Influencer Marketing
Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools available to us in the world of digital marketing.
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Customer word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools available to us in the world of digital marketing. With the astounding growth of Influencer Marketing in the 21st century, it is no surprise that brands are working closely with influencers and celebrities to promote their products and services to new audiences.
An influencer or endorser is not always a celebrity or socialite, it is simply someone with a large following online. These people have dedicated a lot of time to building relationships with their followers and developing a degree of trust with their audience.
Traditionally, influencer marketing would involve high-profile celebrities endorsing products through conventional methods of advertising such as TV and Out Of Home.
As an increasingly popular marketing phenomenon, influencer marketing now also involves everyday product endorsers or ‘influencers’ who mention and tag products, services and businesses in their social media or blog posts. Nowadays, 62% of consumers trust the opinions and recommendations of these ‘everyday’ influencers in comparison to traditional celebrity endorsements.
Influencer marketing has grown to become a marketing tactic in its own right. It involves a brand or company partnering with an influencer to market its product to a specific audience – namely the influencer’s followers.
Influencer marketing is a fast-growing marketing tactic for many reasons.
Influencer marketing will develop the level of trust your customers have in your brand – including its ethos and values.
When making purchasing decisions – particularly those that are higher involvement – involves an internal conflict, also known as cognitive dissonance, which makes customers question their choices.
‘Normal’ influencers result in much more trust and credibility because they are viewed as being open and honest. There is a much higher level of familiarity between your customers and brand endorsers because they come from similar backgrounds – the opposite of celebrities.
Influencers are essentially the cast and production of their own advertisements. This means they are significantly cheaper to employ in comparison to traditional media methods of advertising.
There is no need to pay fancy photographers, videographers or location hire. Of course, influencers themselves come at a price for the production of their own content, but this is much lower than the standard professionally-produced piece of advertising.
The recognition of and remembrance of your brand contributes to the brand awareness your customers have. These elements are key players in purchase decisions for your customers.
Acting as an electronic word of mouth, influencers are telling hundreds and thousands of followers about your brand. Within this follower pool, there will be hundreds of potential customers who have not heard of your brand and who might be interested in your products or services.
Whether you are a key player in your industry or a smaller start-up company, the benefits of using influencers to generate more brand awareness should not be questioned.
Last year, Google announced they would no longer be using third-party tracking cookies by the end of 2023. Though it is not the only method of audience tracking available, there is a great need in the market to find new ways to track customers.
Firstly, be careful not to get caught up in the followers. You should be assessing the reach and engagement rate of your potential influencers. Many businesses are currently hiring ‘micro influencers’ with between 1 and 5k followers. These influencers have a much more loyal and dedicated audience compared to larger influencers.
Another thing to consider is the audience you are targeting with your influencer marketing. You must ensure your audience is specifically interested and invested in your brand – including your values, ethos and goals.
