By Nicholas Rodinos
What Is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is when a public figure with a decently large following is used to promote a product. Influencers will post about a product with a purchasing link and possibly a promotional code for customers. The influencer is paid upfront; however, they also earn commissions every time someone uses the link or promotional code. Influencer marketing is more than a simple fad, it is a mutually beneficial system for influencers and brands. It builds trust in your brand and support from an influencer’s followers while giving influencers opportunities for more clout.
Types of Influencers
Influencers can be divided into four categories depending on the size of their following: mega-influencers, macro-influencers, micro-influencers, and nano-influencers. Mega influencers have over a million followers, they are usually celebrities, actors, athletes, musicians, or some other public figures. Macro influencers have between 100,000-1,000,000 followers, they are leaders in their niches creating consistently high-quality content. Micro-influencers have between 10,000-100,000 followers, they are rising stars with a niche, often highly-engaged audience. Nano influencers have less than ten-thousand followers, they have palpable connections with their audience, thanks to their charismatic content.
The Important Role of Influencer Marketing
There are three main goals of influencer marketing: attention, credibility, and authenticity. The first goal of influencer marketing is drawing the attention of their fanbase and attracting new customers. This can be difficult depending on the size of the fanbase and how much they engage with the influencer. A mega-influencer may have millions of followers, but they may have low, or comparably lower engagement than you need. Whereas, micro or nano-influencers may draw more engagement because they have a smaller, more dedicated following. The second goal is to lend credibility and trust to your brand. An audience that cares about sustainability might be invested if an outspoken eco-friendly influencer promotes your product. The third goal is to create a feeling of authenticity to gain the trust of your audience. Micro and nano-influencers often provide content that feels genuine and uniquely personal that attracts audiences with its sincerity.
Influencer Marketing Successes
Vestiaire Collective partnered with Fanbytes to promote their business of used luxury fashion. The goal was to increase brand recognition and gain a larger connection with their TikTok audience. The two companies formed a six-month strategy to have TikTok micro and nano-influencers from four countries promote their services. The campaign had over five thousand influencer collaborations, involving fashion icons from the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain. The campaign received over fourteen million views, over two thousand campaign activations, and over five hundred brand partnerships. The dedicated fanbases of the influencers, and the passion said influencers had were key to the brand’s success. The campaign’s success, while admirable, had an advantage most campaigns don’t, this campaign lasted six months. That gave them opportunities to alter and improve their strategy and use new influences when others weren’t drawing attention.
Dunkin’ Donuts teamed up with the #1 most followed TikTok creator Charli D’Amelio, to promote their business. She posted on her TikTok account various videos of her ordering and enjoying their products. A viral marketing campaign created the #CharliXDunkinContest. Dunkin created two new drinks, one of which was called “The Charli.” Charli’s videos led to a 50% increase in Dunkin app downloads.
Many online charities use famous YouTuber and philanthropist, James Steven Donaldson aka Mr. Beast. Donaldson created a charity program known as Team Trees, pledging one tree planted for every dollar donated. The goal was to donate twenty million to the U.S. Arbor Foundation for twenty million trees to be planted. Over six hundred influencers joined the charity effort including popular streamers, beauty gurus, animators, and even well-known CEOs. Donaldson combined authenticity, simplicity, magnanimity, and popularity, to create a masterful marketing strategy. The donation process was simple, and easily explained, with few if any serious complications. This charity gave people a chance to stand against the climate crisis, while catering to people’s sense of generosity. Donaldson’s affable nature drew people to the charity. By combining his strengths, Donaldson created a social media charity campaign that has yet to be surpassed.
Comparing Influencer Marketing with Other Forms of Marketing
Traditional Marketing with Celebrity Endorsements
Influencer marketing is like the concept of celebrity endorsements; however, they can differ in return on investment. Celebrity endorsements are large investments, however determining the return is difficult, as it’s easier to determine social media trends. Determining engagement with traditional forms of advertising can be difficult as many people find ways to ignore ads. With influencer marketing, you can attach links, check conversion rates, and determine how ads influence your revenue.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing uses affiliates, businesses attached to other businesses based on various business contracts. Affiliate marketing mostly draws traffic to the brand website, to make transactions, whereas influencers involve long-term key-performance indicators. Affiliates use links to increase webpage traffic and increase the chances of sale conversion. Influencer marketing focuses on clickthrough rates, user-generated content, and increased search engine optimization. Affiliates only make money on sales, so you only pay for results. Influencers are paid by either commission, product gifts, flat rate fees, or all of the above. Influencer marketing is often focused on a specific target audience and is highly relevant to said audience. Affiliate marketing is easy to start, requires no upfront payment, and can easily expand the number of affiliates. It also has the weaknesses of inconsistent results, limited control of affiliate content, and can be prone to fraud. Affiliate marketing is vulnerable to spamming, false advertising, bots, scripts, fake email lists, and performing purchases with stolen information. Influencer marketing can recycle content for other marketing strategies, build credibility, and increase brand recognition. Its main weakness is the time spent vetting influencers.
Buzz Marketing
Buzz marketing is a marketing strategy that relies on creative content, interactive events, and influencers to draw attention. This marketing strategy also relies on influencers, attempting to use their viral fame to promote interest in the product. Influencer marketing is much more controlled, whereas buzz marketing tries to be as organic as possible. The two marketing strategies can overlap in payment strategy for influencers involving upfront fees, commissions, and or product gifts. Influencer marketing has better engagement tracking. Buzz marketing requires a lot of investment in social tracking, to determine how your audience is reacting.
The Future of Influencer Marketing
There are clear trends toward greater influencer marketing usage, especially smaller influencers, and influencer networks. Influencer marketing attracts customers faster than most other marketing approaches and earns $6.50 for every dollar invested. It can be affordable and effective. Micro-influencers are being used more often, as they are inexpensive, authentic, and draw an audience that brings high engagement. Micro and nano-influencers are more common than other forms of influencers and are being used more often than others. As influencer marketing becomes more popular, influencer networks are likely to be created. Influencers are making connections, to give themselves more business opportunities, so it’s best to take advantage while you can.
In Conclusion, influencers are becoming more common, as social media grants anyone a chance to be a celebrity. This form of marketing can be as broad or as specific as you require. Influencer marketing, when used properly, can be a great way of tracking performance and conversion rate. With influencer marketing, you can earn brand recognition, trust, and credibility from a high-engagement audience. Influencer marketing provides an influencer and your business a chance to grow.
If you want comprehensive, elaborate marketing strategies, contact Marketing Choices and see all the options we provide. Contact us with any of your business concerns, and we will provide strategies to boost engagement and conversion rates.
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