At our Orlando marketing agency, we believe influencer marketing can be a valuable part of any company’s marketing strategy. Influencers have the power to be “in the know” about what’s cool and interesting; something about who they are attracts others to them, which can result in an increased brand following.
Many times, these influencers can be celebrities, but often times, they aren’t. Many times, they’re just connectors, people who just happen to know lots of others based on what they do, and, by virtue of their status, have the power to lead others’purchasing decisions and ideas.
An influencer might be fashion trendsetter, blogger, photographer or party planner. Somehow, these people have developed a reputation of being “in the know,”and can guide their valuable networks if brands can link into them properly. Typically, they also have large circles of influence —even if others have bigger followings, these influencers have followings that are interested and engaged in what the influencer has to say.
A brand can discover who its influencers are through social media listening. If people are already raving about your brand, and this conversation has garnered tons of likes, follows and comments, then tapping into this person for special deals, discounts and party invitations is a great way to take someone who’s already a brand ambassador and give them even more reasons to spread the word.
More often than not, however, marketers seek to reach new faces to dub influencers. This means having a great product, reaching out to the influencer, and offering samples and products with the hopes that they will share. While this sounds fine in theory, the problem with this is that people see right through these tactics, and often don’t give a second thought to new hair products and eyeliner pencils.
For more ideas as to how your company can utilize influencers to better market your products or services, please contact us today to learn how our Florida ad agency can help you!
The best way to reach the influencer is to be part of the conversations that he or she is part of. For example, a person who is a thought leader in the green space, and who is thoroughly against animal testing, would be an excellent target to reach out to on a personal level to talk about your brand. This might mean soliciting feedback about what the company can do to help change the social landscape of a cause that influencer can support, thereby offering an opportunity to reach the influencer in a new and personal way.
Even to an influencer’s loyal following, there seems to be an obvious difference between a paid mention and the genuine belief in a product or service. A shoutout that feels forced does much less for a brand than a shoutout that seems heartfelt and sincere. Take, for example, Oprah’s Book Club. Each time she would add a book to her book club, sales would skyrocket. One could imagine that wouldn’t be the case if that was followed by a line, “I’m being paid to say this.”
Therefore, reaching the influencer means showing some actual care, rather than hawking product and hoping for a mention. For more ideas on how to use influencer marketing to help grow your brand, set up a consultation today – we want to help your business influence the influencers to help get your brand more business.
