How Influencers Are Changing The Marketing World
We have all seen the pivotal change in social media within the past couple of years, right? Well, a big part of that is due to the quick and impressive development of what we now know as Influencer Marketing.
In simple terms, Influencer Marketing consists of people with a significant amount of followers who people turn to for inspiration on all things fashion, love, life and family. Very quickly, companies noticed that having Influencer’s endorsement provided a massive increase in brand awareness and/or recognition. As a consequence, companies quickly shifted towards more Influencer Marketing-based content and provided us with the beloved sponsored content from influencers.
So, how does it work? Simple, brands reach out to influencers and together they decide on a plan or strategy that suits the needs of both parties. There are many ways in which these agreements can come to live, but the most common outlet, and the biggest, is Instagram. The brand gives the influencer some information and a product to try and then the influencer is in charge of spreading the message and bring attention to what the company is and what they do. It has proven to be quite successful with Influencer marketing delivering 11 times de ROI than other paid media, according to Mediakix.
Now that we know a bit more about how this industry works, we can go through some steps that will help brands develop a successful influencer marketing strategy.
1. PURPOSE AND BUDGET.
a. Why are we doing this? Do we want to increase bran awareness? A new target market? An increase in sales? Determining the “Why” early on helps brands be clear and straightforward with this process. If they know what their goal is then they can target influencer based on their audiences. After this they need to ask themselves: How much money are you willing to spend on an endorsement from an influencer? Depending on this answer they might be able to pay for bigger influencers or decide to go with micro-influencers. This part must be very carefully thought out since there are many other factors that come into play. How much ROI will come from this post? How many people will it reach? How likely is it that it will bring us a new customer? In this step research is key and these discoveries will lead the way for the rest of this partnership.
2. MANAGEMENT STRATEGY.
a. It is very important to come to an agreement with the influencer prior to signing any contracts. The responsibilities the influencer has must be entirely transparent and detailed. From how many posts a week, to what information must be displayed and how it should be displayed. For example, there are many ways in which influencers partner with brands. Some of them include uploading a clip or stories in which they use their products and offer a discount code. Other consists of the “PR Boxes” where brands gift influencers with their products and influencers show them off on their stories. Giveaways and Brand ambassadors are also quite popular in the industry and as are the sponsored social media content. There are many other ways that influencers and brands use to get the content to the niche market, and it is very important to determine which one suits the needs and has a better chance of resonating with your audience.
3. CLEAR MESSAGE, TONE, VALUES, AND AUDIENCE.
a. As well as knowing what your audience wants, it is also important to know who they are. Brands must ask themselves: Who exactly are we targeting? Is this the right way to do it? How can we successfully gain their trust? Afterwards, they must also ensure that whoever they choose to partner with has an image that reverberates with their own and with the target audience. In order to have an effective experience with influencer marketing, there must be a seamless and effortless communication from the influencer to the audience. Being transparent and establishing a cohesive message that aligns with the values of the company is key in a successful partnership.
When properly used, Influencer Marketing can provide great results for both parties. Take BECCA Cosmetics for example. They took their partnership to a new level when they partnered with Chrissy Teigen to create a new highlighter palette. The model then posted about their partnership and how she loves their product and urged followers to look into the brand. That post has more than 5 million views and over a million likes. This is an excellent way to get a new customer base since her followers are more likely to want to buy her product. It also enhances the relationship between the brand and the influencer which can lead to a longer, healthier and stronger connection. As we learned, there are other ways to use influencers to market your product. Bondi Boost is a Hair Care brand that uses micro-influencers to promote their product. From personal experience, I know that they turning to people with more than 100 thousand followers and use them to endorse their product. I’ve noticed that they turn to reality stars from The Bachelor to endorse their products and this is because most of their followers identify as female and are more likely to use their products. Bondi Boost opts for a lesser known influencer but one that targets their desired audience.
On the other hand, there are some downsides to Influencer Marketing. For example, it can be a bit of a gamble. There have been instances where partnerships have not been successful and have harmed the brand. This is very common since there can be something known as Sponsorship Saturation. This occurs when Influencers take on too many partnerships and makes their endorsements look less reliable. Other ways in which influencer marketing goes wrong is when the terms are not thoroughly explained, there is a lapse in judgement from either party or inauthenticity and forced content. An example of this is when Kim Kardashian advertised a Morning Sickness medication but failed to include the side-effects as noted by the FDA. She then had to issue a corrected endorsement properly disclosing the risk and limitation’s of the medicine. This shows the risks that can be associated with influencer marketing and had it happened to someone with a less powerful platform, the brand could’ve been more affected by this occurrence. This is another example of why it is so important to do the proper research on the influencer and to clearly explain the requirements for the partnership.
In conclusion, Influencer Marketing is an ever-growing and ever-changing industry. It requires a lot of creativity, research, time and communication, but it also comes with a very promising reward if the right steps are followed. Brands and Influencers need to work together to reach an agreement that suits both parties and ensures success. Most importantly, both parties need to conduct their own research to determine if the partnership is beneficial. It will be really interesting to see how this industry keeps developing and all the new changes or challenges that will come with it.
