One of the most exciting aspects in the social media fast lane is that everything changes gear often. We’re constantly learning, evolving and taking on new trends! Right now, everyone seems to be talking about ‘Influencer Marketing’ strategies; according to Forbes 84% of marketers worldwide plan to employ it at least once this year.
But what exactly is influencer marketing and how can we use it?
Simply put, influencer marketing means getting someone who is influential in your target market to talk about your brand positively. This means your brand will get targeted exposure to the right customer who already identifies with your influencer and considers them relevant.
Why has it become so in demand? Its popularity is due in no small measure to the fact that a large percentile, 47% in fact, of online consumers now use ad blockers, which means they are much harder to reach. For a brand, influencer marketing is a quick and effective way to cut through to an audience that is becoming increasingly harder to access.
And why is it is successful? Influencer marketing is winning because it is based on trust. They become influencers because people see them as credible them and will ‘buy in’ to what they have to say. Influencers are skilled at creating great content and promoting it. “The best influencers work to integrate their branded campaigns into their unique stories without skipping a beat. They know their audiences are fickle and can quickly leave, so they treat each and every post with care.”
Influencers have the know-how to build an audience and to cultivate belief. When you work together with an influencer who has already earned trust, it reflects well on you and your product.
Influencing the influencer
Okay, you’ve been influenced by the Cariad brand to consider giving it a go. But how do you go about making it happen? Firstly, you need to do your homework and find the right influencer for your market. Online tools such as Klout can help you find them It’s important to ensure your influencer aligns with what you need to achieve.
Secondly, you need to build a connection and a rapport with this influencer – after all this is a personal endorsement and human relationship. Identify up to five people and start to follow them, repost/retweet their content and engage with them by commenting on their posts. After a while, they will start to recognise you and your brand. Once you have gained their trust and you have their attention, you can make the approach.
As soon as they are on board, you must set clear objectives and goals, and agree on measurements for success. If it not measured, it cannot be managed. You also need to set clear guidelines. It could be that your end goal is to get them to write a blog, or comment on your brand on a YouTube video or an Instagram/Facebook/Twitter campaign, or all or any combination of the above.
Like many trends, this is not really new, but this type of “personal branding” is definitely on the up. You could call it a new form of “word of mouth” marketing.
Using influence for your Hertfordshire small business
So how can I make it work for my small business in Hertfordshire? You can work with an influencer in a number of ways as our examples below show:
- Write a guest post for the influencer’s blog or website which enables you to showcase your expertise in front of their audience.
- Interview the influencer for your own content. Your influencer can also promote it by sharing the links and their audience is likely to visit your website to read it on your website.
- Allow the influencer to include your product or service in any demonstration, webinar etc they are involved in.
- Invite the influencer to review your product or service. For example, a local Hertfordshire clinic could invite a beauty blogger to test a particular treatment and to review the experience and treatment with before and after images in a blog. This blog will be shared widely amongst the influencer’s followers as well as the clinic’s audience. With the influencer’s endorsement of both the clinic and the treatment, the clinic should gain new fans, followers and ultimately customers. Everyone is a winner.
Influencer marketing can be very effective and can certainly help you raise your game. If you’re interested in the possibilities it has for your business, get in touch for more information by emailing [email protected] or calling us on 01992 582 824. We’re always keen to talk about anything to do with marketing so if you have a question, ask it today!
