2021 is the year of the Influencer. Already influencer traffic/marketing is becoming more and more ….
Influential?
Why?
Because it works.
Influencer Stats
Here are a couple of incredible influencer stats:
Influencer Marketing Campaigns Earn $6.50 for Every Dollar Spent.
And…
70% of Teens Trust Influencers More than Traditional Celebrities.
Pretty remarkable.
That said, taking a snapshot at the online marketing landscape right now, you could argue that retargeting (DEFINITION) has made everyone more cynical about ads and advertising.
Other marketing avenues like Youtube ads can be annoying, though in my estimation they are still quite effective but I digress…
The truth is, people will always trust real people over brands.
What Is An Influencer?
An influencer is simply put, an individual who has “influence” over others' buying decisions. They have developed “trust” within a certain niche or group of people and when they promote something, people listen and are likely to buy.
The landscape of the internet has changed over the past decade. A decade ago, you could thrive on persuasive ad copy, with proven copywriting principles borrowed from the direct mail industry.
Now, trust is paramount and arguably just as important as great, persuasive ad copy.
Trust is so important that places like Amazon and Etsy ONLY allow reviews from VERIFIED buyers. Think about that for a second.
The only reason is because reviews are so powerful that even fake reviews move people to buy.
More than ever, the source is critical.
Questions buyers ask themselves are:
- Is this person trying to sell me something?
- Do they know what they are talking about?
- Should I trust them?
These are core marketing questions that are more important today than ever before. Never have people been so skeptical and untrusting of traditional advertising.
Enter the rise of the Influencers!
What Kind of Influencers Are There?
By definition, an influencer is somebody who has substantial reach on social media.
Nano influencers have under 1000 followers
Micro have between 1000-10,000
Influencer is generally between 10,000 – 100,000
And Celebrities is 100,000+
So, two things to peel back here.
Make Extra Money As An Influencer
First, you can make extra money as an influencer. One of the simplest platforms to get setup on and start earning extra money is Intellifluence.
Now Intellifluence is a platform that connects influencers with companies that want to “advertise” using influencers.
So, as an advertiser, you can access their DB of over 100,000 influencers and send a proposal to hand picked influencers.
This is cool, right?
You can offer cash (paid up front to Intellifluence) or free product or both. This certainly gives some different options to supplement traditional advertising methods.
Influencer marketing is very effective, and has been proven to boost conversions when used by ecommerce companies who can show real users with their product!
Everybody wants to be cool, and the influencer scene plays into this innate human need.
You might see ads that show video clips with paid influencers like this in your Instagram feed.
Another good influencer platform is Phalanx. There is also an app-based influencer setup called Post For Rent. This new marketing channel is exploding.
Here is an ROI comparison from a company that helps connects companies with influencers called Influencer Club:
Source: InfluencerClub
Advertising with Influencer Marketing
And if you still are not sure influencer marketing works, read this case study of using Influencer emails in FB Ads for a 13x ROI:
As you can see, the ROI is huge. But you have to get your head around how to use influencer marketing.
You need to think about advertising differently. Think outside the box.
Remember the stats from earlier:
Influencer Marketing Campaigns Earn $6.50 for Every Dollar Spent.
And…
70% of Teens Trust Influencers More than Traditional Celebrities.
This is an incredible stat and for the cost of traditional marketing, you can set up an influencer marketing campaign asking those influencer to promote your product to their audiences.
The Biggest Hurdle With Finding Great Influencers
The biggest caveat with influencers is fake followers and inflated follower counts. So it’s worth it to check out your target niche in the influencer scene. Take the time to focus on the right influencers for your brand.
Partly because it’s a new thing, depending on where you land, influencer marketing can be quite inexpensive but since it’s a new space, there are definitely deals to be had.
You can often get an endorsement in exchange for free product from nano influencers.
Bottom line is: Think of using influencers to tell your story is like the next step down from a friend's personal recommendation.
Final Thoughts about Influencer Marketing
The real metric is trust + engagement + targeting. Those are the three factors you need to consider when getting involved in influencer marketing (both as an influencer yourself or using it for marketing purposes.)
If you’re not taking advantage of influencer marketing right now, after reading this article, you should have some ideas to start with. Remember, strategies to get traffic to your sites are constantly changing and evolving, and influencer traffic is an avenue that cannot be overlooked.