How influencers can support your digital marketing strategy

Influencer marketing is by no means a new tactic but it is an increasingly popular one. As with any form of marketing, how we interact with influencers online is constantly evolving. With a shift in direction from inauthentic messaging and emphasis on influencers generating revenue for brands, influencer marketing now looks to create genuine connections between your audience and products. Audiences now expect more from influencers, social media users want to feel inspired and that product recommendations are based on more than contractual obligations.

There’s no doubt IM is a great tool for brands to use, but getting the balance right between brand awareness and alienating users through disingenuous influencer marketing can be tricky to manage. In this article, we take a look at what IM really is, why you should incorporate it into your marketing strategy and how we can help.

Understanding influencer marketing: The basics

Simply put, an influencer is an individual who has the ability to persuade, inform and engage with people online. An influencer’s role online is to do exactly what it says on the tin, influence people. This is done through continuously growing and nurturing their audience, creating a level of trust between them. There are different tiers of influencers depending on their follower size:

Nano: 1,000–10,000

Micro: 10,000–100,000

Mid-tier: 100,000–500,000

Macro: 500,000–1 million

Mega: 1 million+

So, where does ‘influencer marketing’ come into this? With their highly engaged audience, influencers have huge sway in the buying behaviours of their followers. Brands can tap into this by working in partnership with influencers, creating unique content surrounding their products and reaching new, highly relevant, people.

Are influencers still influential?

The influencing world has been shaken up numerous times over the years. Users have become savvier to the ways of social media and have started to demand more from influencers. While previously ads didn’t need to be declared and partnerships could be under the radar, now influencer marketing must follow strict rules. Alongside transparency about partnerships, influencer marketing is in a new wave of authenticity. Followers want to see genuine collaborations that make sense and fit the influencer's brand.

Influencer marketing is still a highly beneficial tactic for businesses to adopt but brands must be prepared to put the work in to find the right influencers to work with. Prioritise finding influencers whose niche resonates with your brand, meaning your content will fit seamlessly into their feed. When done right, influencer marketing helps boost brand awareness, reach new audiences and, ultimately, increase sales.

How we work with influencers

We understand how tricky it can be to get your influencer marketing right. Our digital PR team has curated an influencer marketing package that works in harmony with other PR activities, seamlessly supporting your link-driving and online campaigns. By integrating your IM with your overall PR strategy, you can be sure you’re getting the most from the research and assets created for your brand.

Working with micro influencers

Wanting to get the balance right between follower size and overall engagement, we tend to work with influencers that fall into the ‘micro’ category. With a range of followers from 10k to 100k, micro influencers have highly engaged and relevant audiences. Often with a specialist or niche brand, micro influencers can create truly unique content that aligns with both their brand and your business.

Alongside their engaged audiences, they are also cheaper for brands to work with. The cost of influencer marketing can vary greatly depending on how many followers they have and how well known they are. While you may think it’s best to shoot for the moon and work with mega influencers, your return on investment is often much better with micro influencers. We encourage our clients to focus on metrics like engagement and relevancy over sheer volume of followers.

Using a specialist tool, we identify influencers that align with your business and monitor their campaigns throughout the partnership. This proactive approach means we’re able to track how campaigns are being received and shape future influencer marketing efforts.

Elevate your brand online with influencers

While any business can engage in influencer marketing, there are certain sectors that lend themselves more to this tactic. Typically, B2C brands in the below sectors can expect to see great results from IM:

• Retail
• Property
• Fashion
• Home
• Travel
• Food and drink
• Home and beauty

IM campaigns have the potential to propel your online marketing efforts, supporting the continuous growth of your business. Working alongside your other digital PR activities, IM can have unparalleled benefits to your brand. Still unsure? Here are a few of our top reasons you should be engaging with influencers:

• Creating trust online between your brand and audience has never been so important. Influencers help to build brand awareness and reputation.
• Through our IM tool we can select the most appropriate influencer to support your brand. Once selected, we can monitor every aspect of their campaigns, gaining a real-time understanding of how the partnership is working.
• Used as a bolt-on alongside other digital PR strategies, you can be sure we’re making the most of your budget and maximising the use of your assets.
• IM is currently one of the top utilised streams of marketing, with 89 percent of marketers who already use it looking to maintain or increase their budget this year.
• The numbers don’t lie and 33 percent of Gen Z have made a purchase based on the recommendations of an influencer they follow. Begging the question, why wouldn’t you invest in influencer marketing?

If you’re looking to kick-start your influencer marketing and understand how it can help boost your brand online, get in touch with our team of experts today.