How does influencer marketing work?

Influencer marketing has been around longer than you might think and is on the rise with the introduction of new social media channels such as TikTok and the ever changing landscape of existing channels like Instagram and Facebook in order for them to remain competitive. But what is it? How does it work? And can your business benefit from working with an influencer?

What is influencer marketing?

Focusing on using key leaders or influential figures to drive your brand’s message to a wider audience that you do not already have access to. You can work with an influencer to directly share with their large following all of your key messages, product information or services and provide highly valued testimonials. This is an alternative to directly marketing to a large group of consumers.

How does it work?

1. Do your research – you should have identified your target audience and perhaps be able to tell who they are most influenced by – where do they hang out online? Who do they follow on social media? Use this information to identify which influencers might be best suited to them.
2. Work with the right influencer – you should be considering the following:
   1. Are they a good fit for your brand?
   2. Do they have good social media stats?
   3. How big is their following?
   4. What’s their engagement level like on their posts?
3. Approach your influencer – it’s important to try and build a relationship, you might not be the only brand approaching them for support. Put your brand front of mind before asking them to help. You will usually have to pay a set fee in return for a set amount of social media coverage, blog coverage and the like, or you can offer free products, meals, services in return for their review.
4. Be sure to set KPIs – ensure they are aware of what you’re trying to achieve from the outset before you make the investment with them.

How can they help your business?

There are several ways that influencers can amplify your business messages, here are just a few of our favourites:

1. ROI – as long as KPIs are set, the ROI can be massive. Their blog or social media posts can last a long time compared with a paid campaign and you can often see instant results.
2. It’s better than traditional PR – spending time and effort writing a press release can have its benefits, but there is often no guarantee that it will be published so therefore, never seen. Working with an influencer gives you more control over the message as well as visibility of the work completed.
3. Creates brand trust – authenticity is key and if an influencer has say, 10,000 followers, who are highly engaged telling them about your amazing brand, they are almost sure to listen or want to try it. 
4. Building awareness – whether you set strict KPIs for sales conversions or not, you can almost guarantee brand awareness and visibility to a new audience or following that you may not have built within your own business yet. 

Building an influencer campaign can take time, effort and research, that’s why you’re able to outsource this sort of support to us. Let us spend the time researching and engaging on your behalf to ensure your influencer marketing strategy is top notch. For a list of further benefits on this type of marketing, take a look here.