When influencer marketing first appeared in 2006, influencers were bloggers writing about their lives and the products they liked. Now and then they were paid a small fee or sent something free.
PayPerPost was the first outfit in the world to pay influencers, and plenty of marketers were skeptical about how long the thing would last and how genuine it was. The industry has changed profoundly since 2006. Influencing is now a content marketing career that pays a living.
The good news is that the more influencers there are, the better your chances of finding the right creator for your online shop. Whatever your industry, there are influencers who will put your product in front of the audience it belongs to.
More people are becoming influencers
This is the influencer marketing part of the nine types of digital marketing. For the rest, have a look at our guide to digital marketing.
Social networks and blogs have traditionally been where influencers work. But with the growing need to reach a Gen Z customer base, and with new platforms letting creators turn a hobby into a profession, there has never been more room to enter the influencer marketing industry. Anyone can build a following now.
Creators can pick from any number of channels to make and share their work (Instagram posts, ordinary blogs, video stories and so on). As the industry keeps innovating, more creators are drawn to becoming influencers and joining in.
Influencer marketing agencies are on the rise
Influencer marketing gives creators and brands an independent way to reach potential customers. The industry is still being regulated, though, and it needs time before it settles into a standard shape.
Influencer agencies are there for e-commerce brands that would rather keep their hands off the detail. They can connect you with the influencers who fit your strategy, so you get the benefit of influencer marketing and of the trends coming through without spending your own time and money becoming expert in the field.
There is more choice of content
There are influencers in every interest and every sub-interest. From child creators showing the latest toys on YouTube to lifestyle accounts on Instagram and podcasts run by financial specialists, the newer platforms give people more ways to build an audience out of their personality, their skill and what they know.
Beauty, technology, health and wellbeing, running a business: whatever your industry, there is already an influencer talking to your potential customers every day. They have the language, the tone and the material to put your products in front of people on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn and the rest.
How e-commerce shops use influencer marketing to scale
Referrals are among the most effective marketing there is. Influencer marketing runs the same mechanism at a larger scale. Followers hear about your brand from someone they trust, which lets you reach a new audience through a single creator or a single piece of work.
Partnerships that genuinely work for both sides can be repeated across your whole content strategy for a serious return, and they cost less than most other ways of building awareness and profit.
Brand visibility
Influencers tell your brand’s story in their own way, speaking to what their followers feel and what moves them. In a 2021 survey, eight in ten users worldwide said social platforms help them discover new products and brands.
For a young brand, building a solid following can take years. Influencers can shorten that and get your name known faster.
Better brand awareness lifts your social following and it helps your SEO. Social media is not technically a ranking factor, but it still feeds your search engine optimization work. It also signals that you have a real online presence, which says something about the quality of the brand. And the content itself can pull organic traffic to your site.
Share user generated content
Followers put more weight on what an influencer thinks than on what the brand, or a celebrity, says. Partner with one to produce content for your own channels. Republish it using their images, their words and their tags, so the partnership is visible. Saying how good you are is one thing; having someone else say it is worth far more.
It pays to keep a UGC plan setting out when each piece goes out, so you can hold influencer posts back for upcoming launches, holidays or sale periods.
Testimonials people believe
People shopping online are wary of brands they do not know. Putting testimonials on your shop can settle the doubts that surface at the moment of purchase.
Honest feedback from an influencer about your product, your service or the experience of dealing with you adds a layer of social proof.
Say which kind of testimonial you want out of the campaign so the influencer captures the most relevant material. Review videos, written testimonials and honest product ratings all help you generate leads and lift sales.
A good word from an influencer people trust can put your products in front of a whole market segment and bring in your first sales, which makes testimonials particularly valuable for a brand still finding its feet.
Run a promotion with an influencer
Partner with an influencer to offer something exclusive to their audience. It is a proven way to lift conversion, because followers believe the offer will not reach the wider customer base and they act on it.
Give the influencer a link to use in the promotion, so there is a direct route to your shop or your product page and nothing gets in the way.
Work with micro influencers
A famous influencer may be beyond your budget for now, but influencers exist at every level. Someone with fewer followers can have a serious engagement rate, while someone with millions guarantees you neither clicks nor purchases.
Micro influencers usually have a loyal following. According to one study, “82% of consumers are highly likely to follow a recommendation made by a micro influencer”.
Micro influencers may not have the advanced features, the swipe up link among them, but they have other real ways of reaching their followers and introducing them to your brand, direct messages included.
Influencers with fewer followers bring more targeted reach, genuine engagement and access to niche consumers. Working with a micro influencer whose audience shares your brand’s interests can produce a far more deliberate marketing strategy.
Reaching out to influencers to find the right fit
You have turned your goal into a strategy. You know what you want from an influencer, what you hope to achieve and which performance indicators you will follow. Now it is time to find someone genuinely interested in your products.
You can use social communities to find influencers, or partner with a company to save the time. At Türk SEM, influencer marketing is a field we follow closely.
Of the marketing strategies still taking shape, could influencer marketing become a profession in its own right? Tell us what you think in the comments below this article.
