that makes their audience aware of the company while simultaneously painting it in a positive light.
So, does influencer marketing work? Well, it has been labelled the “new era of marketing” and has attracted worldwide attention with the industry value growing by almost 370% over the past five years to over $24bn.
Experts forecast that the exponential growth will continue as brands opt to connect with influencers rather than more traditional advertising like TV product placements, billboards, radio, and physical adverts as well as traditional digital marketing strategies like PPC, social media built-in promotion boosts, and sponsoring.
The proposed benefits of influencer marketing make it a very attractive prospect for brands, and include but are not limited to;
- It is very easy to control your budget as most influencer marketing involves paying content creators a flat fee. Even if the influencer gets commissions through a sales code, they only earn extra if they generate more revenue for you.
- Influencer marketing allows you to connect with influencers who appeal to a similar demographic as your target audience. In turn, this allows your brand to tap into the rewards of target marketing, both financially and in reducing wasted placements.
- Partnering with an influencer means you can grow the brand more passively while also avoiding the need to stay up with the latest influencer trends, something 28% of social media experts struggle to do.
- Influencer marketing experts will see your brand and products through the eyes of a consumer. So, their content builds excitement while also identifying the USPs that appeal to prospective customers. This should generate more sales.
- It’s a great opportunity to collect valuable insights, either courtesy of the influencer’s feedback (both public and private) or from data analytics. For example, you can see which platform traffic comes from when your social influencers post content.
Influencer marketing additionally produces a back catalogue of content that can be repurposed and reposted. Meanwhile, the content will appear on the influencer’s channels resulting in long-term brand exposure that extends to any new followers they gain.
Modern consumers are smarter than ever. So, while traditional marketing still has an influence on their behaviour, the majority will take the message presented by traditional ads with a pinch of salt. After all, they know that brands are going to shout out about how great they are. At a time when 70% feel that the importance of trust is at an all-time high, incorporating third-party recommendations through concepts like influencer marketing makes a lot of sense.
The “new era of marketing” might not necessarily make traditional marketing redundant, but it is something that most brands will now want to consider.
Influencer Marketing: Understanding the Categories
When asking “Does influencer marketing work?”, you must first know what type of influencers your brand will look to utilise. Aside from impacting your expenses, it will have a huge impact on the tactics implemented.
Influencers are categorised by their social media followings. The definitions are;
- Nano influencers: a following of under 10,000.
- Micro-influencers: a following of between 10,000 and 50,000.
- Medium influencers: a following of 50,000 to 100,000.
- Macro influencers: the following between 100,000 and 1,000,000.
- Mega influencers: a following of more than 1,000,000.
Another category of influencer is the industry expert. Their reputation is based on authority rather than followings and can be a good tool for building credibility.
Does Influencer Marketing Work? A Look at the Numbers Game
Appreciating the theoretical benefits of influencer marketing is one thing, not least because 80% of companies are now ready to dip their toes into this concept. Before incorporating it into your marketing strategy, however, you must confirm that it will live up to expectations. As such, you’ll need to answer the following questions;
- Will influencer marketing actually grow brand awareness?
- Is influencer marketing likely to generate sales?
- Does influencer marketing work from a financial perspective?
- How quickly can influencer marketing have an impact?
- Can influencer marketing fit in with an overall marketing strategy?
Here’s all the information that you need to make a calculated decision.
Influencer Marketing’s Impact on Brand Awareness
Research shows that 89% of B2B marketers believe brand awareness is more important than sales. So, any opportunity to build visibility through influencer marketing has to have a positive outcome.
Working with influencers can build brand awareness in several ways. Here are some of the ways that their promotional content can boost your brand visibility;
- Any published content will be seen directly by the influencer’s followers. Better still, many post types will remain on their feeds for life, meaning new followers may find the campaigns by scrolling through their feeds later on.
- Consumers and social media users may find the content on “for you” pages and “discovery” streams. While in-house content can do this, influencers understand the latest trends on TikTok et al., thus helping your brand stay on the pulse.
- Additional users may become aware of the brand when their friends tag them in a comment or share the content directly through private messages. Going viral and shareability are key to influencer growth, and your business can benefit greatly.
Influencers often generate more views on their content than their follower numbers, ensuring that your brand visibility increases as a result. Crucially, 51% of marketers say the strategy delivers better customers. So, you’re not just getting the brand seen. It gets seen by the right people.
Similarly, many users follow influencers across multiple channels. So, the chances of content going unnoticed is small while seeing it multiple times makes your brand more memorable, even if the user doesn’t watch the content all the way through.
Influencer Marketing’s Impact on Sales and Revenue
Your business cannot achieve success if nobody knows of its existence. Still, awareness alone won’t keep the brand in business. As with any marketing campaign, influencer marketing needs to boost sales revenue.
Studies suggest that 69% of consumers trust influencer recommendations. More importantly, influencer content can actively drive sales because;
- Consumers desire to mimic their role models, and influencers have become one of the most common trendsetters in modern society. The association with popular influencers can drive sales for your brand as a result.
- The fact that Instagram is the most popular platform for influencers while TikTok is rapidly means the content is seen on channels that consumers use when they are in the shopping mindset.
- Content created by influencers will often include unboxing or showing creative ways of how a product can be used. This authentic and in-depth insight is far more impactful than a traditional ad.
Assuming you’ve set KPIs that relate to sales, influencer marketers know that they will be judged on their ability to drive sales. Meanwhile, adding a small commission to tracked sales could give them a further incentive to create content that converts to revenue.
In addition to gaining a sales boost, influencer marketing helps reduce the threat of product returns as consumers have a clear understanding of what they are buying. It can be particularly useful when your products fall into the category of impulse purchases too because consumers can see the social proof to vindicate their decision.
Influencer Marketing: Costs V Results
It is shown that 84% of marketers believe influencer marketing is an effective form of marketing. While success can be defined in many ways, the financial barometer cannot be ignored. Costs v results are easily one of the most significant metrics.
High satisfaction levels indicate that influencer marketing performs well. However, Charle research additionally found that;
- 89% of marketers believe that the ROI from influencer marketing is equal to or greater than the ROIs of other marketing channels.
- Brands earn an average of £5.20 in media value for every £1 spent on influencer marketing.
- Influencer campaigns boast an average engagement rate of 4.2%, which is higher than traditional advertising methods.
The fact that every pound spent on influencer marketing will statistically deliver a positive ROI doesn’t only make it an engaging way to grow the audience, it makes it cost-effective too. So, it can be an ideal campaign for long-term growth as well as short-term goals. The versatility of social influencer marketing, as well as the use of flat fees, also enables brands and agencies to manage their budget for this part of their marketing strategy.
Does influencer marketing work from a financial perspective? Absolutely, and that’s why it has become one of the hottest talking points in modern marketing.
How Quickly Does Influencer Marketing Work?
The knowledge that influencer marketing can deliver positive long-term ROIs is great for established brands. However, SMEs with small marketing budgets need to know that results can arrive before the budget runs out. The truth is that no two campaigns are identical, but experts do suggest that the following timeline can provide a good rule of thumb;
- A period of up to 3 months to test various ideas and content types.
- Up to 6 months for optimising campaign messages and strategies.
- One year to achieve optimal engagement, awareness and sales
Several key factors will contribute to the outcomes and timeline, though. For example, an influencer who knows the formula for going viral may increase brand awareness and revenue far sooner. Similarly, a defined niche may bring high engagement from the first post.
Ultimately, a content creator could potentially publish their first branded post within hours of reaching an agreement, although it’ll probably be a few days as they’ll probably need the product too. Still, you could start to see some results from the first video or published content.
Influencer marketing experts also display a good knowledge of consumer behaviours and psychology. If they know how to tap into FOMO, which can drive up to 60% of all sales, you can expect faster results.
Of course, the number of influencers on the case could impact the speed of results, but will also bump up the costs. Research shows that 39% of brands have worked with 10 influencers or less, and you won’t want to go beyond this figure early on. Still, a combination of influencers aimed at quick results and creators who focus on sustained results should help.
Influencer Marketing as Part of a Marketing Strategy
The direct benefits of influencer marketing highlight why it has become so popular, so quickly. Ultimately, it is a reflection of the social media age as well as our changing habits in regard to consumerism and content consumption.
Influencer marketers may focus on blogging, podcasts, videos, or a combination of content styles. However, the success shouldn’t be measured solely by the traffic and conversion analytics from the campaigns themselves. It’s equally important to consider its impact on your overall marketing strategy. Therefore, you must use the following checklist to see optimised results;
- Check that the influencer isn’t controversial. While they could still generate sales from their audience, the association could alienate existing audiences.
- Confirm that the budget won’t stop you from spending on other key features, particularly SEO and on-site blogging content.
- Confirm that the influencer’s content won’t contradict your brand positioning or general messaging.
Ideally, you should work with influencers who you can mention organically in other content or ads. When you get this right, it will be a match made in heaven because the impact of all campaigns will gain power. It’s also important to consider whether the association would impact partnerships you have with other brands, as well as any existing deals that the influencer has with your competitors.
Finally, if using multiple influences, you must act strategically to ensure that they all fit together in your digital marketing jigsaw. Otherwise, you could be left with an ambiguous strategy that is destined to fail.
Influencer Marketing Vs Celebrity Endorsements
While influencer marketing may have been identified as the “new era of marketing”, the concept of paying familiar faces to promote a brand’s products is nothing new. Celebrity endorsements were used throughout the 20th century and early 21st century while the use of Royal endorsements can be traced back even further to the 18th century.
Celebrity endorsements may come from traditional advertising placements like magazine ads and TV commercials or simply being spotted with a product. The collaboration between Nike and Michael Jordan is arguably the most famous, changing the marketing landscape as we know it.
However, a lot has changed in the four decades since then. So, if you’re thinking about opting for celebrity endorsements, it’s probably worth knowing that;
- The average consumer feels closer to influencers than celebrities, thus promoting authentic links that lead to sales conversions.
- 70% of people trust micro-influencers more than celebrities.
- Influencers will often provide far more data as a part of the deal, not least because they actually understand it.
- Celebrity endorsements can cost up to £100m for a 10-year deal for major celebs while affordable celebs often have less influence.
- Influencer marketers tend to have more targeted audiences, meaning campaigns are more efficient and effective than celeb endorsements.
It should also be noted that celebrities are often linked to multiple brands at a time, which makes it very easy for your brand message to get lost or become diluted. Of course, agreements with celebrities may also be harmed by restrictions that they (or more commonly their management teams) put in place.
From a financial and logistical perspective, influencer marketing is a more commonly useful option in the modern marketing arena. Above all else, consumers will likely respond more positively.
Tips for Brands Starting Out with Influencer Marketing
By now, you have probably decided whether influencer marketing is a concept that your brand wishes to utilise. If you do, the following advice should help maximise the effectiveness of your campaigns and strategy;
- Know your goals. For some businesses, the focus is on visibility and touchpoints. Conversely, others may crave sales. Knowing where you stand will guide your entire strategy, which is why it must be your first aim.
- Pick the right influencers for your brand. Analysing their audience and style of content within the context of your brand is far more important than the follower count or whether it’s the type of content you enjoy.
- Give them autonomy. Of course, your agreement will detail what you want to achieve or what products to promote. However, they are the experts in content creation and engaging audiences in an authentic way. Do not stifle them.
- Track data relating to traffic, cost per acquisition, and your overall ROI. Only then can you adjust your strategy accordingly with a view to achieving long-term success and future expansion.
- Use your influencer to boost your credibility further by adding their recommendations to your website or traditional marketing campaigns. It’s a simple step that generates more value for your company.
For further advice on how to work effectively with influencers, check out this guide. A defined strategy will always optimise your hopes of success.
