Influencers on social media like Facebook and Instagram can help promote your brand through their followers. These people share their lives and opinions and foster relationships with their followers. Through their pleasing aesthetics and knowledge of certain issues, followers trust in them. In this way, users believe these influencers tell them the truth. Brands have come to see that these trusted users are perfect for what is called influencer advertising. This article is going to look at the pros and cons of social media marketing. You will also see which influencers to look for and those to stay away from. Learn what an influencer is in marketing and how you can promote your brand with them.
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The Positive Side to Influencer Marketing
What is an influencer in marketing? These trusted users promote certain ideas and other things that followers enjoy. Influencers have become very important in promoting brands. It has been proven that followers tend to buy items if their trusted influencers approve of the company. They may even pick up a product they would not otherwise have because an influencer recommends it. In this way, you can boost your brand and product significantly through social media influencers.
Reach Specific Audiences
A social media influencer in marketing has the ability to reach specific audiences. If your product is dog food, it is helpful to pick an influencer that is known for their love of dogs. They can reach more people who might be interested in buying new dog food. It is good to sit down and decide who your target audience is when choosing an influencer. Some questions to consider are:
- Which social media platforms are popular for those who might use your brand?
- What kinds of content do possible customers like to consume?
- Which influencers match the demographics of your customers?
These questions can help you to determine what kinds of candidates to approach for brand deals.
Building Trust
Another pro of social media marketing is the trust these influencers build with their followers. Followers trust that influencers will tell them the truth. So, you will be able to build a good reputation with your brand when you have an influencer promoting the product. This will also cultivate your relationship with your customers because they already believe in your brand due to the influencer.
A Longer Reach
While the purpose of using an influencer for marketing is to target a specific audience, it is also beneficial to see that they can help you reach more people. Some followers might not be interested in switching dog food products, but they might consider it when they see a trusted user promoting the food. If you use an influencer for marketing, you will find that people will buy the product and make a decision quickly because of an influencer. So, influencer marketing can be a faster route for sales than a commercial on a regular news channel.
Price Benefits of Influencer Marketing
One of the greatest benefits of an influencer is the cost. While it depends on the kind of influencer you want, the price can be pretty low depending on who you ask. While using someone like Dixie D’Amelio or Hailey Bieber to promote your brand might raise the price, using a micro-influencer can be cheaper. A micro-influencer is someone with several thousand followers who will be open to less expensive brand deals. While they may have fewer followers, they still have a large engagement rate. This can help your product sales quickly without a huge price tag.
Save Time
You also save time by using an influencer because when you ask someone to promote your product, they do all the work. This means they put together the summary of your product, they take the pictures, and they may even answer questions concerning the product. This is helpful for advertising, but there are drawbacks. If the influencer isn’t really interested in your product, they may not be able to answer questions or make your brand look as good. There are definitely things to avoid in influencer marketing.
The Negative Side to Influencer Marketing
While using an influencer may mean that your sale cycle increases for a while, it can also cause significant damage to your brand if you use it unwisely. It is important to do research on the right influencer and find one that works best for you. Make sure to find a genuine influencer. This means someone who has actual followers. Some accounts have fake followers that are not real people. Check comment sections on posts to see if there are a lot of spam comments. If there is low engagement to their posts compared to the followers they have, then that might be someone to avoid as well. If you work with someone who is lying about how much of an influencer they really are, it damages the reputation of your product and brand.
Follow the FTC Guidelines
Another thing to look out for is an influencer who does not follow the rules. A bad influencer is someone who does not follow the FTC guidelines. It is very difficult to recover from a scandal or a lawsuit and it can really hurt your sales. In these ways, there can be risk involved through using an influencer for marketing.
Be on the Same Page
Find an influencer that has a genuine following as well as someone who understands what to do when marketing your product. Make sure that they mention the post is sponsored by your company. Also, make sure you find an influencer who has the same audience as your target customer base. It is always crucial that you and your influencer are on the same page about the details of the advertisement.
Track the Results
The biggest negative to a marketing campaign like this can come through measurement of the results. It can be difficult to find out if the advertisement paid off. Wasting money on a campaign without realizing that you are can be frustrating. That is why it can be helpful to use hashtags to see how popular your product is. You can also use specific codes when promoting a product or use links to see how many users are clicking on it. Keywords are very important for a social media campaign such as this.
Finding the Right Influencers
Due to the risks involved with deciding on what influencer to use for marketing, it is important to do the research. It can be tedious, but if done right, it pays off in the end. You will need to keep up with the trends and find out who is popular. While micro-influencers will not bring the same engagement as a very famous person like Jennifer Aniston, they can still be popular enough for your brand. The one thing to always count on is that popular trends and aesthetics change all the time. The influencer that helped you last month might not be the ones to focus on next month, as things are always changing.
Use A Checklist
While you check and see if the influencer has a genuine following, also check for a few other things. Do they post about subjects related to your brand or product? If your product is dog food and the influencer you are looking at only posts about their multiple cats, maybe find someone else. Has the influencer has done advertising before? Can they show you how they have done it in the past? Looking at these things can help you avoid major mistakes that may ruin your brand.
Create Relationships
Just as influencers create relationships with their followers, businesses should build relationships with influencers. This can help your influencer put time and effort into the advertisement. No matter what you do with your product, one of the most important parts of building your business are the relationships you create. Whether it be with an influencer or customers, people like to connect. Growing those attachments will always be important to building your brand.
Engagement Rates
An important note to keep in mind is followers and engagement rate. This is where micro-influencers become contenders for your product. Sometimes, followers are not important to your final decision. Engagement rate can mean more. If a smaller influencer has a higher engagement rate than someone with 400,000 followers, then pick the smaller account. It is good to remember that a great engagement rate is around 3.5% and an average rate is between 1% and 3%.
Other Ways to Find Influencers
If this is too much work to handle, you can also look for an influencer marketing agency to help you. They can find the right people for your company and brand. If you have the money and time, you can also create your own “club” of influencers. This means that there are certain users who will be there to promote your products when you create new lines or have something to market.
Less is More
Finally, when looking for the right influencer in marketing campaigns, do not pick someone who heavily uses ads as content. Followers will get bored with this kind of page and might even unfollow them because of it. Picking someone who does not use as many ads can help your brand. If followers see an ad only every once in a while, it can build that trust with your company. This is because the influencer genuinely believes in your product and they are not just promoting it for the money. Followers can see that.
Have Goals in Mind
The most important thing to remember when finding an influencer for marketing is to have a goal for your product. Do you have a direction for the brand? What are you hoping to do with the product? Make sure the influencer you pick knows what the goal is so they can use it in their advertisement.
The Great Reward
The major risks mean that this kind of marketing can take months to complete. However, the payoff can be worth it. Take time and do research to find the right influencer for your product. Try to find someone legitimate who is dedicated to getting the ad right. Influencer advertising can help your product become incredibly successful if done properly. Make sure to check your marketing strategy and see if it is paying off or see if you need to rethink your plans. The guidelines and successes of marketing change every day. With online advertising, it is important to understand what will make you successful. Learn more about digital marketing to find out how to promote your product in the best way possible.
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