If you’re on social media, you’ve probably come across influencer marketing. Celebrities promoting brands to their followers has been around for a while, but nowadays influencer marketing isn’t limited to the rich and famous. Online influencers are increasingly made up of regular people with a strong fan base online, making influencer marketing easier and more accessible for small businesses.
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What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is a type of digital marketing in which products or services are promoted or placed by influencers – usually on social media. The influencers promoting products and services will have a large social media following and be regarded as reliable and trustworthy sources of information by their followers. You can also Become an Industry Influencer and Grow Business.
It’s possible that your business is already investing in digital marketing and even working with an agency like Fastfwd multimedia Birmingham UK. Influencer marketing is simply an extension of the marketing your business does across online channels.
What are the benefits of influencer marketing?
Now you know what influencer marketing is, let’s talk about why so many businesses are drawn to it.
- It builds trust. Influencers work hard to build trust and credibility amongst their followers. This means that when they recommend a product, their followers believe them. As a result, influencer marketing also builds up the trustworthiness of your brand, which is essential especially for small businesses.
- It improves brand awareness. Influencers have a huge reach and could be promoting your brand to users who have never heard of you before – an exciting prospect. Ideally, influencers you work with should have a follower base made up of your target customers. If you sell luxury outdoor firepits to homeowners, for example, you don’t want to work with an influencer who is primarily followed by teenagers!
- It enriches your digital marketing strategy. Influencer marketing is a great way to ensure you have a well-rounded, omnichannel digital marketing strategy that covers all the bases. It also helps if you have been stuck for content ideas for some time and need to breathe some new life into your online presence.
- It helps you ‘glocalize’. ‘Glocalizing’ is when you consider local customers on a global scale. If you want to expand your business globally, finding local influencers in countries you want to break into will help you quickly build trust and brand awareness with an international audience.
- It fosters collaboration. While some influencer marketing campaigns are singular and short-lived, an effective collaboration could lead to a long-term partnership between you and the influencers you work with. From sponsored events to collaborative ranges of products, great collaborations can lead to innovation.
How can your business find influencers?
If you’re now convinced you should try out influencer marketing, you might be wondering – “how do I find influencers?”. Luckily there are plenty of tools out there that connect businesses with influencers. There are influencer marketing platforms such as AspireIQ and Influencity doing just that. This list of the best Instagram influencer marketing platforms has a great breakdown of the most popular platforms and their pricing.
The rise of influencer marketing means it is easier than ever to connect with influencers and their fans and promote your brand. You don’t need a high-profile celebrity to talk about your brand, just the right influencer.
