What Is An Influencer: All You Need To Know
Despite what you might think, influencers have been around for long before social media’s rise. While their roles might have evolved, what hasn’t changed is how companies use them. Influencers are usually experienced, knowledgeable, or have an extensive reach for an audience in a specific market or subject.
Companies started to hire celebrities and athletes to help them sell their products back in the 50s, so the concept is not new. The difference is that today, consumers are more aware of what they purchase and require more information. To keep things short, we live in an era of participation, where everyone can create content online and interact with brands and other users.
If you want to get a better idea about what influencers do and why their figure has gained so much attention, you landed in the right place. What are you waiting for? Start digging in in this essential guide on all you need to know about influencers that we put together for you.
Who Are "Influencers"
While even a couple of years ago, it was common to think of influencers as artists and pop stars, today, there are different categories of influencers. Companies currently engage with industry experts, bloggers, content creators, and micro-influencers to promote their products or services.
Depending on their target audience and potential customer base, organizations might prefer one influencer over the other.
Still, the figure of the influencer is not clearly defined. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, an influencer is “someone who affects or changes the way other people behave and who might encourage other people to buy a company’s products or services”.
What is clear is that consumers tend to sympathize more with influencers who they think are competent or trustworthy. That becomes especially true when such figures succeed in being transparent in their content creation process and show their “human side.”
The result is that instead of having companies getting trying to boast the greatness of a product or service, consumers now get advice from people they trust and value. This way, the message on how great a product or a service reaches an engaged audience.
A message from influencers tends to sound more authentic and can set the basis for a long-term relationship between consumers and brands.
What Are The Benefits of Working With Influencers?
Influencers can positively affect a company’s marketing strategy. They offer access to credibility to growing companies, help to build trust, and can contribute to better customer retention. Indeed, the way individuals make their purchases, with increased access to information and reviews, has changed.
Today, more than 70% of consumers buy from recommendations. Here is where the figure of the influencer provides a valuable connection point between companies and their target market.
But let’s look at some other benefits of making use of an influencer’s power:
- Brand Awareness – if a company is looking to grow or establish itself in the market, it can do so through the exploitation of an influencer’s audience.
- Trust – Influencers have followers that like the content they produce, that resonates with their lifestyles or opinions. Reaching out to the right audience can help organizations in effectively boosting brand credibility and trust.
- Better Customer Relationships– long gone are the days of “push marketing.” Consumers are now increasingly aware of what they need, what they want, and what they’d like to consume. By making use of the existing intimate connections some influencers have on their audience, companies can strengthen their relationship with customers.
- Improved Brand Image – we already knew the power of positive word of mouth for sales. Influencers take it all to another level and can help effectively strengthen the image of companies in the eyes of consumers.
The Bottom Line On Influencers
All in all, an influencer can have a considerable impact on a company’s relationship with its customers and help increase brand awareness and trust. However, it is worth pointing out that, like with many things, engaging a couple of influencers will not magically solve all of a company’s problems.
Organizations and businesses need to be aware that not all public figures are suited to promote their services or products. Instead, there must be a right match in terms of the content created by an influencer, the audience attracted by it, and the company’s vision and values.
Only choosing the right people, researching on the appropriate type of content and message, and targeting the right audience, will bring companies the benefits from collaborating with influencers.
We have compiled a list of highly effective influencers that are actively making affiliate commissions. This means they know how to position and sell products because oftentimes their commission depends on how well they do with product placement and promotion.
To access our 6,000+ IG influencer list just click the link and order. You’ll be amazed how quickly you can generate boatloads of fantastic content for your brand’s IG and FB, as well as getting testimonial videos you can use for your advertising to make it more authentic!
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to call and set up a meeting with our experts today!
