Benefits of Influencer Marketing

We’ve all been hearing about influencer marketing trends recently. It’s expected to grow even more in 2023. But why is this trending? What benefits does influencer marketing offer? We want to touch on why influencers are the hot new thing when it comes to marketing strategy. We’ve licensed a lot of user generated content from influencers for advertising campaigns. There’s a reason it’s successful. Let’s take a look.

1.     Influencers are trusted. Gen Z really trust influencers. It’s been shown that they are more powerful than friends or family when it comes to purchase influence. This is most likely due to the fact that most influencers are considered experts in their field. That makes sense that people trust experts over those who aren’t.

2.     Emotional connections. Just like with UGC, influencers connect with their audience in a more human way. They’re not actors in a produced advertisement. They’re more like a friend who has particular expertise to recommend certain products or services to the brand audience.

3.     They build brand awareness. Influencers typically have a large following already. This will help your brand grow and get more eyes on what you have to offer. Influencer marketing is basically word of mouth marketing and that’s the best way to increase brand awareness.

4.     They save brand money. Just like with UGC advertising, influencers will save your brand budget when it comes to marketing and advertising. Influencer marketing has high ROI but it also costs less than spending your budget solely on produced marketing. Put these two together and you’re saving mor coin with them. Big bang for your buck.

There are many levels to influencer size and how each can help your brand grow will vary depending on many factors. No matter how you shake it, any influencer of any size will offer your brand many great business benefits. On top of those listed above, you will create a lasting relationship with them just as any business partnership and will increase brand creditability. Investing in influencer marketing is worth the time and the money.

Content Creators vs Influencers

Influencer marketing is coming in the lead this year for marketing and advertising strategy. But what is the difference between an influencer and a content creator? They are not necessarily the same thing. Let’s look at content creators first. This group of creators know how to create high-quality and authentic content that resonates with the audience. They consider this to be their career. An influencer is someone who actually has influence over a particular audience, hence the name. They’re usually experts in a particular field that regularly post tips, information and tutorials on their craft that influence others. Influencers have different tiers:

1.     Mega: over 1million

2.     Macro: 500K-1million

3.     Mid-tier: 50K-500K

4.     Micro: 10K-50K

5.     Nano: 1K-10K

There are some differences when working with content creators versus influencers. Working with content creators will get people engaged whereas influencers, as the name implies, influence. They have big followings so this is a way to increase brand awareness.  Working with content creators can enable a brand to experiment with different types of content, publish more frequently, save money and work with experts in certain fields. Working with an influencer can expand your reach and help you reach your target audience. Influencers have sway over their audience’s purchasing decisions. There is no way to say whether a content creator or an influencer would be better for your brand. It really depends on what your goals are. Are you trying to reach your target audience more effectively or are you trying to increase engagement? Both content creators and influencer have great things to offer your brand. We’ve worked with both at Locomotive and we understand the importance as well as differences of both. Understanding each is the first step to knowing which to use for your campaign.

Harnessing Influencers for Marketing

Influencers… we can all name at least one in this day in age. Jake Paul for example has set out and created a great business for himself through YouTube and now in the boxing arena. Although, let’s be honest the guy can’t box. They just feed him poor old men who were once previously good Mixed Martial Arts fighters. Big difference from real boxers. Nonetheless, he’s made millions through his marketing strategy as an influencer. But how can brands harness the power of these influencers and what are the reasons they would even want to? Influencer marketing has been shown to produce great return on investment (ROI). It delivers 11x’s that of paid media (Sprout Social). As the digital world continues to expand, it becomes more difficult for brands to reach their target audiences and influencer marketing can close that gap through locating influencers in their market (FORBES).

The first step in this process would be to conduct research to find what type of influencer best suits the needs of the brand and which platform you should be using. If you’re a vitamin supplement company you’re probably not going to reach out to a fashion model for influencer marketing. It’s also important to know which social media channel your brand’s area of expertise is dominated on: YouTube, Instagram, etc. Fashion and beauty tend to be more YouTube centric whereas other industries may be dominant elsewhere. Once you do this, you will also need to decide on a budget that can determine whether or not you go with a microinfluencer (less than 2K followers), someone between 5-10K or higher. The more followers the influencer has the costlier it becomes, naturally. Once you have decided on the budget you will need to know what the goals are for the brand through the influencer marketing. Is the reason for breaking into the Gen Z audience that your brand hasn’t yet? Are you trying to increase brand to consumer trust? Are you looking for more credibility in your industry? Deciding on this early on is crucial. Finally, it’s time to reach out and start making relationships with influencers.