Today’s digital landscape is cluttered with advertisements. Because of this, marketers must be smart about how they promote their brands. Traditional, non-native ads are lacking credibility and authenticity. That’s why influencer marketing are the next big thing.
Today, almost anyone can be an influencer. Social media has the ability to boost normal people to “internet famous” levels. All you need is a personal brand, credibility and a decent following on social media. Because of this, brands no longer need expensive celebrity endorsements to gain publicity. Instead, they can make more valuable connections to niche markets through the more cost-effective option of using influencers.
Although they can be a key to your brand’s success, it’s important that you thoroughly research potential influencers and the target market to help ensure a good return on investment. With the recent rise in this strategy and many controversies surrounding the topic, consumers have become more suspect of social media posts that are tainted by advertisements. When using influencers, it’s important to choose someone who can seamlessly incorporate your brand into their social media feeds and that has a clear passion for promoting your product or service.
So why should you promote your brand through influencers?
1. It’s More Personal
Influencers are thought leaders. They’re not only brands themselves, but they’re also humans that have real networks and promote themselves to a specific niche. These influencers have something that traditional advertisements don’t: they have credibility. When an influencer promotes your brand, people pay more attention because it’s more of an authentic promotion from a welcome source.
2. It’s Trackable
In order to ensure a good return on investment, you will need to track the success of the promotion. There are many ways to track engagement when your brand is promoted by an influencer on social media. When an influencer posts about your brand, make sure that they share a unique, trackable URL. Engagement can also be measured by likes, comments, reactions, retweets and shares. Tracking the success of these posts will give you concrete numbers and a good idea of your return on investment
3. It’s Native
Advertisments are everywhere. According to recent studies, the average person living in a city is exposed to thousands of advertisement everyday. This overwhelming exposure causes consumers to experience “banner blindness” as their brains have learned to ignore non-native ads. Due to overexposure of ads, any consumers use ad-blocking technology on their browsers to eliminate these ads altogether. Using influencers changes this. By using influencers and native advertising, the advertisement is incorporated into content that users want to pay attention to.
4. It Boosts Your SEO
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of improving your organic ranking in search results. When influencers promote your brand, it starts discussions on social platforms, which will give you more visibility and traffic. When a brand is widely mentioned online, it gains relevance and appears higher in search results, which will drive quality traffic to your website
5. It Creates Brand Awareness
Building long-lasting, positive relationships with influencers can be highly beneficial for a brand. Many brands only reach out to influencers with a massive following, but contrary to popular belief, that many not be the most effective way to promote your brand. Influencers don’t have to have an enormous following. In fact, influencer with a smaller following will most likely be more cost-effective and have higher levels of engagement. Also, if you catch them before they’re widely famous, they will be more likely to continue endorsing your brand in the future.