The existence of numerous social media platforms has opened up more advertising platforms for businesses.
This is a good thing definitely.
And while sponsoring ads through these platforms has become more effective, you can take advantage of another form of marketing:
Influencer marketing.
Before social media, brands would get celebrities to endorse a product by leveraging the influence they have over their fans.
So what is influencer marketing exactly?
Influencer marketing happens when brands use people with a big following on a social media platform to promote products to their followers.
Some influencer marketing examples include Kardashian’s Instagram pages where they promote anything from clothing to weight loss products to skincare products.
This mode of marketing is gaining traction because products endorsed this way feel more authentic to customers.
This has made it easier even for brands that are just starting out or companies that have introduced a new product line, to get their products out into the market.
So if you are a beginner and looking to take advantage of influencer marketing in 2020,
Let us look at some of the things you should know about so you can get on your way to creating your own influencer marketing strategy.
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Current Trends In Influencer Marketing
Brands have woken up to the myriad of benefits resulting from influencer marketing.
By 2022, it is estimated that businesses will be spending up to $15 billion on influencer marketing campaigns.
With this increase in expenditure, brands will be looking to:
Use Less Celebrities
The most popular influencers are normally celebrities. However, with the high prices they demand per post and the special treatment they require,
Brands are looking to partner less with popular individuals and more with authentic influencers.
Instead of looking for influencers who merely look pretty in pictures, brands will be looking for influencers that are experts in the marketing niche.
Partner With Influencers Sharing Similar Values
Of late,
Many influencers have lost their brand partnerships and followings due to racially and culturally insensitive remarks, as well as not being transparent.
One famous case is PewDiePie’s anti-Semitic remarks that led to Disney’s Maker Studios ending their sponsorship of him and YouTube pulling out on a series deal.
No brand wants to tarnish its reputation by working with a disgraced influencer.
In 2020, brands are looking to collaborate with influencers who have values similar to what they are promoting.
Cultural and racial awareness is a must moving forward for any influencer marketing deals.
Foster long-Term Partnerships
Instead of getting an influencer for a short-term, one-off campaign, brands will be looking into fostering long-term relationships with their influencers.
This is time and cost-saving because they will not have to find a new influencer for every campaign.
More Audio And Video Content
Brands have realized that more people prefer to watch videos rather than read content.
Facebook even had predicted that the platform will be purely video by 2021.
With improved internet bandwidth, video content will be the wave of influencer marketing in 2020.
Platforms like Instagram, YouTube and TikTok will see a dramatic increase in influencer marketing given the high growth of members every year.
Influencer marketing examples through podcasts will also increase because up to 67% of young people listen to podcasts.
Advantages Of Influencer Marketing
Some of the advantages of Influencer marketing include:
- High levels of trust
- Great product alignment
- Less “ad fatigue”
- Affordable
High levels Of Trust:
Influencers are individuals who have experience in their niche and have garnered support because of their knowledge in that area.
Once they make recommendations, their followers are more likely to purchase because they respect their opinion.
So if you have a new brand, you can quickly build a good reputation when an influencer recommends it.
Great Product Alignment:
Since influencer marketing involves promoting your product to a market that is already interested in it, this eliminates the need for you to do a market test in order to find your audience.
Less “ad Fatigue”:
An influencer might mention your brand once or twice in video or post. As opposed to normal as the audience does not feel forced to purchase the product.
Influencer marketing also bypasses the issue of ad blockers that most people use on their browsers. You are assured of your message reaching the audience.
Affordable:
There are different tiers of influencers, and they earn a lot less than celebrities.
When you get nano-, micro- and mid-tier influencers to market your brand, you get to reach a market that feels a more personal connection to the influencer than with a mega-influencer.
Furthermore, you might spend only up to a few thousand dollars for several influencers, compared to mega-influencers who earn hundreds of thousands per post.
Influencer marketing gives even new businesses the opportunity to get their brand out there without breaking the bank.
What Is The Best Influencer Marketing Strategy?
The best influencer marketing strategy is one that will fulfill your marketing goals.
In order to develop the right influencer marketing strategy, you need to consider the following:
- Define Your Marketing Goals
- Using the Right Influencer Marketing Platform
- Choosing the Right Influencer
Define Your Marketing Goals
As the popular saying goes, if you fail to plan you plan to fail. Do you want to bring awareness to your brand, get more engagement on your social media platforms, foster loyalty or get sales?
Are you introducing a new product that you want people to interact with?
Once you have your goals outlined, determine which type of influencer marketing campaign will actualize them.
Using The Right Influencer Marketing Platform
Research has shown that the most effective influencer marketing platforms are Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and blogs.
More than 65% of brands plan to increase their influence on Instagram because of the more than a billion subscribers to the platform.
This is despite the challenge of reduced organic reach on Instagram by reducing the visibility of your marketing efforts unless you pay for them.
However, there are several ways you can beat this algorithm and reach those millions of users.
TikTok is also a growing platform with a much younger user demographic. With the right strategies, you can capture that rising market.
Choosing The Right Influencer
When choosing an influencer for your marketing efforts, you need to first determine where your audience lies.
Outline your buyer persona, including their demographic and psychographic segmentation. Once you have done this, you can look into influencers that have already reached this audience.
You need to remember that there are different tiers of influencers. Brands looking to expand their reach can do this by using several influencers from different tiers instead of just one.
This will ensure that more people from different demographics are reached and reduces the expenses you would incur by collaborating with just one mega-influencer or celebrity.
Once you have your goals, platforms and influencers in place, you are ready to launch your marketing campaign.
It is important to keep track of the success of these campaigns in light of your goals. If you want more brand awareness and engagement, track the traffic on your website and social media mentions.
If you are looking to make more sales, look at your revenue streams to gauge if they are responding to the campaign.
Are your influencers on-brand? Are they availing a consistent message?
Keeping track will make it easier to get rid of campaigns that are not showing results so that your brand is not associated with other failed influencer marketing examples.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing is gaining momentum and is clearly here to stay. Now that you are aware of the advantages of this mode of marketing, as well as the trends to look out for.
What is an influencer marketing campaign?
This is a marketing campaign which uses people with a huge social media following to sell a certain product or service by engaging them
How is influencer implemented in marketing?
To be successful in influencer in marketing, you must start with what you know, browse your own audience, utilize the search engines, establish connections, state what it’s in there for them and lastly do not forget to thank them.
What is Instagram influencer marketing?
This is the use of Instagram to promote a product or service to the audience through popular people who have a huge following.