Although, once in a while, there are discussions in the marketing world about image crises of social media celebrities – influencer marketing is still doing well. Or even better.
Year after year, brands are spending more and more on collaborations with creators. According to the ReachaBlogger report, in 2023, as many as 58 per cent of survey participants planned to increase their influencer marketing budget, 7 per cent planned to double it and 30 per cent planned to keep it at the current level. The upward trend is clearly continuing, and the figures speak for themselves: in 2016, the size of the influencer marketing market was $1.7 billion. And by 2022, the influencer market in the US was already valued at 16.4 billion .
What is influencer marketing, what are its benefits and what should be kept in mind when planning influencer marketing activities? Let us answer.
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is a type of marketing strategy that relies on working with individuals who have a strong online presence as well as dedicated and engaged followers to promote products or services. These influencers can be social media celebrities, bloggers, youtubers, tiktokers, instagrammers or podcasters.
In influencer marketing, brands therefore do not communicate directly with customers, but reach them through influencers, who often have many thousands or millions of followers.
The popularity of influencer marketing is due to its potential to create authentic connections with target audiences and its ability to effectively reach niche markets. What other benefits does it offer brands?
Benefits of influencer marketing
Well-run influencer marketing can be a powerful tool for brand promotion and customer engagement. It also offers a number of benefits to brands. Here are some of them.
- Higher credibility
Influencers are often seen as authentic and trustworthy individuals in their niches. If they express support for your product or service, they can thus increase the credibility of your brand. Working with an influencer is therefore also a kind of PR exercise: it allows you to warm up your image and give your brand a human face. Recommendations from influencers serve as proof of social legitimacy. Consumers who see influencers using and recommending a product or service may be more inclined to trust the brand themselves and try out its products. - Valuable audiences
Online influencers have dedicated and engaged followers who share their interests. Working with the right influencer allows you to reach a well-defined audience and niche, such as people interested in unusual sports or hobbies. Reaching this group through other methods (e.g. performance marketing) often turns out to be much more expensive. - Greater reach
Online creators have a wide reach often across several social media platforms. This allows you to increase your brand’s visibility beyond your existing audience. Content created by influencers also has the chance to reach audiences that your brand could not previously reach with your message – if only because of the broadcast channel, form or due to the use of AdBlock. - Higher sales
Influencers can be extremely effective in influencing the purchasing decisions of their audience. Often, even a small mention of the products the creator uses results in a significant increase in brand awareness, as well as sales. The influencer’s commitment and genuine belief in the product are of great importance here. Interestingly, despite the overload of advertising content, audiences accept this type of overt product recommendation well, as long as it is in line with the creator’s image. - Multi-channel activities
Influencers often have channels on multiple platforms, reaching their audience more effectively and diversifying the content they create. What’s more, many creators offer a wide variety of collaborations – from writing a creative post or creating a video to being present at an event, starring in a commercial or being a brand ambassador. Much depends on the personality of the creator. This creates an opportunity to plan interesting and distinctive marketing activities. - Cost-effectiveness
Influencer marketing pays off. Influencer Marketing Hub research shows that 84% of marketers rate activities with influencers as effective. In turn, a Nielsen report shows that marketing campaigns conducted with them generate a return of $6.50 for every dollar invested.
For influencer marketing, the cost of reaching an audience is relatively low. Some creators also allow collaborations based on an affiliate or barter model. Given the advantages of this type of cooperation, the precise reach of the target group, the multi-channel nature of the activities and the varied forms of cooperation – influencer marketing appears to be a cost-effective solution. - Reaching out to a younger target group
Influencers reach Generation Z much more effectively than traditional celebrities.
Teenage favourite creators are the ideal support for so-called teen marketing, because of
the greater authenticity of the message, for instance.
We must remember that in influencer marketing, success largely depends on clear communication between brands and creators, clear campaign objectives and ROI measurement. However, especially on the right choice of influencers, so let us know what to look out for in order to bet on the right person.
How to select an influencer for an successful campaign?
Choosing the right influencer is a key step in planning an effective influencer marketing campaign.
- Define your campaign goals.
Do you want to increase brand awareness, engagement or perhaps increase sales? This will largely guide you on what type of influencer you need. - Look for creators whose niche or area of expertise is related to your product or service.
This is especially true for creators who gather smaller communities, allowing you to reach niche markets effectively. Determine to what extent he or she fits with your brand image. Make sure their content is in line with its message and values. Also review their past work for authenticity and consistency. Remember that audiences tend to trust influencers who appear authentic and trustworthy. Analyse comments and authentic interactions with the audience. - Another important factor to consider is the engagement of your profile audience.
While ‘bigger’ influencers may have more followers, ‘smaller’ influencers (micro-influencers) often have higher engagement rates and more targeted audiences. Analyse engagement metrics such as likes, comments, shares and click-through rates. High engagement indicates an active and dedicated audience. - Pay attention to the quality of the content.
Are they visually appealing, creative, substantive? Are they free of mistakes? Does the creator have storytelling skills? Are the aesthetics of the content in line with the aesthetics of your brand? It is also worth paying attention to the frequency of publication. A consistent schedule translates into more effective audience engagement. - It’s also worth reviewing previous collaborations and how many brands a person works with at once. A large number of collaborations can make your message not stand out. Too few collaborations is not a good signal either. You should also be sure that previous collaborations have gone smoothly, the influencer has not published controversial content and has not caused an image crisis. Make sure the influencer complies with regulations and legal requirements, such as disclosing paid partnerships and complying with copyright and privacy laws.
Remember that a successful collaboration also depends largely on efficient communication with the influencer. Opt for open communication. Discuss campaign goals, expectations, content guidelines and remuneration. Draw up clear and comprehensive agreements setting out all the terms of the collaboration, including deliverables, usage rights, deadlines and remuneration. The better prepared you are before you start working together, the more mistakes can be eliminated.
Would you like to involve influencers in your advertising campaigns?
Do more followers = higher campaign effectiveness?
Not necessarily. Influencers gather communities of very different sizes around them:
- nano-influencers – 1 000 to 10 000 followers
- micro-influencers – 1 000 to 100 000 followers
- macroinfluencers with 100 000 to 1 000 000 followers
- megainfluencers – more than 1 million followers
However, as it turns out, reach is not always the most important thing. It is more important to invite influencers whose audiences are more relevant to our target audience. “Smaller” influencers often gather communities around niche content and interests. Therefore, it is often better to engage several micro-influencers rather than one creator with a large reach.
Trend analysts point to the increasing targeting of budgets to collaborate with micro, as well as nanoinfluencers. And the key word is niche and the increasing specialisation and professionalisation of influencers.
How can influencers promote products?
One of the advantages of influencer marketing is that influencers have a number of methods at their disposal to expose products and brands. The choice of method often depends on the influencer’s style, platform and specific campaign goals. Here are the typical methods used to promote a product:
- Sponsored posts. Influencers create dedicated posts or videos to showcase a product. These usually include product images, a description of features, benefits and legally required paid partnership signage.
- Mentioning and tagging the brand in posts. Increasingly the form of choice due to the growing popularity of short form videos.
- Unboxing. Videos of unboxing products in which the influencer shares their initial reactions and thoughts. They generate excitement and curiosity.
- Product reviews, in which influencers discuss a product in detail, sharing personal experiences, opinions and insights. These can take the form of blog posts, YouTube videos or social media posts.
- Activations where influencers can create challenges or competitions related to the product. Users can be encouraged to participate, create content and tag them with a specific hashtag. One aspect of this type of activity can be the acquisition of User Generated Content.
- Storytelling. Influencers incorporate the product into a narrative or story from everyday life, illustrating how it solves a specific problem. Storytelling creates a lasting and emotional connection with the audience.
- Live streaming: allowing the influencer to interact with the audience in real time while presenting and discussing the product.
- Affiliate marketing: Influencers can place affiliate links in their content. When their followers make purchases through these links, influencers receive a commission as an incentive for the promotion.
Nowadays, due to the increasing professionalisation of influencers, brands are recognising that they are able to guide audiences through the entire sales funnel, from awareness-building to the consideration phase to purchase. What’s more, they do it all in an authentic, personal way.
Giveaways and discount codes. Influencers can organise giveaways or competitions in collaboration with brands, where observers have the chance to win a product by participating in specific activities such as liking, sharing or tagging friends. They can also offer dedicated discount codes to their community.
A comprehensive and engaging campaign often requires a combination of several of the methods. The choice of form of promotion should be tailored to the product, the influencer’s style and the specifics of their audience. An experienced advertising agency or influencer marketing agency will certainly be able to propose coherent and effective actions to fully exploit the potential offered by working with an influencer.
Summary
Influencer marketing or marketing of influence is a strategy that offers numerous benefits to brands and will continue to grow in importance in the near future. It allows brands to effectively reach their target audience in a way that is natural and evokes positive emotions and high engagement. The variety of methods used to promote products allows for the creation of an engaging and comprehensive campaign that achieves its objectives. If you would like to see if this strategy could suit your brand, please contact us.
FAQ
Is influencer marketing still effective in an era of influencer image crises?
Answer: Although image crises do happen, influencer marketing is still an effective strategy. The key is the right selection of influencers, clear campaign objectives and a conscious approach to collaboration
Why is influencer marketing gaining popularity?
Answer: Influencer marketing is gaining popularity because of its potential to create authentic connections with audiences, its effectiveness in reaching niche markets and its ability to generate engagement and sales.
What is the difference between working with micro-influencers versus macro-influencers?
Answer: Working with micro-influencers often provides higher audience engagement and more effective outreach to niche target groups. Microinfluencers can also be more authentic and credible in promoting products. They can often prove to be a more budget-friendly option.
What are the most popular methods for influencers to promote products?
Answer: The most popular methods for influencers to promote products are sponsored posts, brand mentions in testimonials, product reviews, unboxing, activations, storytelling, live broadcasts, affiliate marketing and competitions and discount codes.
Does more followers of an influencer automatically mean higher campaign effectiveness?
Answer: Not necessarily. It is more important to match the influencer to the target audience and to engage their followers. Often micro-influencers with fewer followers can achieve better results due to a more engaged community.
Well-run influencer marketing can be a powerful tool for brand promotion and customer engagement. It also offers a number of benefits to brands. Here are some of them.
