The modern marketplace now has a lot of products which is making customers really overwhelmed. They are finding it difficult to choose the right products according to their need and be able to trust the companies.
Due to digital marketing, the entire trajectory of advertising is making it challenging for companies to stay on top of the competition all the time. There is a consensus that customers tend to trust friends and family members more when it comes to using a product.
The power of word of the mouth is still very prevalent in terms of organic promotion of a product. We can relate some of it with influencer marketing, which is becoming a promising way of advertising in recent times. The words of a person, who has a significant online presence has a lasting impact on the general audience.
It is on the influencer to shape a perspective on any product or mindset that should inspire their audience. If you want to learn something more about influencer marketing, you can stick around for a while, sipping your favorite tea.
Definition of an influencer-
An influencer with the power of their words or action has the capability to influence other people. There can be several types of influencer. Micro-influencer are those who have less followers and reach only a specific set of audiences.
These individuals usually have less than 10,000 followers. Coming to the next category are powerful mid-level influencers, who have 10,000 to 250,000 followers. These sections of individuals might not offer a high reach like that of a celebrity, but they can still motivate and inspire a large number of people.
These kinds of mid-level influencers also get to collaborate with several brands and people also tend to trust their recommendations. The next category are the macro influencers who have more than 250,000 followers.
Although they have a maximum reach, they usually have a lot on their plate and generally choose their words very carefully. Reaching out to the right influencer can matter a lot when it comes to promoting your business or product.
How new is influencer marketing?
We can visualize the concept of influencer marketing to be around for decades. Brands have been paying a huge amount of money to celebrities for promoting their products. But as time is passing and customers are getting more aware about searching for authentic products, several other forms of marketing have emerged over the years.
Searching through several social media platforms like Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and several others is said to provide more value behind a customer’s purchase decision. Influencer marketing is one of the most important forms of marketing these days.
In influencer marketing, the concept is approaching a general person with a huge number of followers to promote a product. There can be several ways to promote your business under the spectrum of influencer marketing. You can pay a certain amount of money to the influencer to promote your product or brand.
As a business owner, you can also offer discounts on your products in return for a review on your product. Also you can provide exclusive information about any upcoming products and ask the influencer to promote your brand. In the world of the internet, influencers have put a great deal of time and effort into building their brand and increased their audience.
The trust formed between the influencer and their audience portrays the validity of the entire concept of influencer marketing. Big celebrities generally have to follow specific instructions while promoting a product. In the case of influencers, this might not be the case, as the reviews and suggestions are observed as a more authentic take for the audience.
It is very important for the brands to trust the influencer, as arranging the right content for the product is essential for the brand’s promotion. You should do your research about which influencer should be the right fit for your business. The content from the influencer should not be too sale-sy and needs to be authentic for the value creation.
The importance of influencer marketing-
In order to dive deep into the customer’s demand, a precise marketing strategy is important. The understanding of the market is a thorough process of research and so with an influencer, it could help your brand overcome this hurdle.
As a brand, you need to check that the influencer resonates with your product and share the similar value as your business does. The audience strength of the influencer should help you build the reputation with well-tailored content.
If your brand belongs to the clothing industry, try to collaborate with fashion influencers and bloggers as their audience is considered to be inclined towards fashion and apparels. With the help of influencers, your brand can have an added exposure.
As the influencer promotes your product, the followers will likely notice and head to the platform, where they could buy your product. It is considered more authentic to learn about any product from an influencer.
The noise of limitless competition could be avoided, if you reach out to your preferred influencer. The visibility of your brand gets accelerated and creates an attraction among the customers. Influencer marketing has several benefits for a brand. You just have to utilize it for your brand’s growth.
Attracting more engagements-
There can be several roadblocks in getting likes and comments on social media for your brand. In order to get impressive engagement levels, influencer marketing plays a huge role in keeping the audience interested in your product. With an influencer, your customer could get the feeling that the product is user-centric.
Such an approach can get your brand some traction in this stiff competition. Once the influencer shares your brand’s content on their social media profiles, there should be engagement among the followers, where likable content gets more shares and tagging other friends.
For any business to succeed there should be sales and growth. It might not appeal to the customers, if you create a great product and say good things about it yourself. An influencer talking about your product creates more validation and motivates the customers to check out your brand.
Nowadays, customers generally conduct thorough research online before buying a product. A study indicates that about 33% of the participants listen to their favorite influencers in making a purchase decision.
Influencer marketing is a robust tool for generating better conversion rates and helps a business generate commendable revenue. Due to the growing digital economy, customers have been choosing to buy products from ecommerce and online platforms.
The global pandemic of 2020 accelerated the approach where customers choose their own influencers rather than relying on traditional advertising campaigns. The more interesting a content is on the internet, the more value it could express in front of the audience.
Influencer marketing and looking into the future-
As a brand, an interesting point can be preserving some budget for product giveaways. You can collaborate with an influencer and organize a competition, where interested customers can take part and enjoy the brand culture.
When there is a video where the influencer is unboxing your brand’s product, it creates an interesting content for your customers. If there is transparency behind the fact that the influencer is getting to promote the product, customers could appreciate the honesty. This strengthens a bond between the brand and the audience, where the brand chooses to be transparent in their marketing strategy.
The influencer marketing program can be interesting if approached in the right way. There should be something more to the product than just likes, comments and shares. The conclusive evidence behind any success is the value created by it and the pain point it is addressing. Although there are so many products today in the market, it is very hard to decide on a particular brand. But if your business can garner the trust of the customers, there should be a sustainable outcome from this effort. And with the support of influencer marketing and long-term collaboration, customers will feel more authenticity behind the objective towards promoting that product to the market.
Frequently Asked Questions-
- What role does an influencer play in marketing?
Ans– An influence with substantial followers can influence an audience to buy a product that is promoted by them.
- Mention some of the benefits of influencer marketing.
Ans– Influencer marketing helps in brand promotion and engagement among the customers, where a product reviewed by an influencer can portray value to the target audience.
- How can influencers motivate customers?
Ans– When an influencer shares a piece of product on their social media channels, they generate authenticity and user-centric approach for the product.
- How important is influencer marketing in India?
Ans– Influencer marketing in India has a huge plus point of diverse demographic, With the right content, a brand can generate a sustainable growth.
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