With the continued rise of social media we’ve also seen a dramatic increase in influencers taking over our feeds. Using personalities to help promote a business is not a new thing, it’s just had a complete shift since the advancement of social media.
Social media has meant that audiences no longer have limited regional or global boundaries and the cost to reach thousands, actually, millions is now a reality. Connections are not restricted to who you meet and befriend but friends of friends, businesses and even celebrities can engage with followers. “Slide into DMs”, “Send me a PM”, “How many likes did you get” are all newly found terms that you here flying around. It’s a bit like when SMS started and we all had to learn SMS language and fit valuable conversations in 64 characters (yes, I remember those days). But influencers present a lot of new challenges for businesses in whether they offer value, how to manage them and whether they are the right marketing strategy. In this article we will discuss influencers in a way that might help you understand a little more and decide whether it’s worth exploring
What or who are influencers?
Influencers are a term which refers to individuals or businesses that develop a following of people and then use their powers of persuasion to influence them to make a whether that be to purchase a product, service or engage with a particular business . They are self defined in their role as an influencer.
Many rely on a large social media following to do this and they use their power or “influencer” with their followers to encourage them to purchase or engage with a particular product or brand. Businesses engage with these influencers as part of their marketing strategy and pay a fee to be promoted to their network of followers.
Influencers have become more popular since the evolution of social media as they use their social status to gain followers and then use that volume of followers to create themselves as a marketing tool. When considering more popular, it’s not only in the use of influencers but the pure volume of those who are available. There are many people who are aspiring to be influencers and curate their own individual page content to help drive this goal.
Although many businesses have their own social, most struggle to reach limits that some influencers do. The key reason for this is that following believed influencers is about aspiration – trying to build your own social status based on the behaviours, learnings and styling of popular people within society. Influencers range from low level people who have passion sites and try to encourage businesses within this passion area to utilise them for this, or to Hollywood celebrities, actors and singers that you can use to help reach their audience.
For marketing purposes there are 4 categories in which influencers can fall, and it’s all based on how large their followings are:
- Nano: new influencers with less than 10,000 followers
- Micro: between 10,000 and 100,000
- Macro: 100,000 to 1,000,000
- Mega: any number over that (welcome to the Kardashian and Hollywood fame level)
You read a lot about Nano influencers reaching out to businesses offering their services for “free” in lieu of receiving a gift in return, whether this be a meal, accomodation, free tickets etc. Some businesses are quite comfortable in doing this, especially if they are struggling to reach a volume audience and do their own marketing , but for businesses who have a fairly stable following, it’s not always going to end well for the influencers who don’t do their homework first 🙂
The industry of influencers is unregulated, meaning that other than the standard legal governing from bodies including the ACCC, no organisation validates or confirms the status of influencers and there are many people out there who see themselves as influencers yet are not suitably skilled.
What is Influencer Marketing?
Using people of status in marketing is not uncommon and has been a successful marketing strategy for a very long time but the main difference is social media. Influencer marketing hub predicted that the 2022 influencer marketing industry would reach $16.4b in 2022 (ref: https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-statistics/) That’s a pretty big number especially when you compare it to the total global spend on social media advertising was $153 billion in 2021.
It’s believed that the social media channels change to incorporate different video formats, as well as the global pandemic increasing the need to socialise using digital channels has increased the momentum, want and value of influencer activity.
In short, influencer marketing is the use of personalities with a strong following on a selected social media to endorse and promote your products or services. The premise is that the influencers should have a form of expertise in the area of the product or service that they are promoting, and this is one of the reasons that you would choose a particular influence. Without this it may not be credible and I’m sure we’ve all seen examples of that coming through our social feeds! You’re basically using the power that this influencer has to persuade their followers to give you a go. Quite simple, in essence.
When it comes to the activity of influencer marketing your goal is to use the status of the individual and their perceived influence over their followers to increase your brand or product status within that group.
What you need to remember, and a key challenge, is that with all of these influencers, they have their own brand to uphold. You might recall a very recent incident which hit one of Channel 9’s hit reality shows, The Block. They had selected an influencer couple to join the Block however, after only a very short stint, they decided that the Block was not on brand for them and chose to exit which made things a bit challenging for the producers. This challenge isn’t only for influencers but also for businesses. As you are using their brand, their want will be to uphold their brand (more about this in the How to Manager and What to watch out for sections below) but your want is for them to align with your brand.
Influencer marketing is powerful in its own right purely because of the ability to reach an engaged audience quickly and directly. Prior to social media influencers were more likely utilised through channels such as advertorials on TV, infomercials, product endorsements through radio and the like. They were more timely and costly to produce. The fundamental difference is the use of social media to promote the endorsed activity which is why influencer marketing has gained such a strong foundation.
Why use influencers?
In a world where there are thousands of messages being delivered to consumers, through an endless range of channels, getting your message to the ideal customer is a whole lot more painful than what it used to be. Marketing strategies are now so “multi” that some might feel that they need to have 6 sets of hands, eyes and ears just to keep up with what’s happening now, let alone plan for tomorrow! This is where influencers can offer some advantages to businesses.
Influencers have developed their brand through building their own audience of followers, of which many choose to followe said influencer due to aspirations, interests, goals, life-stage, hobbies or social influences. For all of these reasons, influencers can help businesses to promote themselves to their followers and, in doing so, help persuade their followers to engage with the business. Essentially it’s word of mouth marketing in a social networking platform which offers a strong ability to cut through the noise that you would be against if you went it alone.
If you are a small business and are struggling with not only time, but also potentially ability to create engaging posts to capture your desired audience. Fresh content on a regular basis is needed to help reach these very content hungry audiences and an influencer may provide you with a great alternative to you spending hours creating numerous posts that you feel will appeal to those you are targeting.
Many businesses are all competing for the same audience and this is a major challenge. With the introduction of marketing within social media, it created a desirable channel for many businesses to market through. The onset of this marketing then created a challenge for Meta and the like to control the volume of ads that were reaching people which is why they developed the selection algorithms, it’s a way to create a more desirable end user experience so that they are only served ads that are determined by their own behaviour within the channel. It ranks the ads from most appealing to that individual to least appealing therefore, if you are targeting a group of individuals your ad may not be determined to be appealing as another so it either won’t be served to them or will be limited.
Influencers have already gained a rapport and trust with their followers and it’s this relationship that helps gain cut-through to the audience as you are not always needing to do paid media but the Influencer can post organically and appear in an individual feed. This won’t necessarily save you money as the influencer then becomes your media cost, but you can use this to your advantage. As long as there is alignment with the influence and your business or product.
Individuals are receiving so much content and with new algorithms constantly being updated or added to social channels, there is no guarantee that you are going to reach the people who are going to be of most value to you, especially if you don’t have an existing relationship. As influencers have direct relationships and, for the most part, very active pages and viewing details, their pages and posts tend to be valued much higher than a small business trying to get cut through. It’s this direct relationship that makes influencers so appealing to many organisations.
When to work with influencers
Influencers are skilled at reaching their audience, that’s how they gain so many followers.
Many businesses struggle to develop a strong following base without a lot of effort and even then, compete with others. The influencer relationship with their followers is different to a relationship that a business or product follower has. Many follower particular influencers for aspirational reasons, they want to be like them, whether style, behaviour or even look. Others might follow people because they value their opinion, knowledge or even social profile. For all these reasons, influencers can achieve a much greater cut through to their audience compared to a direct post from a business who is trying to capture the attention of a particular audience. The concept of using influencers to deliver a message is not new, it’s just the means of the message that has evolved. Businesses have used celebrities, personalities and experts to help deliver messages (don’t forget infomercials, they actually still exist) for a very long time so it is a medium that does work.
The consideration of whether influencer marketing is for you is whether you have a product or service which is easily promoted through a third party and you can find one who has enough of your key audience to make it worthwhile. You don’t need to go to the biggest influencer, but the one that has some strong relationships with your target audience within your serviceable area (remember that social media does not have regional boundaries like traditional media).
The other key consideration is whether the influencer has the strength to be able to reach people in a much more efficient manner than you do. If you have 3000 followers per sau, and they have 2000 of the same, then you probably don’t need to use an influencer to reach the audience. You might be better off putting the effort in to your own social comms / content strategy and just re-engage with the audience regularly (this will also help with those nasty algorithms). You need to think strategically about whether the influencer is in a position to discuss your product or business in a manner that will create a positive impact on their audience.
One thing to remember is that influencers all have preferred channels and you need to make sure that the channel that they are wanting to promote you in is one that you also favour. If you can’t create an ongoing presence in the channel where they are then it may cause challenges in gaining and retaining customers through the influencer.
How to manage influencers
Some influencers have agents and they do this for them however, knowing that I am writing for small business owners, you may be engaging with influencers as a direct relationship. It’s important that you work with your influencer and have a clear understanding of expectations before commencing any work. Like any media activity, you need to understand what you are purchasing into before launching into something.
Below are just some quick tips to consider when managing an influencer.
- Have a clear brief: know what you are wanting to promote, to who and when as well as information about your business and competitors so that the influencer can understand what’s required. Don’t skim the detail as this is the foundation to everything you are able to undertake.
- Detail the facts: provide all the facts that you need the influencer to know about what they are promoting including risk factors and the like
- Be clear on who you are wanting to target: if they have the ability to do audience profiling this will help ensure that you are minimising media spend wastage
- Outline the no go areas. This includes not only brand and product but also outlining the legal requirements including ACCC details. Influencers are not going to know this
- Establish a way of working. By setting out the way you operate and how you want to work together up front will remove any holes or “I didn’t know” challenges appearing during implementation
- Set KPIs and ROIs: they make only be acronyms and look short in detail but they certainly pack a punch if they aren’t met. Make sure you set out what you expect in return for your investment and how they will be measured and any penalties if these aren’t met. These have to be worked through in consultation with the influencer to ensure that you aren’t asking for something that is unachievable. Setting up a strong partnership which is goal focused will only benefit all parties
- Have a clear agreement. Make sure that your agreement includes exit clauses in case you identify that things aren’t going to work out the way that you hoped.
Things to watch out for
With any new strategy, there are a number of things that I would recommend for you to review but have included five key points to get you thinking:
- Over-commitment: One influencer tendency that I absolutely hate, but have seen quite a bit more of recently, is the over commitment that some influencers have made. I refer to it (and sorry) as prostituting themselves to businesses to gain a quick buck. In my marketing view, this weakens the influencers ability to persuade their market as they are constantly being bombarded by messages from multiple customers in feeds from a person that they are interested in following. Just like if someone talks about themselves too much, an influencer that tries to promote too much is only alienating their audience and weakening their ability to reach their audience in a way that should drive results for your business. If their audiences are receiving 5 different stories chatting how their life could be so much better with this blender, food box or clothing, it’s not going to get them to stay tuned but tune out.
- Approvals and involvement: Another key to watch out for is not having the chance to agree to / approve the content that is being published on your behalf. Although you are employing this individual for the power of their brand, you need to be comfortable that the information and imagery that they are using aligns and is a positive reflection on your business.
- Understand the offer: To help build profiles and fill their news feed (as that is what drives value), some influencers may offer their services “for free”. This is a big watch out for me. I don’t believe that something can be completely free and a wise legal friend of mine once cautioned me and to always consider the fact that if you have to do something to get something, it’s not really free. Free also removes any obligations for the influencer to allow you to be involved in the process, review content and also stay within the bounds of the law.
- Check the facts: there is unfortunately some truth that it might be too good to be true. Understanding who the influencer is, their audience and reach profiles and their background / media profiles is crucial. Check that they are not aligned with competitors, businesses or associations that may be questionable there audience profiles are correct (and they aren’t all friends, family, purchased audiences – it’s a thing unfortunately). Do your homework first as you don’t want to be on the wrong side of any negative media or associations. You need to feel comfortable that the influencer is going to be able to discuss your product or business in a realistic manner and that they are truly someone who would use your product or service. If it’s not realistic, you will not get cut-through and their would be negative impacts for both yourself and the influencer.
- Create an agreement: It doesn’t have to be a legal contract but some form of agreement that outlines the obligations and limitations for all parties and what happens if these aren’t met. This should include the payment agreements, KPIs, number of posts / stories, when and where, length of time, who owns any images or content that is developed for this specific purpose are all good things to start considering. Also ensure that you don’t hand over any payment, part or full, until this is secured. It’s a safety net but one that I honestly believe will protect you from any wrongdoing. If they are truly interested in working with you then they would be willing to partake in such conversations.
After all of this, it’s definitely a consideration on whether influencers can work for you. There are some key benefits however, with benefits, can come risk, so you need to do your homework. As to whether influencers are fad or fab, I believe that the industry is continuing to grow and that the benefits that they offer are quite strong, if executed properly. I would like to see some further regulation that would help to safeguard businesses and influencers from dodgy services and media controls, a bit like the service that CAD provides for TV, and safeguard consumers. This is indeed difficult when you are talking about a platform where anyone and everyone has a place and ability to reach people but something that needs to be considered to manage misleading and false communications.
I hope that you’ve gained some valuable information from my learning series article.
Good Luck!
The Marketing Elf
© October 2022
The Marketing Elf 