A decade ago, the influencer marketing scene only consisted of a select few celebrities and social media heavyweights. Big names like Zoella and Pointless Blog were few and far between. Fast forward to 2023, however, and you can’t open your Instagram or TikTok without seeing influencers all over your feed. Of course, these accounts will vary in size and reach, but that doesn’t mean they are any less useful. It’s no wonder our influencer marketing agency has seen a meteoric rise in the number of businesses utilising influencer marketing. Working with these creators has become a powerful strategy for many brands in recent years. Today, the VerriBerri team wanted to help you make sense of this technique, and how you can best utilise it.
What Actually is Influencer Marketing?
Before we delve into the various benefits and strategies involved with influencer marketing, let’s first cover the basics. As an influencer marketing agency, one of the first things we’re often asked is what an influencer actually is. Influencers are individuals who have built large followings on social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. They’re characterised by having a strong engagement rate, trust, and – hence the name – influence their audience.
Influencer marketing uses these accounts to share a brand’s products to their followers, in return for compensation or free items. These promotions drive their followers to the brands website, encouraging sales based on the influencer’s recommendations.
Where did Influencer Marketing Come From?
Influencer marketing had to start somewhere. Despite social media becoming popular towards the turn of the century, influencers only started appearing around 2005. Why then? Well, that was when YouTube was born. YouTube didn’t allow people to make money from videos straight away, but that quickly changed with the platform’s growing popularity. More and more channels were created, and the most popular began to build large followings. They built relationships with their subscribers, which understandably, led many to trust and value the opinion of these first ‘influencers.’ Brands quickly recognised this, putting in place paid partnerships and sponsorships to get themselves recognised by their followers.
What Are My Options When Using Influencer Marketing
Your options with influencer marketing very much depend on what your overall objectives are. Do you want to build awareness? Reputation? Sales? If you aren’t sure, this is something a specialist influencer marketing agency can help you with. Some of the main options include the following:
Gifting
Especially for new businesses, or those with a slightly lower budget, gifting will typically be your technique of choice. It involves gifting your products to influencers in return for exposure on their feeds. As gifting is free, influencers aren’t contractually obliged to promote your brand, so it’s important you select these accounts carefully. If done well, gifting keeps costs to a minimum, with the potential for an incredibly high ROI.
Paid Collaborations
Not every business has the budget available for paid collaborations, but if you do, it can be incredibly beneficial. This technique takes gifting one step further. As well as sending your product, you’ll also pay the influencer to guarantee coverage. Typically, this will only occur when the influencer has particularly a high following and engagement rate.
Brand Ambassadorships
Essentially, these influencers are the face behind the brand. Think George Clooney for Nespresso or Dr Dre and Beats. Depending on your contract, these individuals may act as a spokesperson for your brand, post about it, or share giveaways.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is often utilised alongside gifting, paid collaborations and ambassadorships. It involves sharing a unique discount code or link with the influencer to include within their content. Should one of their followers use this code, the influencer is paid commission. Affiliate marketing is a great way of measuring how prosperous your partnership with a specific influencer is.
How Can It Add Value to My Social Media Strategy?
There are few businesses that won’t be able to benefit from influencer marketing. That is, assuming it is implemented correctly, of course. People trust the recommendations of people, especially when they come from someone they know. The more people who know about your brand, the more word of mouth is generated. It’s a powerful tool for any business, and influencer marketing is the perfect medium to help harness it.
Also, by collaborating with influencers, you can further the reach of your brand. No matter the size of their audience, there will always be untapped markets in which you can explore. You can present your product to an entirely new audience, which will be invaluable for drumming up new business. In fact, as many as 61% of consumers say they trust the recommendations of their favourite influencers.
Why You Need an Influencer Marketing Agency
Many businesses are often put under the impression that influencer marketing is a relatively quick and simple process. Trust us, this is far from the case. To create a strategy that actually works, you’re going to need to put in a lot of work. This includes carefully sourcing influencers, tailoring PR packages, tracking and analysing campaign effectiveness, and that’s just the skeleton of it.
At the end of the day, your brand is going to be associated with the influencers you partner with. It’s vital that you do the necessary due diligence to ensure these partnerships are the most fruitful they can be. At VerriBerri, this is something we can certainly help with.
Contact Us!
Providing your brand executes influencer marketing effectively, it can prove to be an incredibly powerful tool for boosting your visibility. That being said, it often pays to have a helping handed from a professional influencer marketing agency. Sure, you can attempt it on your own, but the slightest slip up or ineffective collaboration can cost you dearly. If you’d like to learn more about how influencer marketing can fit in your marketing strategy, get in touch! Give us a call on 01376 386 850, or simply click here to reach the team.