What is Influencer Marketing Service & Why You Should Use It?

by iNeedSocial

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You may have heard of influencer marketing service, but if you are not sure what it really is or how helpful it can be for your business, then we are here to help you understand what all the hype is really about. We have written a complete guide with key facts and figures that can help you fine influencer marketing service in London decide whether it is the right strategy for your brand.

Who is an Influencer?

The term influencer cannot be defined as there is no perfect mould that fits all influencers.

In general terms influencer is a person who has followers in a specific niche and can affect purchase decisions of his/her followers due to his/her knowledge, position, authority or relationship with the audience.

It is worth mentioning that an influencer may not necessarily have a huge number of followers or might not be from an SEO agency London but still be extremely valuable to brands as relationship assets which help achieve their marketing objectives. Brands love influencer marketing because they encourage their followers to try a new trend or product that the company wants to promote. However, companies need to be careful as every influencer is unique and may or may not work for your brand.

An influencer uses more than one social media platform like Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or YouTube to express his/her opinion about specific brands or products; thus influencing their followers.

To understand more about who influencers are and how you can become one, have a look here. But for now, let’s focus on what influencer marketing service is and how you can create a powerful online campaign for your brand using it.

Influencer Marketing Service London

It is the art of combining traditional and new marketing tools to create a content-driven marketing campaign that is endorsed by celebrities or influencers.

Businesses have been selling their products through traditional marketing by paying famous celebrities for decades. However, companies now use “influencers” instead of celebrities to run campaigns that are a collaboration between the brand and these influencers.

There is a general misconception about influencers that they have a huge social media following. However, this is not true as 61% of Instagram influencers have less than 15,000 followers.

The act of influencing results in a change in thinking or behaviour. It is used to encourage people to think about a product or service and nudge them towards making a purchase decision. In conclusion, an influencer is someone who has the power to change people’s perception and get them to do something different.

Most companies struggle to curate and create content that resonates with their customers. Their social media marketing campaigns usually yield erratic results, trying to blindly grab followers and posting content on various platforms in the hopes that something will stick. Influencer marketing solves this issue by directing our efforts towards influential people whose likes and dislikes are well aligned with your brand. These efforts include engaging with influencers across different social platforms by liking, commenting, sharing and by creating content that sticks in their minds. Even though the ultimate prize is the influencer’s audience, the target market for brands or companies is the influencer themselves.

With the rise of social media usage, consumers are bombarded with advertisements and promotional messages every day. They see ads on billboards, shops, train stations, television, laptops and on their phones. Brands are competing fiercely to get customer’s attention at any time they are connected to the internet. Companies keep track of our online activity through cookies and use this information to send us regular email reminders and push notifications to tempt you into buying their product.

Have you ever visited a website to read a review about a product or saw a demo on YouTube and found yourself looking at advertisements for the product again and again? Well you are not alone, most businesses are using smart technology (social media tools) to keep track of their consumer’s online activity, and as soon as they show an interest in their product, they try their best to nudge you to click the “buy” button.

With so much competition, attracting the attention of potential consumers has become extremely challenging for brands and companies. You cannot expect to grow your brand organically with the efforts of your marketing department; it is imperative to seek expert help. A dedicated SEO company can quickly increase your followers organically and take all the hassle away from you.

Why Is Influencer Marketing Service Important for Your Brand?

Influencer marketing services have become complex to understand and navigate in the last five years. We have put together a few statistics from Mediakix for you to have a look and decide for yourself if influencer marketing is right for your brand or company.

In 2018, companies spent more than $5 billion on influencer marketing services on Instagram alone, while 65% of marketers are planning to increase their influencer marketing budget in 2019.
There are more than 5 million active influencers meaning that you have a tremendous opportunity to reach millions by collaborating with as many influencers as you like. According to InlfuencerDB, 39% of Instagram accounts have more than 15,000 followers.

Source (eMarketer.com)

89% of the companies reported that ROI from influencer marketing is similar to or even better than other marketing channels. Furthermore, influencer marketing delivers 11times more ROI than paid media.

Source (Mediakix.com)

In terms of KPI’s, influencer marketing services can help a brand achieve social reach, engagement, sales, sign up, downloads, brand lift and click through rate.
80% of the companies believe influencer marketing is effective, while 71% of the marketers agreed that the traffic and quality of customers are better than other paid media.

Different Types of Influencer Marketing Service Campaigns

There are two main kinds of influencer marketing campaigns a) sponsored content b) product placement, which have further subcategories:

Sponsored Content

Integrated content
Hashtag or theme campaign
Brought to you by
Giveaway & Contests
Shoutout
Discount codes

Product Placement

Pre-release
Unboxing

We will briefly explain the above influencer marketing campaigns, and you may use either one or a combination of a few types for your brand.

Integrated Content

This kind of influencer marketing service campaign does not promote your product directly; instead, the influencer tries to subtly hint at it or weave it into a story so their followers can understand why it is important for them.

Hashtag/Theme

This kind of campaign tries to promote a brand across different social media channels by making the hashtag go viral. Many influencers are involved in this campaign where they all mention the brand in their post and tag each other, so it reaches the maximum number of people. Below is an example of an influencer trying to promote a specific kind of protein shake and by asking everyone to shareashake. This kind of influencer marketing campaign works best on Instagram and Twitter.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsqoAU4g-b2/

Brought to you by

This is a type of sponsored content that the influencer announces during the video and is more popular on Youtube. For example, Remington sponsored how to shave video by Robin James an influencer may be trying a new hair. James pauses in the first few minutes of the video to announce that “this video has been sponsored by Remington, thank you, Remington”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKbPmRVE_lw at 1:39

Giveaway & Contest

Giveaway or contests is a popular tactic for drumming up excitement about a brand. Influencers are contacted by brands to give their product away as a prize for entering into a contest. Over here, Skin Elements is asking its followers to tag their friends and follow their brand for a chance to win their face sheet masks.

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByCp7gsBjmY/

Shoutout

A shoutout is a way influencer try to thank a brand for helping them with their project or achieving a goal. Companies usually choose influencers who resonate with their brand and then sponsor them financially or through other means to help them achieve their dreams. In return, the influencer mentions the brand in their post or video, which creates a positive image of the brand in the minds of the followers.

Discount Codes

When mentioning a product or service on their social media channel, influencers provide a discount code for their followers. These discount codes are customized to the influencer and usually contain a part of their account name in them. It helps companies keep track of their conversion rates and ROI of their sponsored posts.

Denitslava is a famous makeup influencer with over a million followers on Instagram. In her recent post, she mentions not one but two discount codes for two different brands she is using to create her makeup look. She mentions a 30% discount on @ofracosmetics and 10% discount on @sigmabeauty to her followers.

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByAzA7xlKB9/

Pre-release

This product placement marketing approach is typical for highly anticipated technology products like mobile phones or laptops. Sakitech talks about the Samsung Galaxy Fold, where he talks about the price, its features, and whether people should buy one. His video has received over 22 million views to date and generated a huge amount of interest in the product. He received more than 3000 comments on this video alone where people are asking him more questions about the Samsung Galaxy Fold phone. Some people are having a debate among themselves and sharing more information.

This kind of influencer marketing service can be extremely beneficial for a brand as it leads to electronic word of mouth. People start hearing about the product online, become curious, and it creates hype. Once a brand has generated enough hype, it automatically goes viral on the internet, and that is where your brand really takes off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFcXSdyNty8

Unboxing

This is probably the most popular influencer marketing service; an influencer unpacks a product to his/her viewers and talks about their first impressions. Zollotech opens up the 2018 Surface Pro 6 and shares his views on its design and features. He starts the laptop and takes his viewers through the configuration process. He gives his opinions throughout the video on how this product compares with other laptops he has used in the past. He mentions his likes and dislikes about the Surface Pro 6, mentions its price and connects it with a Surface Pen to show how it works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh2UNe6MoKg

Which Influencer Service Campaign to Choose for your Brand?

Before deciding which influencer campaign you can use for your marketing strategy; assess which kind of content your target market responds to and test out multiple options. Bear in mind that none of the above campaign categories is set in stone. You can combine different approaches to find what works for your company. As social media continues to evolve, so will the influencer tactics to keep their audiences engaged. The key is to keep your content fresh and continually find creative ways to build excitement and provide good value to the audience.

We understand that as a brand, it can be hard to focus on your social media marketing campaign when you have a ton of other things that need your attention on a daily basis. That is why we sit down with our clients and provide them with customised solutions based on your requirements and budget. Ineedsocial has a dedicated team of experts working for us at our office in Central London who strives to go above and beyond your expectations. So, give us a call or book us for a free consultation today, and we will take the hassle of managing your influencer marketing campaign away!

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