In 2016, 86 percent of marketers ran at least one influencer marketing campaign. 94 percent of those surveyed believed it was helpful in achieving their year’s objectives.
Influencer marketing’s meteoric rise continues in 2017. SmartInsights believes that influencer marketing will scale even quicker in 2018, thanks to a slew of platforms and companies now assisting brands with this inbound marketing technique.
Influencer marketing is quickly becoming one of the most effective strategies for attracting customers and clients for organisations. Partnering with an influencer is similar to having a mutual buddy that links you and your company with your target audience, allowing you to improve traffic to your website, raise brand awareness, generate more leads, and enhance sales income.
Influencer marketing, on the other hand, entails more than having an influencer publish a guest blog post you produced or showcase your product on his or her Instagram feed. A well-thought-out inbound marketing approach that spans numerous platforms is the foundation of a successful influencer marketing campaign.
This course will teach you the principles of developing a consistent strategy to help you get these influencers on your side so you can cut through the clutter, be heard, and be recognised.
What is Influencer Marketing and How Does It Work?
Influencer marketing, according to SmartInsights, is a marketing approach that focuses on cooperating with key leaders to help you cut through the noise of the internet marketplace and get your brand and products in front of your target market.
“Tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are,” goes the mantra behind influencer marketing. Because of their credibility and integrity, your target audience trusts, respects, and listens to influencers. You may use influencer marketing to take advantage of these influencers’ notoriety, reputation, and trend-setting power, as well as link your company with them and get some of their credentials to rub off on you.
Who Is Eligible to Be an Influencer?
We often think of Kylie Jenner, Neil Patel, Gary Vaynerchuck, and Everette Taylor, to name a few, when we hear the word “influencer.”
The truth is that the term “influencer” refers to more than just one person. Organizations can also have a significant impact on a certain specialisation. Nike is a sportswear company, IKEA is an interior design company, Apple is a technology company, and TripAdvisor is a travel company. You don’t think of one individual in this firm as an influencer when you hear these companies. Instead, you look at the entire organisation as a potential influencer.
So, what qualifies someone or a company as an influencer? Anyone with the power and skill to modify consumer behaviour and influence purchasing decisions by the material they distribute is considered an influencer. Despite the fact that influencers vary by industry, they all share the following characteristics:
- In their field of competence, they have a sizable organic following.
- They have the ability to develop authentic and trustworthy content for brands.
- They have the ability to motivate and persuade their audience to act.
- They are enthusiastic and self-assured in their work.
- They have outstanding networking skills, allowing them to make genuine and cordial connections with others.
What Is the Importance of Influencer Marketing?
The demise of traditional forms of marketing as we know it is to blame for a lot of this. Consumers are increasingly tuning out traditional advertisements in favour of social media advice when making purchasing decisions. According to the Deloitte survey, one-third of US customers think social media influences their purchasing decisions, particularly suggestions from influencers in a particular area.
In contrast, according to a Nielsen survey, 90% of customers believe suggestions from peers and third-party sites. Of these, 29% will become paying customers the same day they learn about it through a social media influencer.
Furthermore, an influencer marketing approach boosts the effectiveness of your current inbound marketing activities, allowing you to meet—and even exceed—your objectives. Quick Sprout provided the following statistics:
- 81 percent of individuals believe the content they read on influencer blogs.
- People are more likely to buy a product or service if it is featured in an influencer’s blog than if it is discussed elsewhere, according to 63 percent of respondents.
- 61 percent of individuals will buy a product or service based on a recommendation from an influencer.
Measuring Influencer Marketing ROI According to 78 percent of marketers, the most difficult difficulty they face is determining how to concretely measure the ROI of their influence marketing approach. This is due to the availability of phoney followers, which many of these influencers, unfortunately, employ to bulk up their following.
The sad reality is that a fraction of the massive followings you see on influencers’ social media accounts are false. According to The Next Web, there are around 83 million phoney Facebook accounts and 20 million bogus Twitter accounts. According to a survey published by Business Insider, roughly 8% of Instagram accounts are false.
The presence of dormant accounts further complicates the situation. Despite the fact that these are real accounts with real persons, there is very little activity coming from them.
