When you first hear the word “influencer”, what comes to mind? TikTok stars? Celebrity personalities? YouTube creators? While all of these can fall under the category of influencer, the reality is that influencers have a wider reach than they used to. Influencers have a presence on every social media platform, even LinkedIn. According to a study by Sprout Social, nearly half of customers made purchases once a month or more because of influencer posts.
By researching and identifying appropriate influencers, setting clear expectations, and establishing trust, you can leverage the power of these change makers in your marketing strategy and grow your audience.
Influencers 101
In the past, A-list celebrities were the original influencers. Companies would pay them to appear in commercials and posters with their product. The “Got Milk?” ads of the 90s, for example, had celebrities like Serena Williams, Sara Michelle Gellar, and Alex Trebek promoting milk consumption for the California Milk Processor Board.
Now, influencers are taking more control of the products they’re promoting. Instead of posing for ads or reading scripts, they’re also content creators. They’re creating ads in their own style on new platforms.
With that change comes another: the redefining of celebrity. No longer are you reliant on A-list stars to grow an audience. Social media has changed the landscape of who is an influencer, allowing you more flexibility in building them into your strategy.
Reaping the Benefits
One of the biggest benefits of influencer marketing is the ability to reach a new audience. Influencers have often spent years growing a loyal following that engages with their content regularly. Their audiences trust the influencers they follow, their endorsements, advice, and even news more than a journalist or company.
You would normally have to dedicate months or years to building a new audience, in addition to developing trust with them, an increasingly important metric to online audiences. By tapping into influencers’ own audiences, you can grow your own pool of potential customers and leverage that influencer’s trust and authenticity.
Be Wary of Challenges
Like any new strategy, influencer marketing comes with its own share of challenges. First is identifying the right influencers for your strategy and brand. Every influencer has their own identity, and with it, their own brand. Picking influencers that don’t align with your brand may result in an ineffective campaign, or worse, generate bad press.
There’s also the question of trust. Using an influencer requires trusting their approach and platform, even if you have minimal experience with it. There are positives though: if you don’t have a presence on TikTok, for example, an influencer who uses it as their primary platform can take some of the work off your shoulders.
Finally, influencers aren’t always received positively. For the first time, social media influencers had a presence at the Oscars this year. While it reaped benefits for social engagement and viewership, many journalists reported feeling pushed out by these representatives of new media.
Is Influencer Marketing Right for You?
If you’re ready to include influencer marketing as part of your strategy, there are four key steps to take as you begin:
Identify the type of influencer you need for your campaign. While an influencer like Dwayne Johnson may be able to promote your services for anyone in the fitness space, a micro-influencer with 10,000 – 100,000 followers will be more affordable, and can still net you a loyal and engaged audience.
Research! Once you’ve identified the type of influencer you need, research who may be a good fit. You want to choose an influencer who can work with your own brand, voice, and audience, while still leveraging the personal elements that have made them popular. There’s nothing worse than working with an influencer whose audience doesn’t match your target demographic. Or choosing one who’s known for comedy when you’re known for a more somber, serious presence.
Set clear expectations. Influencers are more likely to be content creators, so you want to set expectations at the beginning about what they are responsible for creating. You also want to set budget expectations up front: are they going to be paid once or per deliverable?
Build a well-organized campaign. Influencers can have huge reach, but they should not be your only method of communication. Even in an influencer-heavy world, there are still audiences that react better to email, newsletters, or traditional social media. An over-reliance on influencers can cause you to lose existing, loyal followers.
Ultimately, an influencer can only be as effective as your strategy. Even the best influencers can’t save a poorly planned campaign. Take Kylie Jenner and Pepsi: while their intentions were good, even Jenner’s vast popularity couldn’t take negative press and attention away from their joint ad, which saw Jenner end a tense stand-off between police and protestors by sharing a can of Pepsi.
How We Can Help
Blackberg’s experts and suite of digital monitoring and listening tools can help you coordinate a communications and marketing strategy that engages your existing audience, while utilizing new strategies like influencer marketing to grow your market and expand your reach.