In the era of digital marketing, influencers play a vital role in marketing businesses to the masses. Every brand while drafting its marketing strategy pays attention to how it can utilize influencers efficiently. With the all-time high usage of social media platforms, influencer marketing has become the norm now.
Are you wondering whether influencer marketing is right for your business or not? If so, then stick around till the end as in this blog, we will take a look at the importance, pros and cons and circumstances of when to opt for or leave influencer marketing in detail. Let’s dive in;
Importance of Aligning Influencer Marketing with Your Business
- Increase Brand Awareness:Influencers have cultivated an engaged audience over time, using their platforms they can make your business known to their followers. Mega and Macro influencers are preferred to increase brand awareness as they help reach a wider audience.
- Authentic Engagement:People are more open and honest in their response to an influencer than to businesses due to the relationship they have built with an influencer over time. Influencer marketing can be utilized to generate authentic engagement.
- Build Trust and Credibility:People are less likely to trust new businesses and hesitant to try new products or services from established businesses. People trust influencers due to the relationship they have developed over time, promotion coming from an influencer transfers their trust and credibility to the business.
- Targeting Marketing:Influencer marketing can be utilized to reach the targeted audience. Influencers are niche experts with engaged followers, collaboration with an influencer helps you reach their followers. Micro and Nano influencers are preferred in reaching targeted or niche audiences.
Pros and Cons of Influencer Marketing
■ Pros:
1. Influencers’ Recommendations Are Seen as Genuine
People are more likely to trust an influencer who shares their raw and honest opinions. Recommendations coming from an influencer are seen as genuine rather than promotional.
2. They Bring a Trust Factor to the Promotion
Influencers have earned the trust of their followers over time. When they collaborate and promote your products or services, they bring that same trust to your business.
3. Influencers Have Established Audiences
It is hard to stand out among the plethora of content online. Collaboration with an Influencer can help you reach their dedicated and established audience.
4. Expand Your Brand’s Reach
Influencers are niche experts and combined with their storytelling skills they can help you expand your reach by introducing your business to the masses in an authentic, engaging and entertaining way. As an influencer, you can buy likes and followers from quality sources on your content to reach a wider audience.
5. Enhance Engagement and Interaction
People are less likely to interact openly with a business platform but they are more open and direct with an influencer. Collaboration with an influencer helps in enhancing engagement and interaction with people.
6. Influencers’ Endorsement Adds Credibility
People are less likely to believe in the promotional ads that brands put out but an endorsement from an influencer transfers influencers’ credibility to the business.
7. Impact on Buyers’ Purchasing Decisions
Influencers are niche experts who have a strong impact on people’s buying decisions. 49% of people rely on product recommendations from influencers. 40% of people have purchased a product online after seeing it being used or recommended by an influencer.
■ Cons:
1. Can Be Expensive
Influencers are quite expensive; it is important to include their cost in the budget and conduct research before selecting an influencer. This helps in pricing the influencer right. High influencer pricing is a hurdle in the way of influencer marketing.
2. Risk of Inauthenticity
There is a risk of inauthenticity in collaboration with an influencer if they overpromote, show fake followers and engagement, are inconsistent in brand messaging, lack enthusiasm or get caught in a controversy. To avoid this mess, it is important to conduct thorough research before selecting an influencer.
3. Risk of Working with the Wrong Influencer
Often businesses do not spend their time searching for the right influencer resulting in working with an influencer whose audience is not the target and there is a clash of values between the influencer and the business.
4. Difficulty in Quantifying Influencer Marketing ROI
Quantifying ROI is difficult in influencer marketing due to diverse objectives, long-term benefits, varying influencer prices and data limitations.
■ When to Choose Influencer Marketing
⮚ Niche and Targeted Campaigns
Influencers are niche experts; they have a finger on the pulse of their audience. Influencers gain audience trust over time by being authentic. They are considered credible, authentic and trustworthy by their followers. If your business wants to reach a specific niche or a targeted population, collaboration with an influencer can introduce your business to their established audience.
⮚ Product Launches or Special Promotions
Influencers are masters of storytelling; they can create engaging and entertaining content to capture the attention of their followers and masses during product launches or special promotions. Influencers generate buzz for events by sharing teasers and countdowns, sneak peeks and unboxings, authentic reviews, live-streaming the event, and creating special hashtags and challenges.
■ When to Reconsider
⮚ Limited Budgets
Influencers are quite expensive and their rates are ever-changing, using them might not be the best option when you have a limited budget. The alternatives a small business can go for are social media advertising, content marketing, email marketing, local partnerships and referral programs just to name a few. On a limited budget consider collaborating with micro and nano influencers.
⮚ Strong In-House Marketing
Collaborating with an influencer might seem like a cool idea but with strong in-house marketing, it would just be a waste of time, money and resources. Strong In-house marketing should be preferred when a company needs tight brand control, offers complex products or services, has concerns about data privacy and security and limited budgets. Strong In-House Marketing has its advantages but establishing one needs time, resources and continuous training.
FAQ’s
Q: Is influencer marketing an effective strategy?
A: Yes, it is an effective strategy as it helps businesses reach their target audience, develop trust and credibility, provide authentic engagement and improve brand awareness yielding better ROI.
Q: What factors affect influencer marketing?
A: Influencers’ authenticity, reach and engagement, cost, targeted audience and whether influencer and business values align are key factors.
Q: Why should we trust influencers?
A: Influencer followers believe they are authentic; they earn this trust over time by providing users with unbiased reviews of products and services.
Q: Are influencers still effective?
A: Yes, they can yield better ROI and can get more impressions for less cost.
Q: What do consumers think about influencer marketing?
A: Consumers today are more inclined toward influencers’ opinions when buying a product or service. 69% of consumers trust influencers, friends or family over brands’ promotional ads.
Wrapping Up
To sum up, Influencer marketing has become the norm in today’s digital age. Influencers help increase brand awareness, reach the target audience, build trust and credibility and provide authentic engagement. Before collaborating, businesses should assess the pros and cons of a collaboration with an influencer. Influencer marketing should be preferred to reach niche or target audiences, at product launches and special promotions. If a business has a limited budget and strong In-House marketing then it should consider whether collaborating with an influencer is beneficial or not. So, good luck and thanks for reading!
