How many times have you purchased a product because your favorite social media guru was raving about it? Activewear, organic lotions, allergy remedies, vegan treats, even some questionable purchases that hit the yard sale bin a month later? Whether consciously or subconsciously, a majority of our buying decisions are affected by social media influencers.
Social media influencers are mavens followed by thousands, sometimes millions, for their expertise and industry wisdom. Marketers pitch influencers to review products and publish complimentary social media content, leveraging influencer followers to gain brand awareness and credibility. It’s no great shock that this has proven to be an effective advertising method. Around 40% of Twitter users have admitted to making a purchase as a result of an influencer’s tweet.
Now is the best time for your business to jump on the social media influencer marketing bandwagon. Here’s why:
Influencers Don’t Need to Be Pushy
A study from the Interactive Advertising Bureau found that two-thirds of consumers use ad-blocking technologies to clear away pesky internet propaganda. Consumers don’t enjoy blinking pop-ups demanding “buy me” and “click me.” They don’t like to be pushed, or told what to do. Which is why social media influencer marketing has made such great strides in the world of digital advertising – it’s not pushy. Consider this sponsored post from social media influencer, Sophie Jaffe. The post relays information regarding her experience with the product she is endorsing. Jaffe doesn’t demand that her followers buy what she buys, or eat what she eats. She’s simply displaying her preferences in a positive light. Her followers will feel inspired, rather than coerced, which is often the effect of traditional, aggressive digital advertisements.
Consumers follow social media influencers for a reason: they like what they have to say and they trust their opinions. Using industry influencers to promote your brand means accessing an audience that wants to see your content, not an audience that’s forced to see your content.
Social Media Influencers Establish Your Brand’s Credibility
It could take years to build your brand’s credibility. However, with social media influencers, you can establish brand credibility in the seconds it takes to publish a post. Influencers have done all the heavy lifting for you by developing a loyal following of consumers who trust their expertise and endorsements. Instead of building your own loyal following from scratch, why not tap into someone else’s? When you enlist an influencer to endorse your products, you’re tapping into his or her loyal following. These followers will see your brand mentioned in an influencer’s post and, by association, trust that your brand is legitimate and worthy.
Influencer Marketing Can Improve Your SEO
Everytime an influencer links to your website from their own website, a backlink is created. See what just happened there? I created a backlink to a related blog post from Moz. These backlinks can boost your search engine ranking by proving your website’s value to search engines like Google and Yahoo. When fulfilling search queries, search engines want to provide the best possible results for users. If your site is getting nods from credible sources, your site becomes credible by association and search engines might rank you higher on results pages. The more backlinks your website gets from valid, popular sources, the better.
Influencers Create Positive, Authoritative Product Reviews
81% of customers consider product reviews before purchasing a product. Product reviews from social media influencers are particularly effective because of their authenticity. Influencers can pick and choose what they endorse on their social media accounts. If they’ve chosen to endorse your product, it probably means they genuinely enjoy it and believe their followers will enjoy it too. Instagram posts, Tweets or YouTube videos brandishing your company’s products create positive, sincere buzz for your brand. Consider this Instagram post from Bridget Riepl endorsing Apeiron. Riepl has over 17 thousand loyal followers, so a photo and a matching caption emphatically endorsing Apeiron’s yoga mat can go a long way within the yoga community.
Influencer Marketing is Cost Effective
Influencer Marketing is Cost Effective Micro-influencers are social media influencers with around 1,000-10,000 highly engaged followers. If you go the micro-influencer route, you won’t need to scrape your pockets for a social media influencer marketing campaign: 84% of micro-influencers will charge less than $250 for a sponsored post. Alternatively, celebrity influencers with millions of followers can require a six figure sum for just one sponsored post. Take Kim Kardashian’s post endorsing Flat Tummy Co’s “meal replacement shake.” The Instagram post alone might’ve cost up to $500,000.
Don’t let the numbers fool you, though. Celebrity influencers might seem to cast a wider net with their sizable followings, but employing micro-influencers with smaller, more industry-focused follower bases is actually a more effective means of marketing. Quality over quantity, right?
Social Media Influencers Increase Website Conversions
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the rate at which you turn your website visitors into customers. Influencer marketing campaigns increase your CRO by targeting quality customers (people interested in your industry) and driving these quality customers to your website. Special discounts and promotional codes offered in influencer posts can also encourage users to visit your website and make actual purchases.
Influencers Build Relationships
Influencers build relationships between their followers and your company. When influencers post about your brand, they’re urging consumers to learn about your company or employ your company’s services. Without influencers, it can be difficult to initiate and build relationships with potential customers.
Influencer Marketing Yields Invaluable Insights
Social media influencer marketing allows you to easily measure the effectiveness of your campaign. By dialing in on social media metrics (likes, comments, click-throughs, retweets, followers, shares, reactions) you can quickly and easily determine how well your campaign is or isn’t doing. This type of thorough analysis will allow you to evaluate your campaign’s strengths and weaknesses and adjust as quickly as your next post goes out.
Influencer Marketing Opportunities are Abundant
No matter what field you operate in, you’re likely to have a pool of influencers to choose from. Tools like Grin, BuzzSumo, and, Klear can assist you in your search by sifting through a vast network of influencer prospects to find the ones that fit your company and goals. These applications allow you to filter your search by location, demographic, reach, engagement rates, and more, so you can enlist the very best influencers for your brand.
Influencers Expand Your Reach Across All Social Media Platforms
This year, there are over 3 billion social media users worldwide. To connect with as many of these users as you can, your company’s social media presence should extend into most of the major, well-known social platforms: Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook. Luckily, most influencers are active and well-versed in each. So when you recruit influencers to promote your products, you’re expanding your reach and presence across multiple platforms.
Ready to Get Going?
Every social media marketing campaign needs a well-devised plan. That’s where Creative Click Media jumps in. Our social media marketing team can perform a competitor analysis and put together a social media influencer marketing strategy that optimizes your budget and needs. Reach out now for more information regarding our social media marketing services!
