If you are among the any that have spent considerable time on social media, chances are high you have heard of ‘influencers’. The average person will spend a maximum of two hours every day on social media, with specific demographics spending almost all day on their phones.
Because of this, social media influencers have become a big thing, and you cannot afford to ignore them anyway. They have the levels of fame that any celebrity would get, making them a useful way for brands to market their products and services. This has also made them an easy and affordable method of advertising, since traditional media rates tend to be very expensive.
In the marketing world of today, almost all businesses from all categories are using these influencers to promote their brands. In fact, statistics show that 92 percent of businesses have found this method to be effective. Read on to find out these benefits if you are considering hiring an influencer.
It is never annoying to the target audience
This is probably the biggest advantage of doing social media marketing, because it is not as annoying or pushy as a traditional promotional campaign. The approach it takes is vastly different from the traditional marketing strategy.
There is no denying that advertising is a major activity for marketers, and millions of dollars are invested into marketing budgets. The bad news is many customers are frustrated with seeing these advertisements so many times in a day, and it begins to irritate them.
A study done by the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) found that more than 60 percent of consumers use ad blockers today when surfing the internet. The main reason for this, according to many of the respondents, was that ads were making it hard for them to navigate sites easily and quickly, and for mobile users, it made their browsing slow down.
This should alert you there is something wrong with using this approach in trying to reach an audience that is not willing to listen. The good news is that they are open to purchasing from brands that work closely with social media influencers.
Because they have willingly decided to follow them, they are more open to seeing them post content – which means the influencer is not perceived as being pushy to their followers. In addition, the influencer already knows people are attracted to them because of their aesthetically pleasing content, so they will promote your product or brand in an aesthetic and interesting way.
People tend to see social media as more credible
The most successful influencers always spend a considerable amount of time engaging their followers and winning their loyalty, and this does not happen quickly. Building a loyal and highly engaged audience takes time, and rarely involves using services that help you get every day more Instagram auto followers or services that provide insta likes free – it involves a slow buildup of the audience.
When these followers are highly engaged, they develop a strong and long-lasting relationships with the influencer. This makes them believe the person they follow, at least easily. That also makes it easier to trust their recommendations and their advice on issues.
Trust is generally a difficult thing to obtain, and requires a long amount of time to develop. You do not need to go the long, hard way though – influencers provide you with a ready audience that is willing to listen and engage with you.
For instance, a study that was conducted by Twitter revealed that consumers relied more often on influencers to make decisions, just as much as their friends. In fact, the same study confirmed that 40 percent of customers ended up making a purchase, thanks to tweets they saw from an influencer or a person who follows the same influencer.
Other social media platforms follow the same rule, such as YouTube and Instagram. Working with influencers and allowing them to review your products makes it easy for their followers to try out your products. You simply need to work with the right influencer who can understand your brand and its products.
It allows you to do your marketing to a certain niche
It is important that a brand seeks to reach new audiences all the time, as this helps them raise awareness about their brand to more people. However, it is important you know who you are selling to before you start your marketing efforts.
It is better to target a smaller, niche audience that is likely to be extremely interested in what you have to offer, rather than a very large audience that will likely not buy from you. The chances of you making higher sales is when you are targeting a specific audience. The good news is that influencers are always experts within their own niche, and even ask them to share their own demographics with you.
It helps to boost SEO
Today, when you want to gain a handle on some visibility, you need to boost your SEO. The bad news is that getting good ranks is not easy to achieve, because domain authority is a very important factor in determine how credible you are.
However, working with an influencer can boost SEO, because they are able to post backlinks to your business website that are of high quality, therefore playing a role in boosting your website traffic and SEO.
It gives the users value
The main reason people follow influencers is because of their high value, and the fact that they are masters of their respective fields. Not just browsing.
For instance, an art blogger will regularly share tips on art techniques and bond with their followers through creating artwork. A fitness expert will share their own tips on healthy living, as well as aspects like diets.
When you can tap into this value, you can gain more customers while giving them value as well. This will improve trust and loyalty from the customers.
Final thoughts
Working with social media influencers proves to be a wise decision, as long as you choose the right person to promote your brand. It also happens to be more effective and cheaper than traditional advertising, which helps your business in the long term.