It’s no secret influencer marketing is one of the most powerful brand marketing tools, which is why so many of the world’s biggest brands have adopted it.
But you don’t have to be a Fortune 500 company to use influencer marketing in your marketing strategy. With so many influencers of all sizes and in all sorts of niches it has never been easier to reach your target audience.
What Is Influencer Marketing?
By now you probably already know what an influencer is and you may even follow a few yourself. Influencers have become synonymous with social media because this is where their influence is seen and felt by hundreds, thousands and even hundreds of thousands of people. Influencers can be found on every social media platform and it’s where they collaborate with brands to promote a product, experience or even the brand as a whole.
But why are so many brands getting behind influencer marketing? The answer is pretty simple: it works.
Influencers are good at what they do. Influencers work hard to earn their followers’ trust, and in turn, their followers are receptive when influencers highlight a brand. The result is a more organic way to engage with your targeted audience and major brands recognize this more every year.
According to eMarketer, more than two-thirds (67.9%) of U.S. marketers used some form of influencer marketing in 2021. That’s expected to increase to 72.5% in 2022.
How We Approach Influencer Marketing
Influencers come in all shapes and sizes, niches and areas of expertise. Never before has there been a wider array of influencers to choose from, which gives brands plenty of options to select. Now is truly a great time for brands to incorporate influencer marketing.
We look at a variety of factors when considering to work with an influencer, including:
- The type of content they create (ranging from lifestyle, travel, cooking, etc.) and the relevance it has to the brand we’re working with and its goals. We’ll first look at the product or campaign we’re generating buzz about and the branding surrounding it. Then we’ll research influencers who fit with the brand and its goals. Ideally, we will find influencers who can organically create content around these ideas and who would seamlessly incorporate the messaging into their lifestyle.
- The influencer’s reach. How big is their audience and what platforms do they use to reach them? Bigger doesn’t always mean better. Plenty of micro and nano influencers (those with followings under 10K) often create meaningful relationships with their followers – their smaller following size allows them to better engage with their audiences. We work with influencers with followings of all sizes to help brands and organizations reach their target audiences.
- Engagement rate. This is a ratio that essentially communicates how engaged an influencers’ followers are with the content the influencer posts online. The general rule of thumb is to aim for a rate between 2-3 percent. There are many online tools that help determine this number in real time simply by plugging in an influencer’s social media handle. This is one of the most tangible ways to gauge an influencer’s potential impact in your marketing efforts.
The Result Of Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is here to stay, and knowing how to capitalize on it to achieve your marketing goals is key. There is no “right” or “wrong” way to do influencer marketing but knowing and understanding the importance of the aforementioned factors when approaching influencers will help set you up for success. Our work with big and small brands and organizations has helped us see the impact of influencer marketing first hand. Our efforts often result in organic engagement generated through social media shares, tag clicks and positive word of mouth.
