Influencer Marketing
Influencer Marketing is an evolving trend that has gained popularity across the United States and countries around the world. You may have seen influencers like Zach King or Addison Rae on Tik Tok, Instagram, or other social media platforms. Influencers are generally people who have a repetition of knowledge, popularity, or expertise related to a certain topic. Occasionally, influencers will not have extensive knowledge of the product they are talking about. In this case, the influencer is reliant on the loyalty and trust of the community and social media following they have built around them. Oftentimes, influencers will make regular posts for companies they have a partnership with. In this way, companies hope to gain followers that are engaged with their product or service.
Many companies wonder whether they should follow the trends and use influencer marketing. There is no simple answer to this question, as it depends on the company, their budget, goals, industry and other factors. That being said, here are some benefits of influencer marketing and why it can be so effective.
The first benefit of this marketing tactic is that it promotes authenticity. Influencers operate independently by creating their own social media content, allowing them to have creative control over how they portray a company's message for a product or service.
Furthermore, influencer marketing easily allows companies to directly advertise their target audience. Not only is it important to locate your target audience, but also to strengthen your trust with them. Using an influencer who has gained assurance and admiration from thousands of people online offers a company a niche community to advertise their products or services. This offers a solution to consumers who are skeptical of a brand's product or service. As a result, influencers are able to show those unsure followers how it works while going over the benefits of the product leading to the purchasing decision.
Prospective consumers often try to avoid advertisements, however, influencers offer a company a way to get around that issue. Instead of advertisements being wasted due to ad blockers that many people have installed, businesses are able to directly reach their target audience in a way that is appealing to their customers. Influencers allow a business to advertise and sell their product in a subtle way that causes the company's brand/ products to have a greater reach and effectiveness.
Endorsing social media creators, tends to be more cost-effective than other sources of advertisements. Celebrity endorsements and paid advertisement placements are much more expensive than using influencers, especially micro-influencers. A standard price level for Influencers on instagram is $1,000 per every 100,000 followers. Youtube influencers on the other hand have a price point of about $100 per 1,000 views. Statistics show that businesses that work with influencers have the ability to gain up to $18 in earned media for every dollar spent. Even companies that had very mediocre knowledge of influencer marketing were still able to earn an average value of $5.20 per every dollar spent (influencer marketing hub).