Influencer marketing is rapidly growing in India and is proving to be one of the best ways to leverage results from social media marketing campaigns. It has been witnessed that Instagram is one of the most preferred influencer marketing platforms particularly for B2C brands in lifestyle and fashion segments.
Brands and marketers have realized that the purchasing decisions of their target audience can be influenced by fellow consumer experience and driven by their personal opinions. Social media has become a very intriguing prospect where consumers have started making buying decisions. They are easily influenced by their favorite personalities recommending and endorsing brands or products which makes a huge difference when it comes to making a choice. This is how influencer marketing began and is all set to become the next big thing.
Traditional media like newspaper ads, TV etc are no longer the mediums to reach the new-age audience. With the advent of technology, rise of OTT platforms and social media, there has been a 360 degree transformation in the way millennials make decisions to select products or services. Influencer marketing is proving to be one of the best ways to get better results from your social media marketing campaigns. Influencers can create perspectives for a brand by lending their authentic voice to their marketing message and attract more customers.
Why should brands collaborate with influencers?
Trust and authenticity has been an effective marketing strategy since ages where influencer marketing is a digital analogy of the traditional word-of-mouth. Influencers, by nature, have large numbers of loyal and dedicated social media followers who have faith in their choices and decisions. This is similar to what we used to witness previously with actors and sports personalities. These followers perceive them as experts in their niches and regard their recommendations highly. However, unlike traditional celebrities, influencers enjoy a strong rapport with their fans thus making influencer marketing work like a magic in creating brand awareness.
When it comes to influencer marketing campaigns, there are several social media platforms to choose from. But the best one for your organisation is simply where your target audience spends the most time. For example, Instagram is the preferred influencer marketing platform for B2C brands, especially for lifestyle and fashion brands.
Customers need it
Earlier people have been watching TV advertising, read newspapers and listened to ads on the radio. Now everything has changed. Customers have evolved and they don’t trust such advertisements easily.
Nowadays, users have tilted to the digital environment and they spend their time surfing web pages. That is why brands had to transform themselves to move with the times and here, influencer marketing has gained momentum. Also, brands need to ample amount of money on promotion, but the best part- influencer marketing in e-commerce returns in the form of sales growth, therefore it is obviously worth the candle.
The best strategies which can help a brand’s promotion online are –
1. Leveraging Influencers to Drive Engaging Content
Influencers have amassed huge follower bases because their followers find their content useful. They understand their followers and know what kind of content they want to consume. So they create content that resonates with their audience and helps them establish a sense of bonding and trust.
2. Creating Contests and giveaways
These are some of the best influencer marketing strategies to promote products and create positive buzz. Marketers can use them to increase their social media following and drive traffic to their websites.
An effective and creative contest strategy will enable influencers to develop an environment which will foster engaging conversations. Besides, it will also create curiosity among the followers to try the product.
3. Run Referral campaigns for Influencers
Referral programs are one of the perfect strategies used to measure the ROI from your campaigns. According to a study conducted by Twitter, there was a whopping 88% increase in the purchase intent of consumers when the products were promoted by a trusted influencer. The easiest and most effective referral program strategy is to share a promo code that is unique to each influencer. The influencers can then share the promo codes with their audiences through their content.
While running a referral program, always remember to ask the influencers to mention the brand name on their blog and social media platforms. When their followers see the influencer mentioning your brand, it builds social trust and increases your brand recall value.
To sum it up, I would say that the end-goal of the brands and influencers is to figure out different mediums to reach out to their target audience. It is all about credibility, forming a personal connection, and being able to form meaningful relationships with the followers, thus in turn, giving the best possible result and the maximum reach of your brand.
Authored article by Amol Roy, Founder of Shutter Cast.
