Let's Talk About Influencers

It's difficult to find someone unfamiliar with the term.?

It's even more difficult to find someone who doesn't know an influencer.?

It's possible that your brain went straight to the world of digital influencers, whose daily lives we watch via Instagram, for example.??

This could be intentional following or just from curiosity.?

But when we talk about influencers, there is so much more ground to cover.?

There are lots of different types, and as I said before, nowadays any one of us can be an influencer.??

This is because, as Gordon Glenister said, an influencer is someone who changes others' behaviour through their trustworthy opinions, knowledge and content creation.?

However, thanks to his book Influencer Marketing Strategy, we understand that the most successful influencers are those who remain authentic and relevant to their audience.??

Some even become brands themselves!???

?

The Importance of the Influencer Today??

If we're going to follow the work of an influencer, trusting them is not enough.?

We need to like them. What they do. The content that they share.??

They need to be interesting and able to entertain us.??

If that weren't the case, friendliness, humour and creativity wouldn't be topping the list of the most important qualities for this person to have.??

Empathy has also won a spot since the start of the pandemic in 2020.?

So now I'll explain to you why these influencer qualities are so important: because out of all the different sources of the information we search for nowadays, recommendations given by content creators are among the most popular options.?

And the people who value them the most are Generation Z, currently aged between 16 and 23.??

Word of mouth from family and friends continues to be top of this list.?

However, brands have been aware for a while now that a good strategy involving partnerships with influencers can produce good results.??

This was the case for HiSmile, a manufacturer of teeth whitening kits. They began with €20,000 to promote a new product and used almost their entire budget sending kits to micro-influencers. Today, the company is working with model and businesswoman Kylie Jenner and Irish mixed martial artist Conor McGregor. ?

Another example is the luxury watch brand Daniel Wellington, which also adopted an influencer marketing strategy and which now has a turnover of almost €230 million. ?

?

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Influencer Marketing?

An influencer can bring a lot to a brand, if they match.??

Advantages include:

• Influencers offer authenticity and reliability?
• They help tell the brand's story?
• An influencer marketing strategy can generate a better return on investment?
• It can optimise SEO through backlinks?
• The brand becomes relevant to the community?
• The strategy helps brands create niches in the market??
• It requires a lower investment?
• Content remains active for longer?
• It opens the door to the brand creating new products?

The best campaigns involving influencers are the ones which choose to work with several. However, this of course depends on the budget the brand is able to invest.?

But it's not all roses, and I've found at least three disadvantages to this marketing strategy for you:

• It's harder to measure the performance of influencer campaigns, especially if they don't involve hashtags, discount codes or links that could be traced?
• Associating a brand with a certain person comes with risks – if the influencer lets their followers down, the brand could also be harmed?
• Finding an influencer who's a perfect fit for the brand can be a headache and lead to many sleepless nights?

?

The Different Types of Influencer?

Through different campaigns and with the passing of the years, brands have formed the notion that an influencer's range isn't the only important thing; in other words, we need to check more than just their follower numbers.?

As well as being a restrictive approach, it could be a mistake.??

More so than the numbers, the qualities of the influencer who we want to work with our brand are now increasingly important – or should be, at least.??

Imagine a set of weighing scales. On one side is an influencer with 500,000 followers who doesn't stir any empathy within their community, and on the other side is an influencer with 50,000 followers who interacts with their audience, is heard, who cares and who offers authenticity and credibility through their content.?

Go: which one are you picking???

Well. The choice is obvious.??

That's why lots of brands have been choosing micro-influencers.?

Let's label the different types of influencer:??

• Nano-influencers – 1000 to 10,000 followers?
• Micro-influencers – 10,000 to 50,000 followers?
• Medium and Macro-influencers – 50,000 to 1,000,000 followers?
• Mega-influencers/Celebrities – over 1,000,000 followers?

In spite of the wide reach and authority they tend to have, mega-influencers and celebrities come at a very high price yet have lower rates of engagement than smaller influencers. ?

Amanda Russell talks about the four kinds of influence in her book The Influencer Code: fame, authority, speciality and affinity.??

The power of the latter is often still overlooked by lots of marketers to whom influence is a question of reach, popularity and fame.?

They're forgetting that the connection between influencers and their audience is essential here.??

At the end of the day, we all want to hear from someone we trust and who shows concern for our well-being.

In an ideal world, brands should work with several different types of influencer within the same campaign, but the investment that would require makes it almost impossible.??

Each influencer has their own characteristics and brands' homework often involves finding out who fits with the company values and the campaigns they're going to launch.?

If we run a baby products shop and we want to promote a pram, it makes sense to look for someone with small children who still uses this product. That brings the influencer closer to their community – "If they're using the pram for their baby, it must be good."??

Similarly, if we want to announce a new sports clothing line, we need to work with someone who does a lot of exercise and enjoys sport, rather than someone who has over 50,000 followers but prefers to spend their time on the sofa watching TV.??

What kind of image do you want to create for your brand???

Have a think, because this is what I'm going to focus on in my next article.