“A brand is no longer what we tell the consumers it is- it is what consumers tell each other it is.” (Gensler, Völckner, Liu-Thompkins & Wiertz, 2013)
Word of mouth isn’t spoken anymore, it is posted. 75% of customers have admitted that they use social media as a part of their buying process, it generates their liking towards the products and gradually builds loyalty to that particular brand.
What is Influencer Marketing?
The term influencer marketing is a strategy of finding and initiating individuals that target a particular segment of the audience. With influencer marketing, the brands credibility and awareness are taken into the limelight. It helps the brand to grow and get access to its targeted customers. These influencers have followers that are loyal and engaging. Influencers have the liberty of sharing their day-to-day life with their followers, which helps them in generating a personal connection with their followers, by which, these devoted followers start looking up to the influencer and trust their opinions about a certain brand.
Endorsing brands and generating customers:
Influencer marketing is one of the most popular and effective strategies to get involved with the customers online, it can do wonders for your brand and create an impact that can last a lifetime. When an influencer endorses your brand, it creates a buzz amongst the followers, resulting in brand awareness and an increase in engagement. Being an influencer comes with a lot of responsibility, they are the one-stop destination for your brand for online customers.
Building an Influencer marketing campaign:
1) Determine your goals:
At the initial stage of an influencer marketing campaign, the goals to be achieved are set and metrics used for measuring success are initiated. The presentation of the products should align in accordance with the preferences, likes, dislikes of the targeted audience and should be well executed in advance. Goals for an influencer marketing campaign can differ from brand to brand, usually, it’s about:
1) Developing a strong bond with the customers
2) Increase in sales
3) Generating quality leads and engagement
4) Increase brand awareness
5) Achieve the ROI
2) Partnering with appropriate influencers:
It is really important for a brand to connect with influencers that think alike and share the same values. Influencers tend to specialize in a particular field, which can differ from food, travel, beauty, pets, fashion, gadgets reviewers and more. With the help of an influencer marketing agency, brands need to make sure that the products and services they are promoting are coordinating with the content created by the influencers. Influencers can be selected on the basis of promotions:
For example:-
1) Food bloggers for a restaurant
2) Travel bloggers/vloggers for tourism
3) Reviewers for gadgets
For instance, Chimp&z Inc collaborated with influencers like Twinkle Khanna & Sonu Sood for promoting brands;
Read Why Instagram is Best For Influencer Marketing
3) Coordinating with the influencers:
Influencers are aware of the type of promotions that can help with ringing a bell amongst its followers and create an awareness about the brand rapidly. You can either ideally guide content creators or let them create content themselves. A brand should completely trust its influencer and give them complete creative freedom, as they know what type of content is going to appeal their followers and will manage to gain their followers trust towards the brand eventually.
4) Execute the strategies:
After developing the content, It’s important for a brand to be available to the influencers for all kinds of queries. Efficient communication with the influencers is the key towards a successful marketing campaign. A daily track of views, likes, comments, user engagement, and shares should be looked upon, as it is going to be beneficial for comparing the results with your goals in the future.
5) Measure the outcome:
Once everything is done, it is now time to measure the outcome;
1) Results should align and match with the goals that were set by the brand.
2) Notice how your campaign has performed.
3) Calculate the number of leads and sales
Customers are relying on influencers to buy products and services, if you can take this opportunity by executing influencer marketing, and build a strong relationship with the influencers, it can give your brand a newly refined image and help you create an impact that lasts lifelong.
