Influencer Marketing: Better Way to Market in 2017

Did you know that:

• 78 percent of brands increased their content creation over the years but average content engagement decreased by 60 percent?

• 47 percent of online customers use adblock?

• 92 percent of people trust recommendations from people (even if they don’t know them) over businesses?

If you are a marketer or a business owner in 2017 you have likely heard of the influencer marketing. The term Influencer have become somewhat of a buzzword, and for a good reason. Influencers can connect brands to new audiences, share business messages and help develop programs and products that are more likely to sell.

Before we dive deep into what influencer marketing is and how it can benefit your business, let’s get some misconceptions out of the way. First, you don’t need to recruit a celebrity to push your marketing messages through. Second, it doesn’t have to cost you more than you can afford. Influencer marketing does not mean you need to pay your ten years worth of revenue to Kim Kardashian to give you a shout out on her Instagram. Your best influencers may only have a thousand followers and be absolutely unknown outside of their carved niche. Inside their niche, however, they are superstars when it comes to engagement, content creation and being able to influence and excite those who chose to follow them. Your best influencers may not even want monetary reward, but rather prefer to be the first ones to learn what products you are working on and give you ideas on how to improve them.

Now that we have gotten those misconceptions out of the way, let’s go back to the questions I asked in the beginning of this article. Most marketers today understand the need to create a killer content strategy in order to reach and engage their potential customers. Old salesy tactics simply don’t work. Now, no matter how great your content is or how smart of an advertising strategy you come up with, if you come across as a brand that wants to sell something (and if you are a brand you come across that way no matter how hard you try not to) your consumers will simply choose to ignore you. Instead of watching your perfectly scripted video on how to use your product, they’ll spend half the night on YouTube watching someone else doing the very same demo in their living room. Why? Because that YouTuber is not coming across like he or she is about to sell them anything. That person is simply delivering information, and guess what? Their subscribers are listening.

So what exactly is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing focuses on using thought leaders, experts, and top content creators to drive your brand’s message to the larger market. So, instead of marketing directly to a large group of consumers as you would do in your traditional marketing, you work with influencers to get your brand out to the world. You can think of influencer marketing as just another type of content and social media marketing as your influencers are more likely to carve their niche and build their following in the online world. The content can be created by you (the brand), by your influencers or by both of you working together. The difference from traditional content marketing is that you, as a brand, is not the one pushing the messages.

Why should you care?

As a brand no matter how hard you try to appear authentic, caring and non-salesy, most of your consumers are savvy enough to understand that in the end all you want to do is sell more product. That´s where your influencer marketing strategy comes in handy. With 92% of consumers trusting recommendations from people (even if they don´t know them personally!) over brands, having your brand advocates push your marketing messages can help establish more trust and brand loyalty. Your potential customer will be more likely to trust a relatable influencer rather than your brand. In other words, if you, as a business claim that your product is the best in whatever it is supposed to do, your consumers will call this advertising. If a real person on social media says the same, their followers will happily call it recommendations that solve their problems. This small shift in you customers´perspective may be all you need to bring your brand to the next level, so why not give it a try? 

Do you work with influencers? What is your experience like? Let’s chat!