Snap Inc. lost over $1.3 billion in market value recently when their shares sank by 7.2% following a tweet by Kylie Jenner in which she said that she doesn’t open the app anymore, drawing agreement from her 24.5 million followers1. Now whether Jenner was solely responsible for the decline in share value or whether she only contributed to it, it must be noted that influencers wield a power like never before.
Last year was the year of influencer marketing with 84% of marketers launching at least one influencer campaign2. That number is only likely to go up this year. Some experts deem that influencer marketing is the fastest growing channel for online customer acquisition.
Influencers are people, typically on social media, who talk to their captive audience - their tribe - about things that matter to them. Their influence comes from their knowledge and expertise in a particular area. When they talk, people listen. Influencers have the ability to make or break your brand.
The Driving Force Behind the Push
There are several factors that contribute to the burgeoning growth of influencer marketing. These are:
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Distrust of slick brand advertising
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Widespread adoption of popup blockers reducing the reach and effectiveness of advertising
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Customers want highly personalized and relevant information based on their preferences
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Customers want to engage, and have conversations, with brands. They don’t want to be ‘spoken to’ in the typical one-way communication that traditional advertising affords
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Customers engage in communities online
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People online trust strangers more than brands (92%) and are more influenced by their peers when it comes to making a purchase3
Why Are Influencers a Good Idea?
1.Transferred Equity
Influencers aren’t created overnight. Though there are rare exceptions, most often their follower count is painstakingly grown post by post. Their earned value skyrockets because followers value their opinion and listen to what they say as a result of consistent and intelligent hard work. Many of their followers have been with them from early on in their journey, which amounts to at least a couple of years. When brands align with influencers, that equity is automatically transferred to the brand, equity that was years in the making. Brands go into conversations with a solid backing by association.
On September 19, 2016, Casey Neistat uploaded a YouTube video to his channel titled ‘The $21,000 first class airplane seat’. In the video, he documented, in typical Neistat fashion, his 14-hour journey luxuriating in Emirate’s swanky first-class cabin. The video amassed over 20 million views in a week. It created quite a buzz for Emirates’ first class offering, while cementing the company’s position as a hip, digital-first brand to a new target audience4.
2. Authentic and Trustworthy
Influencers are not necessarily celebrities. They are next-door neighbors, friends, aunts, cousins, local librarians or bakers… they are people who their followers can identify with. They are believable and trustworthy. When an influencer endorses something, it insinuates that rather than there being a gigantic marketing arm behind it, there is an individual who has gone through similar struggles in life. According to a report, 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendation5.
A study by Nielsen Catalina Solutions and Tapinfluence showed that shoppers who were exposed to influencer content purchased more brand products than those who were not exposed, at the expense of the brand’s competition whose sales dropped among the exposed group6. The same study also showed that influencer marketing delivers 11x higher returns than any other form of digital marketing.
3. A Tribe of Like-Minded People
Influencers specialize in a particular industry, be it lifestyle, leadership, beauty, food and more, and come to be seen as experts in that field. Their followers are people who have an interest in that particular area.
The brand, Marzetti, partnered with 21 mommy bloggers to promote their ‘Simply Dressed’ salad dressing that included a giveaway contest as well. The brand hoped to increase household penetration, improve brand perception and drive traffic for in-store purchases. The campaign had a reach of more than 58 million, with over 665 reader comments, and over 114,000 social interactions. They also activated a second set of influencers, who helped the brand reach an additional 22.8 million people, and 55,600 social engagements. The contest received more than 5,500 entries.
4.Fresh and Amplified
Brands struggle with two things, creating cost-effective content that is interesting and once they’ve done that, making sure that the content they’ve created is seen by others. Influencers solve both those problems.
When influencers come up with their own creatives, they put their spin on it. This keeps the content fresh and engaging. Brands spend next to nothing on creating content. Paid advertising, such as banner ads, is in jeopardy with over 40% of people on the internet using popup blockers. How else will brands ensure their promotional messages get in front of their target audience? Followers actively seek out content that their influencers post because they are hoping to learn something new every day. This ensures that promotional messages reach large audiences.
5. Long Tail Impact
Unlike advertising, influencer content stays online for years afterwards. In the Tapinfluence case study quoted earlier, it was noted that as much as 50% engagement took place after the campaign had ended. That kind of ROI can’t be matched by any other digital channel.
Lillian Betty, Head of strategic partnerships at Time Inc., is quoted as saying, “It would be a mistake for any business to commoditize any partnership or campaign that has an influencer at the heart of it as it’s more than just shifting product. It’s about brand identity, keeping the right sort of company and ensuring your brand is being shown in its best light with the best partner7.”
References:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/one-tweet-kylie-jenner-wiped-164939000.html
https://www.inc.com/nicolas-cole/in-2017-influencer-marketing-is-about-to-go-through-the-roof.html
https://www.startupgrind.com/blog/why-influencer-marketing-is-the-next-big-digital-growth-strategy/
https://medium.com/twelveam/emirates-landed-a-viral-hit-with-reactive-influencer-marketing-b17e24135400
https://www.brightlocal.com/learn/local-consumer-review-survey/
http://pages.tapinfluence.com/hubfs/Nielsen_WhiteWave_Study/1009_-_Nielsen_Study_Case_Study.pdf
https://www.marketingweek.com/2017/08/30/roi-look-like-world-influencer-marketing/
