What is influencer marketing and why should you use it?
Influencer Marketing is taking the marketing world by storm! Find out why you should use it to build your brand.
Influencer marketing is here to stop. It is a method embraced by both small and large companies that have seen the success of using selected influencers to build brand. Influencer marketing continues to evolve and grow as a strategy and companies that have not yet invested in the area risk losing out on great opportunities.
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What is Influencer Marketing
Scroll through your feed on social media and you will see posts on how to get healthier, make more money and how to improve your relationship. If you look through your inbox you will see messages from bloggers or companies that you like with recommendations on products or services that will be of use to you.
Some of the messages hit right and you turn on. When this happens, you have become part of the phenomenon of influencer marketing.
Influencer marketing as an idea is not really new, it is based on methods that have been around for a long time – recommendations, referrals or word-of-mouth. For example, we have for a long time seen television commercials with celebrities marketing specific products.
The difference now lies in the fact that influencer marketing is based on the content of specific key people who contribute to the commitment and desire to buy a specific product or service.
Successful influencers have built their following through good and interesting content that their followers can learn from along the way. This can be anything from entertainment, tips on products or new knowledge. The followers thereby create confidence in specific influencers and follow their advice.
For example, an influencer can write about a popular book that they read and therefore recommend their followers to read it as well. When the followers then read the book and find that they also like the book, further confidence is built and a tendency to follow or take part in the next advice or tips, whether it is a food recipe or a product.
When influencers later share content about a brand and a third-party product, the followers are already convinced. One study shows that 70% of all buyers take into account friends’ recommendations before making their purchase, this indicates the capacity for this type of marketing.
Why Influencer Marketing?
“Influencers are people. People (or personas) with a brand and an audience. What makes them attractive to advertisers is their ability to talk to a highly defined group of fans. The way the ecosystem looks to mature is similar to the internet in the early days.
As the quote above points out, influencers are people and this is the most important aspect of influencer marketing. The days of bland press releases and TV ads that contain models that do not represent real people, or celebrities who get paid to support a product are over.
The advertising media is changing and influencer marketing has emerged as a response. Consumers spend more and more time on social media and interact with people they have a relationship with. Influencer marketing targets audiences in the environments they spend time in and approaches them at their own level.
Today’s buyers look to each other for credible reviews and recommendations rather than directly to the company.
Build confidence in your brand
The Internet is becoming an increasingly crowded marketplace and it is therefore important to find ways to make your brand stand out from the crowd. Positive exposure from a respected voice will help you build confidence, something that not only means that more people will catch your eye, but also that they will remember you longer.
A survey from Nielsen shows that 92% of all consumers trust sources of trust such as recommendation from family and friends over other types of marketing. Influencer marketing is based on referrals and will thus take you a long way when it comes to building trust.
Your target audience
An important aspect of influencer marketing is its ability to put products in front of an already warm audience. Spend time finding the best-suited influencer to ensure that your products are given the best possible chance to reach an already interested audience.
By targeting the right audience, you will see great results on the last line. Trying to sell on an Eskimå ice-cooler may not be the most effective strategy, but approaching an eager audience of summer campers looking for ways to make their camping experience even better can mean the jackpot.
Building a relationship with a key person in that specific area can ensure that your product is exposed to thousands more.
Improve your SEO
The benefits of influencer marketing are many and it also means a bonus in improving your SEO and ranking. The more influencers who talk about your product, the better your brand awareness. This is good news for you in several ways:
It will mean lots of new content about your brand and your products which increases your visibility, awareness and commitment.
An increased chance of getting your posts shared with links and content that mentions your product. As your company or product name is mentioned more frequently across social channels, Google will rate your popularity by pushing you to rank, which in itself is the ultimate goal of keyword optimization.
Accelerated growth
Marketing is not cheap and it is both time-consuming and strenuous to plan, monitor and fine-tune. Generating customers is really only half the battle – it’s just as important to keep your customers.
Influencer marketing creates twice as many sales as display advertising and retention rate are a full 37% higher, which shows that you not only reach new customers, you also keep your existing customers.
Spend time on social media
Consumers are now more likely to browse the web than the advertising section of the local newspaper. It has triggered inevitable change when it comes to ways of marketing itself so as not to risk being left behind.
The popularity and growth we are seeing in influencer marketing is a sign that this change is already in full swing.
Exposing your brand through social platforms is now an important aspect of brand building and influencer marketing contributes to this exposure. In 2017, 12.9 million sponsored posts were reported via Instagram and it will continue to grow. Read more about how Advertiser Standard Agency guides influencers and brands in ads and paid partnerships.
Produce content
Content has long been hailed as the number one online and users now have the opportunity to access both mobile and written material from their favorite blogger.
Influencers are good at producing content and when they put all their focus on your brand, you can, with permission, use it in a good and effective way that will increase your ranking and popularity.
By sharing and distributing content in the future, you will ensure that the lifetime of your products and your brand is significantly longer than you would achieve with another type of ad.
Cost-effective
If your ROI is good, the costs do not necessarily have to be the block for your collaboration. Influencer marketing generates both a good ROI while being a relatively inexpensive method.
The cost of an influencer marketing collaboration depends largely on the individual or individuals you choose to partner with. Some want paid in money, others in e.g. products or gift cards
Results
Take a look at some case studies and the results of influencer marketing are clear – an increase in sales both online and offline. Affiliate networks such as Awin and ShareASale have extensive experience and can give you, as a marketer, advice and strategies on how to best use this method.
Of course, there are many factors that come into play if you want to achieve the ultimate success stories, but it is obvious that influencer marketing is here to stop. Those who have not yet taken the step risk being left behind. To ensure that you do not, contact your Account Manager or our Influencer Marketing Manager.
