Influencer marketing is when companies take advantage of influencers' huge influence on SNS. Many people know that influencers exist but don't know how to ask for a job.

 

Thus, this time, we will introduce the essential items that you should know in advance when starting influencer marketing. We will also mention some examples that you may want to refer to and use the Services

 

What is influencer marketing?

 

Influencer marketing is a marketing method that asks "influencers" who have large followings on social media to introduce their products and services and hopes for a word-of-mouth effect.

 

The features are as follows.

 

●     It is easy to reach the target group

●     Word of mouth through SNS is expected to spread

●     It's easy to analyze the process up to purchase and smooth impact measurement

●     More acceptable than ordinary advertising

 

The better the genre-specific influencer, the easier it is for the word to influence targets and grab attention.

 

Influencer marketing market size

 

According to a joint study, the influencer marketing market is expected to reach 40.5 billion dollars in 2021, up 134% from the previous year. The expansion of influencer activity areas and the use of marketing by companies are expected to continue to progress. And it is estimated that by 2025, it will increase to 70.3 billion dollars, which is about 1.3 times that of 2021.

 

In a market with growth potential, where advertisers in some industries cut budgets due to the spread of the coronavirus disease, online advertisers continue to invest aggressively, it can be said.

 

Influencer marketing costs

The cost of influencer marketing should consider the following:

 

●     Casting company margins

●     Rewards for influencers

●     Advertising cost benefit margin

●     Impressive office margins

●     Manufacturing company margins

 

The more sellers you have between your company and the influencer, the higher the intermediary margin and the higher the cost.

 

The cheapest way is to request promotions directly to influencers. But popular influencers belong to offices and casting companies and in many cases do not accept direct requests. So, in practice, apart from the reward for influencers, influencer offices and casting agencies to require a minimum solicitation fee.

 

Next, we would like to introduce costs and calculations based on the following unit prices. The market value of influencer marketing is said to be "followers x 2-4 dollars". It is calculated that the cost increases in proportion to the increase in the effector's dispersive power (reaching capacity). Also, costs will fluctuate significantly depending on the content of the project.

 

The specific estimation method varies greatly depending on the pattern to be implemented.

 

●     Pattern 1: Product gifting

●     Pattern 2: Visit the site

 

Below are examples of request costs for each of these patterns For example, consider the usage patterns of three influencers with 60,000 followers.

 

Pattern 1: Product gifting

 

"Product gifting" is a method of sending your product to an influencer, experiencing the product in the influencer's home, and sharing their impressions on their SNS.

 

Additionally, the number and amount of margin will be considered as the number of intermediaries increases.

 

Pattern 2: Visit the site

 

"Site Visit" is a method by which influencers visit stores, events, attractions, etc., and send live site experiences and impressions to SNS.

 

Apart from the same assumption as a gift, you have to add the following expenses as required.

 

●     Time restraint date

●     Transportation and accommodation expenses

●     Activity fee

 

Thus, let's formulate a budget after solidifying the policy image in advance.

 

Benefits of using influencers

Learn about the benefits of using influencers in your marketing strategy.

 

Advantages 1. Easy to reach the target group

The more genre-specific the influencer is, the more followers are interested in that genre. So, it's easy to target by age, gender, and genre depending on the influencer you use.

 

For example, a fitness model influencer can be used effectively to reach consumers interested in training and dieting. Thus by reaching the target group according to the product, a great PR effect can be obtained.

 

Benefits 2. Empathize with consumer-focused reviews

Influencer marketing actually carefully reviews products and services from the consumer's point of view. So it easily has the effect of gaining the empathy of the target audience.

 

Reviews that are actually directed at consumers are persuasive and easy to take. So unlike corporate PR, they more effectively pique interest.

 

Advantage 3. You can analyze the process up to the purchase of the user

Influencer marketing using the Internet can collect the following information.

 

●     Reach number

●     Engagement number / rate

●     Number of shares

●     Number of site transitions

●     Number of product purchases

 

Analyzing this acquired data makes it easier to improve efficient strategies and continuously brush up, so the effectiveness of measures can be increased.

 

Merit 4. Flexible marketing systems are possible depending on the objectives and business form

Influencer marketing enables flexible marketing strategies depending on objectives and business form. The following is an example of the form.

 

●     Gifting

●     Site visit

●     Collaboration (supervision of product planning and joint production of collaboration items)

●     Live commerce (product introduction by live distribution)

●     Ambassador (long-term brand-only advertising tower)

 

For example, when you want to increase brand awareness, you can hire some of the most influential influencers to blast your brand information.

 

Additionally, when promoting the purchase of intended products, influencers can be recruited to support the purchase through consumer-based reviews. Thus, it is possible to change the system with flexibility.

 

How to request an influencer

Introducing the main request methods for influencer marketing.

 

Method 1. Request directly

The advantage of requesting an influencer directly is that it is quick and cost-effective.

 

But, since all influencer selection, compensation negotiation, management, post-content testing, impact analysis, etc. need to be done internally, appropriate knowledge is required and the burden on the person in charge becomes heavy.

 

Method 2. Use a matching platform

The advantage of using a matching platform is that it is possible to select influencers who have a high affinity with your company using high-performance tools.

 

But, the final selection and management, measurement schedule, impact analysis, etc. should be done in-house as indirect requests.

 

Method 3. Ask an influencer marketing or casting company to introduce you

You can ask professionals to select influencers, manage them, implement measures and analyze their impact. This is most effective if you have no way of knowing.

 

But, in some cases, the cost is high, as there are many middlemen between the influencer and the casting companies. Also, it is important to carefully coordinate in advance to ensure that there is no mismatch between the company's objectives and the content of the format.

 

Key points for successful influencer marketing

 

Here are some basic tips for successful influencer marketing.

 

Point 1. Respect the creativity of influencers

Influencers are professionals who appeal to SNS. Understand how you show up on social media and how your followers are more responsive than the company. If you push your company's requests more than necessary, such as how to show products, you can destroy the influencer's personality.

 

The key is to respect influencers' creativity by providing content that makes you want to post on SNS and carefully adjusting post content in advance. For example, let influencers come up with ideas that followers will want to respond to by communicating product-specific features and brand messages.

 

Point 2. Use influencers that take advantage of the characteristics of the medium

Each medium has its own characteristics. By recruiting influencers according to the medium, it is possible to create a strategy that takes advantage of its characteristics. Consider balance with your budget and try to create strategic content, such as advertising articles in media where the target audience converges.

 

For example, Twitter has the characteristic of high diffusion capacity. But there is a limit to the number of characters and it cannot be explained enough. For that reason, it seems that many fields employ influencers who are good at word choice and who can use manga-like images.

 

Thus by considering different measures using the characteristics of each medium, it is possible to adopt different methods that are effective for more consumers.

 

Point 3. Make a topic so that the user can see it many times.

Let's plan a campaign to reach as many customers as possible.

 

For example, by posting multiple influencers with hashtags and creating ways for followers to imitate and post, collaboration posts with companies will appear many times and have a long-term promotional effect. It's hard to get Instagram's influence with just one post, so this type of strategic PR is necessary.

 

Point 4. Define influencer marketing objectives and measures according to buying stage

Influencer marketing has different objectives and measures depending on the buying phase (stage) of the consumer. Let's figure out the relationship and problems between your business and customers beforehand.