It seems only yesterday when influencer marketing was an arena limited only to the celebrities and dedicated bloggers.

Currently, with the boom of digitisation in 21^st century, influencer marketing has spread its web across the virtual spectrum resulting in the rise of influencers who have saturated the market deftly. One example of extensive influencer marketing can be the YouTube celebrity, PewDiePie.

Remember this man?

He teamed up with horror film makers and created a video series where he took challenges in catacombs. The content was so en perfecto that it garnered a mind-boggling subscriber count of 27 million!

On the other hand, this particular domain has often been a victim of conflicting ideas. You may get confused as in whether to seek influencers or not! Strategies of influencer marketing are all the more difficult to navigate. Yet, if understood in-depth with no pre-conceived notion then you might end up liking it.

Scroll down and find out the intricacies of the world that is INFLUENCER MARKETING (pardon the shouty capitals are only for a dramatic effect!)

What exactly is influencer marketing?

A noveau marketing genre which focuses on utilising key leaders to drive a brand’s message to a larger market is what you can call influencer marketing. Here, rather than marketing your product directly to a large customer base, you hire and pay influencers to get the word for you going.

It goes hand-in-hand with 2 other marketing forms –

• Social media marketing
• Content marketing

Influencers are expected to spread the “word” and generate a buzz in the niche through their personal social networking channels. Many influencers carry content which they curate and present during campaigns.

The process of identifying, engaging and providing support to create impactful conversions with customers encompasses the modus operandi of influencer marketing. It offers brands the chance of unifying their sales, PR, digital marketing chores through influential relationship-based communication.

In marketing, this value of influencing customers is not a new concept. Today, as online customer conversations gains more prominence, influencers play a major role in clearing the virtual clutter by creating relevant communication. By doing this, they bring in a sense of trust to the brand’s table and form a viable image of it.

Why is it important? Read on…

1. Effective strategy of marketing

A large number of brands engage industry influencers today showing that this strategy can truly work wonders. Advertising and commercial messages are quite easy to resist on the web and social media. Therefore, if a brand wants to reach its potential target hub then influencers can be a lot of help. By producing engaging content to reach the audience, they help in generating an awareness and interest for the brand.

A study conducted in 2016 shows that 94% marketers have found influencer marketing to be highly effective. Thus, its marketing budget also doubled in 2017.

2. Mass word-of-mouth

One of the major advantages of influencer marketing is that it saves time which you otherwise take to reach your target customers. It also helps you to acquire more website traffic and followers for your social medial profiles. However, it is not an instant process and will take time to grow. You can start a partnership with an influencer to speed up this procedure.

If you already have an existing large customer base, you can opt for an online word-of-mouth marketing mantra where the influencer will further your brand message to your target group. It has the potential of incurring a general mass WOM.

3. Enhancement of brand value

Your brand needs to get introduced to the millennial today that can in turn make it known to another thousand more. If you work with influencers then you can create impactful campaigns. This shall increase your brand value as more people come in contact with you and what you have to offer. Influencers increase your brand’s exposure by creating an intriguing brand identity.

4. Influence buying decision

Influencers can seriously impact your customer’s buying decisions. A Nielsen’s Global Survey of Trust showed that a consumer’s opinion online acts as the most trustworthy advertisement of a brand. Consumers are obviously sceptical about any brand to start with. Creating a customers’ opinion with the help of influencers will build a stable relationship. Targeted influencer marketing can impact a buyer’s decision-making process and make him/her inclined towards your brand.

Influencer marketing drives –

1. Brand awareness
2. Brand reputation
3. Content curation
4. PR outreach
5. Digital advertising
6. Lead generation
7. Customer acquisition and retention
8. Website traffic
9. Social media marketing

Social media influencer marketing – The most lucrative ground

• Survey results show that 34% of active Instagram users in the United States bought a product owing to the impact created by influencers.
• 89% of marketers identify influencer marketing as the most crucial channel.
• A quarter of Facebook users make a purchase based upon a blogger/influencer’s recommendation.
• 29% of Twitter users buy online products owing to an influencer’s impact.

A social media influencer reaches out to your target group by building trust and driving high engagement. They do this by curating original content for your brand product and do not follow any conventional advertising style.

Influencers can generate millions of social media followers. An example would be Kendall Jenner. She currently has 108 million followers on Instagram and generates millions of ‘likes’ on her profile posts daily.

Social influencer marketing has emerged as a popular strategy which is being used by marketers across the world. It is a way of leveraging your follower base and eventually increasing your product sales.

• It is not a pushy marketing strategy. In fact. It is a radically unique approach that does not have the pitfalls of conventional marketing techniques.
• Relevance, resonance and reach are the three components that make up the social influencer marketing.
• It can easily win the trust of social media followers and cannot be achieved instantly. By creating an engaging brand story on the profiles. They attract a large base of followers.
• Social influencer marketing can be highly beneficial for niche products or services. Every brand desires to reach newer customer base by making their offerings appealing. You can increase the chance of selling successfully with the help of an influencer who will target a niche audience for you.

What is an influencer campaign?

The campaigns play a large part in enhancing a brand’s value. The types of influencer campaigns are –

Discount codes & affiliate marketing – Here the campaigns track ROI. Influencers’ team up with brands on discount codes which can easily be tracked and embedded in graphics and videos.

Competitions & giveaways – These are great ways to generate higher brand exposure and the much necessary buzz. They also drive engagement on a large scale. You can see the unboxing videos from influencers via social media channels where they thank the brand for their giveaways and review them positively to enhance their appeal.

Ambassador roles – Long-term partnerships with an influencer where he plays the role of a brand ambassador can work as a great campaign strategy. Celebrity endorsements are an example of this type of brand campaigns.

Blog posts sponsored – Generating content through an influencer blog and website for better SERPs is similar to hitting two birds with one stone. These blog posts when indexed on the search engine have a much longer viability than a single post on social media.

Mentions on social media – Campaigns on social media channels can drive digital conversation real fast. These can transform a brand’s image for the better via blog or video content and create a high potential outreach toward the customer base. If an influencer mentions regarding one such campaign on his/her social media profile, it can create an awareness regarding the brand’s activities.

Influencer marketing strategies – Takeaways

• Decide your brand campaign goals and seek the right group of people who can work as influencers.
• Check out your influencers’ niche, target hub, engagement rates, social media presence and other factors.
• Opt for branded blog posts curated by an influencer. These are great SEO enhancing factors.
• Set your marketing objectives in-line with your influencer marketing goals. Otherwise you cannot understand whether your brand campaign has been successful or not.
• Discovering the most appropriate influencers for your brand marketing is essential. Consumers will rely upon their word-of-mouth so you need to choose wisely.
• Choose your own method to approach influencers. Specialist groups with multiple years of market experience can help you set up your campaigns effectively.

Influencer marketing is not something you achieve in a day!

Working with influencers means you get more opportunities to increase your ‘brand’ width. Your target hub needs to be approached in a manner where you do not appear over-promotional. Influencers organically reach out to your customers and thus build a trusting image of your brand.

Set your marketing goals higher if you opt for influencer marketing. Reach out your brand organically to a larger consumer base.