Influencer marketing is one of the most popular marketing strategies today. The reason for its popularity stems from the fact that customers today are more informed than ever.
When it comes to making purchases decisions, influencers are the ones driving them. Which means that the strategies that might have worked once are not as effective as they once were.
If you’re still unsure about including influencers in your marketing strategy, this article will help you make up your mind. Here are 10 benefits of influencer marketing you need to know now.
1. Builds Credibility and Trust
Why do you think people follow influencers on social media? Because they are inspired by them and trust their opinions and recommendations.
Influencers having a loyal following have been successful in establishing themselves as a subject matter expert in their niches. So any recommendation or insight coming from them is deeply trusted by their followers.
Studies have shown that tweets from influencers when coupled with those from brands have increased purchase intent 5.2X. Not only that, 40% of people have reported having made a purchase as a result of an influencer tweet.
If you have an influencer recommend your product or brand, people are likely to be way more receptive. Which is why one of the biggest benefits of influencer marketing is its ability to build trust and credibility about a brand.
2. Highly Focused and Relevant
When you work with an influencer whose niche aligns with your products, you convey your message to a relevant audience. In fact, the #1 reason why influencer marketing is able to generate high ROI is due to the relevance.
For example, if you sell sports shoes, your target audience would be people who are into sports and fitness. So if you partner with a fitness blogger, your chances of reaching a focused and relevant audience are very high. These people are likely to be fitness or sports enthusiasts. That’s the entire reason why they would be following a fitness influencer.
When your message reaches such an audience, the likelihood of conversions is way higher than that of a generic audience. Focus and relevance, therefore, are key benefits of influencer marketing.
3. Does Not Appear Pushy
One of the main reasons why influencer marketing is more effective in influencing purchases is because it isn’t pushy. The followers of an influencer have willingly chosen to receive content from them. So when you send across your messaging to them via an influencer, it does not come across as pushy.
Also, influencer marketing is way more effective in getting your message across to your audiences than ads. According to an IAB study, two-thirds of consumers use ad blockers on their computers and smartphones. Hence, authentic and valuable content from influencers is a much more reliable way of reaching them.
4. Provides Value to Your Target Audience
One of the most important benefit is that it is able to provide value to your target audience. You might have come across popular YouTubers who share product videos on their channels. These are immensely insightful and a valuable source of content for their audiences.
If you were to purchase a digital camera today, you would invariably look up product reviews online. A review from an influencer that talks about the features in detail and their usefulness would indeed be valuable. Not only are these reviews informative but also reliable for consumers.
5. Helps Drive Quicker Customer Acquisition
Since the audience you can reach with influencer marketing is essentially your target audience, they convert quicker. This is because they are already interested in that particular niche. So not only can you gain customers quicker but also drive more conversions.
In a study by Influencer Marketing Hub, it’s been found that influencer marketing is the fastest in acquiring customers online. 28% of marketers in the survey seem to agree with this. This is clearly one of the key benefits of influencer marketing.
6. Boosts Your SEO
Moz says that Domain Authority has the greatest influence on how you rank in search. But what is Domain Authority? More importantly, how can you increase your Domain Authority?
Domain Authority is a score assigned to a website based on how informative, useful, and relevant content it has. If other high-authority, credible websites link to your site, you likely have good content.
So, a key strategy to increase DA and hence your search ranking is by getting backlinks from high-authority websites. If your influencer has a high DA and links back to your website, your likelihood of appearing higher in search increases. Hence, influencer marketing can even help you boost your SEO efforts.
7. Easy on Your Wallet
Influencer marketing doesn’t have to be expensive. Unless you’re keen only to work with celebrities, of course. However, the problem with celebrities is that their audiences are more generic. So your chances of conversion are very very less even though your message might reach millions.
Instead, micro-influencers can give you a better bang for your buck. Their followers are much lesser than that of celebrities and hence more engaged and focused.
A study by Bloglovin’ shows that a majority of micro-influencers charge less than $500 for a sponsored post. Also, quite often they even work in exchange for free products or services, or even as affiliates. So influencer marketing will definitely go easy on your wallet.
8. Aids Your Content Strategy
Creating fresh and engaging content continually is not an easy task. So if you’re running short of content ideas, influencer marketing can aid your content strategy.
You can work out an agreement in which your influencer and you co-create content. Since influencers put a lot of effort into creating aesthetically-pleasing, quality content, it can benefit you immensely.
9. Increases Brand Awareness and Reach
Influencer marketing is a great way of reaching new audiences for your products or services. And when your partner with an influencer whose niche aligns with your products, you can reach an already engaged audience.
When such an influencer recommends your products or mentions your brand, it helps you gain more visibility. This not only increases your reach but also boosts your brand awareness.
10. Suitable for Businesses Regardless of Size or Industry
One of the best qualities of influencer marketing is that it is suitable for any business regardless of its size or industry. As long as there is someone influential in your industry, you can always leverage them for your marketing.
However, it does take some amount of planning to identify the influencers who are most suited to your needs. Grin’s influencer marketing platform can help you identify and connect with the right influencer based on reach, category, engagement, etc.Finl Thoghts
Most of the success of your influencer marketing campaign depends on your choice of influencers. If you make the right selection, the rewards are immense. It is important to work on building long-term relationships with them that are mutually beneficial. If you take a genuine interest in their professional growth, they are more likely to be invested in yours too.