The Strategy of Influencer Marketing
by : JaMario Clements
In today's digital age, mobile marketing has become an integral part of every brand's marketing strategy. With the rise of social media platforms, influencer marketing has emerged as a powerful tool for brands to connect with their target audience in a more authentic and engaging way. In this blog post, we will explore the mobile marketing category of influencer marketing and how brands can leverage it to drive engagement and growth.
So What Is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is like when a brand teams up with someone on social media who has a lot of followers. This person, called an influencer, might be famous, really into a specific topic, or just really good at sharing stuff people like.
The brand asks the influencer to talk about their products or services in a way that feels natural to the influencer's style. This could be through posts, videos, or stories. When the influencer shares about the brand, their followers see it and might be interested in trying out the brand's stuff.
Influencer marketing is great because it feels more like a friend recommending something cool rather than a boring ad. It helps the brand reach more people and makes them seem more trustworthy because someone people already like is saying good things about them.
Why is Influencer Marketing Effective in Mobile Marketing?
Targeted Reach: Influencers have a specific niche or audience demographic that follows them. By partnering with the right influencers, brands can target their ideal audience more effectively.
Authenticity: Influencers are seen as trusted sources by their followers. When influencers promote a product or service, it feels more like a recommendation from a friend rather than a traditional advertisement, making it more authentic and persuasive.
Engagement: Influencers often have high engagement rates with their audience. By leveraging influencer partnerships, brands can tap into this engagement to drive traffic and conversions.
The Types of Influencer Marketing
1. Sponsored Content: Sponsored content involves influencers creating posts, videos, or other content that promotes a brand's products or services. These posts are often marked as "sponsored" or "paid partnership" to ensure transparency with the audience. Sponsored content allows brands to reach a wider audience through the influencer's platform and leverage their credibility and influence.
Instagram Sponsored Post Example!
As you can see from the top of this instagram post there is a indicator of “paid partnership”
2. Product Reviews: Product reviews are a popular form of influencer marketing where influencers share their honest opinions about a brand's products or services with their audience. These reviews can be in the form of blog posts, videos, or social media posts. Product reviews are effective because they provide authentic feedback and recommendations from someone the audience trusts. Usually this form of marketing is popular for brands because they don’t have to come out of pocket to receive the benefits they just provide the influencer with their product for free.
3. Brand Ambassadorships: Brand ambassadorships involve a long-term partnership between a brand and an influencer, where the influencer becomes the face of the brand. Brand ambassadors often create regular content promoting the brand's products or services and may also participate in events and campaigns. Brand ambassadorships focus on building a strong and ongoing relationship with the influencer to create brand loyalty among their audience. They usually have creator codes with their name attached to it to track their earnings and be competitive with other ambassadors
4. Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing in influencer marketing involves influencers promoting a brand's products or services using a unique affiliate link. When their followers make a purchase through the affiliate link, the influencer earns a commission. Affiliate marketing is beneficial for brands because it allows them to track the performance of their influencer campaigns and only pay for actual sales generated. The Most common version of this is “amazon store front” most people don’t realize but the creators are in a partnership with amazon when they create these storefronts for they’re most used products.
Affiliate Marketing Example!
As you can see this is an amazon storefront of a lifestyle influencer on youtube. Indicator says “phill cover earns commissions”
These types of influencer marketing can be highly effective when executed correctly. By choosing the right influencers and crafting engaging content, brands can leverage the power of influencer marketing to reach their target audience, drive engagement, and ultimately boost sales.
Easy ways to Leverage Influencer Marketing and make it work
Identify the Right Influencers: Look for influencers whose values align with your brand and whose audience matches your target demographic. Consider factors such as engagement rate, audience demographics, and content quality.
Create Authentic Content: Work with influencers to create content that feels natural and authentic to their audience. Avoid overly promotional content and focus on creating valuable and engaging content that resonates with their followers.
Utilize Instagram and TikTok: These platforms are highly visual and popular among influencers. Leverage these platforms to reach a larger audience and create engaging content that showcases your brand.
Track and Measure Results: Use analytics tools to track the performance of your influencer campaigns. Monitor metrics such as engagement, reach, and conversions to determine the effectiveness of your campaigns and make adjustments as needed.
Why Influencer Marketing Will Keep Winning in the future
In the fast-changing world of digital marketing, influencer marketing is here to stay as a top choice for brands. Its success comes down to being real, with influencers as trusted voices that really connect with their followers. This genuine connection leads to more likes, shares, and trust compared to traditional ads. Plus, influencer marketing lets brands target specific groups of people, which is a big win. Influencers use all sorts of fun ways to share stories, like videos and posts, keeping their followers interested. And because influencer marketing can change with the times, it stays effective as things shift online. It's a win-win for brands, offering measurable results and bang for their buck. As influencer marketing keeps growing, it's clear that brands have a powerful tool to speak directly to consumers and drive success.
References:
Yesiloglu, Sevil, and Joyce Costello. "Influencer Marketing." Building Brand Communities and Engagement (2020).
Nahai, Nathalie. Webs of Influence: The Psychology of Online Persuasion. Pearson Education Limited, 2017.
Ana Eats Pittsburgh [@ana.eats.pgh]. (2024, May 8). Drink of the day: @turnerspgh cookies & cream 🥛🍪 Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/p/C6r7uNptHGk/?img_index=1
Wang, Guanhua, and Wangshu Gao. "How influencer marketing motives consumers buying behaviour." (2020).