What is influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is a digital marketing types which is a way of marketing and promoting brands through social media influencers. Brands can collaborate with big and small influencers depending upon their audience and requirements. It is a modern day concept and requires attention. Know about benefits of influencer marketing in a more elaborated way!
The idea behind this concept is to reach as many people as we can through the authentic, genuine and loyal followers of these influencers who not only follow them on social media platforms but also get influenced by them and their lifestyles.
This is the way to get to a more targeted audience because influencers are mostly working on some particular niche. Thus it is a bit easier to target audience with influencers. It is a good way of building personal relationships with the customers because the influencers are already personally connected with their followers.
Influencers can work on either partnership basis or sponsorships. Not only the small brands, but also big brands collaborate with influencers to promote their products. It is not only restricted to products or services but also related to reviews, marketing of offers and discounts on particular brands etc. For gaining maximum benefits of influencer marketing proper strategies needs to be followed.
If the campaigns of influencer marketing are planned in a systematic way then, it can be cost effective and per customer acquisition costs can be decreased. It solves various purposes like deep connection with the potential audience, increasing brand awareness and reach, and visibility of brands. All this depends upon the requirements of the brand and the end goal that they want to achieve.
Brand Awareness
One of the benefits of Influencer marketing is that it tends to increase brand awareness among the followers of the influencer. This is a very good way of making the target audience aware about the brand. Brands often spend money on the influencer whose audience are within their product’s niche. It increases the visibility of the brand and keeps on updating the target audience about various offers, discounts or new products of the brand.
Influencers who have loyal followers tend to engage with the influencer about the product or services which increases the conversion rate also. The first step in advertising and marketing is to make people aware about the brand, business and introducing the product which can be done effectively through influencer marketing.
Targeted reach
One of the main benefits of influencer marketing is that the business can also target the audience that are more likely to be related or interested in their products. This is simply because the influencer works on a specific type of niche and people follow them because they provide some value to them related to their niche which means the followers are interested in the topic, niche or the knowledge that the influencer is providing.
The marketing team of the businesses find those influencers whose niche or topics are related to their products for example a company who manufactures and sells protein powders will find influencers whos niche may be gym, gym trainer, dietician, health , etc. these influencers have followers that can be the target audience of the brand. The Instagram algorithm works on SEO thus, can reach a targeted audience.
Influencers with loyal followers tend to engage with them and purchase the product. Benefits of influencer marketing can be derived through targeting the right audience. By doing this the rate of conversion increases because these people trust the influencer and gather value from them. One of the most important function of marketing is identifying the target audience and reaching out to them which is solved through influencer marketing.
Trust and authenticity
Making people believe that the product is authentic, genuine and of good quality is one of the important benefits of influencer marketing which businesses can achieve. The followers follow influencers because they trust them and trust the knowledge provided by them. Therefore, the target audience will trust the product or service suggested by the influencer. They will try to engage and know more about the product which gives them a sense of trust for the brand as well because it is suggested by the influencer.
Also influencers often market the products through videos and reels showing them social proofs and real products. Influencers often show the unboxing of the product, results of using the product or service, informing about it in detail etc. there are many ways in which influencers market the products and services. Showing the real products and results makes the brand gain more trust from the audience and make them believe that the product is authentic.
Enhancing Customer engagement
One of the benefits of influencer marketing is increase in engagement. Due to marketing through influencers, customer engagement increases. This is because the people are keen to know more about the product suggested by an influencer whom they follow. They trust the influencer and therefore want to try the product or services.
For doing so, followers often want more details regarding the product or service so that they can make a decision and make an action. People do so by commenting on the sponsored posts or reels on social media or through direct messages. In the digital world, it is very difficult to provide personal experiences to potential customer. Like personal selling techniques of traditional marketing, influencer marketing can also be a very good way of solving the queries of the customers about the product and convincing them to buy it. Getting to know more about benefits of influencer marketing and moving further we have,
Feedback Generation
Influencer marketing also helps to generate authentic feedback of the product or services. Taking feedback is one of the most important things which is required to improve the quality of the product or service and make it as per the requirements of the customers. Feedback generation is the most important among all the benefits of influencer marketing.
It also helps to understand the requirements and expectations of the potential customers. Influencers often engage with their followers in their niche and can take insights and reactions of their audience through polls, story replies, comments, direct messages, FAQs etc.
Increasing social media following
It also helps in increasing the social media following of the brand because influencers post reels and videos in collaboration with the social media accounts of the brand which makes the account visible to more people which can lead to more engagement and following. Some brands also use it as a give and take model. Some brands design campaigns specially for gaining followers through influencers in return offering some kind of freebies or discount codes.
Micro influencers or macro influencers:
For gaining the maximum benefits of influencer marketing is choosing the right type of influencer which is a crucial step in moving towards influencer marketing. This practice depends upon various factors. Micro influencers are those who have followers between 1000-100000. They often have a bit of a narrow niche and are experts in a particular field with a more engaging audience. They interact with their followers and provide them with some expert opinions and value.
Macro influencers are those who have followers more than 100,000 and are often celebrities or fashion models. Basically they are mostly highly recognized personalities. They generally have a wider reach and a broad segment of audience. They mostly don’t have a specific type of audience. They have a broad and not specific audience.
After deciding the target audience, brands need to decide which type of influencer brands need to approach according to their budgets and requirements. For gaining maximum benefits of influencer marketing one needs to choose the right type of influencer. Macro influencers are suitable for new products whose target audience is not yet specific or the products which are newly launched in the market and still figuring out the target audience.
Factors affecting the number of benefits of influencer marketing:
Budget:
Budget is a deciding factor about which influencer to choose. If the budget is low the brand cannot collaborate with big influencers who charge hefty amounts of sponsorship money to advertise the product or service. Small influencers charge a bit less. It depends upon the number and quality of followers. For gaining maximum benefits of influencer marketing one needs to form proper budgeting strategies.
Target audience:
One major factor is target audience. Choosing the influencer with the right target audience is very important. As we know that social media platforms work on specific niches. We need to identify our own target audience and then find influencers according to it. It can be possible that small influencers may have more conversion rate as per the niche. It is all based on research work. Benefits of influencer marketing depends all upon our research for target audience.
Goal:
The goal for which the brand is carrying out influencer marketing is one factor in choosing the right influencer. The goals can be different. Some of the goals are gaining followers, offering discounts, informing about the product, appreciation post for the particular product, brand awareness, sales, leads engagement etc.
Case studies: Benefits of Influencer Marketing for big brands!
Boat:
The famous Indian speaker company “Boat” has benefited them to increase sales through big influencers and crickets on social media like Hardik Pandeya, Shikhar Dhawan etc.
These cricketers have millions of followers and a good influence over people, therefore it helped Boat increase its sales rapidly. Boat has gained many benefits of influencer marketing, as a result of which Boat was able to get much brand recognition and became a top brand of its segment with over 30% of market share.
Beardo:
Beardo, a grooming brand for males, collaborated with both macro influencers like some celebrities and micro influencers. The brand collaborated with influencers whose audience could relate with the brand and increase their sales.
They targeted the audience who were more likely to purchase the product. Their campaigns helped increase sales and conversion rates and grew significantly. They gained maximum benefits of influencer marketing.
Sugar Cosmetics :
Sugar cosmetics collaborated with influencers within their niche like fashion models, makeup artists and beauty influencers. It included videos like product reviews, unboxing the products, videos of getting ready etc. with influencers on Youtube and Instagram.
Conclusion:
Influencer marketing is an emerging concept in digital marketing and building an online presence. One should always know the benefits of influencer marketing. It includes collaborating with big or small influencers as per the requirements and the goals of marketing the product or services.
It leads to brand awareness, targeting specific audiences, taking feedback, engaging with followers, personally connecting with the audience and increasing sales. People believe that the brand or the product is authentic if some value about it is shared by the influencer whom they follow.
Some of the factors that are to be considered while choosing the right influencer are budget, targeting and main goal of advertising the product or services. Some brands who have gained recognition through marketing their products through influencers are Boat, Zomato, Sugar Cosmetics etc. Benefits of influencer marketing have evolved over time and now one can gain many benefits from it if utilized properly.
