Influencers are individuals with specific niches who have a large online following. Since their followers view them as trustworthy experts in their field, they can effectively influence their audience's purchasing decisions. Influencers and their impact on retail have made influencer marketing an essential component in a brand's marketing arsenal.
For brands to remain relevant, they must be able to generate personalized content for each type of social media platform. They need to work with influencers who specialize in each channel and are capable of engaging their target audience within these digital spaces.
Their recommendations or endorsements can help brands expand their reach and generate potential customers. Social media marketing is a highly effective method.
As a result of the pandemic, we have seen a huge shift in the way consumers shop, with most now buying online and, in particular, purchasing products directly on social media.
Therefore, it makes sense for B2B marketers to ensure that their products or services are showcased on social channels through influencer partnerships.
Benefits of Influencers and Their Impact on Retail
An influencer is someone who has reach, credibility, and the ability to sell both their personal brand and the brands they collaborate with. Influencers can be traditional celebrities or even ordinary individuals from anywhere who have managed to build significant trust among their social media followers.
They can be a popular fashion photographer on Instagram, a well-read cybersecurity blogger who tweets, or a respected marketing executive on LinkedIn.
On the other hand, influencer marketing is the process of identifying, researching, and engaging with those influencers who can create high-impact conversations about your brand with your customers and potential clients.
The influencer marketing industry has grown and will continue to do so due to the increasing popularity of short video formats on platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube, as well as the effect of the global pandemic on consumers, which catalyzed social media consumption.
Brands often collaborate with relevant influencers to produce content that promotes their products and services. This allows them to leverage the influencer's engaged audience to generate awareness in an authentic way.
Deeper Relationships
The idea behind influencer marketing is that the influencer builds trust with their audience through authentic presentation and engagement, which aligned brands can leverage. In this way, influencers help foster deeper relationships with customers through their association with the brand.
Of course, for deeper relationships to form, it's a given that the influencer's personal brand and yours must align (values, industry, audience, etc.), but your business must also provide value to their audience to achieve maximum impact.
Boost reach
The other obvious benefit of working with an influencer is the potential for a broader reach by leveraging their audience. More companies are adopting an ever-active approach when it comes to influencer marketing, which helps establish a brand's constant presence across different social media platforms.
67% of brands use Instagram for influencer marketing, with the projected number of monthly active users nearing almost 1.2 billion by 2023.
Finally, 40% of desktop users and 15% of mobile users utilize ad-blocking technology (excluding those who pay a premium for ad-free services). Influencers can help reach these consumer groups through sponsored content.
Depending on their goals, influencers can help you reach more people or target very specific audiences. Naturally, broader reach often leads to higher social engagement as well.
increase social engagement
An increase in reach is usually not the only metric to be measured when running an influencer marketing campaign. You'll also want to consider measuring the rise in social engagement likely to be presented to you.
The Influencer Marketing Hub's 2021 benchmark report showed that engagement rates vary across various platforms and influencer audience sizes. Particularly, micro influencers tend to have higher engagement rates than their mega influencer counterparts.
Influencer marketing benchmarks
A higher social engagement often also leads to increased brand awareness, as social platforms display posts that your network interacts with.
By establishing a strong, long-term relationship with influencers, marketers can turn these opinion leaders into true brand advocates. They can work with individuals who are familiar with their brand and audience.
high earned media value
The final major benefit of influencer marketing is gaining higher earned media value (EMV). EMV refers to the return on investment (ROI) obtained from third-party responses to marketing activities, such as an influencer marketing campaign, essentially, the performance of your investment.
A higher EMV typically means you're getting more social mentions and have more significant social connections (which can lead to increased sales)
Some statistics supporting such influence include:
90% of respondents in the Influencer Marketing Hub 2021 report believe influencer marketing is effective.
A Tomoson survey found that companies earn $6.50 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing.
Research from the International Scientific Conference on Economic and Social Development shows that 87% of participants said that when choosing a product, they choose one recommended by an influencer.
Instagram remains a viable channel for users to discover new products and services. This versatile platform already has broad global reach, with 83% of its users turning to it to find something new.
Influencer marketing is a formidable marketing tactic. Companies that leverage influencer marketing are more likely to succeed, especially if they can establish a healthy, long-term partnership with creators.
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