This flagship tool for marketers is not new but has taken a new face with digital. Brands always use muse: footballers, models, actors, etc. Why? Because a persona's aura and its empathic capital have a powerful effect on a community's attachment to a brand. But with the boom in social networks, new figures of influence are emerging. 

Internet users follow many pages and this number is still increasing. This reduces the organic reach of posts and makes sponsored posts not possible for many players due to a lack of time and/or money. Attention time decreases for each publication: Establishing good practices is essential to succeed in social networks. Why is this influencer trend so popular? And how exactly does influencer marketing work? Let's know from our article today…

 

What is an influencer marketing campaign? 

Almost all of us now have other social media accounts like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok. For this reason, we can say with certainty that you too have encountered an influential marketing campaign at least once and it can also influence your behavior and purchasing decisions. 

But let's see what it is: 

It is nothing but a form of promotion of products and services that relies on mediation between the company and users of specific personalities who are actually called "influencers". 

Influencers, which in a certain sense are equivalent to the "testimonials" of past media campaigns, are nothing more than people who generate sales and revenue for a brand by simply betting on their popularity. 

This popularity can obviously be measured in two ways: 

●      These statistics are through the number of followers (followers) on their site and on their social channels;

●      By the level of engagement of their own followers with their content published on the web.

 

Brands that practice influencer marketing today are increasingly interested in promoting their branding and content marketing efforts not only with "mega influencers" with hundreds of thousands of followers but also with "mini influencers", i.e. influencers with a small number of followers but not all. has been placed in a specific niche. 

The effectiveness of this type of influencer marketing campaign lies entirely in the fact that, especially in the case of influencers who are not generalists but vertical in a single sector, the link with their own follower base is so strong that they represent a. Real authority is able to influence their behavior. 

Running these campaigns with micro or nano niche influencers who have a deep connection with their followers not only allows you to gain great visibility immediately. But in a sense, makes your brand shine by reflecting how trending users are. Give them the same importance and trust that they give to their favorite YouTuber or Instagrammer!

 

A principle that does not date from yesterday

The principle of influencer marketing suggests that brands surround themselves with ambassadors who will promote them on the web. The objective is to increase their appeal to consumers. By leveraging the influence of audiences and selected ambassadors, the brand ensures to reach and persuade a larger audience. While enhancing its brand image, the empathy capital of selected influencers is reflected in it. 

In traditional marketing, these influencers are called muses. They are often stars: film actors, famous footballers, media personalities... On the web, their profiles are more varied. These are basically bloggers or people who are very active on social networks. For example, we will talk about Youtubers for those who regularly broadcast YouTube videos to their communities or Instagrammers for Instagram followers. They inspire strong enthusiasm from consumers, who appreciate their personality and talent and follow them every day. By using influencers, brands benefit from the transfer of influence from them to their offerings.

 

Develop your visibility and gain notoriety

In addition to creating an attractive brand image, influencer marketing allows brands to reach extremely large audiences. And thus develop their visibility and notoriety with the target audience. 

The influencer will actually put his community to the benefit of the brand that interacts with him. The deal is simple: the influencer will recommend the brand to his audience for remuneration or various benefits. But, if he is considered an influencer, it is because he has a huge following of internet users who watch his daily activities almost religiously. Influential communities number millions if not millions of devotees. 

This is how we understand a brand's interest in collaborating with influencers on the web. Especially if they are new brands or brands that are latecomers to digital channels. In fact, it would be very difficult for them to naturally gain a large audience. They are at risk of facing very strong competition: sites with more seniority often enjoy a significant advantage in terms of references and have already won and retained their audience share. 

This is where the influencer marketing option comes in, which often yields better returns than massive investments in advertising. From an economic point of view, using an influencer is less expensive than conventional communication. The return on investment is more easily measurable and the loss rate (probability of getting lost along the way) is relatively low. Technically, influencer marketing improves a website's link count through referencing and referrals. 

Another advantage of this type of marketing is: that the words of influencers appear more natural and authentic in the eyes of Internet users, thus masking the advertising aspect of product placement. It is not the brand that speaks, but a trusted third party: the message, thus, has more impact and is more credible. This is the power of social recommendation, which is particularly well-suited to attracting customers…

 

The word of an influencer is worth gold 

We live in a modern age. Here customers are particularly attentive and sensitive to the opinions of their decisions. Before buying a product, they will reflect on the web search to read such consumer reviews. They will be able to find out what other people think about this product and form their own opinion. 

The social recommendation is thus a trend that cannot be ignored. Beyond collecting customer feedback, influencer marketing allows brands to hit hard. An influencer is actually known to his community as an expert on a particular topic and not an average consumer. His word is therefore worth gold, and Internet users will be particularly inclined to believe him. Consumer followers thus want to have the same product as the influencer (influence transfer) or hear his recommendation before buying the product (trust relationship).

 

Different influencer marketing techniques

Here are the main techniques used in influencer marketing:

 

The Buzzkit:

The company promotes its new product by sending it to an influencer, who will then test it to share their opinion with their community. We can link this principle to unboxing (explained below) if the influencer brings the experience of unboxing the product to life.

 

Content sponsorship:

This strategy involves sponsoring a blog article or a publication on social networks, reaching as many people as possible to gain visibility. This is an action that allows you to gain virality, but if the article works on SEO, it can become a lasting action for the brand.

 

Product placement:

Mainly used on YouTube, this technique uses the services of a YouTuber specializing in a theme related to the brand's universe. He will then subtly (or not) question the product in one of his videos.

 

Travel blog: Travel

Bloggers are popular and some manage to assemble very active communities. To gain notoriety, some tour operators use such influencers to promote their products. They usually offer an all-inclusive stay with a camera in exchange for several photos taken daily and posted on social networks.

 

Unboxing:

A phenomenon that is gaining momentum in the US and other regions, unboxing is usually performed by an influencer in front of his camera. Actions include packaging the products received and bringing the experience to life in the community. A moment based on emotion and the surprise effect of "unwrapping the gift" works very well.

 

Takeover:

This strategy controls a company's account or a brand's influencer for a specific period of time, so that he can attract the attention of his community to a product, service, event, or site. . It all depends on the purpose of the campaign.

Other tactics can be used, such as web series, an invitation to an event, free trial, giveaway (giveaway)… 

Of course, influencer marketing tools contribute to the success of a campaign. But other key elements are necessary for its success, such as the choice of the right influencer profile, the adaptation of the devices to the news of the brand, and finally the creative dimension of a campaign. Influencer marketing has developed strongly in this area, and this communications revolution is only in its infancy. Thus it stands as an essential marketing lever, which will attract more brands over time. 

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