Any brand that is using social media as a core marketing tool needs to seriously consider influencer marketing. It is predicted that brands will be spending up to $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022. Influencer marketing can help brands of all sizes grow a loyal audience, alongside gaining social proof. Influencer marketing agencies can provide expert influencer marketing service to connect brands with influencers that embody their brand values and will articulate their brand messaging authentically.
Influencer marketing is where brands leverage an individual with a prominent social media status or following to promote their products and/or services. Using influencer marketing can help grow your brand audience exponentially, but it has to be done correctly.
Here are our top tips you need to consider when implementing an influencer marketing strategy.
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Trust and authenticity matter most
Consumers are no longer willing to trust paid advertisements directly from brands. Audiences are happy to spend more time researching a business online and on social media to ensure they are buying a well-reviewed product from a trustworthy brand. Consumers have also begun trusting influencers to provide unbiased product recommendations; influencers have built audiences based on authentic trust.
Influencers use their personal image and personality to engage and interact with their followers which has helped create a direct relationship. Their transparency with their personalities builds trust with audiences in a way that brands can’t; consumers are much more likely to connect with a person rather than a faceless brand.
Consumers need trust and authenticity to persuade them to make a purchase or invest in a brand and influencers are able to provide this. Influencers act as an extension of a brand and provide brands with access to their audiences. An endorsement from an influencer has been proven to be a deciding factor in turning leads into customers.
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Engagement rate is more powerful than follower count
When starting out in influencer marketing, it can be tempting to use influencers with a high follower count in order to maximize reach. However, these audiences are not always engaged. Hero and macro influencers have attained a social media “celebrity status”, which reduced their relatability significantly. This is why it’s a good idea to consider activating micro and nano influencers.
Micro influencers have a follower count between 10,000 and 100,000, while nano influencers usually only have a few thousand. While their follower counts are smaller, their engagement rates are outstanding.
Micro and nano influencers still have their relatability, so their audiences are hyper-engaged with their content. When smaller influencers feature a product, service or brand on their channels, audiences perceive it as a trusted recommendation from a friend rather than a celebrity endorsement. This can make all the difference for a brand trying to establish itself in the market or reaching a new audience.
If that wasn’t enough to convince you to consider micro and nano influencers, the fact they charge less than macro and hero influencers should. It won’t cost an arm and a leg to invest in a long-term partnership with smaller influencers. In addition, long-term partnerships help to add authenticity to the partnership, adding further likeability to the brand.
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Use influencers on relevant platforms
Most influencers integrate content across different social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter and more. Each platform has different content formats, approaches and audiences that need to be considered to inform your influencer marketing strategy.
When deciding which platforms to activate influencers on, you need to consider where your audience spends most of their time on social media. Unless you are trying to target a new audience that’s specifically on a new platform, it would be a waste of resources to focus on a platform where your audience isn’t.
In addition to this, you need to know what your audience uses each social media platform for and the type of content they want to see on that platform. For example, TikTok users aren’t interested in hyper-branded and polished content. TikTok is a less serious platform compared to other mainstream social media channels, so the content can be more natural.
Content on Instagram is typically more polished and branded, and this works for the platform. Furthermore, in addition to images, Reels, IGTVs and Stories, Instagram has invested in social commerce so customers can purchase products quickly through the platform.
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Give influencers creative control
Once you have found the influencers you want to work with, it can be tempting to direct them to produce the exact kind of content you have in mind. However, this isn’t always the best method.
A huge advantage of influencer marketing is that you are using a trusted source to target an audience. Influencers have built a following by creating content that connects them with their audiences. They know what type of content works and what type doesn’t. So, it makes sense to give influencers creative control when connecting with their own audience.
Of course, this doesn’t mean complete creative control; the content still needs to be approved to align with your brand messaging, voice and terms and conditions.
