There are so many digital marketing techniques, that businesses have lots of options to promote their product or brand in the best way possible. Competition is all around you and only the best ones will survive or we should say get the desired attention.
Why we said only about digital marketing is because the digital platform is easily accessible and millions of people are there on this platform. It has become a necessity for all businesses to survive and stand strong in the market.
Like digital marketing, there is also another form known as influencer marketing. It is not yet necessary for everyone though yet holds importance for businesses that practice it. We can say that influencer marketing is connected to the digital world only.
If practiced right, influencer marketing can reap amazing benefits. In this post, we will tell you some important facts about influencer marketing along with some tips on how you can effectively implement this strategy. Let us first see what influencer marketing is.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a tactic of social media marketing where products or brands are promoted with the help of influencers. As the name suggests, influencers are the key part of this marketing form. But another question that comes in mind here is who are influencers and how they will help in marketing. Let’s take one question at a time.
Who are influencers?
An influencer could be any individual or celebrity who has the ability to influence people or his/her followers to purchase a certain product or choose a particular brand over others. A influencer is also known to be the expert in the niche he/she is doing the promotion. An influencer can change the purchase decision of others and that is the reason they are used in this form of marketing.
They have earned this power of influencing others through their work in a particular niche for years and helping people with that. This experience of influencers can be of great help for your business to flourish and build authority online.
What is the need of influencer marketing for businesses?
The competition is really tough out there and one has to fight hard to come out of the crowd and create a strong identity. We should also know that everyone is trying almost everything to get the attention of the target audience and build their brand’s authority.
As we know, social media is an integral part of digital marketing and every business is practicing social media marketing to get exposure to a wider audience. This means, here as well there is fierce competition and one has to try something different to get the desired attention.
Influencer marketing is one such strategy that can help you grab the attention of the target audience in huge numbers and in less time. For that, you need to find someone who can talk to people on your behalf and convince them to choose your product or brand over others. Yes, we are talking about an influencer and the impact could be great if he/she is an expert in your niche with a great fan following.
Considering this form of marketing for your business will bring you the attention of followers of the influencer as well and it will be a huge plus for your brand. All you have to do is choose the right influencer.
What role does an influencer play in attracting people?
As we know that influencer is an expert in his/her field and has helped people with the knowledge and work done in that particular niche. An influencer is the idol of almost all of his/her followers and they believe in everything that the influencer has to say because of their past experiences.
Now, if you take the help of an influencer of your business’s niche and convince him/her to talk about your product on social media, then influencer’s followers will also show faith in your brand and they will start using it. In this way, an influencer can attract a lot of people for your brand. And you can imagine, if those people have a good experience with your product, they will refer it to others as well.
This is how choosing the right influencer can do wonders for your brand.
How to approach an influencer to promote your product or brand?
Remember, marketing is all about maintaining relationships with your target audience. Similarly, influencer marketing also requires you to maintain a good relationship with the person you want to promote your product.
If you think that you can directly reach out to an influencer for your brand’s promotion, then it might not be a better idea. We must say that it is not at all a good practice of approaching an influencer. If you maintain a good relationship with him/her, it will be of great help in the long run.
The best strategy to approach an influencer is to first follow him/her on social media and subscribe to his/her posts. Try commenting on the blog posts and appreciating his/her work. In this way, you will be able to maintain a strong relationship and this will make your work easier to convince the influencer for your brand’s promotion.
Remember, this might require some serious effort to directly contact the person, thus, you must keep trying until you get the success.
How to start with influencer marketing?
First of all, you must know why you want influencer marketing or do you really need it. Because not everything is meant to be practiced by everyone and it is important to be considered as well. Do proper research and analyze your competitors who have used this tactic to build their brand.
Check how much success they have got with the influencer marketing and how they have reacted to that. This will give you a better idea of how it will be helpful to you.
Another important aspect to be noticed to start with influencer marketing is the content. Yes, content is everywhere and it is important for influencer marketing as well. What will you show to the influencer once you get to talk to him/her? It is the content and it should be unique, attention-grabbing, and visually appealing.
Remember one thing, anything that harms the reputation and identity of the influencer in any sense will not be accepted. So, it is important for you to work smartly by preparing the content and include the benefit that the audience will have using your product.
To start with influencer marketing, consider these two points first.
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Define goals-
You must know what you want to achieve with influencer marketing because this is how you will be able to track the success of the campaign. Keep the list of your goals prepared and track the performance later on.
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Find the right influencer-
This might require a lot of research to find the best influencer for your brand. One of the most important things that you need to consider is to find an influencer whose followers match the criteria of your target audience. Considering this will be the best and it will also help you with the future aspects.
For this, you can either hire an agency or take the help of dedicated tools.
Three factors to remember while finding the influencer
- Relevance- The first thing to be looked for is the relevance, whether the influencer you are reaching out is relevant to your business or not.
- Value- Whether the influencer’s follower base will help you out in delivering enough value to your business that you are looking for.
- Engagement level- Whether the influencer will be able to engage with the audience in a way to convince about considering your product.
These are the three main factors to be noticed while finding the right influencer for your brand.
Benefits of influencer marketing
The importance and benefits of influencer marketing are increasing steadily and businesses have started to know the impact it could create in this world influenced by social media. Here are some of the key benefits of influencer marketing that you must know
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Builds trust
As we know that influencers are experts in their niche whom people follow, trust, and consider their recommendations. This reputation of influencers took a lot of time to build and that is what you are going to use for promoting your brand.
The theory here is simple if you rely on someone you will also trust his/her recommendations. This is how an influencer can build the trust of your brand and attract more target audience.
An influencer with thousands of followers or even more will recommend your brand or product on his/her social media account and all of the followers will see it. Thus, the chances are high that most of them will consider this recommendation based on their requirements and this will provide direct benefit to you. All you have to do is choose the right influencer.
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Better reach
Choosing an influencer with thousands of followers or even more will help your brand get a wider reach. The reason behind this is simple, you will get the attention of most of the followers of the influencer. Plus, the chances are high that people who love your product will also recommend it to the others. This way, using influencer marketing will make your brand’s reach better and wider.
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To the point marketing
Another prospect of influencer marketing is to be relevant and focused. As the influencer you chose to promote your product is an expert of your business’s niche and he/she will have followers who are interested in what he/she is doing.
So, this means that your target audience will be similar to the followers of the influencer, and hence, you will stay focused on the target audience.
For example, if you have a business of sportswear, your target audience will be people engaged in sports or who are fitness lovers. Thus, choosing someone from a related niche will do the job for you, as his/her followers will match the criteria of your target audience.
In this way, your marketing efforts will stay right on track.
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Boosts SEO
Online presence of a business majorly depends upon an effective SEO and all businesses that want to ensure a strong presence on digital platform practice SEO. Now you will be glad to know that influencer marketing can also help you boost your SEO score and in this way, your site’s ranking will also improve on SERP.
Once you hire an influencer for your brand’s promotion, you can request him/her to give backlinks on his/her blog posts or they can simply mention your brand. Such backlinks will be of very high quality and deliver a great impact on your site’s SEO. They help improve your site’s domain authority (DA). This will also drive some genuine traffic on your website and you can imagine the results it could deliver.
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It’s not pushy
This is one of the best things about influencer marketing that we know. It is not about other marketing strategies where you have to talk about sales to get the purchase done. In the case of influencer marketing, people willingly choose to buy your product or service after watching the influencer promoting it.
Sometimes people find advertisements too pushy and they tend to ignore them or apply a filter to avoid them. But this is not the case with influencer marketing, here, your target audience will see their idol using or talking about a product and they will find it worthy enough to be used by them as well.
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Holds better value to the target audience
It is the human tendency that before purchasing any product, we check for reviews online to know about the product better and see how other users have experienced it.
While on the other hand, if you see an expert you already follow talking about the features and the quality of your product, then it will be more valuable for you than other reviews. Thus, if you get the right influencer talking about your brand or product, then it will hold more value for your target audience and they will consider buying it without any doubt.
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Better lead generation
There are numerous strategies to generate more and better leads for your business. Influencer marketing is another great strategy that you can consider and it could be the best of all if implemented in the right way.
Having someone talking about your brand who already has numerous followers will create a direct impact on people using the product you provide but of a different brand. Watching their favorite person mentioning your brand will create a desire in them to try your product and if it meets their expectations, they will not go anywhere else. The key to getting leads here is the expert whom people follow and trust without any doubt.
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Better ROI
Many studies have shown, that if done right, influencer marketing can deliver up to 5X returns. This is the prime reason why this marketing strategy is becoming popular.
By hiring a right influencer, you can get the attention of a huge target audience that follows your influencer. Thus, watching him/her talk about your brand most of them will start considering it better and in this way, you will generate more leads along with better leads.
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Not too heavy on your pocket
You cannot deny the fact that to get something you need to pay something. Similarly, with influencer marketing, you are required to pay a certain amount of money to the influencer, but it is not much costly that most people think. Of course, we are not talking about celebrities though.
During your research, you will find that not all influencers want money, some of them will agree to promote your brand for a product as well.
So, if you have this perception of influencer marketing being costly in your mind, it is wrong and you need to start doing research. You will surely get influencers for your brand within the budget on social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Remember, you will reap good benefits for every single penny spent on your influencer marketing campaign.
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Works for all size of businesses
Influencer marketing is not only bound to large businesses but it can be implemented by businesses of all sizes and all niches. All they have to do is to find a suitable influencer who can meet the goals businesses have with the campaign. Better the influencer better will be the result businesses get.
Whether you have a small business or big, with your best input while doing the research, you will be able to find a suitable influencer who can do the job for you.
These are the benefits a business can receive with its effective influencer marketing strategy. Adopting this will help them generate genuine leads and ensure better brand awareness. Before wrapping it up, let us take a quick look at the type of influencers that you will find.
Types of influencers who can promote your bran
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Bloggers and vloggers
Bloggers (posts written content) and vloggers (posts videos) are people who regularly keep updating their blog by posting a well-written and well-researched content or video on their blogs. They are the experts in their niche and have lots of followers who admire their work.
Such people can mention your brand in their posts and videos, and their followers will see it as a good recommendation for them. Thus, your brand authority will improve and chances of getting new leads will increase. Plus, collaborating with them will also be helpful in improving brand awareness.
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Social media stars
There are lots of people on social media platforms who have numerous followers because of their incredible work. For example, a tech-savvy person who is an expert in explaining everything about new gadgets in a simpler way and comparing it with others post regular videos on his/her social media accounts. If people like the information shared, they will follow that person and take his/her recommendations seriously.
You can find such people on social media having thousands or lakhs of followers and request the right one to promote your brand in their post. These are the people who have gained popularity only with their social media profiles. These influencers can be in your budget and can deliver amazing results.
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Micro-influencers
They are known to have a few hundred thousand of loyal followers with better engagement. Thus, they hold a better chance to deliver results to you by promoting your brand.
Why micro-influencers are important is because of their engagement with their influencers, hence they can convince them in a better way than anyone else could do. If you find someone relevant for your business’s niche, you can get the work done at a lower price. Micro-influencers could be the best option for businesses with a tight budget.
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Nano-influencers
Nano-influencers are known to be perfect for small businesses to start with. They have a few thousands of followers and can give a good boost to your business. These influencers can ensure a good start with better brand awareness and recognition.
Though they have a small number of followers yet they come in handy for a good start. And if your products or services are up to the mark, those followers can recommend them to few more thousands. Thus, in this way you can get great results.
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Journalists
Yes, you can also use journalists as an influencer for promoting your product or service. They are the media persons who have more influencing power with their skills.
But you need to remember one thing that, it won’t be easy for you to convince them to promote your brand. For that, you will require some strong reason. If somehow you are able to that, the impact they will create is just unimaginable.
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Photographers
The social media platform is filled with photographs and Instagram, in particular, is a platform that only focuses on photos and videos.
Photographers have a very strong social media presence and they tend to regularly share their work and that is liked by people as well. It is also seen that good photographers have many followers; hence, they can become defining influencers as well for your brand.
They can be helpful for businesses like fashion, architecture, lifestyle, and even food. These influencers can promote your products in a better way with their skills and tempt people to consider.
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Celebrities
Celebrities like sports stars and actors & actresses have already been engaged with the endorsement of products and services for a long time, and they have delivered great value to brands as well.
If you think your business is right for choosing a celebrity for influencer marketing and it is in your budget as well, then you should go for it. Choosing a celebrity will be a bit heavy in your pocket but if it allows, the results will be amazing.
This is a list of some types of influencers that you can look for to promote your brand. Choose the one that fits your brand and budget the best and move forward to strengthen your business.
Wrapping It Up
Marketing, marketing, and marketing, this is what businesses stress on to make people aware of the products or services they offer. The one with a unique strategy, better information, good product, and strong influencer will stay in the contest.
There are numerous marketing tactics available, but you need not try all. The key here is to implement right whichever technique you adopt. Out of all, there is one strategy known as influencer marketing that can get you the attention of a huge target audience quicker than you can ever think. This is one such strategy that if implemented right, can take your brand to a whole new level.
In this post, we have tried to cover some important details about influencer marketing along with its benefits. We hope that you have liked it and got the information you were looking for. So, what are you waiting for, just pull up your sleeves and see how influencer marketing works for you.