You’ve probably heard of influencer marketing, but always wondered what is influencer marketing. You’ve heard others say they’ve used influencer marketing to increase brand awareness and sales and you’ve wondered how it can help you. There’s no denying it, influencer marketing is here to stay and it’s proclaimed to be one of the most effective forms of marketing around. People trust their peers more than they trust big brand advertisers, so it’s easy to see why it’s taken off in recent years. It’s not going anywhere anytime soon, and companies, big and small, are hopping onboard with using influencers in their marketing campaigns. For those of you who aren’t in-the-know, here is a quick rundown.
What is Influencer Marketing?
Some believe that influencer marketing is hiring people with a large social media following to talk about a company’s product. This is partially true. An influencer can be anybody (celebrity, online personality, mom blogger) who accepts some form of compensation (free products, cash payment, etc.) and in turn persuades others to use/purchase/become more aware of a brand, product, service, etc. These key influencers can use tools such as social media or even blog posts to get your message out to your target market.
The Best way to Find Key Influencers
There are several ways you can find key influencers in your specific niche. You can hire an agency to reach out to your target influencers. Be specific about the influencer’s reach (how many followers they have on their social channels, number of email subscribers, unique monthly views to website), demographics (male/female, Gen X/Millennial, household income, age), and of course the topics they mainly share (fashion, crafts, food, celebrity gossip). Another way to find influencers is to use websites such as Klout to find influencers who are passionate about your industry. Keyword searches in Twitter and Instagram can also direct you to key influencers on those platforms. Joining groups on LinkedIn and making connections is another way to find influencers.
Benefits of Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is beneficial when creating marketing plans to push traffic towards a specific product, website, or even an event. If influencers are including links back to your website from their blog or social media posts, this can increase your SEO. You’re also able to have a more targeted audience because you are tailoring your campaign to the influencer’s current audience. When influencer marketing is implemented, your target audience may view your company as more credible because one of their peers love your product.
What do Influencers Expect in Return?
From compensated hotel rooms to makeup samples to cash payments, most influencers won’t work for free. That’s completely understandable. Would you want to use your influence to help promote something and not get anything in return? Other things that influencers may expect are promotion of their blog posts on your social media channels, as well.
Have you considered using influencers in your next marketing campaign?