Working with B2B and B2C, influencers have become a popular way for brands to share their content and engage on a deeper level with their target audience. Imagine a friend introducing you to someone you’ve always wanted to meet versus randomly walking up to them. The former will be a more impactful approach than the later, and this is how social media influencers link up businesses to their target audience to humanize the brand.
Also, considering that paid advertising has become more expensive, and in some instances, less effective, more organizations are turning to influencer marketing for increased customer reach and conversion. From the look of these influencers marketing statistics, the social media influencer impact on your content marketing strategy cannot be ignored:
- The return on investment from marketing your content via influencer platforms is 11 times higher than traditional digital marketing channels.
- Repurposing an influencer’s content for your brand does over 35 times better than when it comes from you.
- About 40% of social media users say they have bought items online based on influencer recommendations, after watching them on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Vine, etc.
Now that we’ve gotten more insight into the power of influencer marketing let’s define what social media influence entails, how it works, and its impact on your content marketing strategies.
What is a Social Media Influencer?
Across the several social media platforms out there, some people have a dedicated volume of followers with whom they actively interact. These groups of people likewise offer great value to brands by creating content for their niche audiences, and they are referred to as “social media influencers.”
There are various types of social influencers, namely:
Mega Influencers
These are mostly your top celebrities with millions of followers on social media. Although celebrity partnerships are considered less as influencer marketing, and more like traditional endorsements, B2C and even some B2B can benefit from it. Note that their fees are often high, and although they might have an immensely large following, you might miss reaching your target market if the engagement isn’t right.
Thus it is best to use them for awareness campaigns to make the best out of their broad audience. Examples include Selena Gomez, Kylie Jenner, Cristiano Ronaldo, etc. You should also verify if an influencer is real using tool’s like Grin’s Fake Influencer & Credibility Tool.
Macro-Influencers
The growth of social media influence also gave way to the rise of social media stars. These influencers are well-known within their communities, with a strong fowling of 500, 000 to over a million active followers. They are expert creators in specific fields and have a better engagement with their followers, making targeting marketing much more accessible. Macro influencers are podcasters, vloggers, social media stars, and influential bloggers. Liza Koshy and Jackie Aina fall under this category of influencers.
Micro-Influencers
Micro-Influencers also cater to a specific sector and it’s a great way do influencer marketing right. Their fan base ranges from 20,000-400,000 followers they actively engage with. For example, the clothing brand Banana Republic has made use of several Instagram micro-influencers who model their clothes in different settings. By joining these fashion and lifestyle influencers known for their sense of style, the brand reaches a broad and targeted audience.
Nano-Influencers
Nano-influencers are a new breed of opinion leaders within the social space. They are an excellent way to get both known and emerging brands to increase conversion and RIO without spending fortunes on their marketing budget. They can provide you with user-generated content, carry out product reviews, share coupons and discounts for your brand, etc.
It is vital to map out your market niche and desired marketing goals, so you have a better idea of the right category of people to engage with from your influencer network.
How Social Media Influencer Content Marketing Works
Influencer content marketing can occur as a form of collaboration between the social influencer and a B2B or B2C to market a product service or campaign to a broader audience. These brands co-create or curate content from influencers to sell their product or service. Such material is shared through social work blog posts, live video chats, visual posts, paid media partnerships, and more.
Most often, you can easily spot an influencer creating content for a brand. For instance, a perfect example of B2C influencer marketing is ABH and Jackie Aina collaboration. The YouTube Influencer, Jackie Aina also uses her makeup tutorial videos to promote makeup brands she is collaborating with or paid to advertise.
We also have top Instagram influencers such as fitness buff, Joe Wicks (The Body Coach), who uses fitness gear and equipment to promote sports brands during his exercise routines or put up fitness and sports sponsored posts.
How Social Media Influencers Impact Your Brands Content Marketing Strategy
Build Brand Awareness
A significant aspect of social media influencers is that they have a good grasp of social platforms. It becomes easier to create impactful and engaging content that suits each social platform they use. They have the skills to build a sense of affiliation and inclusion with their followers. By way of refined presentation and storytelling, they create content that their audiences feel they are a part of and, in turn, effortlessly build awareness for your brand.
It could be a simple post creating a relatable caption on Instagram, a YouTube video tutorial, or a motivational tweet that enables consumers to use your product or service with ease. Influencers can infuse your brand’s message into related content in a style and tone that is less promotional and more authentic.
Improves Listen to Your Audience
Social media usage is a two-way communication tool. Rather than only pumping sales content onto your social feeds, you also need to listen to your audience. It goes a long way to show them that your brand understands and cares about their journey with you. An influencer’s ability to engage with their audience is what makes content marketing strategies successful. Listening can inform your content strategy by providing keywords and trends and dynamic customer needs.
Impact on Buying Decision with Unbiased Opinions
Influencers are great storytellers and have learned the art of effectively communicating with their audiences. Consumers have more trust in influencers because they break down the corporate barriers of a brand and relate with individuals on a personal level. They know them and like them, opposed to how the audience is sometimes disconnected from a brand’s commercial adverts.
Social media influencers go beyond posting your product ads, they give full details, create how to use guides, and give honest reviews if the product has value for money. Influencers answer all of the most asked questions a consumer likely has concerning your brand or products. With this information, the audience is more confident buying from your brand.
For instance, if a student is looking for hacks for a better score on that GRE: test tips, they will be more confident looking up test tips from blogs shared by influencers that have gone through the process, before reaching out to a test preparation company. Thus the impact of an established trust within influencer communities can massively boost your brand reputation with your target customers.
Tips for a Successful Influencer Content Marketing Strategy:
- First, you need to identify your brand values and then create content and marketing strategies around them. When creating a successful influencer marketing strategy, your brand narrative needs to be easily identifiable by your influencer and target market. Also, it should be in sync with the influencers’ values and useful to your target audience
- Reach out to your influencer directly or through an influencer company. You can use influencer marketing tools to get the best influencers for your brand and improve your content marketing campaign success.
- Make sure all incentives for working with the influencer are clearly stated. It can be by way of monetary compensation, collaborations, free access to your service or product, or sharing cross-promotional content, etc.
- Whether you are co-creating or reposting content, ensure that you frequently share, cross-promote, like, retweet or comment on all posted content. This way, it reaches a broader audience, generates more engagement, and you are sure that you’ll get the most out of your investment.
Conclusion:
Influencer marketing is an excellent channel to help drive your content and expand your brand reach. Most often, the investment is minimal when compared to the RIO. By identifying the right influencers and entering into a mutually beneficial relationship with them, your content marketing strategies are amplified and maximized for successful marketing.
Tiffany Porter has been working as a Chief Writer at Online Writers Rating reviewing a variety of writing services websites. She is a professional writing expert on such topics as digital marketing, blogging, design. She also provides consultations and creates expert writing materials for the Best Writers Online review website.