Kylie Jenner has just been announced the youngest billionaire of all time, beating even Mark Zuckerberg. She claims this is down to her social media ... It is no secret that influencer marketing is shaping and evolving advertising. The Ecommerce industry and the brands that consume it may not be half as successful and recognised without the help of influencers. Quickly becoming the norm influencer marketing is the hot topic, with research that clearly demonstrates how beneficial to long-term strategies it is rapidly becoming.
(By Tessa Fyson - Marketing Executive)
It is a phenomenon of modern marketing that puts expert consumers in the role of consultants for buyers. The power of these individuals is growing every day, with some on a ridiculously high salary. Are we able to rely on purely celebrity influencers anymore? Are they losing their touch? What is the truth about influencers and the genuine effectiveness they provide?
The level of impact from an influencer depends mainly on the market or product. At the end of the day anyone can become an influencer whether it be on a macro or micro scale. The key is relevance and authenticity! The entry barriers for becoming an influencer are dropping lower and lower, as anyone can pick up a phone and advertise a product or brand.
Social media is one of the main mediums for influencers and it truly has its grip around the youth of the early 2000's. If you look back over the past 10 years social media has built its own entire digital world which people who partake create, socialise and most importantly consume. They consume everything social media has to offer! The amount of people on this planet that own or have access to an internet device is more than the worlds current population.
In 2016, influencer marketing surpassed print marketing – according to google trends the following three marketing channels are taking the helm:
“Influencer marketing was rated as the fastest-growing online customer acquisition channel, beating paid search, organic search and email marketing.”
Not convinced that it isn’t just a ploy for popularity on the influencers part? Think of it like this, imagine an influencer as a billboard advertisement. Each post they make you will have 200,000 people walking past it and improving your brand awareness. The time, energy and resources that would go into creating paid ongoing campaigns for each piece of news or new product, when an influencer has an entire ready to go contact list of people who are interested in what they have to say. Doesn’t sound so ridiculous now does it?
If you work within an Ecommerce brand or company, was you aware that your customers are getting tired of direct marketing tactics? With almost half blocking ads and not even remember the advertisement content they do see, brands should now be turning their attention to emphasising engagement.
Bring in micro-influencers …
Compared to macro influencers, micro influencers have less followers but the followers they do have are highly engaged and trust what they post on their social pages. Micro influencers are changing the face of online marketing and achieving higher conversions per consumer in their buying result. Numerous brands including leading ecommerce names are taking advantage of the low-cost social marketing solution. Why have a celebrity with a broad audience for tens of thousands of pounds promote your brand, when a micro influencer for a quarter of the price and niche market of followers can produce better results?
Have you ever looked through the comments on a social post that has been targeted at a celebrity? Hundreds to thousands of comments that have no reply from the said super star. Why don’t you do the same thing to a micro-influencer?
Unlike celebrities and macro-influencers, micro influencers are more likely to respond to comments and engage on a personal level with their followers. An intimate and immediate communication leads to better engagement that will influence sales and conversions. To top it all off, consumers are not blind to the amount a celebrity will get paid for promoting a post. Micro-influencers are more authentic in their opinions; thus, their followers tend to value their recommendations rather than paid advertisements. It will also help you crate high-quality organic content that improves your brands social media standing in the long run.
Now, I am not bad-mouthing macro-influencers or celebrities, there is something to be said for a brand that has a known face on the cover of a campaign – but it is the finer details and ‘everyday’ person that could be the turning point for you getting out ahead in front of your competitors.
“Research found that 57% of all internet users over the age of 16 have made a purchase based on an influencer’s recommendation and 69% of millennial's report buying a product that influencers recommend.”
There are data, statistics and consumer opinion behind influencer marketing to show that ‘word of mouth’ from a reliable source is the best method of creating social advertising success. It can be daunting to put such a practice in place, but rest assured you do not need Beyoncé or Kanye West on the front for it to be a success. No matter how far along the ecommerce / online shopping journey we go, at the end of the day – people buy from people.