Why is influencer marketing important and becoming one of the most effective ways to attract and retain clients? According to Bloomberg, 225 million dollars are invested in influencer marketing monthly. Consumers are “blind” to outdoors and “deaf” to ads. According to data from Customer Think, 47% of people who buy online use ad blockers. That nearly eliminates half the audience that a company can reach through online advertisement.
Those who understand influencer marketing know they can get good results in campaigns with influencers. Currently, according to Entrepreneur, 92% of consumers trust recommendations made by individuals more than those made by brands.
A company can, for instance, talk to a specific audience through innovative content made by the influencer, who automatically recommends your brand or product to their loyal followers. Thus, generates engagement and increases your message’s reach. That way, having influencers as allies can make a difference in the success of a marketing campaign.
That is natural in communication. When a consumer hears from a real person that a product is good, the brand’s credibility tends to rise – and it also happens on the other way around. 71% of consumers say their perception about a brand improves after reading positive opinions from real people, and half (50%) of the consumers state they already made a purchase decision based on online comments. Influencer marketing, exactly because it works with people – in other words, an influencer – has a positive effect because the creator becomes the brand’s spokesperson and will talk to the audience that already admires and follows him or her in the social networks.
Influencers are powerful transformation agents, not only for the marketing sector, but also for the experience of those hiring the service. In truth, they represent a strategic investment in a client journey that is more meaningful and productive. With influencer marketing, the ROI – return on investment – becomes something concrete and measurable, because you can link your campaigns and content marketing actions from there directly to the business and the client’s goals. Here is a list of six reasons that show the importance of influencer marketing.
1. It establishes trust
Influencers created trust relationships and have credibility with their fans. Thus, people respect their content and recommendations.
2. It improves brand awareness
As observed, influencer marketing can boost your reach and improve your market position. Individuals connected online will start to know more about your brand or product, your history, and the solutions you offer. To guarantee success, it is important to provide valuable content that adds something positive to your social media presence.
3. It enhances your content strategy
Leaving the content design in the hands of the influencer can help you fill the void in your own creation schedule. That works well in situations for which you don’t have an idea for a content or simply need quality material to post in your social networks.
4. It reaches your target audience
Through influencers, your content is placed in front of users who are already interested in your niche. You don’t have to spend more to test and find your audience, because the influencer already promoted that audience in social networks.
5. It builds successful partnerships
Creating campaigns with influencer marketing can be the outcome of a good relationship with the influencer. When a brand creates that connection, both benefit from it. Several joint work opportunities can come from it and the influencer may become a “product advocate”.
TIP: Finding the right influencers for a brand is a difficulty pointed out by 60% of people who work with influencer marketing. Influency.me is a platform with over 65,000 creators, which allows the specific influencer to be identified for each type of business and create long lasting relationships. LEARN MORE
According to American Mark Schaeffer, influencer marketing becomes even more important for those brands or products whose potential clients are very engaged.
“We are in a world where people don’t trust companies anymore, which is particularly more significant in the new generation, born in this millennium. They only trust themselves and in the content shared on the web. It is important for a brand not only to conquer the conversation, but to conquer the minds and hearts of people”, Mark Schaeffer, author of the books “The Content Code” and “Return on Influence”.
Why is influencer marketing important: numbers show the significance and effectiveness of such action
Noticing the benefits influencer marketing brings, companies intend on giving such strategy more attention. In the United States, for instance, Tomoson conducted a research that proves it. In order to get a better view, 59% of marketing professionals intend to increase their budgets with influencers. Only 21% of them plan on reducing those expenses or keeping them at the same level, while the rest is undecided.
Influencer marketing is the strategy that brings the fastest results and are evolving, beating organic search, paid research, and email marketing. Affiliate marketing did the worst in this category, with only 5% of companies mentioning it as their fastest growth channel.
Influencer marketing is considered one of the most economic means – with a value for the money – when compared to other marketing strategies. For those companies with a tight budget, it is an interesting solution to boost results or reach other goals.
51% of marketing professionals believe they acquire the best clients through influencer marketing. Asked about this result, Jeff Foster, CEO of Tomoson, said that “social network users tend to spend more money and are more likely to spread the word to friends and family”.
For the company that wishes to increase the volume of more concrete prospects, influencer marketing is also effective. That happens because when people trust the influencer and pay attention to a certain message, chances are higher that they will respond positively to your brand.
On an interview to the website, Armindo Ferreira, who is a consultant and helps companies and influencers to connect with the digital world, voice his opinion on the subject. In the communication professional’s vision, brands need to understand a few things in order to take advantage of all the benefits that influencer marketing offers.
“I still see brands have trouble with it. In other words, it is necessary to understand that a creator has a very strong voice with their community and what makes them so special is that voice exactly, which is about a unique and special relationship. At the same time, the brand needs to understand that at some stage, it can also benefit from that open channel. Nowadays, it is no longer a tabloid, “buy now”, “check out the offer”, but creating the possibility of dialogues with people and making good content. The richness isn’t about what goes around, but about what comes around. People comment on what they don’t like, or what needs improvement. There are technology companies, for instance, that love when we criticize something, because they take that feedback and try to improve performance.”, Armindo Ferreira, who was recently considered one of the top 30 most influent people by YouPix.
The topic was discussed by Comunique-se’s Podcast, recorded on October 12. Click the player below to listen to the show.
