More and more companies are using influencer marketing to advertise their brand instead of traditional advertising. But why is that? And what is influencer marketing?
Defining Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a type of advertisement that focuses on one powerful individual in a certain market that usually has a large (and loyal) social media following. In fact, 92% of people trust recommendations from individuals (even if they don’t know them) over brands (Click to Tweet). Influencers are a huge part of why that happens.
Brands have been flocking towards influencer marketing because it is cheaper, faster, and more effective.
Think about it, you can pay an advertising company X amount of dollars with little to no guaranteed results. Or you can pay one influencer (with over 100,000 followers on Instagram) far less money and have guaranteed results. You are guaranteed that person will garner you engagement in an oversaturated ad-world.
But we get it, you're still not convinced. Here are three important reasons that might change your mind.
Reason #1: Consumers do not want ads.
We already know that commercials and television ads are losing their effectiveness in driving purchase decisions. And now, digital ads are even being ignored by viewers. In fact, 47% of online consumers use ad blockers (Click to Tweet).
In other words, however much money you as a brand spend on advertising ... it's only seen by about half of its potential viewership. You're essentially wasting half your spend on digital advertising on viewers that will never even see your content.
Reason #2: ROE (Return on Exposure)
As a brand, you are guaranteed an ROE or Return on Exposure. To its core, social media collects impressions. People go on social media, follow people with similar interests as them, and take in all the information possible on that person. It's already been proven that influencer content generates 11x greater ROI than traditional advertising does (Click to Tweet).
Reason #3: Athletes as Influencers
When we think influencer marketing strategy, we automatically think of celebrities. What we overlook is athletes, who make up a large percentage of influencers with their reach on social media and traditional media.
While sports sponsorship has been covered by TV, news, and radio ... now athletes have the ability to show more of their personal side and beliefs through social media accounts.
What's even better is that athletes have loyal followers who want to invest in the same habits, products, and services as them. In fact, here's an example below.
Influencer Strategy ExampleWhen Cyc Fitness wanted to help generate awareness around their new location opening in Madison, Wisconsin … they were far more interested in an influencer who was widely-known in the college town. They offered free classes to athletes, and ended up working with Wisconsin basketball legend Josh Gasser. Josh attended a class for free in exchange for sharing that’d he’d be attending that class on social media. This resulted in a sold out class and an increase in membership for that location.
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By using a social media influencer, you are picking the right target market by having a social media star (in this case, an athlete) promote brands in the most authentic way possible. A social media influencer will take your brand and make it fit to his or her message or story. And that message or story are what their followers (your target market) are subscribed to.
All that's left now is to try it out for yourself. And hey, click the blue button below if you want us to help!
