Marketing has changed. Influencer marking is in. Traditiaonl marketing is out (almost). Print, radio, TV and online ads are simply not working the way they use to. A recent study by Adobe produced shocking results with regards to the percentage of people who actually pay attention to traditional marketing.
|
26% |
TV |
22% |
Radio |
16% |
Online |
8% |
The world has shifted to social media and rather than looking directly at companies as they did in the past, consumers now look to each other and their favorite personalities to inform their purchasing decisions.
By working with social media influencers to create branded content, brands can amplify their message while reaching highly targeted audience.
Global giants like Mercedez-Benz, Adidas, and Sony have had this figured out for a while now paying celebrities and top tier influencers hundreds of thousands (and often more) for a single social media post. With the rise of social media, what was once reserved only for huge brands is now more accessible than ever to small and mid-sized businesses as well.
Working with local influencers with a smaller, highly targeted, hyper engaged following makes this type of marketing a very smart choice for marketers. And that folks, is what we love about the power of social media!
WHAT IS INFLUENCER MARKETING?
In short, influencer marketing is getting popular social media accounts (bloggers) to create content for you and talk about your brand, business or product. As influencers talk about your brand they create awareness among their followers and those followers pay attention because they trust that influencer – they have a relationship with them.
REASONS TO INVEST IN INFLUENCER MARKETING?
Marketing budgets exist to create awareness, drive traffic and increase sales. We believe there’s still a place for traditional marketing (in some niches and industries) but that influencer marketing is a much more effective way to reach your target audience and here’s why.
Influencer Marketing Costs Less
Most influencers charge based on following, engagement and content creation. You can customize a campaign to the finest details and, because influencer marketing is still in arbitrage (more on that below) you’re paying far less than you will be in the very near future.
Influencers Are Talented Content Creators
Influencers are generally multi-talented content creators with the ability to create video content, social strategy, professionally edited photography, and much more. When you hire an influencer not only do you get the content they create but you also gain access to their audience (it’s development and marketing in one).
For instance, it’s not unusual for a brand to spend 5-10k or more to produce a short video commercial for social media. The video is delivered and the brand is on it’s own to try and reach an audience with that ad. Hiring an influencer (who also creates video) is a much more cost effective approach. The influencer creates the video AND delivers that content to a targeted audience (something large marketing and production firms cannot do).
Influencers Cannot Be Blocked by Ad-Blockers
Did you know that 63% of millennials use an ad-blocking software online? Social media posts can’t be blocked by software meaning your marketing message will reach even the most diligent of ad-blocking consumers.
Influencer Marketing is Powerful
Great influencers have a relationship with their audience that’s built on trust and authenticity. This is two-fold for brands. The consumer trusts the influencers and, in many cases, looks to them regularly for recommendations. Effective influencers will always tell their audience the truth – and their audience knows that. If they have great experience, their followers will know about it. If not, that story will also be told.
Influencer Marketing is an Arbitrage
An arbitrage exists when something is selling for less than it’s worth. For example, when the Facebook ad network first emerged, early adopters reaped massive returns on investment because no one was competing for that ad space.
As Facebook became more popular, more marketers started bidding for that ad space driving the prices up by over 300% in 2014 and tanking everyone’s ROI’s. That was the end of the Arbitrage.
Influencer Marketing is still in Arbitrage. There are lots of influencers and very few brands investing in influencer campaigns which means those who are investing are likely paying less than the “real” value.
Influencer Marketing is Native Advertising
Traditional advertising interrupts the consumer experience (and they don’t like that) but native advertising places brands and products within organic content making the experience more pleasurable and creating a much more powerful marketing campaign.
Influencer Marketing is Trackable & Measurable
Traditional advertising is a shot in the dark at best with very limited access to date and analytics. The digital world is entirely different! Every like, share, view, website visit and click can be measured and monitored.
FINAL THOUGHTS TO OUR READERS & PARTNERS
The world of blogging and social media influencers is still relatively new which presents both opportuntieis and challenges. There is still a lot to learn on both sides of the fence (us as bloggers/influencers and the brands, business, PR companies,etc we work with) but the bottom line is this is an exciting time! We adore the work we do and the brands we work with but we want to make one thing crystal clear…
You, our readers, are the most important part of what we do and we will always be honest, authentic and straight with you. Yes, we work with brands and we get paid for what we do (not all of it, just some if it) but we will never sacrifice your trust. Our opinions are always our own – we are never required to say positive things about the brands we work with and we regularly turn down jobs that we don’t think are the right “fit” for Dashboard Living and for you.
I hope this article was helpful and as always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic. Remember, we’re always here to answer any questions you may have!
xxo Sara