As someone who’s both studied and implemented various marketing strategies, I can tell you that among all the innovative approaches emerging in recent years, influencer marketing stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of authentic engagement and measurable impact.
It involves using popular social media users to promote a brand to a large audience online. Many marketing specialists are using this strategy to increase sales and improve brand authenticity.
In this article, I am going to discuss what is influencer marketing in detail. Besides that, I’ll also cover its types and some examples to help you understand it better.
What is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is a type of marketing that involves using popular social media stars to promote a brand.
Companies from around the world collaborate with famous social media personalities and reach out to a relevant audience through them. This results in increased brand awareness as well as sales.
As we know, social media has now become more than just a place of entertainment. It is a powerful marketing tool, and companies are utilizing it to promote their brand to millions of people.
Beyond traditional social media marketing techniques, brands now strategically identify and partner with influential personalities whose audiences align with their target demographics.
Definition Of Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a type of marketing that involves collaborating with individuals who have a strong social media presence to promote a brand.
Major Types Of Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing further has different types. I’ve discussed the details of some of the major ones below.
1. Sponsorships:
Sponsorships are one of the most common ways of using social celebrities to promote content. In this type, companies usually provide payments for influencers to create and publish promotional content. Sometimes, they also give the product for free along with payment.
2. Affiliate Marketing:
Affiliate marketing is another popular form of influencer marketing. It is a very decent and profitable type for both the influencer and the brand. That is because instead of paying a fixed amount up front, brands pay the influencer a specific percentage of the sales price.
Whenever a product is sold via an influencer (which is usually tracked by a UTM link), the percentage goes directly to the account of the influencer.
3. Ambassadorship:
Some brands prefer offering brand ambassadorship to influencers. These ambassadorships are usually provided to people with a large fan following and a decent influence over the audience.
Social media celebrities become the face of the brand for a long period of time. They keep on promoting the content to the audience every now and then. In return, companies pay money or provide free products to the ambassador.
4. Giveaways:
Giveaways are usually short-term collaborations between influencers and brands. Companies ask influencers to run a giveaway campaign and provide the product as a gift to the audience. It is usually up to the influencer how they want to run this campaign.
For example, they can ask people to comment on an answer to the question on a post and then pick a winner to give away the product.
Classifications of Influencer Marketing
There are different types of influencers that brands target for this marketing. I’ve discussed these types below:
1. Nano Influencers
Nano influencers are people who have a very low fan following. These usually have followers ranging from 1,000 to 10,000.
2. Micro Influencers
People who are followed by fans ranging from 1,000 to 100,000 are considered micro influencers.
3. Macro Influencers
Macro influencers are targeted by companies with a decent marketing budget. These influencers have a fan following ranging from 100,000 to 1 million.
4. Mega Influencers
Mega influencers are the celebrities with most followers on Instagram or anywhere else like Cristiano Ronaldo or Kylie Jenner who have millions of followers. Such kind of influencers are usually very expensive to use for marketing.
Examples of Influencer Marketing
Now that we have covered the main topics related to influencer marketing, let’s discuss some examples that will help you understand it better. The details of these examples are given below:
1. Daniel Wellington
Daniel Wellington is a well-known watch manufacturer that grew using influencer marketing’s power. It had the most social media influencer mentions like Hailey Bieber, Addison Rae, Radhika Apte, Lay Zhang, and Kendall Jenner.
2. Gymshark
Gymshark is among the biggest fitness brands in the world that manufactures workout apparel and accessories. It is also using social media fashion models like Whitney Simmons, David Laid, Steve Cook, Nikki Blackketter, and Simeon Panda to promote the brand.
The company offers brand ambassadorship to fitness influencers and gains popularity in the fitness community.
3. Amazon Affiliates
Amazon Affiliates is, perhaps, one of the biggest examples of social media influencer marketing. Some well-known influencers who have participated in Amazon’s affiliate program include tech reviewers, beauty bloggers, fitness experts, and lifestyle influencers across platforms like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.
Benefits Of Utilizing Influencer Marketing:
Utilizing influencer marketing comes with many benefits. I’ve discussed the major ones below:
1. Better Brand Awareness:
For me, better brand awareness is one of the biggest benefits of influencer marketing. People nowadays follow a lot of online celebrities and consume their content constantly.
If you hire the right type of influencer, your brand awareness can increase to a great extent within a short period of time.
2. Market To Target Audience:
With this marketing technique, you get to target a specific type of audience. Targeted promotion can bring a lot more benefits than random marketing.
For example, if you run a clothing brand, promoting via a fashion influencer will help you market the brand to the right type of audience.
3. Budget Flexibility:
Another big benefit of this technique is budget flexibility. Whether you have a low or large marketing budget, you can hire influencers and promote your brand easily.
For example, people with a low budget can target nano or micro influencers. Similarly, brands with a lot of marketing budget can focus on macro and mega influencers.
4. Better Engagement:
Influencer marketing might be the solution if you are having trouble getting the audience interested in your company. Unlike regular marketing, individuals on social media channels directly interact with the influencers. It means they also get to engage with your brand, which is a positive factor for growth.
Best Practices To Follow For Influencer Marketing:
There are several best practices you should follow if you plan to use this marketing approach. I have listed below the most crucial ones:
- Pick an influencer who has a fan following relevant to your brand.
- Always go for the influencer who is collaborative and deals with you decently.
- Learn which kind of influencer marketing type best fits your brand before you invest.
- Build a good relationship with the influencer if you intend to run this marketing for a long time.
- Provide explicit instructions on what kind of content you would want to be created regarding your product.
- To achieve greater brand visibility, try focusing on several social media channels, including YouTube and Instagram.
Final Verdict
Influencer marketing has become one of the most popular and efficient ways of brand promotion. Millions of people follow social media stars, and these stars can be a great way to get brand exposure.
There are different types of this marketing, and each has its own benefits. Many famous brands around the world, including Daniel Wellington, have utilized this technique to promote themselves.
People Also Ask
1. What are the 3 R’s of influencer marketing?
The 3 Rs of influencer marketing are Reach, Relevance, and Resonance.
2. How is influencer marketing paid?
There are different methods that companies use to pay for influencer marketing. They either give direct payments or offer free products. Some even offer a small percentage of the sales price.
3. What does influencer marketing do?
The main goal of influencer marketing is to use social media stars to get brand exposure and make more sales.
4. What is the key to influencer marketing?
The main key to influencer marketing is to pick the right type of influencer. Also, picking the right marketing model is important as well.
