In the Digital age of e-commerce and online marketing, comes the unique challenge of building trust. Telling a customer that your brand or product is the greatest is simply not enough, customers seek social proof to validate a brands reputation. Businesses in competitive industries can spend large amounts on advertising but with customers being exposed to so many ads how can you compel someone to pick your brand over another?
Influencer marketing utilises the social influence of high-value individuals that can identify with your brand. Having authoritative Influencers advocating your brand helps promote your brand to new audiences, build trust and establish brand ideals. Influencer marketing is not a new concept, it has been around for as long as advertising has existed and has allowed brands to position themselves around the likes of athletes, celebrities and opinion leaders. Nike's sponsorship of Tiger Woods used his influence and prowess to affiliate themselves with Tiger Wood's golfing audience.
With the rise of Social media and online Influencers, brands are able to affiliate themselves with micro-influencers that have around 10,000 followers or audience members. micro-influencers present a unique opportunity because they may be able to reach a more niche demographic that may not have been possible with conventional advertising or larger Influencers. Micro-influencer may also be more willing to collaborate with smaller brands that don't have big Nike budgets and micro-Influencers generally have a greater engagement rate with their audience members than larger Influencers do.
Micro-influencers have also shown to have a greater level of trust with their audience, many audience members perceive micro-influencers opinions to be less commercialised than those of larger Influencers due to the fact that brands are more likely to approach larger Influencers for sponsorships rather than micro-influencers. Micro-influencers are quite often more focused towards a specific topic and less generic than larger Influencers, they also tend to create more engaging content because they are able to understand and interact with their audience members a lot better.
Creating an effective Influencer campaign can no doubt help businesses generate more organic traffic, here are a few key considerations that your brand can implement to help get started on the right track:
Bring the right influencers on board
When it comes to Influencer marketing "the more the merrier" does not really apply, it is important to affiliate your brand with micro-influencers that share the same message and ideals as your brand. Having an Influencer that is closely aligned with your brand means that their audience members are more likely to have an interest in your brand.
Look within your community
Start by building your Influencer list by reaching out to customers or bloggers that are already about your brand and have a large enough following. Hashtags on Social media platforms are a great way to find people that are mentioning your brand.
Request organic content posting
One of the other benefits of having an Influencer that is aligned with your brand is that they can make posts and stories in an organic and non-salesy way. This is important to maintain credibility in the opinion of the Influencers and makes it easier for them to incorporate your brand into their regular content.
Verify Social accounts
With so many services available for people to buy their way to Influencer status and with likes being removed from Instagram in many countries it is a good idea to vet Influencers before they come on board. Be sure to request a breakdown of their audience demographics such as country, age, gender and also the engagement on the last 9 posts they have made.
Having micro-influencers in your marketing campaign is a great way to get your brand noticed and centred within your target audience. Maintain a good relationship with the micro-influencer so that your brand can grow along with the micro-influencer and you never know, one day they might end up being a mega-influencer.
If you're not sure how to plan or implement your Influencer campaign then that's something we can help with, Elyptus Digital offers full service Digital Marketing including an expert Social media marketing team, we have offices in Melbourne, Australia. Auckland, New Zealand. New York, USA and service clients worldwide. We can also help you get in touch with the right Influencers.
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