A huge trend right now is Influencer marketing. Brands have to do their research to find the right influencers, to see results.
Influencer marketing, in some has always existed. They would use celebrities to sell cigarettes and many other products. But time has changed, especially on the internet. In some way, anyone and everyone is an influencer. For instance, Kim Kardashian and other influencers on social media can have just as much impact as your friend on sites like Yelp.
Social media influencers have boomed because people are so savvy. People don’t want to be sold on products. Consumers are now turning to people on social media who is sharing content and authentic reviews or recommendations about a brands product they care about.
Influencer Marketers on social media are different from the actual brand’s social channel. People who already enjoy the products follow brands. An influencer builds fans and followers by sharing content that people will enjoy seeing and wanting to know what is authentic.
When a brand is collaborating with a social influencer, they need to find the right person who makes sense for their brand. People who follow influencers, do so because they trust their judgement. Both ends have to make sense when creating a partnership. For example, one of the biggest partnerships are with Make-up brands. In exchange for a social media post, the beauty influencer gets products to use. That influencer will only share something they love about the product and give their honest review. The content they put out has very little involvement with the brand for the campaign not to be staged but feel natural for the influencers followers.
Here are two successful companies who used Influencer Marketing. Timex and MVMT work extensively with fashion and lifestyle influencers to market their watch brand on Instagram. Both Timex & MVMT, differ greatly in campaign messaging and content. Here’s a closer look at one week of each brand’s sponsored posts in order to compare metrics, key strategies and results.
Timex
Campaign Size: 22 influencers with an average of 85,000 followers each to create 27 sponsored posts.
Audience: The total potential reach of the campaign was 2.3 million people.
Results: The posts received 86,000 likes & 1,000 comments with an overall engagement rate of 7.5%.
MVMT
Campaign Size: 62 influencers with an average of 47,000 followers each to create 73 sponsored posts.
Audience: The total potential reach of the campaign was 3.4 million people.
Results: The posts received a total of 100,000 likes & 2,800 comments with an overall engagement rate of 6%.
The above results aren’t always typical, but they do demonstrate how powerful social influencer marketing is. As long as the influencer & brand are collaborating in an authentically. To gain success with an influencer, brands need to evaluate their engagement quality, the kind of influencer they are, and what sort of creative. Does the influencer’s voice align with the values of the brand in an authentically? Tools like Julius Works Influencer Platform exist to connect brands with the right influencers for them so that the relationships will be mutually beneficial.
Statistics from Julius Works Influencer Platform:
- In 2015, 84 percent of marketing professionals worldwide started using influencer marketing.
- In 2016, 94 of Forbes 100 World’s Most Valuable brands worked with influencers.
- The amount spent on influencer marketing is expected to increase from $1 billion dollars in 2015 to between 5 and 10 billion in 2021.
- Defy Media reported that 62 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds would buy a YouTuber-endorsed product.
- Musefind found that 92 percent of consumers trust an influencers endorsement more than traditional advertising.
- 9 out of 10 social media influencers surveyed have been asked to create sponsored content. 60 percent of these influencers represent 6 or more brands in a year.
- Nearly 83 percent of influencers will work with a brand again if they feel the partnership was collaborative while allowing creativity.
