Influencers are taking over the world, right?
Based on most of our Instagram feeds, it would seem so.
‘Influencers’ - people sparking trends and influencing others - have been around for a long time, but the social media moguls who have transformed the internet have only been in existence for the past decade or so.
And guess what? Your business can make use of them!
First up - what is an influencer?!
A great (and expensive) example of an influencer is the mighty Kim Kardashian, arguably one of the first people to really make a business out of their personal brand and not much else.
Influencers are typically people just like her, but are usually on a smaller scale, with followers who are interested in them for their lives and content, rather than their celebrity status; the lines blur a bit here, because celebs are no doubt influencers too.
You can have very niche influencers, like everyone’s favourite trainspotter Francis Bourgeois, and not every influencer has millions of followers - a ‘micro-influencer’ is someone with between 10,000 and 100,000 followers.
What does this have to do with your business?
A lot, actually!
Influencer marketing is huge, with 93% of marketers saying they have used it before. This is paying influencers - either with cold hard cash, affiliate links and codes, or free products - to promote your business.
Why use influencers?
If you’re already hot on your social media marketing, you may be wondering why you need to pay more money to get someone else to do some of the work for you.
Firstly, influencers can reach a whole new audience for you - an audience which is likely already interested in your business. Say you run a fitness brand and you choose a fitness influencer (or ‘fitfluencer’) to promote your products - their audience is already interested in what you are selling!
Next, influencers typically have great relationships with their audiences - their followers are vital to their income, after all. Because of this it’s likely an influencer has already built that all-important trust with their followers, so when they recommend your product people will know it’s good. Associating your business with that individual could do a whole lot for your reputation.
Influencer marketing is also typically cost-savvy. Influencers are often cheaper than other methods of marketing (like paid advertising) and, due to their trust and authenticity, you could get a better ROI. What’s more, you’re getting content out of these influencers too which you can reuse - just make sure you get permission to do so!
With that said, influencers with lots of followers can be very pricey and sometimes it actually pays to go for micro influencers who are less likely to have lots of bots and inactive followers.
An example
Earlier this year we worked with micro-influencers to promote the newest investment in Greene King’s Chef & Brewer Collection, the Victoria in Menai Bridge.
As the hotel wanted to attract guests from far and wide, as well as locals to visit the pub and restaurant, we worked with a number of influencers who could promote the different aspects; one who was local, one family influencer, and one who was travel-focused.
Great! So what’s the difference between influencer marketing and brand ambassadors?
Think of having brand ambassadors as part of your influencer marketing strategy.
A one-off influencer campaign might be better for you - for example, if you have a new product launching - but having brand ambassadors is a great way to develop your business’ reputation and build long-term relationships.
An example
Let’s take a look at our client, Jesmonite.
Being a huge player in the creative industry, one of Jesmonite’s key marketing goals is to build its online community. How do we do that? With the help of ambassadors!
Working with the internal marketing team, certain creatives are welcomed to Jesmonite’s brand ambassador scheme and are given a certain amount of free product (which they can then use to make creations to sell) in return for content and promotion of Jesmonite itself. Within Jesmonite’s community, creatives are already promoting the material for free so it’s a win-win for them!
If your brand could benefit from having a select number of people who have good followings to become your brand ambassadors, make use of the opportunity.
Need a hand?
We deal with influencer and ambassador marketing regularly, so we’re more than happy to provide training on the area or take the task of sourcing and communicating with influencers out of your hands entirely. Get in touch at info@jandpr.com or 01952 951 263 for more information.
