Influencer marketing – what is it and what are the benefits?

What is influencer marketing?

It is known that if we want to buy, for example, mascara, we are more likely to reach for one that our sister or friend has tested and praised. This way we get to buy a good product and we will not have to test hundreds of mascaras available in cosmetics stores ourselves. A similar effect is achieved by companies that decide to use the power of influencers.

Who can become an influencer?

An influencer is definitely someone who is active in social media – running a blog, vlog, or channel. Basically, there are two groups of influencers:

• Celebrities – who have a wide group of followers on various channels; able to reach large groups of recipients. They happen to be specialists in a given topic, and sometimes they are just famous names who can attract people with their charisma;
• Ordinary internet users – they may have a slightly smaller group of followers, but are considered experts in their field, because they have built credibility by consistently posting valuable content. Their opinion is often considered objective – recipients believe that they are not recommending a product solely because of financial gain, but, above all, its value and usefulness. In the opinion of recipients, they look from the perspective of a customer, not a company.

Is it worth hiring an influencer? – advantages and disadvantages

Since most of us spend a lot of time on the Internet, very often shopping there, it becomes natural to also look for recommendations for individual products or services there. So what benefits can we gain from engaging an influencer to promote our product? And can we possibly lose out?

Advantages of working with an influencer

It is well known that in life, relationships – including business ones – are not always perfect. However, if we were to imagine an exemplary deal with an influencer, it would have the following features:

• Precise access to a selected target group – influencers’ channels are usually followed by people interested in a given topic. Thanks to this, we do not waste time on “sifting” recipients, and our target group finds itself;
• Effectiveness of the message – this form of marketing is much more effective than traditional advertising, because it is interactive – a relationship is established between the influencer and the recipient;
• Delivery of high-quality content – ​​if “our” influencer is an expert in a given industry, their substantive texts will raise our position in Google and help build an expert image of our brand; positive impact on SEO and increased website traffic – if an influencer includes links to our online store in their materials, for example, this will improve its positioning, and on the other hand it will generate traffic if users click on these links;
• Multi-channel communication – influencers often operate in multiple ways, so they allow you to reach users of various platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Snapchat, etc. By the way, before starting cooperation, it is worth taking an interest in which channels the influencer uses most often and whether they are suitable from the point of view of our company’s marketing strategy;
• Audience engagement – ​​through their personality or expert image, influencers are great at engaging their audience. An important strategy here is storytelling – they usually tell a personal story related to the product, referring to the emotions of users, instead of boring them with statistics on, for example, the effectiveness of the product.

Are there any disadvantages in hiring the services of an influencer?

Since an influencer is someone we hire “from the outside,” we can’t fully control them. We definitely have no influence on what image they decide to present in the media, what campaigns or views to support. It may turn out that, in some areas, there will be a dissonance between the influencer’s image and our brand values. Unfortunately, this may result in losing some customers.

How to find the right influencer

You need to stay up to date with what’s happening in social media and remember that each channel has its own specifics.

Generally speaking, we can choose to engage many “small” influencers or one or two “giants” to work with us. The first strategy is more effective from the point of view of sales and reach. Usually, smaller groups of recipients show greater interest in the content published by the author. Communication is also more effective in them and it is easier to notice when the message is not working well and, if necessary, modify it.

As a rule, celebrities are willing to engage in paid campaigns, which can slightly reduce their effectiveness, because it no longer makes such an impression on the recipients. On the other hand, they are able to reach much larger groups of Internet users.

How much does it cost to work with an influencer?

We have several methods of settling accounts with an influencer. The first is, of course, monetary compensation. In addition, it can be an affiliate program or barter exchange. Definitely, the services of famous influencers are the most expensive – in addition to the basic salary, there are also the costs of running a campaign, which usually has a significant reach.

For this reason, the services of celebrities are usually used by the largest companies with a large budget. In the case of small influencers, it is sometimes enough to provide a copy of their product in exchange for an opinion. In view of the above, it is difficult to precisely determine the influencer’s remuneration, because it is set individually.

How to measure the effects of the services of an influencer?

Assessing the effectiveness of our activities when we hire an influencer is important because it will allow us to determine which of them bring the expected result and which are pointless. By measuring the effects, for example, using Google Analytics, we can focus only on those effective strategies and abandon those that do not bring anything.