Influencer Marketing: What Is It, and Why Do You Need It?

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We are truly in the age of the Social Media Influencer. At this point, it’s their world, and we’re just living in it. But love them or hate them, you can’t ignore the fact that influencers can play a significant role in your marketing strategy.

We’re going to explore how you can expand your reach with influencer marketing, discussing the benefits of using influencers and provide tips on how to find the right ones for your business.

What is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing is a form of marketing that involves working with key individuals (known as influencers) who have the ability to influence the behaviour or opinions of others on online platforms. They aim to drive the message (and products/services) of your brand to a wider audience, which can reach in to the millions of followers.

These individuals can be bloggers, social media stars, or even celebrities, and they can be found on pretty much every social media platform. In order to use influencer marketing successfully, you need to identify the right influencers for your brand, build lasting relationships with them, and create content that resonates with not only their audience, but yours as well.

Instagram is the top influencer marketing platform, with 72.5% of marketers using it for influencer marketing strategies, and it is one of the most effective forms of marketing that we have.

The Benefits of Using Influencers

There are many benefits of using influencers to promote your business, and it doesn’t look like the marketing industry is going to slow down the use of influencers anytime soon. Some of the key benefits include:

Increased Reach: By partnering with the right influencers, you can significantly increase your reach and exposure. Influencers typically have large followings on social media and on other online channels, and they offer a great opportunity to get the word out about your brand.
Greater Engagement: When you work with influencers, their followers are more likely to take notice and engage with your brand. This is because they trust the opinion of the influencers that they follow and are more likely to act on their recommendations.
Improved ROI: Compared to traditional forms of advertising, influencer marketing tends to deliver a higher ROI. This is because it focuses on reaching out to qualified leads rather than wasting money on ads that no one sees or clicks on. Studies have shown that Influencer Marketing can offer a ROI that’s 11x higher than traditional marketing strategies.

Finding the Right Influencers for Your Business

When looking for influencers to partner with, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. It’s important that you do your research thoroughly, and don’t just go with the first influencer that you see. Some of the key points when it comes to looking for the right influencer for your brand are:

Look for Relevancy
- Make sure that any potential partners are relevant to your industry or niche. This will ensure that their followers are more likely to be interested in what you have to say. The influencer that you choose should also fit into your target audience.
Consider their Audience Size
- It’s important to partner with an influencer whose audience size matches or exceeds your target market size. Otherwise, you may not see a significant return on investment from your campaign.
Check Their Engagement Rates
- Another thing you should look at when choosing an influencer is their engagement rate i.e., how often their posts receive likes, comments, and shares). The higher this number is, the better.
Vet Them Personally
- It’s always a good idea to vet any potential partners personally before agreeing to work with them. This means checking out all of their social media pages, any websites that they may have, and reading reviews from past clients. It’s so important that you do the proper research to make sure that they fully align with your views and have a good track record.

What should you avoid?

So, we know what to do when it comes to enticing influencers to help with an ad or campaign, but there are couple of things that you shouldn’t do when it comes to trying to get an influencer on board. Some of the things you should avoid doing are:

Pick an influencer based on followers alone: Just because someone has a ton of followers, doesn’t mean that those followers will be people in your target audience. You should also be wary of influencers who have a high number of followers, but a disproportionate number of likes/comments. This indicates followers that have been bought instead of being gained organically.
Use bribery with products, money, or exposure: influencers are people who have carefully monitored and curated their content to fit their brand. There’s no point in trying to bribe them to promote your product. This comes across as disingenuous and influencers strive to protect their reputation as it’s what earns them money.
Generalise your approach: When it comes to influencers, one size doesn’t fit all. It’s likely that your brand will be selling a niche product, so why get in touch with influencers that have nothing to do with the specific industry you are in? Tailor your approach to get the most out of this strategy, and don’t just reach out to any and all influencers that you can find – it will be a waste of your time and theirs.

Final thoughts

Influencer marketing is most definitely here to stay. So, it is important that you keep up with the times and employ it as part of your marketing strategy. Influencers can be a great way to get information out about the products or services that you are offering, and can be incredibly lucrative for both your brand and the influencer. It’s also important that you remain genuine and partner with influencers that are relevant to your brand, and align with your views, and also that they have an organic following to maximise the reach.

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