Do you have a business that wants to grow its brand? Perhaps you are looking to increase awareness, drive sales or simply grow your social media followers.
Whatever your goal, you can find influencers to help promote your brand on social media. This article will show you 5 benefits of influencer marketing for your business.
Branding
Awareness is the highest section of the marketing funnel. People won’t be able to buy your products if they don’t know anything about your brand. It’s a common goal for marketing campaigns and is especially common in influencer marketing campaigns.
Social media influencers can increase brand awareness among their followers and connect you to new markets or geographic areas. Imagine your brand opening a business in a new location and wanting to promote it. Because they have an established network in the area, influencers from that city could help you launch your campaign.
More followers
Influencer marketing also brings in new followers on social media for your brand. You can increase your reach and grow your audience by adding new followers. Every time you publish content, it will be seen by more people.
Your brand’s credibility on social media is also enhanced by the increased presence of followers. Imagine you’re a consumer, and you can choose between two brands you come across: one with 300 followers and one with 30K followers. Which one would you be more tempted to look into?
Followers lend you social proof. People feel more confident making decisions when they see other people have made similar decisions. If someone is new to your brand, they will be reassured by the fact that you have a large following.
You will need to do more to engage your followers as you gain more followers, or you risk losing them and your profile’s growth. Find out what content your audience enjoys, and invite them into your brand’s conversation. Encourage them to use your hashtags or mention your brand.
Content
Content creation, regardless of format, requires time and money. Content creation is part and parcel of influencer campaigns. Your brand will receive influencer-created content it can reuse on its web properties.
You can, for example, use a photo of your products that an influencer has posted. Take these examples:
- It could be reposted to your social media accounts
- It can be featured on your e-commerce pages.
- It might be useful to include it in printed materials, such as a catalog or packaging.
For example, British retailer Boohoo uses content created by Instagram influencers in their Instashop. This allows consumers to buy influencer looks from their posts.
A post by Boohoo on their Instashop. The items in the post can be easily purchased by customers.
Just ensure that you negotiate with influencers for permission to republish their content. You might also want to include it in the contract, if you end up using one. To learn more about contracts, check out this post and influencer contract template.
Sales
Social media influencers can help you increase sales. But, this is dependent on you first understanding your buyer personas and then finding influencers that can help you connect with your target audience.
Research shows influencer marketing is an effective way to persuade consumers, because consumers trust influencers more than they trust brands. 61% of consumers trust recommendations from family members, friends, and influencers when shopping. But only 38% of consumers trust brands via social media.
Influencers are a great way to win the trust of consumers if you want sales. You can also encourage sales by creating influencer discount codes. This coupon allows influencers to receive a discount at their store.
These are the best practices to follow when creating these codes:
- Make short, simple codes.
- Help the code stand out by using block capitals.
- Identify the influencer that each code belongs to.
Here’s an example of an Instagram influencer discount code. You will notice that SOPHIELOUISE15 has been written in block capitals. This makes it easy to identify the influencer.
Studies also show that deals are more important than a year ago, at least for 70% of US consumers. This combination of consumers’ trust in influencers and the need for discounts can help drive sales for your brand via social media.
Get outside input about your brand
Another benefit of influencer content? It’s not created by your company. This gives you a new perspective on your brand and products that your internal team cannot.
Brands may also find it useful to have the insight of influencers when creating content on social issues, such as Pride month for example. The right influencers can offer their unique experiences and subject-matter expertise, which will help you create content that addresses sensitive issues in an authentic way.
Listen to influencers when you work with them. You might get suggestions or ideas from them about how to improve your content. They may also see something wrong with your brand. Influencer collaborations are a great way to gain a fresh perspective on all you do.
Conclusion
Brands can reap the benefits of influencer marketing. It just depends on you finding the right influencers for your brand: It all depends on who you choose to influence: people with good performance metrics, and who are aligned with your brand’s mission and values.
