With social media becoming an essential part of everyday life, social media influencers have become an essential part of any marketing strategy. So, want to know the secret behind their staggering influence? What exactly makes them so essential? Who exactly they are and what is their role in marketing strategy? Well – don’t worry, you’ve come to the right place.
In this blog, we will be discussing social media influencers, their role and 7 key reasons why they are essential for your business. So, let’s get started;
Who are Social Media Influencers?
Social media influencers refer to people who have cultivated an engaged audience on social media platforms which they can use to influence their followers’ buying decisions. They are experts on a specific topic; a tech influencer cannot be a beauty guru as well. Authenticity is the key to being a successful influencer.
Based on the number of followers influencers are divided into four types;
- Mega Influencers: More than 1M followers, mostly celebrities come under the umbrella of mega influencers. They help increase brand awareness.
- Macro Influencers: Follower count ranges from 100k to 1M, most content creators are macro influencers. They have a more engaged audience than a mega influencer.
- Micro-Influencers: Follower count ranges from 10k to 100k, they are not celebrities they earn the trust of their followers by making high-value content. They have an engaged audience but are limited to influencing only specific decisions of people.
- Nano Influencers: Follower count ranges from 1k to 10k, they are niche experts and have a highly engaged audience. They have the highest conversion rates.
The Role of Social Media Influencers in Modern Marketing Strategies
In modern marketing strategies, social media influencers play a vital role in marketing goods and services to their audience by creating authentic, engaging and entertaining content. They help reach target audiences, build trust and credibility, increase brand awareness and humanize brands. The role of an influencer and some of the common ways a collaboration takes place are discussed below;
- Brand Endorsements: Brand endorsement by an influencer is a powerful marketing strategy. To be successful in a brand endorsement, brands need to establish defined goals, generate a content strategy and establish a budget. Influencers need to stay authentic and not come off as promotional while endorsing the brands.
- Sponsored Content: Brands and influencers often collaborate in a way where an influencer creates sponsored content. Sponsored content can be a photo, video skits or mentioning the product in a tutorial or review. Both influencers and brands need to be transparent about the collaboration. To be successful, sponsored content should be true to influencers’ identity. To get more traction on sponsored content you can buy likes and active followers from quality sources.
- Influencer Takeovers: Brands often invite influencers to take over their social media accounts for a day or week to promote their products. Influencers generate promotional content that is true to their persona showcasing products and services in an authentic, engaging and entertaining way. Influencer Takeovers help in increasing brand visibility, gaining trust, building credibility and establishing close relationships with customers.
Why Social Media Influencers Are Essential: 7 Key Reasons
Here are 7 key reasons;
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Influencers Build Trust Through Authenticity and Relatability
Brands and businesses due to their corporate nature are hard to trust. People are more inclined to try products or services when they are recommended by someone external to the business. Collaboration with an influencer is a great way to gain the trust of the audience. Influencers are more relatable to people; their authenticity helps brands in gaining the trust of their customers.
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Influencers Bring Creativity and Uniqueness to Brand Collaborations
It is hard to stand out among your competition on the social media platform. Everybody is posting Stories, doing Live Streams making Reels. To stand out from this monotony a collaboration with an influencer can be extremely helpful. Influencers are unique in their social media personas; they bring this creativity and uniqueness to the brand they collaborate with; in the form of the content they create.
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Influencers Lend a Human Touch to Brands
Brands are often seen as giant cooperatives that are benefiting from peoples’ insecurities. To overcome this image a brand collaboration with an influencer who is both authentic and a relatable person in the eyes of people helps in humanizing the brand. Influencers are great storytellers; they can share their personal experiences with the product or service which humanizes the brand and helps in building a long-term relationship with the audience.
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Influencers’ Endorsements Provide Social Proof for Products/Services
Influencers are seen as genuine, authentic, trustworthy and relatable people. An endorsement from them can provide you with social proof which can be utilized to market your product or service. Influencers’ review, mention or shootout can be shared by the brand on stories and posts as social proof.
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Drive Traffic to Their Websites and Landing Pages
Collaboration with influencers can be utilized to divert traffic towards a brand’s websites and landing pages. An influencer can ask their followers to take action at the end of the video asking them to click on the link to get a certain product or service. Certain discounts and promotions can be offered as lucrative which can help in diverting traffic, like click on the link below to get 40% off by entering my name as a promo code.
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Impact on Consumer Decisions Through Recommendations
Influencers have significant influence over peoples’ buying decisions. A recommendation from them can result in businesses getting a boost. Recently in an interview when Olivia Rodrigo mentioned the shampoo she uses, it sold out in hours. Taylor Swift showing up to an NFL game wearing a Travis Kelce football jersey resulted in a 400% increase in the sales of Travis Kelsey jerseys.
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Influencers Build Genuine Relationships with Their Followers
A collaboration with an influencer can help build genuine relationships with their followers by making authentic, engaging and entertaining content. Influencers can build genuine relationships by engaging with followers through comments, likes and direct messages. This makes a recommendation by them highly effective.
FAQ’s
Q: What are the benefits of social influencers?
A: They help you establish social proof and build awareness.
Q: Why are influencers powerful?
A: They have a dedicated and engaged audience, they are considered genuine and trustworthy and their relatability makes them powerful.
Q: Are social media influencers successful?
A: Yes, seen as more popular, credible and relatable; 92% of marketers believe it’s an effective form of marketing.
Q: Is it hard to become an influencer?
A: It is not hard but is not so easy as well. It involves months of hard work and consistency.
Q: Who is the most successful influencer in the world?
A: Based on the follower count Cristiano Ronaldo could be considered a mega influencer on Instagram with 607M+ followers.
Concluding Remarks
To sum up, over time social media influencers have acquired a key seat in the marketing of businesses online. Influencers help reach the target audience, build trust and credibility, increase brand awareness and humanize brands. Influencer collaboration can help in diverting traffic towards the website, provide social proof, build genuine relationships with customers and stand out among the competition. Collaboration with the right influencer can be extremely beneficial to businesses. Good luck and thanks for reading!