In today’s market, advertising is becoming more driven by consumers’ demand for transparency. Gone are the days of the traditional billboard campaigns. Consumers are now relying on recommendations before shelling out their hard-earned money.
So, as you plan your next marketing campaign, it’s essential to utilize one of the most authentic forms of marketing available: influencer marketing.
We’re going to dig into the top 7 benefits of influencer marketing to help you understand why this style of marketing works so well!
Table of Contents
1. Build brand trust and credibility
The most successful social media influencers are the ones who’ve been able to establish themselves as experts in a niche. They’ve managed to harness their expertise and build a community of followers that trust their opinions.
Because social media also provides immediate accountability, influencers know that they have to provide their honest thoughts on the products they advertise.
So when influencers promote your brand, they give you instant credibility.
Reading anonymous reviews can provide insight into a product. But consumers are far more likely to trust an influencer that they feel they already know and resonate with.
2. It’s highly relevant and authentic
Another one of the great aspects of influencer marketing is its authenticity. But to benefit from this, it’s important to work with relevant influencers in your industry. They’re more likely to have a niche audience that’s relevant to your brand.
For example, let’s say you’re working on an influencer marketing campaign for a hammock company. Outdoor influencers, who already post about nature and their adventures, would be a great fit for the business.
Because they’re outdoor enthusiasts, it would look authentic and natural for them to work with a hammock company. Plus, their followers are likely outdoorsy themselves and interested in what the influencers are promoting.
3. Adds value for your audience
Ads aren’t usually all that fun (though as marketers we love to use them!), especially when they’re disruptive.
Sure – we can all appreciate a well put together advertising campaign. But after a while, it just starts to feel like an old fashioned hard sell.
Influencer marketing is more like storytelling. Whether it’s through an Instagram post or a TikTok video – hearing your favorite influencers chatter on is both endearing and entertaining.
Most importantly, it’s content that’s sought out by people. Influencers create quality content that’s so good it can stand on its own two feet as entertainment.
4. Drives brand consideration
A vast majority of consumers look for online reviews and recommendations before they decide on making purchases. According to a recent report, 77% of consumers say reviews play a major role in their purchasing decisions.
You can work with influencers to create stories or videos that detail your product and get your message across. By sharing their experience and honest opinions about what they liked about it, it can drive positive sentiment for your brand.
We recently worked on an influencer campaign with telecoms company Telia. We discovered that as a result of the campaign, there was a 13 point increase in favorability amongst people exposed to the campaign compared to the control group.
To find out more about the study head over to the Building a brand with influencer marketing handbook.
5. Reaches your target audience effectively
When you find influencers you want to work with, be sure to take a look at their audience demographics to ensure it lines up with your target market.
You should request that they send you screenshots of their Instagram insights, for instance, to find the age, location, and gender of their followers. If you’re using an influencer marketing platform like inzpire.me, you can take a look at their profiles for demographic information on different social media platforms.
Remember, just because you find an Instagrammer who has an aesthetic you love, doesn’t mean you can jump in without having all of the facts.
While their content may look perfect for your vegan brand, their followers might not be located in a country they’re available in.
Checking that influencers have an audience that matches your target customer profile will ensure you’re getting a return on your marketing budget.
6. Builds brand awareness
You can extend your reach by working with influencers who have the right audience demographics.
Influencers have the ability to create fun, creative content about your product, which they’ll share with their followers. You’ll get people who may not have come across you before engaging with your brand!
You can also work with influencers for the long-term, such as in an ambassadorship. This will ensure their followers are coming across your brand frequently – keeping your brand top-of-mind. It’ll also make the collaboration feel authentic, and their followers may end up with a more positive perception of your brand.
7. Grow sales with a high ROI
Consumers are far more likely to buy a product if they see it being promoted by trusted influencers on social media. But the best way to show this to your boss and get a larger influencer marketing budget is to prove it with sales.
Influencers can easily showcase your product in sponsored posts. But if you want them to drive conversions, you need to have a clear call-to-action (CTA). If you’re using YouTube, be sure to ask influencers to share a link to your website, along with clear text directing their followers on where to go.
If you’re doing collaborations on Instagram, influencers should always have your brand name and call to action in the first line of their caption.
It’s important to note that influencers can’t post hyperlinks in Instagram captions. But we’ve seen that it’s very effective to share a unique and exclusive discount code to incentivize their followers to go to your website. This gives followers a clear CTA and solid reason for “why now.”
Final thoughts
These are just a few of the benefits of influencer marketing.
When done correctly, it can bring in conversions, draw new followers to your brand’s social media accounts, raise brand awareness, and more.
To start running your own successful campaign, click here to book a demo with our expert team. Or you can read up on how to build a winning influencer marketing strategy and set yourself up to make the greatest impact for the long term!
