5 Things You Didn’t Know About Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is an ever-changing landscape that’s a relatively new path for brands to reach potential customers. This powerful and persuasive marketing strategy revolves around having content creators endorse your product on their most active social media pages. Well-known platforms that influencers use include Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, with TikTok quickly gaining traction.

Although influencer marketing is similar to celebrity endorsements, there is one distinct reason why the two are different: personal connection. The relationship between a social media influencer and their audience is unique because it’s centered on authenticity. Keep on reading to uncover some facts you may not know about influencer marketing.

Influencers value their audience and expect respect from brands.

The most important thing to an influencer is their audience. After all, they would not be popular without the people who support them. Although this may seem obvious, it has significant implications in the influencer marketing space. Because most influencers value their audience, they often refuse to work with brands that don’t meet their standards or resonate with them. Not only do brands need to choose the right personality to market their product, they must also select influencers that are likely to work with them.

As consumers oftentimes give their trust to influencers, influencers are obligated to provide the best for their following in order to maintain and strengthen that relationship. Since you are attempting to reach their following through their content, it’s important to remember that influencers are to be respected and valued as a worthy partner.

This brand-to-influencer respect applies to the type of content posted as well. Because influencers know their audience and what they will respond to best, influencers should have a reasonable amount of control in creating content that feels authentic and genuine. Brands must prevent micromanaging influencer content, and while they should provide some guidance and direction, they should trust the influencer to adequately represent the brand to their followers.

There are 4 types of influencers.

All types can have value when looking to market your product, but selecting the right one can be difficult. The influencer types are as follows:

• Mega: following of one million or more
• Macro: following of 100,000 to one million
• Micro: following of 10,000 to 100,000
• Nano: following of less than 10,000

If you want mass awareness, the mega-influencer may be more for you, but it will come with a heftier price tag. In comparison, if you have a more niche product, engaging with a smaller content creator could mean a higher return on investment. Find out which is best for you here.

Micro-influencers are most commonly used.

Micro-influencers consist of about 90% of the influencer marketing space and are typically ordinary people who have built a social media following. These influencers find success because the relationship between them and their audience stems from their authenticity and relatability.

People today are acutely aware of advertisements, but when endorsements come from someone they respect, the same rules do not necessarily apply. As Jay Baer said, “Social media changes the relationship between companies and customers from master and servant to peer to peer.” Instead of a greedy corporation demanding you to buy their products, influencers are like friends sharing products they genuinely think will improve your life.

ROI is high.

Though the figures differ slightly depending on what influencer tier you’re looking at, the range of return on investment for influencers is $5 to $20 for every $1 spent. When compared to banner ads, in which click-through rates are 0.06% (and most of these are accidental, or come from bots if an ad-blocker doesn’t hide them first), this return is massive.

Engagement can help determine fraud.

In 2019, CBS reported that “At least 15% of advertisers’ spending on influencer marketing is lost to fraud, costing them $1.3 billion annually.” This loss is significant, especially since it can be difficult to identify what’s fraudulent on a somewhat anonymous internet.

The trick for those engaging in fraud is to buy followers to seem attractive to advertisers, but you can counteract this by looking at the influencer’s engagement rates. If the influencer has hundred of thousands of followers but little to no engagement, there is something wrong. Worrying about fraud can also be avoided by working with agencies that represent influencers.

Influencer marketing is a new frontier that is as varied as the people on this planet (influencers are people reaching other people, after all). Look for influencers with followings that will be receptive to your product, and expect good results if you choose wisely.

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