What is Influencer Marketing And How To Use It In Your Business

By Gretchen Clarke- Mar 28, 2023 57

In digital marketing, there are several strategies you can invest in. And today, influencer marketing is an option that has gained more ground in organizations.

 

Now the reason? Because this type of marketing involves work and tactics with influencers who have great prestige and relevance to a specific audience.

 

Because of this, they have great power and influence over their followers' purchasing decisions — which can be used to your business's advantage to promote your products/services and get more sales and customers.

 

So, if you want to know more about this marketing strategy, how it works, and what you should do to put it into practice, follow the tips and information below!

 

What is influencer marketing?

 

Influencer marketing, or influencer marketing, although it has gained strength thanks to the internet, has its origins before the digital boom.

 

The idea is to use someone who symbolizes your brand. And it's older than you might think.

 

Today, this type of advertising involves more elements than just a person who can only "portray" a product.

 

Today, this person is like a business spokesperson, able to encourage the public to learn about and buy a brand through the Internet.

 

Thus, investing in this type of professional today is ensuring that your company has a presence in front of a specific audience and people they know and who play an influential role: they are digital influencers.

 

Who are digital influencers?

Although this technique of reaching an audience is older than it seems, today it is very much involved in digital marketing - not to mention completely.

 

A digital influencer is someone who is able to attract viewers with their own content on blogs, social networks, YouTube channels, etc.

 

And these ways are perfect for increasing audience identification, which helps a lot in a marketing campaign

 

Associated with this aspect, digital influencers are able to attract a qualified audience for your business with empathy, specialized content, strategy, and a lot of intelligence.

 

And thanks to that, it creates people's interest in everything it uses, does, says, and offers in its content, including products and services.

 

Digital influencers can be classified according to the number of followers on social networks:

 

     Mega-influencer: more than 1 million;

     Macro influencer: from 500 thousand to 1 million;

     Intermediate influencer: from 100 thousand to 500 thousand;

     Micro-influencer: from 10 thousand to 100 thousand;

     Nano-influencer: from 1 thousand to 10 thousand.

 

Why invest in influencer marketing?

You already know some of the benefits of implementing influencer marketing in your business, right? This type of strategy allows you to reach the right audience more easily.

 

But of course, it's not just that. Check out other benefits of betting on influencer marketing.

 

1.    It's a more accessible strategy

Do you know the details when trying to hire an artist to be your poster boy or girl? Agencies, agents, dates, advice, and more details?

 

With influencer marketing, this usually doesn't happen, because negotiating with influencers is much easier and more accessible. You can even try contacting them directly without talking to intermediaries.

 

What's more, you don't need a big budget to work with these guys.

 

As you saw above, for example, there are micro-influencers and nano-influencers. So, you don't necessarily have to work with huge influencers with millions of followers.

 

The amount and type of payment available to these people vary widely, and it's possible to create partnerships that benefit both brand reach and image – an element highly valued by influencers.

 

It is even worth mentioning that, often, ordinary people, who are close to most people in real life, have more credibility than famous people.

 

So, instead of spending big on a super popular influencer, it might make more sense to invest in someone smaller (and for a lower price), but who might actually offer more attractive returns.

 

2.    Increase public trust

As you already know, thanks to influencers' reach and engagement, this strategy allows you to reach niche audiences.

 

And such a strategy has another advantage. The influencer's image is well-known to the audience and creates authority, so it guarantees that your brand is trusted.

 

In other words, if an influencer says that your product is good and he recommends it, the public will accept this idea more easily.

 

3.    Improve brand image

In addition to placing an individual as an "ambassador" of your brand and bringing your business closer to the masses, influencer marketing makes your product or your brand real and authentic, making the brand more human.

 

In other words, the public can recognize themselves in your product because a person they trust recommends it and talks about it.

 

4.    High ROI

According to a study conducted by the American company Thomson, organizations are earning $6.50 for every $1.00 spent on influencer marketing.

 

In other words, the ROI (Return on Investment) on this type of strategy has been very high and has yielded great results for many businesses.

 

5.    Help with customer acquisition

Another benefit of investing in influencer marketing is that this strategy helps in acquiring leads and new customers.

 

Also according to a survey conducted by Tomoson, influencer marketing ranked as the fastest online customer acquisition channel for 22% of respondents, even surpassing organic search (17%), and email marketing (15%). ) and paid inquiries (14%).

 

So, if you want to get more customers, influencer marketing needs to be on your radar.

 

6.    Helps with content strategies

By working with influencers and investing in strategies, also to increase the reach and promotion of your brand, professionals feed the editorial calendar agendas of their social networks, their blogs, and other channels.

 

So, you can take advantage of these materials to get better help with your content marketing strategies.

 

7.    Allows you to reach the right audience

Influencers are people who work with niche audiences, for example, health and sports, fashion and beauty, education, technology, humor, etc.

 

As a result, the actions they take help your brand speak directly to this audience, in a much more segmented, targeted, and assertive manner.

 

The audience is already there, it's already built, so leverage it for your business.

 

8.    Allows exploring different formats

In the online universe, there are countless possibilities and opportunities.

 

For this reason, another benefit of influencer marketing for your company is that partnerships with influencers can be done in different formats, such as public posts, guest posts, life in partnership with influencers, campaigns, etc.

 

How to put influencer marketing into practice?

Now that you know what influencer marketing is and what its main benefits are, it's time to learn how to use it for your business.

 

For this, it is essential that you pay attention to the following step-by-step:

 

1.    Define your goals

For starters, what do you want from investing in influencer strategies? Promote your brand? Increase reach? Introducing a product? By capturing leads? Getting event registration?

 

Defining your goals is the beginning of putting influencer marketing into practice.

 

2.    Know your audience well

After establishing your goals, it's time to think about your persona and your target audience, not only in terms of their characteristics but also their habits, the type of digital content they like and the influencers they follow, who they associate with.

 

Because this aspect is directly related to the next step.

 

3.    Choose the right influencers

The third step in putting an influencer strategy into practice is to analyze and select the right influencers.

 

This is because, to get your results, it is essential to choose a person who speaks to the same audience as your brand and has the same values ​​as your company.

 

Also, it's worth mentioning that, for this choice, you should mainly look at the influencer's engagement, not just the number of followers.

 

For this, look at the influencer's media kit (it is important that he has one because it shows professionalism).  Also the number and interactions on his profile, such as comments, likes, messages, shares, etc.

 

Choosing an influencer is a fundamental aspect. Because the success of the strategy will depend a lot on how he relates to the audience, how he communicates and reaches out, and how engaged he is.

 

4.    Plan actions with the influencer

So that your activities and tactics are organic, natural, and have a "face" to both brands and influencers, it's crucial that you plan everything together.

 

So, with this alignment of expectations, it will be possible to get stronger and more attractive results for your business.

 

Avoid leaving everything for just one party. Work together.

 

5.    Track the results

In this final step, it is essential that, based on the objectives established at the beginning, you follow the metrics and marketing indicators of actions and strategies.

 

This way, you can analyze whether they have produced the expected results. For example, more leads, more sales, traffic to a specific website or page, event registration, brand mentions on social media, etc.

 

See if the expected numbers are actually being achieved and, if not, what changes and optimizations can be made to reverse the situation.

 

Start working on influencer marketing in your business!

The Internet offers several possibilities to form a partnership that is effective and that allows your brand to be easily perceived by a new audience or even renew its breath through content sent by someone they trust.

 

So, if you are interested in implementing influencer marketing in your business, now is the time to find an influencer!

 

Just be careful, don't choose a name for the number of followers.

 

Also, consider both the type of content he creates and the audience he speaks to. After all, there's no point in closing a partnership with the blogger of the moment if her target audience is completely different from hers, right?

 

And so you don't make a mistake when making this choice, we have some very practical tips for hiring an influencer. Enjoy and good deals!