Influencer marketing is not a new notion in theory. However, as more marketers incorporate this method into their entire advertising budget, it has gained popularity in recent years. Influencer marketing is expected to be a $15 billion industry by 2022, and as consumer behavior adapts to new technology and social platforms, it will only continue to develop and evolve. So, what exactly is Influencer Marketing, and how does a company use it to its advantage? These are the essential ways of dealing with influencer marketing. And you can learn all of them through the social media marketing training course.

THE WHAT

Influencer marketing has long been a popular notion in advertising and marketing. However, it has gained traction as a tool for marketers to engage with customers via social media influencers in recent years. There were three main media outlets before Facebook and YouTube: print, radio, and television. Ads were created with a broad audience in mind, and many of them depicted celebrities using or supporting a product. You’ve probably seen the “Mean” Joe Green Coca-Cola commercial or know that Michael Jackson sponsored Pepsi in the 1980s. Both of these examples can be linked to today’s influencer market in many ways, except that today’s influencers are frequently smaller-scale personalities who communicate to a highly targeted audience of followers via their social media accounts rather than casting a wide net.

THE WHO

Brand Influencers are no longer limited to music, television, sports, or movie stars. At the same time, early adopters of influencer marketing turned to mega-influencers with millions of followers. These influencers are the Kardashians or Christiano Rinaldo, and brands are discovering that, while good for brand awareness, macro-influencers do not provide the same level of brand engagement or ROI as niche influencers. It is where micro-and nano-influencers come into play in marketing.

Micro-influencers have a smaller but more engaged following than macro-influencers. Their following appears to be smaller (less than 100K), but their audience engages at a rate more than 40% greater than macro-influencers. When marketers combine higher involvement with a more inexpensive pricing point, they frequently see a lucrative return.

Nano-influencers enable marketers to reach the most narrow audiences for their product or service, getting the next level of clients. These influencers are frequently highly engaged with their small followings, working hard to produce high-quality content and providing more cost-effective options for businesses to use when collaborating. In many circumstances, nano-influencers may give the highest return on investment and a loyal fan following for the firms they collaborate with.

The quantity of followers isn’t the only factor in running a successful influencer marketing campaign. Consider an influencer’s audience’s demographics, the material they provide, and their branding. If a brand influencer tries to promote a product that does not resonate with their audience, they may miss the mark. A YouTube personality known for makeup videos, for example, would be unlikely to promote an auto parts company. Why? Because the majority of their audience is interested in makeup tutorials. The content and audience must be in sync with the brand and the product or service at this point.

Brands can create Persona Groups with Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio to collect persona-specific information and analyze social audiences. Marketers can use these Persona Group dashboards to get helpful information like word clouds, engagement metrics, and influencer scores. As seen in the Top Influencers report, marketers may also use Social Studio to find potential influencers based on interactions and suggest critical focus areas for future influencer campaigns. You can learn about it more deeply in a social media marketing training course.

THE WHERE

Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Pinterest, blogs, and Tiktok are the primary social media outlets that fill most of the influencer marketing industry. With just over 800,000 brand influencer profiles, Instagram is the top, with more than twice as many as the 347,700 accounts identified on second-placed YouTube.

With over 60% of its users between the ages of 16 and 24, TikTok (previously Musical.ly) is the outgrowing social app among Generation Z.

Since the rise of the app, it is not just about app usage. Because TikTok now lacks an advertising platform, experts expect TikTok will see tremendous growth with influencer marketing.

By analyzing Marketing Cloud Social Studio data, brands can determine the best channels for their influencer initiatives. Brands get a simplified view of social profiles, themes, and keywords with dashboard reports, whereas marketers get a personalized view of their brand’s conversations with workbenches.

THE WHAT ELSE

Before diving into the influencer marketing world, make sure you have a well-thought-out strategy in place, replete with measurable outcomes. Other marketing initiatives, like promotions, product releases, and email campaigns, should be used with these plans. Be sure you’ve set up sufficient tracking if you’re using appended URLs, a customized landing page, or particular coupon codes related to specific influencers. Avoid extensive scripting and forceful sales pitches to keep the audience’s faith in your influencer. You can learn more about it in a social media marketing training course.

When building relationships with your influencers, think about all of your alternatives. Influencers with a lot of experience will undoubtedly have a talking sheet explaining their services and charges. The smaller the influencer’s following, the more flexibility brands may have regarding how they work with the influencer. Some will request a product contribution in exchange for content development, while others will demand a set charge or a portion of sales earned. As the brand, it’s best to budget for multiple sorts of influencer connections, with defined KPIs to track the program’s success.

THE WHY

Or risk becoming buried in the “noise” of today’s digital environment.

Conclusion:

Influencer marketing isn’t new, but it’s on the rise like never before, and your company should be reaping the benefits, which range from increased customer engagement and loyalty to content production and lower costs than traditional advertising. Get yourself enrolled in a social media marketing training course and learn more about influencing marketing.