If you are involved with marketing for your brand, you may have heard the term “social media influencer” mentioned. It’s more likely that you have seen content from an influencer on your various social media timelines, or you have seen someone filming a vlog promoting a particular brand. But what exactly are social media influencers and how can they help raise brand awareness?
One of the most effective ways to grow your brand is influencer marketing which helps in generating more leads and conversions. Influencers are one of the keys to marketing your brand on social media.
We as people when lookout for some products in the market, whether be it an online store or a grocery store nearby, we tend to buy those items which have a brand value with good quality and which have never disappointed you as a brand.
For example, Women while buying household kinds of stuff get influenced by their neighbors, relative, or friends in order to make a purchase decision, they think it over in order to buy the product or not, because opinion matters from the people they trust & believe in.
The same works with big companies & brands when they get into influencer marketing. These influencers are common people as we are just that their opinions, statements about a brand/product, and experiences matter to the future customers as they are some big personalities which people look and idolize, therefore their opinions help a brand to reach out to their future customers.
Social media influencers are people who have a large following on various social media platforms and can convince others by virtue of their credibility and authenticity. The right influencer is someone whose content is original and engaging, appealing to your target audience, rather than a brand-style advertisement.
Social media influencers help your company in the following ways:
- Build customer loyalty
- Extend your brand reach
- Provide social proof & arm up credibility
- Extend the company’s budget
- Connect with audience
- Boost SEO
Gaining your customer’s loyalty is really important to your brand as these loyal customers indeed help you in gaining more reach into the market or their surroundings. Word-of-mouth is a subset of influencer marketing, making your brand create awareness among people and making it more visible to your future customers. Mainly the influencers focus on are Reach, Resonance, and Relevance.
On social media, we can find many different types of influencers such as :
- Celebrity influencers
- Industry influencers
- Content creators
- Micro-influencers &
- Local influencers
The marketing industry is constantly evolving, which means that the way marketing is done is constantly changing. People realize when they are being marketed to and enter the social media phase.
Gone are the days when a company promotes a particular message or brand to its consumers and succeeds. Brands now need to become active participants in the conversations of their customers in order to show value.
The authenticity of earned media is making it even more effective in terms of getting people’s attention. With the right influencers, a brand can reach heights gaining more customer base for the company. The company needs to be absolute about which influencers they are going to reach out to.
For example: If a company belongs to the cosmetics industry the company needs to look out for those influencers who are in this field so that the audience could relate to your brand’s products, where the company could go for supermodels, female celebrities, as influencers these people will help in justifying cosmetic products to people.
Once you find the right influencer you feel can help promote your brand authentically, make sure you have a compensation plan and budget in mind. Many influencers who have a large social media following will usually charge for their services. However, some influencers who have a lot of influence may be willing to provide their services for free in exchange for feedback.
Influencer marketing is on the boom in today’s digital world, getting known by your customers is the topmost priority for any brand, therefore with the right influencer marketing, it can build your brand from zero to hero in the market.