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It’s no more news that electronic media is the mainstay of advertising. If you walk into a place filled with people, there’s an 80% possibility that they will be busy with their phones.
According to statista, there were over 3.96 billion social media users globally in 2022, and this figure is expected to increase exponentially in the coming years.
Then the million-dollar question is, “Why influencer marketing’? Why don’t I run ads or promotions, considering the large number of social media users globally
Running an ad campaign is fine, but do you know that 46.2% of consumers use adblock? This accounts for about 65 million social media users across different demographics.
The only way to penetrate people in this category is through influencer marketing.
So, in this article, we will go over what influencer marketing is and why it’s crucial to your marketing campaign.
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is simply using social media celebrities to advertise or promote your brand, products, or services.
But don’t let the word ‘celebrity’ scare you!
Anyone with a social media followers of 1000 and above is good for the job; however, using famous celebrities might be more effective because of their huge fan base.
There are 4 categories of social media influencers.
- Nano influencers: They have between 1000-5000 followers.
- Micro-influencers; They can have up to 10000 followers.
- Macro influencers: These influences have more than 100,000 followers.
- Mega influencers: They have a million followers. Mega influencers include Popular singers, actors, footballers, and more.
Selecting a social media influencer depends on your primary objective and budget.
Why you should use social media influencers for your business
They influence consumers’ decisions.
Followers always want to identify themselves with their influencers. They watch their day live, and post, and trust their decision. So, they will purchase without a second thought if their Influencer promotes a brand.
A few years back, a famous football player Cristiano Ronaldo during a press conference, wasn’t pleased because two Coke bottles were placed before him. So, he pushed the Coca-Cola bottles away and decided to promote the Water in front of him. This action made Coca-Cola shares depreciate by 1.6%, losing $ 4.6 billion from its market value because his followers no longer bought Coke for that period. This shows the power an influencer has over their followers.
It brings in a higher Return On Investment [ROI]
Influencer marketing has proven to be largely successful. For every $ 1 spent, you’re sure of $5.2 ROI.
Influencer marketing is the fastest way to reach many targeted audiences. When third-party cookies are removed, marketers lose access to robust tracking data, which makes it difficult to communicate with their target consumers through ads.
But when you partner with influencers, you get to see their audience and get access to their demographic data from social media sites where they are active.
Help build your brand.
It can be daunting growing a social media page. Still, you can leverage your influence to build your page when followers notice their social media celebrity is always talking, posting, and creating videos on a particular brand.
They’ll search for it, and once they find you, they’ll follow you. To make it easy, you can tell your partnering influencer to give way and to win, they must follow you.
Makes your brand appealing to their audience
It’s a widespread belief in marketing that customers must see your products 3 to 4 times before they make a purchase.
When you partner with influencers, They’ll create videos, pictures, and posts that appeal to their audience. The truth is that Generation Z has a high online purchasing power, and if your content can’t appeal to them, they won’t buy; instead, go to your competitors that use engaging and captivating posts and videos.
It can boost your website’s SEO ranking.
Influencers can help get organic leads to your website. Imagine getting over 1000 visitors to your website! This will inform Google that you are posting quality content, and consequently, it will rank your web pages.
You could use guest posting to achieve this. You have to search for websites with high domain authority and redirect readers to your website.
How to run a successful influencer campaign
Decide on your goals.
Before you venture into an influencer campaign, you must know your primary aim for running the campaign. You have to ask yourself these questions.
- Who is my target audience
- Why am I running this campaign: Is it for brand awareness or sales?
The next is to set up key performance index[KPI]; it includes: Views, Impressions, Click through rates, Engagements, Audience reach, increase in followers
Select the right social media platform.
Your choice of social media platform will depend on your target audience. If your target audience is those above 30, you should use Facebook, but for the younger generation, you should use TikTok and Instagram.
Choose the right influencer.
Using an influencer with a strong fan base is good. However, you can’t just pick any random person. You must ensure the influencer shares the same values as you and the brand.
You can ask the influencer to discuss his success in other campaigns he has done. You can also ask for recommendations from friends or run a hashtag to see who’s posting something similar to your brand.
Make a Content Schedule
You’d have to devise a plan detailing the frequency of posts. You’ll provide all the tools needed for the influencer to create content, but you must ensure that generated content is engaging and relevant to your customers and brand. You can amplify content by sharing it on your social pages.
Measure results
You’ll have to ensure that your primary objective is met. Also, check the KPI set to see if you have achieved anything significant. Study the published contents to find out which performed better and which underperformed.
Final Thought
After the campaign, you can ask for a review from your influencer; an endorsement from an influencer will give your business credence and authority.
Influencer marketing might be the future of marketing and hence shouldn’t be treated with levity. I’m confident you can create a highly converting influencer marketing campaign with the above tips.