“Today behind every consumer decision is a silent influencer”
Research says that on an average, every working individual spends at least 5-6 hours a day on social media; be it Facebook, Twitter or the new youth fascination medium ‘Instagram’. Therefore it is clear that for marketers social media is the next BIG shopping mall, to display their products and silently influence the consumers.
However, one must note that Influencer marketing is very different from Advertising. It is silent PR, which is done almost in the passing.
So now let’s look at 5 strong reasons that make Influencer marketing more effective than traditional marketing.
It imbibes more TRUST
What drives consumers to believe in your products or services is the word ‘trust’. It feels more assuring, when someone who is not related to the brand or the endorsement comes and speaks about, how the product/ brand have impacted their life. For instance when a movie critic comes and praises a movie, recommending it as a ‘must see’ film, then we naturally tend to hit the theatres and watch it.
Once we come out of the theatre and we start spreading a positive word about the movie on social media, then indirectly we also turn as an influencer. For those friends who are on your social list, it becomes a matter of trust.
Researchers and marketers have testified that Influencer marketing is more dynamic than traditional marketing and has been successful in driving traffic by creating more authentic and realistic content. Indeed Influencer marketing is a commanding marketing tool, especially with micro-influencers whom the audiences trust because of their expertise in a particular field.
It offers VALUE FOR MONEY
The other obvious factor that makes influencer marketing more in vogue is the fact that it is ‘more affordable’ than mass media. Compared to the traditional mediums of marketing, influencer marketing impacts less on pockets and high on returns. Today most big brands, divert 70% of their marketing budget towards building brand influencers on social media.
Great way to test your VALUE PROPOSITION
Marketing is all about spending money to bring business. However the major aspect of defining the value proposition lies in customer research on the brand and its products. Keeping this in mind, the influencer marketing has been proven as a beneficial tool to not to understand the customer preferences, but also derive specific information through social or direct feedback.
It is easily MEASURABLE
The most important factor that drive marketers to invest in influencer marketing is the fact that the returns can be definitely calculated with precision. Be it Facebook influencers or instagram influencers , at the end of the day we can measure their impact by the number of likes, the followers, shares and feedbacks.
Generate LEADS/ ENQUIRY and convert MORE SALES
The two buzzwords that have always been associated with marketing is ‘Awareness’ and ‘Conversions’. Therefore creating brand awareness in order to convert more sales and fortunately, Influencer marketing has been able to crack the right recipe to create the required brand awareness by associating the brand with the industry experts and thus communicating the value propositions in more practical and authentic manner.
For instance, to promote a food preservative brand, the influencer could be a leading food blogger or a leading celebrity chef. They could demonstrate a recipe, using the product and thus, create a need in the minds of the consumer. Research has shown that consumers usually pick up these products/ brands to use it and prepare the same recipe. Thus clearly validating the power of the influencer in deriving sales.
So, if you have a brand/ product/ service then influencer marketing must be your primary platform. Undoubtedly the world of marketing is dynamic, it keeps changing as the customer dynamics change but at least for now, influencers are surely creating a worth their weight through Tweets and Post. Even though the online space may keep changing but you can never go wrong with influencer marketing, just pick the right influencers and sup-charge your business exponentially.
Every brand has a story, stories that the consumers could relate and make their own, so be it through a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram influencer, let these stories be shared and allow them to indirectly create brand awareness and impact your sales figures.
Article by Vishal
Vishal Gaikar is a professional blogger from Pune, India. If you like this post, you can follow him on Twitter.
