It’s a well accepted fact that a majority of new-age consumers turn to social media adverts before making a purchase decision. A great chunk of what people buy is affected by what they see and hear most of, and that consumption is mostly done through social media channels.
Even within the realms of how social media works, there’s one major aspect that’s currently picked up all the hype – and that’s influencer marketing. Influencer marketing has seen it’s brisk surge and then, upsurge too – owing to how relatable and accessible it’s become for modern day audiences.
To put it more straightforwardly, social media is everywhere, and so are it’s most coveted subsidiaries – influencers.
Coming to how brands are keeping up with the trend,
A report by CyberClick suggests that an estimate of 75% of brands will dedicate part of their marketing budget to the influencer marketing strategy in 2021.
The chief reason for such a large majority of businesses to step forward to this fad is the magnitude of reach that today’s influencers hold. Be it a local influencer, or celebrity influencers – each segment commands a significant base over its own target audience, and brands are leveraging on this form of marketing just as effectively.
The core aspect of influencer marketing is to capitalize on someone else’s popularity, and it’s been working absolute wonders for modern day brands – not just in terms of how they position themselves in front of their audiences, but also when we talk about the actual revenue-returns that the social media tool has brought in for businesses that have used it to the optimal.
In addition to this, another report states that over the course of 2021, influencer marketing is forecasted to grow to be a $13.8 billion market. That’s huge. (we know)
In this article, we’ve listed the advantages of influencer marketing and what makes it one of the most sought after marketing trends in 2021.
Take a read-through to learn more –
It helps brands with creating a wider visibility spectrum –
When a brand leverages on their social media platforms to market themselves, they’re promoting – but they’re still promoting within their own established audience, which comes with a limit. No matter how diverse their campaign strategies are, or even how engaging the content is – it still revolves within mostly a bounded range, to a very large extent.
To solve the purpose of gaining your reach to a more diverse audience, influencers do the job, and they do it outstandingly. By collaborating with a known personality, not only are you reaching out to people outside of your pre-defined scale, you’re also coming off as a collective that can be vouched for.
A good example of a collective using influencer marketing would be the recent winner of Influencer marketing Awards’ ‘Most Effective Collaboration’ – the BBC Sounds x Digital Voices campaign.
In this campaign, Digital Voices collaborated with BBC Sounds in order to leverage influencers to promote BBC Sounds’ podcast, music, and radio offerings. Not only was the campaign mindfully laid out, it was also inclusive in it’s selection of the right kind of artists to represent the various niches included in the project.
Using influencer-praised content builds more trust within the audiences –
As per a report by the Digital Marketing Institute, not only do almost 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations, but almost 40% of buyers make a purchase after hearing of a product on Twitter, YouTube or Instagram. Going by the numbers, it’s well established that influencers have their command over the audiences. Not only that, but they also help partnering-brands piggyback over their reach and the trust they’ve built within their own follower-pools. Influencers have been able to gain such an immense momentum of trust and relatability with their viewers, that a report suggests that 4/10 of millennial buyers would rather trust the opinion of an influencer before making a purchase, than their friend’s.
Bit of a revelation, but it is what it is.
In addition to this, once brands have a clearly identifiable brand persona, and they know exactly who they’re catering to – it aids their process of finding the right kind of influencers, who resonate with their brand values. The process of identification of your brand attributes, and then deciding who your target pool is only simplified by aiding with an individual who aligns with similar ideologies, to help create a campaign that actually creates a reverberating impact on your customers.
Dior’s 67 shades of Dior campaign, which is also known to be one of it’s most inclusive campaigns so far – can also be a great example of a brand capitalizing on it’s reach to create social media content that is not just influential, but also comprising of a social message.
Social media collaborations boost the brand salience of a business –
To define what brand salience truly stands for in the simplest of terms – it’s a measure of how well your brand is recognized. A high brand salience would indicate that people recognize, or know of your brand – hence increasing their probability of making a purchase with you. On the other hand, a low brand salience would indicate otherwise – that since your collective doesn’t come off as that easily recognizable, a customer’s chances of keeping you in mind before making a purchase decision are also low, since they don’t know of you in the first place.
How teaming up with influencers comes in handy here is that they not only help you boost your brand salience and how well you’re recognized, they also increase your chances of creating a longer retention on your customer’s minds when they’re making a purchase. As far as a Hubspot report goes, consistently presenting your brand across all platforms can increase your revenue by almost 23%.
That’s not all, 82% of investors say that name recognition is an important factor guiding them before making investment decisions.
Widely understood as a psychological concept, brand salience, coupled with influencer marketing ultimately leads to your brand creating a more long-lasting, memorable impact on your consumers. In this context, a little nudge definitely goes a long long way.
Teaming up with influencers can help brands create more engaging content
What sets the influencer and content creator community apart is that they not only have an incredible reach potential, but also that they have an understanding of the kind of content that the audiences are actually looking for.
With the mediums also getting just as exploratory, the community thrives off creating content within the span of audio-visuals, informative pieces, or even plain old word-based content that speaks to its consumers. The end-goal of such content, no matter how varied the mediums are, stays the same – to create a streak of relevance with your viewers.
A collaborating brand can capitalize on the same when they partner with an influencer as part of their holiday marketing strategy – knowing what resonates with the audiences vs. what doesn’t.
While creating content that not only deeply resonates with the viewers, but also is intertwined with having the capacity to build a level of trust with them – the influencer marketing strategy takes brands a long way when talking about creating a long-standing audience base that’s fiercely loyal.
A good example of this would be the ‘Anthem of Us‘ short film by Bedrock, a Detroit based real estate collective who made this piece in support of the rich cultural heritage that Detroit and it’s natives have to offer. The film was promoted by several local influencers like Shinola, as well as by celebrity Big Sean, who happens to be a Detroit resident.
Ultimately – the more you’re known, the more you sell –
The conclusive end-goal of partnering with an influencer or celebrity to market your brand stays the same – getting people to know, and like you. Only when someone knows of your existence and then, happens to have a liking for what you stand for – will they be motivated to keep you in mind while making a purchase.
The whole concept of influencer marketing works wonderfully in this aspect, and is also touted to be one of the most cost-effective marketing methods in 2020-21.
With a report by the Digital Marketing Institute stating that 59% of marketers would adopt this method as part of promotional campaigns, influencer marketing is set to overtake organic search, paid search, and email marketing too.
Not just this, a report by BigCommerce states that 89% of brand marketers say ROI from influencer marketing is comparable to or better than other marketing channels. All of these supportive points in favour of influencer marketing as a marketing medium make it one of the most looked out-for strategies for not just effective, but also profitable marketing this season.
In summation, it wouldn’t be an overstatement at all to say that influencer marketing tops the list for one of the best marketing trends to pick up in recent times, and if used mindfully – it can help a brand chart it’s way to garner maximum conversions and sales in today’s fast paced digital-first market.
