6 Game-Changing Benefits of Influencer Marketing

Media plans that worked a decade ago have now expired. Today, the new ways of influencer marketing are giving higher returns to businesses.

Influencer marketing is quickly gaining popularity among marketers. And it’s not just a façade. Influencers have proved to improve brand loyalty by being an authentic and trustworthy source to the audience – a battle that brands have been trying to win for an eternity! Instagram is full of shopping-first video content from our favorite KOLs, and podcasts have become mainstream. We have entered the era of skipping hard-selling commercial ads and watching only what we want to. And this is where the true marketing genius has revealed itself in the form of influencer marketing - a strategic way to harness an impactful individual’s reach to an audience that matches with that of the brand.

As we see a rise in influencer marketing, we are also seeing an increase in the usage of end-to-end influencer marketing platforms that help manage client campaigns, send reports, and track competitors. These platforms make it easier to shortlist influencers, track status, allocate budgets and share data too.

Business Insider reported that influencer is set to reach $15 billion by 2022. So, it’s time to garner the below advantages of influencer marketing for getting a better return on your marketing investments:

1. Remarkable Brand Awareness and Reach

Many advanced influencer marketing platforms are available today to help you map the right influencers. Once the right set of influencers is found based on shared values and target audience, the brand automatically acquires a ready-made fan following when collaborating with the influencer. The focus can then move to weave the brand story and the solutions it offers through compelling content.

2. Impact on Customers’ Purchase Decisions

Influencer marketing is the new word-of-mouth marketing. Users on social media look up to influencers and engage with them regularly through features like comments, polls, direct messaging, or reposting. Hence, an influencer holds the power to inspire and direct their followers to a particular product that offers the correct value to the customer.

For example, a vegan user watches an influencer talk about their vegan food ordering experience, wherein the influencer also gives a detailed review of the food they consumed. The user is then influenced to check out the vegan food website and will likely try it as they know that vegan options are limited, and the influencer’s word can be trusted.

3. Rapid Credibility and Trust Building

Consumers, especially the younger ones, are hungry for authenticity. For them, the influencers are real, and outdated done-way commercials are contrived. Nielsen’s report proved that 92% of consumers trust influencer marketing over traditional marketing. Hence, building trust and credibility towards a brand is a fantastic advantage of influencer marketing. Because influencers have built a respectful relationship with their followers, the target audience becomes more open to a new brand than usual.

4. Increase in Sales and Revenue

The benefits of influencer marketing trickle down to the most important aspect of business – increasing the bottom line. Roughly 40% of consumers reported making a purchase shortly after seeing their favorite influencer use a product. Product reviews and influencer-specific discount coupon codes are common tactics in influencer marketing strategy to drive sales. If a brand aims to grow its sales, then creating tracking links through influencer marketing software would be useful to know what part of the sales revenue is coming from the influencer network.

5. Valuable Information Sharing Over Insistent Messaging

Influencer marketing advantages include providing informative and reliable content to your target audience via insightful product reviews coming from the influencer. These recommendations won’t make your marketing campaign feel like an advertisement anymore. On the contrary, it is more likely to come across as a recommendation from someone your audience trusts. In turn, you can leverage this high-value content to provide a genuine solution to your customers’ problems.

6. Faster Customer Acquisition and Conversion

With influencer marketing, the effort that goes into researching and finding your target audience is drastically reduced because the influencer is already in touch with an audience interested in your niche. This ensures quicker acquisitions and conversions. Marketers have rated influencer marketing as their fastest-growing channel for acquiring quality customers online.

Influencer marketing establishes a win-win partnership where both parties offer incredible value to the audience. However, marketers are becoming savvier and figuring out how to improve their influencer marketing strategy using innovative influencer marketing platforms. There has never been a better time to kick start an influencer marketing campaign.

Rachel Smith is a communication executive who works with the content marketing team at Affable. She develops content around social media & marketing topics that can help her readers understand how to pick the right influencers & measure their impact.