In this day and age, digital information is very much within reach with the internet’s help. People have become more reliant on their phones and computers for almost all aspects of their lives. Do they need help in cooking? They can Google a recipe or scroll through the Facebook page of BuzzFeed’s Tasty. Do they need to find a job? They can refurbish their LinkedIn profiles to make their professional background more attractive to recruiters.
This is why digital marketing has also been taking the corporate world by storm. Social media, especially, is a driving force in this. Today, it’s one of the best ways to garner attention to products and services. It’s certainly the best way to engage with many customers at the same time and build a healthy relationship with them. It would also help with the growth of companies. They can develop a corporate-level growth strategy that goes in line with the improvement of marketing practices.
Because social media in digital marketing is gaining more traction in the corporate world, influencer marketing was developed. Here’s what business owners and marketing specialists should know about this branch of marketing.
Influencer Marketing in a Nutshell
“Influencer marketing” is one of the buzzwords that’s being thrown around constantly in business today. But even if that’s the case, many professionals still don’t truly understand what it is. To do so, the first step is knowing what an influencer is.
Simply put, an influencer is someone popular over social media. They have thousands, if not millions, of followers. But they are so much more than that. They have the power to influence the public’s perception of certain products and services. In this sense, they have this authority over certain things such as self-care, beauty, lifestyle, health, cooking, etc.
Thus, influencer marketing is when companies work with these influencers to promote their products and services. And they do this in a lot of different ways. An example is when businesses sponsor the creation of vlogs in exchange for a few minutes of promotion. The best thing about this practice is that influencers use the products themselves and candidly talk about their experience with them. As a result, their followers would have an in-depth understanding of the benefits of the products. And they would be more inclined to purchase them.
The Advantages
Like many branches of marketing, influencer marketing can lead to many benefits. One of them is the improvement of brand awareness and the building of trust in a much faster way. The thing about influencers is that they gain their authority by gaining the trust of their already established followers. By working with them, companies can essentially jump on that gravy train. Influencers get to talk about their products and services in an in-depth and intimate manner. And then, they easily share that with their thousands or millions of followers.
The Disadvantages
Again, much like many branches of marketing, influencer marketing can also lead to some disadvantages. One is taking a huge risk by marketing over social media with influencers. Underneath the many benefits of social media is a minefield.
Influencers have a huge audience. And by engaging with this many people, it’s effortless to make a small mistake and, essentially, get canceled. People can get very mean in the comments section. The relationship between an influencer and their audience can get very toxic. By working with influencers, businesses are also taking this huge risk.
Skillshare, An Example
Many businesses are reaping the rewards of influencer marketing today. One of them is the popular online learning platform called Skillshare. If you watch YouTube vlogs regularly, then you’ll probably be very familiar with Skillshare. Many influencers are avid users of it and are happy to promote it on their vlogs.
The success of Skillshare in influencer marketing can be attributed to many things. But one is their healthy relationships with influencers. Today, Liana Douillet Guzmán, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Skillshare, stated that their dedication to building relationships led to influencers even becoming teachers in popular classes on Skillshare. And because influencers have loyal followers, they also started using Skillshare to watch more video content from their idols.
Social media has become a prevalent tool in marketing today. Any business with a large market can benefit from using social media for marketing. They need to know the practices, which influencers to best work with, and, essentially, make strong connections with their target customers. So, as a result, the influencers become the bridge in the gap between businesses and their customers.