It’s no secret among marketers that conventional marketing methods are not working as effectively as they used to. To engage with the Millennials and Generation Z successfully, businesses need to have a strong presence on social media, and although brands have always associated themselves with popular influential individuals, influencer marketing allows for a more authentic and organic approach to advertising according to an Onalytica Blog.
The Journal of Consumer Marketing explained how it’s not always a sure bet to rely on influencer marketing but a “well‐placed, calculated and provocative campaign can spark a firestorm of buzz that sometimes can be effective for years”, so it’s worth taking the time to find the right influencers (Ferguson, 2008).
A survey of 1,000 13 to 17-year-olds conducted by Awesomeness and Trendera revealed that 55% of Gen Zers don’t have to have met someone in person in order to feel connected to them, with this in-mind it is makes perfect sense that marketers are racing to sign up influencers to reel in a generation expected to wield $44 billion in buying power by 2025 as explained by AdAge.
A Brand that has used influencer marketing with huge success is Gym Shark. They went from a 0 to $1.5M business venture in just two years using solely social media and a band of influencers to promote their products such as Whitney Simmons as shown in the image below.
So how do you select the right influencers for your brand? As explained by Lui et al (2015) its important for businesses not only that they are currently an influencer but also that they will maintain his/her influential power in the future. Well that’s where this blog can help you, here are five steps to finding the right influencer for your brand.
1. Relevance, in terms of content and following
The most important factor to consider is how aligned the blogger’s existing content and audience is with your brand.
It can be easy to assume that because someone is posting about fitness, it makes them a good match for a running trainers business. This may be the case but it’s essential to look into what they are posting, their tone of voice and also their audience.
Disney has recently had to end a partnership with the YouTube influencer PewDiePie after being informed of anti-Semitic content in his videos… Something definitely not in keeping with their brands core messaging. It is worth taking the time to research your potential influencer so not to associate your brand with something that could damage you reputation.
A diet-shake brand also made a big mistake by reaching out to the wrong influencer… They repeatedly tried to reach out to an influencers who had openly spoken about her struggle with anorexia on her Instagram. She publicly responded to the brand explaining how they had clearly not looked at her feed carefully and addressed how harmful the diet culture and these shakes can be. This left the Choco Diet company with extremely negative publicity, not at all what they had intended! You can read more about this case here:
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/instagram-diet-shake
2. Reach & Engagement
Bigger isn’t always better.
This may seem obvious, but you need to consider is the amount of reach an individual has but also the amount of engagement. A blogger with only a smaller reach that is highly engaged is much more useful than an influencer with 10,000 followers but low engagement rates.
There are many sites such as Brandnew or Scrunch that can help brands identify relevant users and measure their engagement and followers as shown in the screen grab below:
A Screen Garb From an Influencer Search on Brandnew
3. Authenticity is key
According to the Journal of Marketing Research people are more likely to be influenced by an individual associate with a brand if they come across as more honest (Scheer and Stern, 1992). Rather than using a word-for-word script, influencers should be able to create genuine posts reviewing products honestly whilst still providing good exposure to the products or services. Interesting stories or life advice can also be much more effective than product descriptions or reviews. For example, if an influencer wrote a piece on being more active to live a healthier, happier life in connection with a bike brand, this would create much more engaging content and connect said brand to a sincere health-related conversation.
Below is an example of an influencer, Scott Disick, who has copied and paste the instructions given to him by a PR contact shattering the illusion of authenticity. Its important to look for people who come across as genuine and can communicate in a more creative way.
4. Non-Exclusivity is not your enemy
You may have been thinking for an influencer to be right for you, they need to just be working with your brand and definitely not compare your products or services to competing brands! However in order for influencers to have an influence over their audience, they need to earn their trust, and by mentioning competing brands and honestly comparing them to your products/services
Gymshark’s Whitney Simmons again, is a great example of an influencer who does this well. In the video below, we see her honestly reviewing and comparing fitness gear from Gymshark, Adidas and Lululemon. This way it still brings awareness to Gymshark and the audience are likely to trust Whitney’s review more than some one who just explained the positives of the brand they are sponsored by.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wRUjwLYAUA
5. Don’t waste too much time…
Unfortunately, with the popularity of this marketing method, nowadays its much more about the influencer choosing to work with brands rather than the other way around. As explained by Khamis, Ang & Welling, (2016) it’s quite common for brands to be surprised when influencers turn down jobs, with their high demand they can afford to be picky about who they work with. Businesses can end up spending a considerable amount of time searching for the perfect voice for their brand simply to be turned down.
References:
De Veirman, M., Cauberghe, V. & Hudders, L. 2017, “Marketing through Instagram influencers: the impact of number of followers and product divergence on brand attitude”, International Journal of Advertising, vol. 36, no. 5, pp. 798.
Ferguson, R., 2008. Word of mouth and viral marketing: taking the temperature of the hottest trends in marketing. Journal of consumer marketing, 25(3), pp.179-182.
Khamis, S., Ang, L. & Welling, R. 2016, “Self-branding, ‘micro-celebrity’ and the rise of Social Media Influencers”, Celebrity Studies, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 191-18.
Lee, K. 2017, “The Dos and Don’ts of Influencer Marketing”, Public Relations Tactics, [Online], vol. 24, no. 7, pp. 19.
Liu, S., Jiang, C., Lin, Z., Ding, Y., Duan, R. & Xu, Z. 2015, “Identifying effective influencers based on trust for electronic word-of-mouth marketing: A domain-aware approach”, INFORMATION SCIENCES, vol. 306, pp. 34-52.
Russel, A. (2017). Influencer Marketing: What is it and why should you be doing it?. [Blog] Onalytica: Education, Marketing. Available at: http://www.onalytica.com/blog/posts/influencer-marketing-what-is-it-and-why-should-you-be-doing-it/ [Accessed 20 Mar. 2018].
Scheer, L.K. and Stern, L.W., 1992. The effect of influence type and performance outcomes on attitude toward the influencer. Journal of Marketing Research, pp.128-142.