Influencer Marketing – Yay or Nay!!!

Influencer Marketing – Yay or Nay          

You know how you can get so caught up in your own industry’s jargon that you forget what it sounds like to everyone else?

We live and breathe influencer marketing every day, so much so that we often forget that not everyone knows what it is!

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing is a type of marketing that focuses on using key leaders to drive your brand’s message to the larger market. Rather than marketing directly to a large group of consumers, you instead inspire / hire / pay influencers to get out the word for you.

Influencer marketing often goes hand-in-hand with two other forms of marketing: social-media marketing and content marketing. Most influencer campaigns have some sort of social-media component, whereby influencers are expected to spread the word through their personal social channels. Many influencer campaigns also carry a content element in which either you create content for the influencers, or they create the content themselves. Though social-media and content marketing often fit inside influencer campaigns, they are not synonymous with influencer marketing.

The media hoopla around celebrities like the Kardashians has created misperceptions around influencer marketing that remain, even now that it has become mainstream. While the early days of influencer marketing were all about celebrity influencers and social media stars, people soon realized an influencer’s ability to reach and influence an audience of your target consumers, and carry your brand message authentically was far more important than their reach alone.

A robust influencer marketing strategy will often include macro-influencers, “power middle” influencers, micro-influencers, brand ambassadors, brand advocates, employees, and even celebrities, as needed. True optimization means brands can understand and optimize the performance of the right group of influencers, at the right time, to meet their goals..

What’s the difference between word-of-mouth marketing and influencer marketing?

Although some people use word-of-mouth marketing and influencer marketing interchangeably, there’s a real difference between the two disciplines. Whereas influencer marketing is the concept of engaging key individuals to leverage their influence among friends and family, word-of-mouth marketing is the actual avenue by which this communication takes place. So, almost all influencer marketing includes word-of-mouth marketing activities by its nature, but not all word-of-mouth marketing is driven by influencer campaigns.

Is advocate marketing the same as influencer marketing?

Advocate marketing isn’t influencer marketing, either. The best way to understand the difference is that advocate marketing focuses on encouraging or incentivizing already-loyal customers to share their love of your brand or product. The sharing might happen by way of product reviews and customer references.

With influencer marketing, you’re more focused on finding influencers—not necessarily current customers—to spread your message. Another distinguishing factor between influencer marketing and advocate marketing is that influencers are almost always paid in some way, either with money or free products. Advocate marketing focuses less on payment, more on driving brand loyalty, which in turn multiples the number of vocal advocates.

Why is influencer marketing important??

If you’ve been thinking a, “watch and wait” approach to influencer marketing is safest, think again. eMarketer reports 84% of marketers anticipated launching at least one influencer campaign within the next twelve months, and close to 60% plan to increase their influencer marketing budgets in 2016. That means brands who have not yet gotten started with influencer marketing are falling behind.

The influence economy has changed the way we buy things—forever. Roughly 67% of marketers report that they are engaged in some form of influencer marketing, a number that’s likely to grow as social media influencers gain more mainstream exposure.

With demand on the rise, the influencer economy is shifting toward more streamlined solutions, embracing tools like influencer networks, match-making platforms services and even programmatic to help brands tap influencers more easily. Brands who aren’t part of it are losing control. Consumers now control the buyer’s journey, and they are getting harder to reach with digital advertising:

·      90% of Americans ignore digital ads – Harris Interactive

·      40% of ad revenue lost to ad block by sites that target millennials – President of IAB

·      $7.2B estimated global losses to bot fraud in 2016 – White Ops/ANA

·      56% of paid-for digital ad impressions are never seen -Google

·      62% of consumers trust brands less -DoubleClick

Conventional digital marketing no longer works. A huge 66% of customers are overwhelmed by too many online marketing messages, and 20% of consumers would boycott a brand because of excessive ads. Marketers should care about influencer content because it provides the perfect cure for “ad fatigue” and, unlike traditional ad campaigns, delivers authenticity.

Smart brands are combating this by using influencer marketing to create an ongoing conversation with consumers, recognizing that they are influenced by different people, at different times, in different ways.

Instead of diminishing returns from digital advertising, brand social and content marketing, the influencer marketing goes past reach and clicks to continuous engagement and conversations that drive commerce, giving you metrics that matter and align with your business goals, such as:

·      Attracting new customers

·      Increasing repeat purchases

·      Driving customer loyalty

·      Maximizing customer lifetime revenue

Consumers want authentic voices, not faceless sales executives who use the same old tricks. Marketers can’t ignore influencer marketing any longer: content creators have the power to drive business growth and deliver authenticity that engages with audiences.

Imagine—thousands of voices having authentic conversations about your brand that hold sway in a way your voice alone never could.

That’s the power of influencer marketing!

Since influencer marketing is a discipline all its own, you’ll need a few unique components to build an influencer campaign. Here are the steps we teach to help our clients build influencer campaigns:

A)     Planning Your Influencer Marketing Strategy

B)     Influencer Identification & Selection

C)     Program Workflow and Automation

D)     Monitor & Track Key Metrics

E)      Optimized Distribution

However, before you start looking for influencers or create a strategy, you’ll want to determine a few key things to help set the stage. You’ll need to know your audience, set clear goals, and define how you’ll measure success.

Go ahead!

Give it a try, or reach out to us at [email protected] to create a tailor-made strategy for you!!