Why influencer marketing advertising is gaining popularity
These so-called influencers can achieve enormous positive results for companies and organisations. This is done through influencer marketing advertising. In short: paid content that is shared by these influencers, so that a desired target group comes into contact with new products and services. Influencer marketing is an entirely new marketing strategy. It is still a relatively new concept, but has already become extremely popular and proven successful. In contrast to other forms of marketing, this marketing strategy does not address a huge audience, but only the target group that needs to be reached. This makes it much more effective. A good collaboration between brand and influencer is necessary.
Then the key question: is investing in influencer marketing advertising really worthwhile? And why? Time to look at the most important advantages.
Much more effective
As an entrepreneur, you are probably familiar with the various marketing strategies that can be applied. The goal is to increase the findability of your company or organisation. A big disadvantage is that you are always looking for ways to reach the right target group. It is not always wise to use too much. You don't have to be found by everyone in the Netherlands or the surrounding area to be successful. In practice, there is often only a specific group of people who are actually interested in your products or services. This is also called the target group of a company. A good example is selling hoovers or other household appliances. In that case, you want to reach a group of adults. Mostly women. It makes little or no sense to reach young people. This is not only a waste of the marketing budget, but also hardly profitable. And that is when influencer marketing advertising comes in handy.
What do the numbers say?
Various studies show that the quality of the customers via social media is many times higher than the results obtained with other marketing channels. The return on investment is also taken into account. In short, by addressing a specific target group and making use of influential people, you can also reach many more people and there is a greater chance that they will make a purchase and become a returning customer.
Not entirely new
If you look at the past, you will see that a form of influencer marketing advertising has been used for a very long time. Think, for example, of commercials featuring famous singers, actors or other well-known people worldwide. By involving them in an advertising commercial, you ensure that more people are inspired. Only now, this is mainly applied via social media and often with very ordinary people.
More trust
With the advent of commercials, it was also discovered that companies can influence consumer behaviour. However, that influence has diminished over the years. People are so overwhelmed by advertising and know so much more about it, that they are much less likely to be influenced. Moreover, they no longer trust everything that is said. Thanks to influencer marketing advertising, you have a good marketing strategy at your disposal to generate more trust among consumers.
Just compare traditional forms of marketing with influencer marketing. In this case, you engage a well-known person to share his or her own experiences with a product or service. A consumer is more likely to trust this person than a company that obviously promotes its own products. They can also ask an influencer various questions about the products directly. Therefore, it is important that the influencer has an affinity with the product or a certain service and really knows what to say about it.
Moreover, one should not forget that influencers invest a lot of time in building their own 'family' online. In order to gain as many followers as possible, they not only share a lot of personal things and interesting content, but they also make the effort to gain the trust of the followers. The audience has the feeling that they really belong to the influencer's circle of friends and are more likely to trust what he or she says about certain products and services.
Influencer marketing advertising as an affordable option
One of the biggest advantages of influencer marketing advertising is that it is a very affordable option. Of course, this differs per influencer. When you engage a real celebrity, you will logically spend a lot more money than when you have a sponsored message posted by a slightly less famous influencer. Funnily enough, the results are often the same. You can find a suitable influencer for every specific target group. And when the audience seamlessly connects to your target group, this will probably yield more than when you engage a big celebrity with millions of followers. After all, even then you create the same problem as with many other marketing strategies: too much use is made of a small part of the audience, while only a small part can or will actually be interested in the products or services. That is not only a waste of money, but also hardly effective.
More room for creativity
Influencer marketing advertising also clearly offers much more room for creativity. Many entrepreneurs like to have a say in how their content is viewed by their target audience. Yet this is not always possible. You do not always have an influence on the way word of mouth advertising goes. This is different with influencer marketing. You create content together with an influencer. At least, the influencer will deliver it and you will be able to suggest ideas and judge the end result. This ensures that you can look back with satisfaction on the content delivered. Moreover, you will be able to think more creatively and present new ideas.
A few comments
When listing these enormous advantages, you probably wonder why not all entrepreneurs just switch to influencer marketing advertising. Therefore, we must also make a few comments.
Firstly, influencer marketing will almost never outweigh all other marketing strategies. Online marketing is very complex. You need to address different strategies to create one harmonious whole. Only then will you have a rock-solid formula for putting your company or organisation on the map once and for all.
Secondly, it is extremely important to choose the right influencer. You can't just hire any influencer to promote your products. It is important that an influencer also guards his or her own authenticity. You can't expect an influencer with a huge group of male followers who are looking for reviews of famous games to suddenly promote baby clothes. This is not only an ineffective campaign, but it can also harm the influencer himself. Chances are that this will cost a lot of followers. Moreover, your company will be labelled as unreliable. After all, how credible is it that this influencer is really interested in this and is not being paid to deliver content? Choosing the wrong influencer can be disastrous for your business.