Influencers. Social media darlings who use their charisma and charm to amass considerable followings. They’re funny, they’re pretty, and there’s a decent chance that you yourself follow several of them across multiple platforms. You have your Instagram icons, your favorite Twitter fiends, and–of course–the new gold standard for social media influencers, the TikTok content creators. Influencer marketing may not be something you’ve considered for your business before, but hear us out! You could be passing up the opportunity to reach a perfect audience that’s already pre-built for you!
Why Consider Influencers?
Influencer marketing is effective because it has inherent authenticity. When you follow an influencer and regularly consume their content, you almost start to feel like you know them. If you’re ever listening to a podcast and feel like you’re there in the room, just a part of the gang, then you know exactly what we mean. If those people tell you about a product that “changed their lives”, you’re much more likely to consider buying it than if you simply saw an ad somewhere. It’s like getting a recommendation from a friend. It feels more honest and less pushy than a flashing banner ad or an expensive commercial.
The Power of a Niche
If you have a niche product, it can be challenging to target the specific groups of people that would benefit the most from what you have to offer. However, influencers often have a specific niche or demographic that they appeal to, and this makes it easier for marketers to reach the right audience with the right message. You’ve seen the beauty influencers unboxing new makeup that was sent to them and singing its praise, but influencers exist beyond makeup and movie reviews. Even if you think your product is too niche, there’s someone out there who meets that niche and speaks to it.
Do you think influencer marketing won’t work because you run a B2B organization? Wrong again! There are influencers that speak directly to other businesses who are able to drum up hype for you! Their excitement over what you have to offer becomes the excitement of their followers and drives interest.
There are influencers that speak on almost every aspect of society, so it’s just about partnering with the right ones who already speak to the audience you wish you had.
The Data Practically Tracks Itself
When an influencer gives your organization a shout-out or features one of your products on their feed, the ROI is actually very easy to track. From the link you provide them to give to their followers, you can use UTM parameters and custom redirects to measure engagement, click-through rates, and plenty of other data points. As you know, we’re data people, and if you are too, then you know that SF Account Engagement aka The-Platform-Formerly-Known-As-Pardot is the perfect tool for organizing all of the data you’re able to collect from your prospects, and using Google Analytics, you’ll be able to see what’s drawing your visitors in and what keeps them there. You’ll know precisely how effective your influencer campaign is performing, and you’ll be able to see what changes need to be made to improve it.
But Don’t Rush Into Anything
Influencers represent the exciting potential for growth and outreach, but you need to be sure you do your research before partnering with just anyone with a webcam and a dazzling smile. If you have an influencer in mind that meets your needs as an organization, check out their engagement. Make sure it’s positive and supportive. Check the profiles of their followers and make sure they weren’t followers the influencer bought. Bot farming is used to sway the algorithm, and their audience may not be as big as you might have initially thought.
And it may seem simple, but give them a google.
The last thing you want is to have your brand associated with world views and controversy.
In fact, you can usually just Google
“[influencer name] controversy” and if there’s anything to be found, it’ll pop up.
The internet doesn’t let anything go.
Also, just because they’ve never done anything controversial in the past doesn’t mean they won’t in the future. Most of them aren’t media trained, and–like every human on Earth–they’re flawed. Partnering with an influencer can be a risk, but as we all know…
No Risk, No Reward
Sure, there are risks involved, but there are risks with any campaign. The fact of the matter is that according to eMarketer 50% of U.S. marketers will use TikTok for influencer campaigns in 2023, and that’s just TikTok! Influencer marketing as a whole is expected to have an estimated market size exceeding $21 billion in 2023. It’s an industry that just keeps growing, and it’s doing so because it works!
