Influencer, defined.
An influencer is someone who’s a recognized authority in their field. Their job is to amplify a message among their audience.
What exactly is an influencer?
Someone who’s built a community around a particular subject(s) and is recognized by that community as a specialist who has authority or influence in their field.
Influencer marketing is a form of marketing that relies on the reach and influence of public figures or recognized personalities in their field to boost the notoriety of a brand, product or service.
As shown in the diagram below, influencers are divided into five categories depending on the size of their community.
The impact of nano- and micro-influencers in Canada. Unlike major celebrities, local or secondary influencers give people the impression that it’s easier to get in touch with them. Nano- and micro-influencers have small, tight-knit communities and are therefore very active on their social platforms. These influencers are known and accessible since they live a similar lifestyle to that of their peers (followers)). And they talk about their lives in a very personal way on their social channels like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
Like, share, comment
Transparency and authenticity are the order of the day on social media. Small communities of secondary influencers encourage followers to interact by making them feel like they’re being heard and that they have a voice that resonates with a well-known person. What do these secondary influencers do? They respond to comments and interact with the community, creating a sense of accessibility and the illusion of friendship.
Being an influencer is a career in itself
Influencers regularly create content to feed their social platforms and boost their web presence. They are public figures and content creators with an influence that’s recognized in the community.
When you work regularly with an influencer who produces content for your brand, you kill two birds with one stone: you save on content production costs (copy, photos, videos) and you get a well-known and credible voice to talk about your brand. This type of user-generated content (UGC) is a gold mine. According to Hubspot data, 70-plus percent of peopleare more likely to make a purchase online if the product or service comes recommended by others.
Why do you need it?
→ To make your brand shine. The influence marketing industry is on track to be worth up to $15 billion by 2022. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, 82 percent of marketers believe that the quality of consumers and traffic generated by influence marketing is superior to that generated by other types of marketing.
→ To reach your target audiences. Reaching your targeted communities with an influencer is a highly effective way to recruit new, quality followers. Micro- and nano-influencers are champions when it comes to reaching targeted communities (commonly referred to as “niches”), i.e. ordinary consumers who consider themselves credible. Evidence suggests that the return on investment (ROI) of influencers with a community of 50,000 to 250,000 followers is 30 percent higher than that of micro-influencers, and 20 percent higher than that of influencers with more than one million followers. Not only that, but a survey of marketers found that 92 percent of those polled consider influence marketing to be effective.
→ To humanize your brand. Some influencers can become ambassadors or spokespeople for a brand or event.
→ To diversify your communication channels. Influencer marketing allows you to diversify your communication channels and use public figures to share key messages.
How does influencer marketing work?
At Spritz, we manage your influencer campaigns from start to finish. Our experienced team creates an original approach, reaching out and establishing lasting relationships with every influencer. We also take care of contracts and all the technical elements that are essential to a successful influencer marketing campaign.
Working under a pre-established agreement, the influencer receives some sort of compensation for their work, either in the form of products or money. Because the expectations are specific and the influencer is paid, they’re expected to meet the terms of the agreement.
An influencer’s role can be perceived in one of two ways. And depending on this perspective, the relationship and expectations will be different.
- Relay information (journalists or bloggers)
- Create content(recognized artists)
#Ad #PaidAd. Social media-savvy consumers today know that influencers are paid to promote brands, but it has to be made clear! Transparency is a must 100 percent of the time. Influencer marketing loses none of its power by being honest. The key to success? Properly planning and executing your campaign.
How to choose the right influencers
The Spritz team works with you to choose the best influencers for your brand. People who embody the brand voice and personality. The brand and influencer personalities come together to collaborate, hopefully leading to a happy and profitable relationship.
- Evaluate your basic needs
The three musts for a successful collaboration and quality content are personality, creativity and genuine interest on the part of the influencer. It’s essential that you find the right match, always respecting the 3Rs rule: Relevance, reach and resonance:
- Relevance:A natural connection with the cause and mandate.
- Reach: The ability to reach targets.
- Resonance: The ability to trigger the desired behaviour of targets.
Determine your campaign objectives
It’s essential to clearly define your goals and your expectations before each collaboration.
Identify your target audience
Who are you trying to reach? What platforms do your targets use? Asking yourself these key questions will guide you in your choice of platforms. Influencers are often more active on a particular platform and your strategy should take this into account.
Build a relationship with influencers
Quality before quantity. Engagement before securing millions of subscribers. It’s important to build long-term relationships with influencers. Once there’s a bond of trust between the brand and the influencer, and between the influencer and their followers, it’s always more profitable for the brand. Influencers essentially become ambassadors for your brand —and that pays off.
- Micro-influencers have better reach and engagement. They’re close to their fans. They still have time to interact with them and bring a more sincere, authentic approach that appeals to fans a lot.
- Depending on your strategy and budget, you might also want to consider macro-influencers, who have the potential to offer more visibility and notoriety if their posts are seen.
Activate your strategy
Influencer campaigns call for a ton of coordination. They involve multiple rounds of direct messages (DMs) and emails with the influencer to gauge their interest, talk about the project, negotiate the agreement, monitor the posting of content, generate stats, evaluate the collaboration… the list goes on and on. It’s a job that requires commitment, organization and strong communication skills.
Measure your results
Once the collaboration is complete, we ask the influencer to share their statistics so we can measure the results. We then collate this data with the results from our own assessment of the collaborator’s quality of work on our Influencer Web Platform (which we create ahead of time). Tools like our dashboard are a must when it comes to measuring the impact of your campaigns.
Influencer marketing is particularly effective for building the notoriety of a company. Collaboration with influencers recognized and appreciated by their community will have positive impacts on the brand. We will therefore include monitoring of this indicator in measuring results.
In some exceptional cases, we can aim for short-term conversions. When the relationship of trust is well established between the influencer and their audience, a new recommendation from them can have short-term repercussions on sales, especially in the case of an offensive where several influencers are mobilized at a time. As a societal marketing tactic, we can also think about obtaining conversions in the form of support for the cause or donations.
The keys to successful influencer collaborations
- Adopt a personalized approach.
- Take the time to follow the influencer.
- Create content in partnership with them.
- Spoil them.
- Measure the results of your collaboration.
Macro, micro or nano… can we serve you a successful influencer campaign?