Influencer Marketing
Things evolve with time because thatโs how the system of life and the universe works. So, is in this case of marketing. The traditional methods got masked off but not got replaced but upgraded. For example, newspaper advertisements upgraded to website articles or journals. Salespersons donโt go door to door anymore for personalized marketing instead they sit in the call centers now and call the customers and pitch the products they are selling. The posters and ads you used to see on billboards or magazines at one time, now see on social media pages.
Topic
The topic TKNACK brought to you here in this blog is also a modern version of seminars and public announcements. Back in the days when a brand needs to be introduced or marketed to the people, they used to wander on the roads with a speaker and a drum and they used to announce publicly. Influencer marketing is an upgraded version of that method and the only difference is that brands pay huge amounts of money to such people who have a large fan following and those people run a campaign for a clientโs brand or product through different platforms mainly social media.
Social media
Social media has revolutionized every aspect of life and has changed the methods of official as well as non-official activities. The whole world is taking part in this era of technology. Everyone is using social media and social media allows people to gather people around them or their content and people admire them and follow them.
Who is an influencer?
Every person has his/her thoughts and vision and those thoughts and vision donโt change usually without interruption. Personalized thoughts can only be changed by listening to someone elseโs thoughts on that specific topic. And if it is it means you are getting influenced by othersโ thoughts. That person is an influencer for you. But the question is, is that the person we are talking about in this blog?
Requirements to become an Influencer
The person must fulfill this requirement to be an influencer and i.e. another person must change their thoughts and decision by listening or knowing about this influencerโs point of view. Or if we specifically talk about marketing that person must change the peopleโs decision about what they should buy, what they should eat, where they should travel, and what lifestyle they should adopt. That person on social media is called an influencer who holds the remote button of the minds of his fans and can divert their thoughts by presenting his/her thoughts. Just like our parents, from birth to death our parents are our influencers.
How Influencer Marketing Affecting us?
We do those things which they told us we should do and is good for us or our future and life. And we avoid those things and activities which they told us not to do. Itโs because we believe them and we know that they will never guide us to do something wrong ever. Just like these social media influencers develop trust in public first by sharing good thoughts and positive results and once the trust is there you can ask for anything and people will follow you and do as you will ask them to do.
The extent of influencers in our lives
This is the World of digital media and through digital media, everyone can see everyoneโs life and of course, everyone shares only the good side of themselves. And we also need only the good experiences of others to follow. The extent of influence is maximum according to our analogy. And if you donโt think itโs the maximum then answer some questions.
Whenever you wanted to change your phone and you are confused and donโt know which phone is good for you. You will not go directly to the market and asks for the best phone they have. Instead, you will go to YouTube and will open up a technology-related channel, and will look for phone reviews by your favorite YouTuber.
How does it influence you?
Because you know that the person you are watching is an expert on mobile phones and will suggest the phone only if it is good and that thing will drive you toward your decision that which phone you will buy.
The story doesnโt end here. The fashion everyone is following nowadays, what do you think, they do it on their own. No, people only wear those fashions which they see wearing their favorite celebrities. And, now the situation has reached its extreme position that people decide on their honeymoon place by looking at their favorite couple on Instagram and going to the same place they went. So, now you see what is the extent of the influence.
What is influencer marketing?
We have been talking about different terms and concepts related to our topic of the influencers market but you must be waiting for the main topic to start. So, we will start with an understanding of the market we will be diving into. The influencer market works in a cycle.
The above flowchart has already explained the concept and cycle of this influencerโs market. The brands pay the influencer and you will be amazed to know how heavily these influencers are paid. And, in return, these influencers promote that product or brand to their fan following and ask them to buy that product.
How it affects your decision?
And people buy that because people trust those influencers and thatโs why he/she is called an influencer because they can make peopleโs decisions about what they should buy and what they should do. The amount they paid to that influencer comes back to them multiplied by hundreds and thousands. And, if you are thinking that the people got nothing in this whole game, so the people got the quality product which is their reward, and for that, they should be thankful to that influencer who asks them to buy that. So, in this cycle, everyone received the benefit and this is how the influencers market works.
Why do influencers exist and get that much value?
This question pops up in everyoneโs mind why these famous people are too famous why do big brands pay them billions of dollars and why not any ordinary person? Because they just explain that brand in the videos and anyone can do this. So, why they are special, and why they are given that much importance? we will answer this question with another counter question for which you also have to answer the comments. And the question is that why do you follow someone?
Why do we follow others on social media
If you think that anyone can do any task then why do you follow people on Instagram or Facebook or any other platform? You will get a chance later to answer so until then try to understand our point of view regarding this query.
So, the people you follow on any platform is because they are experts in their field. And, everyone cannot be an expert in everything and thatโs a fact. But you should be grateful to these influencers that you are getting expert opinions regarding every topic you want to know about at a single click.
Experts
So people are expert in their categories and people rushes towards these experts to know their opinion and thatโs why they have a huge fan following. And, people trust them and will do what these influencers will ask them to do. And, brands collaborate and pay them to promote their brand because they know that customers follow this influencer and will do what that influencer will ask them to do. So, it develops a symbiotic relationship between an influencer and a brand.
Social media influencers: The biggest player in this game
We are not going to discuss social media and its importance and its worth at the current time here because we are all aware of the power of social media. We will just talk about its roleplay in marketing and why just social media. Why not celebrity influencers given that many opportunities to do marketing for brands? Itโs all about connection and relatability.
Social media influencers share their daily life and talk to a general audience in live sessions and shares a lot about their personal life too. Thatโs why people connect more quickly and comfortably with social media influencers.
Television Stars
On the other side, television actors and actresses do not have a direct link with the audience and do not have direct communication with the audience. A YouTuber or Instagramer can connect more deeply with the audience than a Television actor.
The more you are connected with someone the more trust you show in them. And, to sell anything to anyone, trust must be there. Thatโs why brands prefer social media influencers.
Difference between influencer and celebrity
Before talking about the differences letโs just point out the similarities to understand them more specifically. The most common similarity is that both are famous and both have a fan following. But the difference is in the process through which they became famous. The celebrity may be an actor, a singer, a comedian, a TV host, or a sportsman. They only showcase their talents through their respective fields. A singer can entertain people by singing and people only follow him/her because he /she sings well. But, if he/she will start giving an opinion on something else about which they have zero knowledge, people will never appreciate them. Because they are not made for that thing.
What should they do
They should do that thing at which they are good. They cannot connect with people on daily basis and cannot share their lives with their fans because people donโt want to see their daily life.
What if Cristiano Ronaldo starts telling people about marketing tools and starts telling people which tool is best for them and what tool they should buy? People only like him because of football. But, if a famous digital marketer will do the same thing, people will admire that act. Most bloggers and influencers have a unique specialty, whether itโs their style, cooking ability, or workout routines.
Getting Followers
They get followers who share their love for the subject and want to learn more about it. As a result, when they promote a product that is relevant to their interests, it is more likely to engage with their audience and enhance Value.
Influencers also have a stronger connection to the product and motivation to promote it, whereas celebrities just associate their name with a brand to generate exposure. You must have seen a viral photo of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo promoting Louis Vuitton. So, they didnโt promote anything through that picture and they didnโt even speak a single word about it. It was just a picture. But their names got attached to that brand.
Strategy for Louis Vuitton
At, the same time if Louis Vuitton had to ask some social influencers to promote that brand. Social media couldnโt have done it with just a picture. Because, their strength is not by their name only, they are known for their stories or blogs, or short videos. So, social media influencers had to use a specific method to promote Louis Vuitton.
Stats of Influencer marketing
A drastic growth is seen in 2022 in this type of marketing and if we talk specifically, a growth of $16 Billion is seen in 2022.
The investors are generating 5 to 1 odd which means they are getting $5 ROI on every $1 spent on influencer marketing.
Another report claims that this terminology is getting popular because from 2016 and onwards there is a 456% increase in searches.
The most used platform for influencer marketing is Instagram. Around 67% of brands use this platform.
The brand marketers are devising plans to dedicate a specific budget specifically for the influencers.
Mostly the firms doing influencer marketing belong to eCommerce
Why Instagram and not Facebook?
As we mentioned above in the statistics Instagram is the most used platform for influencer marketing. Before telling you, the mind-blowing stats of Instagram itself. We want you to know that back in the days when people were not aware of Instagram marketing that much.
The biggest frauds of history have been done through Instagram using the name of marketing. Millions of dollars were stolen from people who got caught in those frauds. But now the frauds are very much reduced and here you can give credit to the policies of Instagram and the users of Instagram as well. The users are more educated now and understand well about these things.
Why Instagram and not Facebook
So, our main question was why Instagram and not Facebook. Even though both are equally popular and both have the same functions then why influencer marketing is mostly done through Instagram and not Facebook? Back in the days when Facebook was the only social media app and all the activities were done through Facebook. In 2010 Instagram was founded and was sold to Facebook later on for $1 Billion. So, generally, Instagram is a child to Facebook but still, Instagram is more user-friendly. Itโs because of the algorithms and the insights of Instagram.
Instagram understands the user very much and even we will say that more than the userโs mother.
Thinking of something
Because it is just mind-boggling that sometimes you are just thinking or you just told your friend that you are looking for new shoes. The next second you will open Instagram and some influencer will be there on your feed and will be trying to tempt you to buy those shoes. And this thing will not stop here, if you showed a little bit of interest in that post, then Instagram will keep showing you related posts until you will express your interest in any other topic.
The stats of Instagram are crazy. IN 2013 the sponsored posts were around 2.1 Million and now they are expected to increase to 6.3 million by 2023. In the last 4 years, Instagram just exploded. With around 2 Billion users and these 2 billion people participate daily to post 95 million photos and videos and 4.2 billion posts every day. Around 500 million people posts stories on their feed.
Covid-19 and Influencer Marketing
We donโt want to you to again remember the hard times of Covid-19 but unfortunately, it will be incomplete without involving Covid-19 in this discussion. At that time people were not allowed to leave their houses and go to the malls and do shopping. And on the other hand, people were also not ready to live their lives without shopping for new clothes, shoes, and other necessities. Before people thought that they should consult social media applications to gain knowledge. The marketers already smelt this tactic and they were ready with full ammunition to gather people around their brand using the best influencer marketing strategy. And, thatโs how during and after Covid, Instagram has not lost its strength.
Wrong perceptions about the influencer marketing
If you are thinking that its all about paying some famous person a huge amount of money and in return the influencer will say good things about you and will ask the viewers to buy the products. But actually, that is not the actual story. We will explain to you with some real-time examples and will tell you where brands go wrong.
You must have seen some famous people who got famous overnight due to some lame fun entertainment video and people starts admiring them. The brands think that this is the right time to hire them and run a marketing campaign using their face and fame. But that is wrong and will never help the brand grow.
Real Influencer
The real influencers have invested time and money in their niche and are full of knowledge. The real influencers didnโt get the fame overnight. Instead, they worked hard and built their audience. They have actual knowledge that what they are doing and what their actual job is as an influencer. Nowadays the girl who has followers on Instagram just because she can dance well, thinks that she is an influencer and starts telling people about different things about which she has zero knowledge. So, we cannot call them an influencer.
Influencer Marketing Deliver
Influencer marketing does not deliver immediate effects. Itโs the same concept as Social Media and Content Marketing, where your strategy isnโt about actively selling your products. Instead, itโs about presenting your industryโs authority, credibility, and innovative thinking. Itโs about becoming associated with whatever service you do, like when people say theyโre going to Duplicate a paper instead of replicating it, or Hoover the floor instead of vacuuming it.
It takes time to build up a following of dedicated and devoted followers on social media. So, itโs tempting to believe that partnering with an influencer will be an easy option into the hearts and minds of his or her followersโbut itโs not that basic.
Trust and Respect
Because to gain the trust and respect of influencers, you must first earn their trust and respect. But how exactly? As we mentioned above that the people with zero talent and vision who just got popular due to some lame video of them cannot go further and the real influencers will never allow them to share the platform. And, there is nothing wrong n this school of thought because they have worked hard to build an audience and the person who got following overnight. So, in this situation when the fake influencer will ask the real one if they can collaborate, the real influencer will never agree to this.
Case Studies
We think that this knowledge will be enough for you to understand the upcoming cases. In these cases, we will present you with some biggest examples of influencer marketing. And then we will point out some key points from these cases.
A YouTube Channel helped Nike earns $34 Billion
You must have watched the videos from the YouTube Channel named โWhatโs inside?โ in which a father-son duo cuts different things from daily lives to see whatโs inside them. And, they have around 7 million subscribers. So, Nike the biggest shoe-making brand in the World collaborated with them and ask them to make a video for the new Nike Air to show viewers whatโs inside. So, they cut the Nike Air Vapormax.
This video was published on the main channel of โwhatโs Insideโ in 2017 and that year Nike did the business of $34 billion. Nike has got the biggest examples and has worked with the biggest influencers throughout the World.
Brand names attached with the Influencers
The brands do not ask the biggest influencers of all time to market their product. Instead, they came up with a new marketing strategy a few years ago, and is still working. The brands attach their name to those people and took their brand to next level, the biggest example of this is Michael Jordan who was the biggest NBA player and Nike Air didnโt ask him to collaborate with them and promote their shoes. They founded a new product in Jordanโs name and calls those shoes Nike AIR Jordans. And now all the NBA players wear those Jordans. So, this is the marketing strategy going on that doesnโt collaborate, just simply attach your name with their names.
FIFA Football World Cup 2022
A month ago, when there was a craze for FIFA Football World Cup 2022, a picture of Ronaldo and Messi got viral. And, in that picture and the caption there wasnโt even a single word that seemed to promote Louis Vuitton, but the name of Ronaldo and Messi. The two most followed people on Instagram with 500 and 400 million followers respectively. So, if you have such a big star onboard for the marketing campaign, you donโt need to work hard on videos, scripts, or creative ideas. The name of those stars is enough.
Subaru paid 20 influencers to be their voice
Subaru is a car production company and it gained a lot of strength in minimum time and did good sales from 2016 onwards. Only in 2016, they managed to increase their sales by 10%. Subaru asked 20 influencers from different niches. Now you must be thinking why didnโt they ask such influencers who had expertise in automotive and why they asked influencers from arts and creative video makers. They want influencers from various categories to be their voice from a different perspective.
Meet an Owner
A marketing campaign was run by those influencers called โMeet an ownerโ. So, they asked these 20 influencers to portray this message in their style. So, one influencer created a video and surprised his girlfriend with a Subaru car and made Subaru meet the owner which was his girlfriend. And, this video went viral.
Adidas Took Selena Gomez Onboard
IN 2015 when Adidas wanted to end the competition in sales with other competitors like Nike, and D&G. They designed new articles and they made new articles for the millennials and they wanted to attain the attention of millennials. At that time Selena Gomez was very popular with millennials and youth was following her like crazy. So, Adidas decided to take her on board and asked her to run a hashtag #mynewshoot wearing the new articles of the brand. This strategy worked and the sales increased to 25% and generated millions of dollars.
Dogs as a part of Influencer Marketing
Pedigree wanted to increase sales and wanted to tempt pet owners emotionally so they decided to collaborate with eh influencers who owned pets and especially dogs. And the influencers created content using their pets as the main roleplay of their content. And mostly they created cozy and heartwarming videos with their pets which really created the difference and the sales of pedigree increased by 9%.
In fact, if we consider that more than 90% of consumers expressed a willingness to switch to a brand that could support a constructive purpose, this has been an incredible movement. โBuy a bag, donate a bowl,โ was the campaignโs motto, which was endorsed by influencers.
How they managed this
They managed this through their social media content, as well as videos and online articles. Kristyn Cole was one of the Instagram influencers chosen to promote this campaign. They were able to elicit the emotions of their followers in this way.
As a result of this campaign, over 43 million impressions and 9,000 interactions were gained. All of this made it possible for the brand to quickly contact its ideal customers.
Where Influencer's Marketing is headed in 2023
Influencer marketing is already crossing the limits and is the key tool for marketing and has made a lot of businesses successful. 2022 has been a great year for those businesses that participated in this type of campaigns. And in 2023 many new trends will be seen. Tknack has assumed some insights for 2023 related to marketing.
Businesses and 2023
After the outbreak, when firms were struggling to revamp their advertising and promotional strategies to connect with a newly trapped population, 2023 has a lot of potentials. Not only have businesses discovered that they can function digitally, but customers are also turning to the internet to meet their eCommerce needs. And, because numerous traditional marketing approaches were incompatible with the effects of a worldwide pandemic, corporations searched for active content makers and influencers. Indeed, according to our influencer marketing benchmark analysis, influencer marketing grew throughout the epidemic. That is enormous. That is why influencers have seen their spotlight shine brighter.
Influencers will be seen running affiliate programs in 2023
Affiliate marketing and influencers marketing were two different concepts for the last 2 3 years but now the concepts are changing and the borderline between both concepts is vanishing and seems to completely vanish in 2023. Due to the similarity in spelling requirements from the brands. Affiliate marketing is based on sales-based payment. This means that the affiliate marketer will generate revenue from the sales and not earns from the basic package.
Affiliate Marketing in Influencer Marketing
While, on the other hand, if we talk about the payments, brands have to pay the amount in one go to the influencer no matter if no sales occur after the marketing. But now the concepts are evolving and brands are bringing the concept of affiliate marketing to influencer marketing as well. The influencer will get the commission on the sales. If there will be no output after the campaign by the influencer, he/she will get nothing. The major effect of this method will be beneficial for the buyers.
Product Quality
Now, the influencer cannot recommend any product without checking the quality of the product. If he/she will not recommend a quality product, the buyers will not show a good response and it will be bad for the brand and for the influencer as well. So, now the influencer will only recommend products after using them personally.
The digital media will only consist of videos in 2023
We are already aware of the advantages of videos over photos, graphics, etc. And, in 2023 videos are going to totally take over every other medium. The internet is now everywhere and everyone can stream videos so the video creator doesnโt need to whether people will be able to watch these high-definition videos.
Podcasts Are a great influence
The podcast culture is glooming very rapidly. If we talk specifically about Pakistan there were hardly any podcasters for example Moroo and Junaid Akram. But, in the past 2 years, a lot of talented and amazing podcasters emerged including Syed Muzammil Hassan from thought behind Things, Naeem Sikander, Shahzad Ghias from Pakistan Experience, etc. So, these influencers are taking part in a lot of marketing campaigns and are not just doing but they are actually creating a good difference and impact.
Apparently, these types of influencers donโt seem to have a big audience by just looking at numbers. But actually, they have a strong and authentic following which is less in number but actually, they are genuine.
TikTok will emerge more prominently in 2023
In 2022, $800 Million were spent by marketers on TikTok influencers and marketing campaigns and according to an analysis, it is going to increase to $1.3 Billion in 2023. TikTok got overnight fame because of its ability to give quick fame to everyone. Secondly, TikTok become famous, because it allows youth to showcase their extracurricular skills without any hindrance and in minimum time. Unfortunately, TikTok was criticized a lot by YouTubers and influencers from other platforms and it also got banned in various regions. But digital marketers always supported this because they knew that it is the platform for the future and will be beneficial for influencers and markers as well.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing incorporates brands working with influencers to increase brand awareness. Some collaborations are less apparent than that; for example, brands may work with influencers to increase brand image. The key point here is that digital collaborators are truly effective. They must engage the people with whom a brand needs to develop a connection. It comprises much more than simply finding someone with a network and funding them or offering them publicity in exchange for saying positive things for you.
Why does influencer marketing matter?
All influencers are not right for every kind of marketing campaign. The brand must be conscious while choosing the influencer for its campaign. The influencer may be an expert in one or two niches so the brand should hire those influencers who can influencer people regarding your product and can educate people about your product. And, when people are already following him/her for such things they will definitely go for the product the influencer is endorsing.
Is influencer marketing that effective?
So, if we proceed by looking at stats, then it is really effective. The stats have proved that the net investment in influencer marketing is increasing every year. By the year 2022, the net investment made in this field was $2.2 Billion and is expected to increase by $7 billion in 2023. So, this thing proves that it is effective that is why the numbers are increasing every year.
And, itโs a fact that in the next 10 years, Digital media is going to be the best-established field in terms of growth, jobs, businesses, and investment. Not only Tknack is predicting this but a lot of influencers and analysts have said that digital media is the future.
Which factors measure influencer marketing?
Some of the most important factors are:
- Market Reach
- First Impression
- Involvement (Comments, Likes, Shares)
- Mindset
- Content of Top Quality
- Modifications:
- Gain in Followers
- Acknowledgement of a Brand
- Visits to a Certain Landing Page / Website
- Newsletter / Membership Signups โ Growth in Product / Service Users
- Additional Revenue
How to run an influencer program?
The first phase in any influencer plan is to create your targets. Understand WHY youโre running an influencer program. Then, keeping your goal in mind, determine your campaignโs target demographic. To be effective with influencer marketing, you must collaborate with influencers who influence your target audience. Define the best type of influencer for your brand based on this. Look for these influencers manually, through a platform, or through an agency. Make touch with these influencers before hiring them.
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