Although Influencer Marketing has become a hot topic nowadays, it is not a new digital marketing tactic. This form of online marketing has been around for more than a decade. However, what was once a strategy limited to celebrities and a few dedicated bloggers, has slowly bloomed into a full-blown market. Now you will find influencers of every niche with thousands and even millions of followers on social media platforms.
As the world grows more technologically advanced, the techniques and tools used in influencer marketing have also evolved. Making it a highly competitive field with numerous people trying to start their blogs and channels every day. Although influencer marketing has proven beneficial for countless businesses, there is still some confusion surrounding this term. For this reason, we’ve put together a short guide below on what influencer marketing is and how you can utilize it for your business.
What Is Influencer Marketing?
To understand influencer marketing, we must first look into what an influencer is.
An influencer is often an individual, or a group, with a large following on popular social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. They are often bloggers that have spent time, energy, and marketing tactics to build a reputable image of themselves and a strong community following.
Influencers usually belong to various niches where they are considered key opinion leaders. The more active the influencer is on their social media platform and the more high-quality content they upload; their following base is more significant.
Companies utilize influencers’ impact on their community to promote their products or services and raise brand awareness. This relationship between the influencer and the company, where the influencer is paid to promote the company’s products, is called influencer marketing.
Highly knowledgeable influencers can easily persuade their followers to purchase a product or service from a company. By using influencers, companies aim to quickly reach a large target audience, both within the country and globally.
An excellent example of influencer marketing would be a famous nutritionist on Instagram with a large following, promoting a nutritional supplement.
Why Is Influencer Marketing Valuable?
The influencer industry has grown leaps and bounds over the years. In 2021 the global influencer market stood at a whopping 13.8 billion U.S. dollars, with Instagram being the leading platform for influencers People also tend to trust influencers more than brands and televised content. For example, more than half of the women interviewed said they had purchased a product or service due to an influencer post in one survey.
As you can see, Influencer marketing is a highly successful marketing technique used by small to medium businesses, startups, and even Fortune 500 companies to promote sales.
There are numerous reasons why Influencer marketing has risen to fame. One of the main reasons is that most people have made the shift from television to the internet to view content. Furthermore, masses have become more conscious of their selection of brands, which leads to companies being trusted less in general. By using the trust placed on an influencer by their followers as a marketing tool, companies can easily reach their target audience and promote their products and services.
How To Start Using Influencer Marketing
If you’re relatively new to the field of influencer marketing, then you can use the following steps to implement a robust influencer marketing strategy to help your business grow.
1. Decide On Your Goal And Message For Marketing
Whether you want to promote your products and services or simply raise awareness for your company, you must communicate your goals to the influencer.
2. Segment Your Audience
Targeted marketing is an excellent way to boost sales. This is because segmenting your audience filters out people that are highly unlikely to purchase the product—making the marketing strategy more impactful in the process and saving resources. In addition, since influencer marketing is often niche-specific, it is a great way to reach the right audience.
3. Find The Right Influencer
Influencer choice is of utmost importance. You must use social listening tools and research to find the most impactful influencer for your particular product.
4. Have A Budget
Compared to some means of marketing, influencer marketing can be relatively economical. However, this also depends on your choice of influencer. When selecting the right influencer for your brand, always keep your budget in mind.
5. Track Your Goals
No matter what marketing strategy you utilize, it is essential to track its results. If a particular influencer’s marketing campaign has not yielded the expected results, you should look into other influencers or change the campaign.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing has experienced a significant boom in recent times. It is an effective, efficient, and impactful method for capturing new markets. The best trait that influencer marketing has is that it is beneficial for businesses of all sizes and niches and can help build trust within the targeted community.