From reality stars, to A-list celebrities the title ‘Influencer’ has taken on a whole new meaning in recent years, with brands now capitalising on the followings of these public figures to promote their products.
“Influencer Marketing is a hybrid of old and new marketing tools. It takes the idea of celebrity endorsement and places it into a modern-day content-driven marketing campaign” said Werner Geyser, in his Influencer Marketing hub Article.
Statistics behind Influencer Marketing:
Leading data provider, Statista, conducted a report in 2021 which highlighted the effectiveness and size of influencer marketing.
- The influencer marketing market size is estimated at £11 billion worldwide.
- Global Instagram Influencer market size is estimated at £1.8 billion.
- 25-34 year olds are the largest audience in the UK.
The fine line between aimless promotion & building trust:
Whilst influencer marketing can be a great tool in promoting your products to a mass audience, there is a fine line that needs to be correctly navigated by brands to ensure their authenticity and trust aren’t broken.
This ultimately comes from choosing the right influencers, that align with your brand ethos and values, as well as having a relevant following. As positive as influencer marketing can be, it can also be detrimental by choosing an influencer who is promoting a new brand every other week – this can have the opposite effective of of building trust, and can cause consumers to be skeptical over the product’s effectiveness for example.
Our three pieces of advice for choosing the ‘right’ influencer for your brand are:
1. Don’t be fooled by a large following, with Influencer Marketing it isn’t always about numbers. Instead choosing a ‘micro’ influencer, who has created a loyal, community of followers who fit your target audience is often the better choice.
2. Research and ask about their engagement rates, like the last point, follow numbers aren’t what count but the level of engagement on their posts. The formula for calculating engagement on a post is: Total Engagement (Likes, Comments, Shares) ÷ Total Followers X 100.
3. Are they professional in your discussions? A lot can be said about how an individual conducts themselves, and this is the same for influencers. After all, this is a business partnership, where your brand’s reputation is on the line.
How cost-effective is it Vs Traditional Marketing strategies:
Traditional marketing obviously varies in pricing based on a number of factors, such as: location of ad, size/ reach of ad and content creation costs. Printsome Insights, have a blog where they present average prices.
Costs of influencer marketing can be split into two different forms, based on your agreement with the individual:
- A contract with a set amount of pay, based on a specific content schedule/ length of partnership.
- Offering free products, in exchange for the influencer to post content promoting your brand.
This flexibility of payment options, can prove to be a cost-effective way to advertise your brand, with smaller influencers potentially accepting free product, instead of a heavy, lump sum. This is a great trade off, as it produces User-Generated Content for your brand and products.
Our final thoughts:
Overall, it is clear that when used in the correct way, and a thought out strategy is implemented, influencer marketing is a great tool for both new, upcoming brands and more established players in the market.
“Influencer Marketing can be an incredibly powerful tool”
– Ross Carlin
Ross Carlin, our founder & MD gave his opinion on the trending, marketing strategy “If you completely understand your target consumer and can align with their values, channels of interaction and interests, Influencer marketing can be an incredibly powerful tool. Trust over long campaigns should be the focus, as the main strategy is to build trust and utilise the awareness they create”.
What are your thoughts? Is it time for out with the old and in with the new, or is combining these new channels, with traditional ATL marketing the way forward? Let us know in the comments.
For more discussions on all things retail, check out our other blogs.