Ads can’t persuade people to become customers as easily as in the past. Many individuals do extensive research before making a purchase and they want information from sources they trust. According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from individuals more than more traditional advertisements. Social media influencers are experts who are valued and trusted by their audience and many have millions of followers. Companies use influencer marketing when they work with these social media experts to promote their brands to their followers. Let’s say you own a product packaging company, and ranking ahead of your competition is essential to your strategy, you can imagine the value an influencer brings to your business in terms of popularity. It’s very important to understand this before venturing. Here are some of the reasons that your business should take advantage of influencer marketing.
It’s Cost-Effective
Ad campaigns using social media influencers are often many times more effective than traditional campaigns. Since influencer marketing is inexpensive, you can afford to try out new influencers and platforms. Many influencers only ask for free samples or other small perks, so you can break even on an investment in one influencer by acquiring just a few new customers.
You Can Keep Track of Everything
Image via Flickr by mikemacmarketing
It’s tough to find out exactly how many people a newspaper or TV ad converts to customers. Businesses have to rely on surveys and detailed sales figures to find out if their ads are successful and getting accurate data can take weeks.
Free software such as Google Analytics lets you monitor the success of each post. You can find out how many people click on a post, demographic information about those individuals, the number of comments, and how many people share each post. You can even get information about how many people visit your website and make a purchase after seeing a particular post on social media. All this data allows you to easily decide which influencers are most successful. It can also help you when you’re searching for new influencers.
The Content Is Useful
People want to hear what social media influencers have to say because they provide useful, reliable information. Most also remember that if you can’t say anything nice, you shouldn’t say anything at all. Instead of saying negative things about a product or service or giving bad reviews, they highlight the benefits of the brands they showcase.
Influencers are honest about the benefits of products because they need a trustworthy reputation to be successful. This means that for most people, a video of their favorite social media star trying on new lipstick and giving application tips is much more appealing than a conventional ad. Since people want to see it, content from influencers isn’t affected by ad blockers. Viewers often close pop-ups or decide to get a snack instead of paying attention to a commercial, but you’ll never have that problem if you use influencer marketing and create content that people want to see.
You can optimize influencer outreach by creating a brief profile of your audience and their personalities and interests. With the right social media influencers, your brand can increase awareness and gain loyal customers. Influencers can also let existing customers know about your latest products and any sales or special offers. With influencer marketing, large and small businesses in every industry can become more successful.
