Missing out: why influencer marketing is all too often overlooked

It’s hard to argue with many of the impressive statistics regarding the potential of influencer marketing.

This very modern form of marketing has been deemed effective by 94% of marketers who have tried it, while it can spur up to eleven times more ROI than traditional marketing.

Given those eye-opening statistics shared by Business 2 Community, why aren’t more people sampling influencer marketing? This reticence could be attributed to several understandable myths which have lingered, resulting in the following unfortunate developments…

Mistaking influencer marketing for celebrity endorsements

What actually is influencer marketing? It’s too easy to mistake it for just a continuation of celebrity endorsements, which have obviously held sway long before Instagram even existed for big stars to share product recommendations.

However, while celebrities could indeed be considered “influencers”, that term can also include micro-influencers whose follower counts and areas of specialism are comparatively niche. You shouldn’t necessarily disregard such low-scale influencers, as we will elaborate…

Obsessing over an influencer’s reach rather than their engagement

Yes, it’s easy to be wowed if a particular influencer has a follower count running into the millions, but it doesn’t strictly follow that you should rush to court that influencer’s services.

Unfortunately, newcomers to influencer marketing too readily prioritise targeting public figures with impressively high numbers of fans and followers. While such reach could indeed be helpful for cultivating awareness of a product or brand, what if you want to spur action?

Whether the action you want is submitting a form, signing up for a newsletter or simply buying a product, choose an influencer on account of their engagement rate. Small Business Trends cites a study revealing that, the higher an influencer’s follower count, the lower their engagement can be.

A perception that influencers don’t want to help

Perhaps due to the common belief that “influencer” is basically synonymous with “celebrity”, many people could assume that influencers would be unwilling to set aside time to help them.

However, marketing guru Neil Patel has recalled how, contrary to his expectations, the influencers he met weren’t “arrogant, distant or rude”, but instead “were interested in me and offered to help me”, and proceeded to connect him to other influential people they knew.

A lack of obviously prestigious connections

Patel also emphasises that his early success in connecting with influencers “wasn’t because my dad was a hedge manager, or because I worked for Apple or because my sister married Bill Gates’ son”, adding: “None of those things are true, by the way.”

Treating influencer marketing as a one-off project

Resist taking a “try it and leave it” approach to influencer marketing. You can reap optimum returns from this type of marketing if you not only forge strong relationships with the right influencers but also keep those relationships running for months or years.

Nonetheless, if you’re unsure where to even start, an influencer marketing agency could help you in making the initial contact with a public figure capable of taking your promotional efforts to the next level.

Image recommendations:

https://www.pexels.com/photo/apple-blur-business-communication-533463/

https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-close-up-colors-communication-545334/

The post Missing out: why influencer marketing is all too often overlooked appeared first on TheMarketingblog.

from TheMarketingblog http://www.themarketingblog.co.uk/2019/04/missing-out-why-influencer-marketing-is-all-too-often-overlooked/