Firms and companies have always resorted to familiar faces when it comes to marketing: celebrities who advertise perfume or underwear are no longer unusual for us consumers. But for many, social media advertising still seems alien, but you can use these channels to your advantage. But what exactly is behind this influencer marketing? And why should this marketing strategy be so important for your company? Learn important facts about social media marketing and influencer marketing in this article!
Marketing is Getting Smarter: Classic Advertising Messages are out
Today, classic advertising messages are almost completely irrelevant to naturalized media users. Consumers are becoming more and more skeptical, questioning everything and everyone, and want to be much more informed before buying products than they were 30 years ago. Therefore, many companies rely on completely different strategies and use influencer marketing.
It used to be the case that word of mouth is the best advertising! And it is precisely this concept that numerous companies and brands rely on what used to be recommended by friends or acquaintances and is now recommended by influencers (opinion makers). More and more companies and brands rely on the marketing of their products by so-called influencers.
What is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is basically advertising with people who have an impact on a specific target group. In this way, a person’s notoriety is used to attract the attention of consumers and consumers to the product or brand.
Basically, this is not a newly invented marketing strategy, because companies have always relied on the reach and awareness of prominent people to present their products. Just think of some commercials on TV, how many celebrities advertise certain products there – almost every spot hides a more or less familiar face.
This marketing strategy has been rolled out to influential figures on social media.
What are Influencers or Opinion Makers?
Influencers or opinion leaders are people who have a certain influence on their followers on social platforms. These are influential people on the web, such as bloggers.
Great influencers have a real community, can build trust with their target audience and encourage engagement. Behind a successful influencer is a real concept with special content and a lot of work.
Use Social Media for Influencer Marketing
In addition to the possibility of using social media as a marketing strategy in general and establishing certain proximity to consumers, companies can benefit more from collaboration with influencers.
In the course of digitization and the increasing relevance of social media in everyday life and the business world, not only the “typical” celebrities such as actors, musicians, or models are booked for advertising, but also people with a certain reach and a certain influence, so-called influencers. The smaller or larger celebrities on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are increasingly replacing the classic celebrities as advertising media.
As a Company, How do you do Influencer Marketing?
The aim is for you as a company to address and reach influencers so that they speak positively about your products on social channels. In order for you to be successful with influencer marketing, you first need to develop the right strategy to reach and win over the right influencers.
Influencer Marketing: What goals are companies hoping for?
Of course, pure marketing is behind the cooperation between companies and influencers. Both sides often benefit from this cooperation. But what advantages do companies gain from this marketing strategy with influencers?
- The level of awareness of the company increases
- Link building
- The company’s visibility increases on Google
- The desired target group of the company is addressed directly by suitable influencers.
- The company generates more social signals like likes, comments
- The company itself is growing on the social platforms
How do Companies Find a Suitable Influencer?
But which influencer suits your company? It depends on what industry you are in and what product you want to market. Furthermore, the suitable influencer depends on the respective target group. As a company, first, ask yourself which influencer has a strong influence in your industry.
Classify influencers in your industry and your concept
Do you want to market sportswear? Then a blogger in the field of fitness & health is probably the right choice. Would you like to make jewelry or cosmetic products better known? Then contact so-called beauty bloggers, well-known examples are Lisa Eldridge, Fleur de Force, and Estee Lalonde.
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What criteria should an influencer have?
There are now many people who are romping around the net and trying to become an influencer. No wonder, because successful influencers can keep their heads above water with their activities in social networks and turn their hobby into a profession. But of course, there are also people who consider themselves influencers but have no corresponding influence in the social world.
You can recognize suitable influencers by these criteria:
- Strong online activity
- Activity on social media channels such as Instagram, YouTube
- Number of relevant contacts/followers
- Reach on social networks
- Expert status on a specific topic
- Reaction and interaction to contributions and posts
- The credibility of the influencer
Micro or macro Influencers?
There are small and large influencers, which are dependent on the number of followers. Accounts with followers between 1,000 and one million count among the smaller profiles, the micro-influencers. On the other hand, profiles with more than one million followers are so-called macro influencers, these are the really big influencers who already enjoy a certain level of awareness in their niche.
Whether you as a company decides to collaborate with a small or large profile depends entirely on it. Of course, micro-influencers have a smaller community, but often a larger reach with very active users. In addition, small influencers are not that expensive compared to large profiles.
Influencer Marketing: Finding and Addressing Influencers
Where can you find the right influencers? On the web, of course. Click through said social networks and do some research about specific people. It takes time, work and patience to find the right influencers. Do you have a startup? Then just be patient, it takes a while to build up a network.
Once you have picked out some interesting people, get in touch with them and make the cooperation palatable. If you are specifically looking for the right influencers, the chances of being accepted are very good. After all, the influencer can also benefit from this cooperation.
If you get in touch with the right influencer, you can often benefit from the snowball system: suddenly the ball rolls and many want to work with you. This phenomenon can be observed again and again in social networks, suddenly you only hear about a certain brand on Instagram and Co., which breaks through out of nowhere.
4 Tips for Influencer Marketing
In order for you as a company to be successful with influencer marketing, there are four tips that you should definitely keep in mind.
Tip 1: The influencer must fit the brand
Choosing a suitable influencer is super important. Therefore, you should make sure that your brand or product fits the influencer. Not only the number of followers is decisive, but also the interaction on the influencer’s profile and the person’s personal interests.
Tip 2: Give the influencer freedom
Influencers are often creative minds who deal with photos, videos, and texts on a daily basis. Therefore, try not to rob the influencer of breathing space and give the person the freedom to design the posts and photos. Of course you can specify some things and express wishes, but try not to turn the influencer inside out.
Tip 3: Clarify the rights of use
As a company, formulate to what extent the photo or the post with the desired product may be shared with other networks. Clarify whether the cooperation is limited to a specific social medium or whether other social platforms can also be included.
You should also clarify with the influencer how the cooperation works, whether it is a permanent cooperation, with regular sequences in the story and in the feed, or whether it is a one-off agreement limited to one post.
You basically conclude an employment contract or a cooperation/collaboration contract with the influencer.
Tip 4: Pay attention to the interaction rate with influencers
It is often the case that smaller profiles and influencers have a much higher interaction rate than their million-follower counterparts. This means that micro-influencers have a much stronger and more active connection to their community. Therefore, don’t just rely on the number of followers, but look at the engagement or interaction.
Influencer Marketing: Why do Companies Benefit from this Advertising Strategy?
If companies bring their products to the right influencer, they reach the desired people in a targeted manner. As a result, the target group of the product is defined much more precisely than with regular advertising in magazines or TV spots.
Furthermore, customers and consumers feel connected to the smaller and bigger celebrities in a certain way, maybe there is even a certain basis of trust compared to classic advertising.
The target group trusts in the recommendation of the person of trust feel connected through the daily stories and photo contributions and allow themselves to be influenced by it. The influencers market the company’s products in their authentic content, they talk about the brand and the product and are often even the point of contact for questions.
As a company, use influencer marketing and try to reach new people in a targeted manner. Find out about influencer marketing experts or take a social media marketing course. There you can find out more and get tips and tricks from experts.
