Influencer Marketing: What Is It?

You may have already seen influencers on social media promoting a product, using it, and distributing discount coupons. In these publications, they are paid thanks to influencer marketing actions. This strategy has the power to reach a large number of people at a flexible cost by working with micro or macro influencers that are in harmony with the brand identity.

This expressive growth is mainly due to brands starting to invest in this strategy for the first time – following the path of companies that experience a significant financial return and expand their investments in this area.

However, before hiring the influencer with the most followers, it is necessary to understand what influence marketing is and how it works since the actions go far beyond posts on social networks.

Definition

The term Influence Marketing refers to a strategy consisting of advertising actions with people who somehow manage to influence and attract consumers to the brand.

In this way, these people interfere in purchasing decisions in favor of a particular product or service.

However, this tactic was not born with social media. Studies show that in the 19th century, a pancake mix brand named Aunt Jemima placed an image of a formerly enslaved person, Nancy Green, on its packaging.

As a result, the company received more than 50,000 orders just for bringing the image of a person to the forefront of the products. But why did this action succeed?

Until then, no brand had stamped someone’s face on the packaging.

With this idea, she went beyond a simple paper box with the product’s name. Carrying someone’s face gave the pancake mix honesty, trust, and rapport with customers.

The success was so great that Nancy Green became the poster girl for all the company’s products. Therefore, we can consider her the first influencer working in advertising.

Although the strategy is a few dozen years old, it wasn’t until the 1960s that the term Influence Marketing started to appear in books.

With new technologies and social networks, the channel between influencer and consumer has narrowed, and the results have improved. Today, we can choose between two forms of Influencer Marketing.

Ways Of Influencer Marketing

There are two influencer marketing models inspired by traditional marketing. They are divided into Paid Media and Earned Media. A brand must choose the one that fits the company’s strategy and profile:

• Paid media: In this case, influencers are paid to carry out campaigns or actions focused on a product, service, or brand. But far from being a simple poster girl – who only lends her image and fame to a campaign. In paid media influence marketing, there must be a synergy between the influencer and the brand.
• Earned Media: Unlike paid media, made Media consider influencers to be partners – not contractors. In this way, the counterpart is not financial. It can be by exchanging products or services, for example. This case is valid when the brand gives the influencer visibility and prestige.

Now that we know the basics of Influencer Marketing, we have separated five tips to make this strategy successful.

Five Tips To Succeed With Influencer Marketing

Set the goals before hiring someone, and know why the company needs that influencer profile. As with any marketing activity, it establishes the campaign’s purposes and target audience.

Filter Influencers

However, there are different parameters to classify a content producer. Generally, it can be separated into nano, micro, intermediate, macro, and mega-influencers.

Making a list of those with a profile that matches the company’s proposal and separating at least 5 for each category is an excellent second step. Some programs can help with this task.

Choose Influencers

After this first filter, it’s time to choose the right influencers according to the goals outlined in the previous step.

At this point, one must take into account not only the number of followers but the three Rs of influence :

• Relevance: Assess whether the influencer is someone who owns and stands out in the industry in which you intend to hire them.
• Reach: Check the quantity and quality of the audience the influencer reaches. Does this audience make sense for the brand?
• Resonance: Analyze whether the content produced by the influencer is relevant to the target audience. Is there engagement in this content?

Set The Message

Now that you have chosen the ideal partner, it is necessary to define the message that he will convey.

In line with step 1, develop a briefing encompassing the main points you must convey to the audience.

The idea is not to interfere too much with how the content will be created – he was hired for his personality and for coherently talking about the message that the brand hopes to spread.

Measure Results

A week after that, the influencer releases the product, service, or brand and starts analyzing the impact of this partnership. How many sales were converted? What was the engagement?

With these tips, you can take the first step to finding an influencer that fits your brand profile. Planning, analysis, and measurement of results are the critical points for a successful partnership.

Also Read: Influencer Marketing: Instagram Is Planning Its Marketplace For Product Placements