Influencer marketing is becoming a part of mainstream marketing as more brands and agencies are applying this marketing plan every day. It’s an evolution of social media marketing. Businesses find it more human as this trend connects companies with their potential customers through genuine storytelling. People all over the planet are forced to stay at home now to the pandemic situation due to COVID-19. It brings people much closer to the digital world. Whether it is for entertainment or communicating with friends and family, people have embraced digital technologies these days. According to a study, there is a rise in viewing social media platforms in the past few months. So, it is predictable that influencer marketing will bring more and more hope for agencies and brands to strive in the post-COVID climate.
What Is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is an amalgamation of old and new marketing trends. While celebrity endorsement is considered an old technique to attract consumers to a brand, using modern tools and technologies makes it more interesting and effective to make a business profitable. It is an element of social media marketing where agencies work together with celebrity personalities, called influencers to promote something. It can be a product, service, or campaign. In this advertising strategy, celebrity endorsement is incredibly vital. In this digital era, some people have unbeatable expertise in particular niches, and so, they have improved fan followers on social media also. Agencies no more feel that celebrity endorsement is the only approach, but they use those social media influencers for promoting their businesses. These influencers have the right proficiency and knowledge in a specific niche that helps them communicate with consumers more confidently. According to a survey, the increased number of Google search for “Influencer Marketing” proves that the future of this marketing plan has numerous opportunities in the coming years.
Measuring Influencer Marketing
Brands look for innovative and effective strategies to reach their customers. And influencer marketing is a proven strategy businesses leverage to reach and engage with customers. According to a study, 71% of marketers discover influencer marketing is the most effective to enhance traffic and leads. But still, there are chances to damage a brand image if it is not executed technically. It will be tough to recover from the damage caused by poor marketing strategies.
Benefits Of Influencer Marketing
Finding genuine influencers and leveraging the right tools and strategies, needs an astute approach. Giant companies with big budgets work with celebrity influencers, though micro-influencers can be equally effective. Before you spend your savings and time on this approach, it is invariable to know the pros and cons of this marketing aspect.
1: Relevant Audience
Associating with the correct influencers can help you reach related audiences. They have their trusted followers, and collaborating with them reaches more new buyers. Choose influencers who support brands similar to yours.
2: Build Trust And Credibility
It takes time to build faith. People rely on the influencers they follow. When an influencer talks about your product, his followers are more likely to grow trust in your brand.
3: It Expands Your Brand-Reach
Influencers have thousands of followers. You can reach millions of fans of influencers. It is quite impossible if you want it on your own. By making a friend-like relationship, influencers can influence the buying decision of followers.
4: Comparatively Less-expensive
Target micro-influencers and allow you to curtail the extra costs of hiring celebrity influencers. Working with relevant micro-influencers is a cost-effective choice to promote a new product.
5: Reduces Sales Efforts
When a famous personality endorses your brand, his/her audience is more likely to believe his recommendation. Many of their supporters may end up buying the item within a few minutes. So, it reduces the sales effort of marketers.
6: It Saves Time
Working with good influencers, you have the right and engaging content that look more trustworthy. Marketers can save time when they collaborate with expert influencers.
The Future Of Influencer Marketing
A study revealed that 63% of vendors have the aim of increasing their influencer marketing budget this year. A study expected that this field will reach $5-$10 billion in markets by 2020.
Some changes in the field anticipated by experts are:
1: The Manifestation Of Influencer Networks
Influencer marketing is to work together to achieve success. Associating with the right people enhances brand reputation. Influencer marketing will emphasize the connectivity of different niches. Individuals who can convey their insights and ideas among numerous groups are called the most powerful ones. To assess influencer networks, businesses may need to spend more time evaluating an individual’s skills. Platforms like InfluGlue will make it easier for agencies and brands to find information about influencers.
2: Priority on micro-influencers
The number of followers is not the only way to judge the competence of an influencer. Many celebs attract the community through their fake followers, but their engagement rate is low. Quite the reverse, micro-influencers may have fewer followers, but they work professionally to build personal and emotional bonds with their audience. As a result, followers are more engaged with their posts. Micro-influencers are reasonably priced. It is anticipated that micro-influencers will rule the field in the future.
3: Increase Of In-House Influencer Programs
Businesses have realized the significance of working with influencers. So, they look for new ways to strengthen this relationship. Building long-run bonding with influencers will lead to better marketing, thus, sales. Instead of content distribution, In-house influencer programs will be more effective and it rules the future of this industry. An in-house marketing plan will focus on building more personal relationships with consumers as well as allows companies to stay more attached to influencers. This arrangement grows a sense of reliability and loyalty. To shape the future of influencer marketing, this point is highly substantial by experts.
4: Firm Guidelines For Advertising
This marketing approach has gone through a bad reputation for being immoral and using unfair practices. So, the Federal Trade Commission issues some guidelines to rule the industry. To protect consumers from fake individuals, these guidelines are mandatory to follow. To make this marketing strategy more transparent, the procedure has started already.
5: The Significance Of CGI Influencers
CGI influencers are created with the help of computer-generated imagery using advanced technologies. It is a growing trend today. Lil Miquela, Shudu, and Bermuda are the most popular CGI influencers who have already partnered with many luxury brands like Vogue Australia, Calvin Klein, etc. This feature of influencer marketing allows more accuracy and control over a brand.
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Strategic Instagram Marketing – A Boon To Your Business
Conclusion
Whether these prognostics become fruitful or not, it is sure that the future of influencer marketing will mature with favours and opportunities. Brands have to adapt to the changing trends and strategies to leverage the benefits of this magical marketing trend in the future.