But let’s start with the basics and that is to be clear
What influencer and influencer marketing means.
A social media influencer is defined as a person who exerts influence through social networks on the people who follow him/her. Through this influence, businesses that work with him or her benefit from promoting their products, services or even ideas. This at the same time is influencer marketing, i.e., the entire set of actions of an integrated online promotion which involves the cooperation of a company with an influencer. The goal of the company that chooses influencer marketing is to promote goods, services or generally any advertising campaign through the social profile of a person.
The proper utilization of this tactic offers very important results to a business. It is definitely one of the fastest ways to make your brand known online and expand your audience. It is no coincidence that more and more businesses are choosing to include working with an influencer in their digital strategy, as the combination with the other actions they take always brings the best possible results.
But how did we get to the age of influencers?
The world has reached a saturation point of “ideal advertisements”, stylized patterns and repetitive patterns. The younger crowd especially couldn’t take any more of the family favourite Sunday dinner tables where everyone seems happy to be up at 9am on their day off to show us how good, smooth and low fat a butter is. This of course was quickly picked up by businesses who are now not so much targeting their target audience directly but people with online influence. Traditional marketing is losing ground very quickly and influencers are the alternative choice for businesses to make their products appealing. Nowadays, traditional advertisements (TV, radio and even online) are largely going unnoticed, the public simply skips them or ignores them as they are considered annoying.
Users spend a lot of their time surfing social media. As social beings, they follow other, more active users, whom they consider trustworthy, authentic, admire them for anything and will certainly “follow” them beyond social interactions as they are more easily trusted after they have become their role models. “Show me your friend to tell me who you are” has now become “show me who you follow to tell me what you are” .
According to Forbes, which confirms the above, 92% of consumers loyally follow an influencer and trust them 94% more than a TV spot or other form of marketing.
The trends of the times and advertising favour influencers
The power of image/photography, let alone video, is a given in our time. Users like to see real photos and videos, something that businesses know all too well. Influencers are not only suitable for promoting the fashion industry and giveaways as many have in mind. Since video is considered one of the dominant advertising trends in 2018, more and more companies from automakers and hotels to restaurants and retail stores are promoting their products through “personal” videos, enlisting YouTubers / Influencers / Bloggers to give their content a more intimate feel.
What categories of influencers exist and how to choose the right one for your business.
Celebrities.
Their impact on the public is undeniable and that is why they are chosen by various companies to launch various products and services. The message they transmit reaches a lot of people because thousands and even millions of people follow them on their pages. On the other hand, fans cannot know whether the celebrity in question is promoting a product because he or she really thinks it is worth it or simply because they were paid a high amount of money by a company to promote it. But we can see that the public has slowly been educated and now seems to understand the difference between fake pretentious promotion and prefers the one that is at least achieved in a more natural way and shows that the influencer really trusts the product he is peddling.
Compared to other types of influencers, celebrities, due to their high level of awareness with thousands of followers on their accounts, lack the ability to interact with their audience. As a result, their communication – promotion is mainly limited to standardized photos and products, without more personal contact with the audience, even though their fans seek it, which is evident from their comments.
Professional influencers.
Professional influencers motivate people not only through their name, but through their status and the authority that they, their projects and their actions inspire. So, the very nature of their activity encourages elemental communication with their followers. They can be journalists, academics, consultants, sportsmen, etc., and have an impact on individuals or various companies and organisations that thus raise their stock. There may be a partnership between the influencer and a particular organization and they promote each other, so that both parties benefit and more and more people get to know them.
Blog and content creators.
The bloggers we know, express themselves through writing (or equivalently with videos – the vloggers) and win people over with their ideas and work. Because they are individuals who don’t have to be very famous or hold a particularly high business or academic position, they are somehow closer to the average person. As a result, if they create worthwhile material and promote it properly, they can exert a very significant influence on a large number of followers. They can insert advertisements on their websites so they can get paid while they can talk about any topic. A very important advantage is that they have much more communication with their followers to analyze the content they expose
Micro influencer.
A special category of influencer, who usually have a smaller number of followers because each of them is mainly concerned with a specific, targeted topic. They try to communicate with people to the greatest extent possible, which exceeds that of other categories because of their emphasis on quality of relationships over quantity. Many times if they really want to advertise something, they do so regardless of their payment. They could be considered the influencers of the future. Besides, the Internet is being used by more and more people who want meaningful communication on any topic they like rather than “impersonal crowdsourcing”.
Choosing the right influencer
Influencer selection is definitely the most important part of any action and needs enough analysis for a separate article. In summary it consists of the following steps :
● the target to be set by the company
● inventory of available influencers.
● Selection according to the size the reach and demographics of their audience.
● Selection according to how they communicate to their audience. (tone of voice).
● selection according to the company’s culture, history, mindset.
