Influencer marketing

The people we like influence us the most. This is the mechanism behind social media influencer marketing. According to a report by Business Insider Intelligence, its market value will reach $13.8 billion by the end of 2021. How do you plan to work with influencers to create the right brand image and support sales? Read the article and learn about influencer marketing from the ground up!

What is Influencer Marketing?

The answer to the question “what is influencer marketing” is quite intuitive.

It is a brand communication strategy based on marketing activities with popular creators. These could be influencers who post on Instagram, TikTok, show business artists or social activists.

The brand, with the help of a marketing agency, establishes a business relationship with them. Depending on the nature of the collaboration, they implement a specific campaign according to a pre-agreed brief and within an agreed timeframe.

What types of influencer marketing collaborations are there?

Influencer collaborations come in several forms. The most popular are:

• Barter is a collaboration based on mutual benefit. The influencer receives a product or an opportunity to use the brand’s services. In return, usually on their social media, they talk about the brand’s differentiators and encourage their audience to buy.
• The most popular form of influencer marketing is product placement. The creator, for a pre-determined fee, presents the benefits of the brand’s products and services. Using discount codes and affiliate links, marketing agencies analyse the conversion and profitability of working with a particular influencer.
• An ambassador strategy is a plan of action based on long-term collaboration. Influencer marketing activities focus on an ambassador campaign. For weeks or months, in rare cases years, the creator becomes the face of the company and endorses it with his or her name.

Influencer marketing also includes competitions, sweepstakes, video advertising campaigns and other creative collaborations with the creator. In the world of advertising, there are strict rules. We are only limited by time, budget and creativity!

How do you choose an influencer to work with?

Selecting a specific influencer is a challenge. There are a number of factors to consider in order to achieve the right audience reach and campaign effectiveness.

Firstly, consider whether the nature of the influencer’s work conflicts with or excludes the brand they are being asked to promote. An influencer’s previous collaborations may cast a long shadow over their image.

Influencer marketing should be based on authenticity, so if the agency’s client is a brand that produces healthy and organic snacks, an influencer who has been the face of a fast food company in the past will not be the best choice. His reach may be impressive, but this particular product will not fit seamlessly with his values.

What else to look out for in influencer marketing?

It is no secret that the budget of a given campaign can determine the subsequent selection of influencers. Typically, the more reach an influencer has, the more expensive it will be to work with them. You should ask the influencer themselves or their agent who is organising the collaboration for exact quotes.

It is also worth analysing the engagement and number of fans the influencer has amassed. They may even be several million, but the ratio of comments to views on their YouTube video will not be favourable. On the other hand, a few thousand but very engaged and loyal viewers can help to achieve the goal.

Let us analyse the relationship between the two, as well as the occurrence of so-called “empty accounts”, i.e. inactive profiles that follow the creator without actively consuming his/her content or buying the promoted products.

Why is it worth working with influencers?

In the past, endorsements from popular actors and celebrities were the order of the day on TV commercials. Today, in the age of galloping digitalisation and digitisation, it is increasingly common for online creators to take the lead in promoting brands. They help brands achieve their goals and strategies.

Sympathy for the other person is one of the pillars of effective persuasion. By sharing a similar view of reality and facing similar problems, we establish a thread of understanding with a particular creator. The influencer inspires our trust and makes us begin to see their online persona as ‘relatable’.

In this case, his or her influence on the target audience through YouTube video content, social media or online campaigns is greatest.

What are the benefits of Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing has been highly profitable for years. It benefits from a well-known psycho-sociological correlation and can therefore prove to be a legitimate activity for all parties.

The brand gets the ‘human touch’ and the personification of the target group in the form of the influencer and achieves its objectives. The recipients increase their awareness of the company’s values, products and services. As a result, they may want to interact and make a purchase, and the marketing fulfils its purpose.

What are the risks of influencer marketing?

Not all brands are suitable for influencer advertising. There are products on the market, such as meat products or specialist plumbing equipment, that are risky choices – both for the brands that are labelled as ‘frivolous’ and for the creators who lose their authenticity.

Of course, each case must be handled on its own merits. If an influencer has been active in a particular industry for years and effectively reaches his or her target audience, it can be beneficial to bet on his or her promotion.

It should be noted that there is a large group of influencers on the market who do not choose their collaborations carefully enough. They accept any promotional offer, which also causes observers to lose faith in their recommendations. The authenticity of the influencer himself decreases and his reach decreases.

How to choose an agency for influencer marketing activities?

Image blunders, dramas, excessive presence of influencers in advertisements or inappropriate targeting of campaigns are some of the warning signs we should take into account when choosing an agency.

On the other hand, the creativity of the team, the sales results of the promoted products, the media visibility of the campaign or how it was received by the public are factors that should characterise the right agency.

What matters when choosing an agency for influencer marketing activities?

Experience in working with influencers, knowledge of customer preferences or knowledge of audience behaviour patterns will be additional assets.

Some agencies have already worked with many popular influencers thanks to their years of experience and creativity. Their ability to create mutually beneficial relationships (company, influencer and potential customer) is real – and tested.

How does the Neon Shake work within influencer marketing?

Check out our campaign for ASUSROG4CREATORS, an ASUS-branded project that brings together creators and their fans, as well as all creative freaks who are not afraid of digital challenges! A few years ago, during one of the editions we co-created, we invited talented influencers to join us.

One of them was electronic music creator Zamilska! Dubbed the ‘head of Polish techno’, the artist acted as a judge and ambassador for the competition, promoting it through social media content on her Facebook and Instagram.

During the campaign to promote Remington’s Hydraluxe PRO range, we were guided by the brand’s mission to ‘be yourself in your own way’. Our campaign and chosen communication strategy required the selection of the right influencer.

To achieve this, we worked with courageous women. Some who refuse to compromise – Maja Sablewska, Zofia Zborowska-Wrona and Marysia Winiarska, as well as hair care experts: vlogger Agnieszka Niedziałek and celebrity stylist Gaba Zalewska.