What is influencer marketing and how do you put this strategy into practice?

You have certainly heard about collabs between brands and digital influencers. It’s no wonder, considering how most brands have been investing in this type of advertising to reach new audiences and build authority. 

And when it comes to advertising, we mean advertising! It’s no surprise that ‘influencer marketing’ is the name given to this strategy of using a counterpart, whose fame is consolidated in a market niche, in order to expand a partner’s business. 

Although this strategy is older that the popularization of the internet itself, it has gained visibility because of social media. Not to mention that everyone knows an influencer, even if they aren’t aware of it. 

And this is why, in today’s post, we’re going to explain how influencer marketing works and why you should consider applying it to your business. 

What is influencer marketing? ​

Although influencer marketing has grown thanks to the internet, it originated well before the digital boom.

The idea consists of using someone who symbolizes your brand, and it’s older than you think.

This concept created just before the beginning of the last century, when Aunt Jemima, a pancake mix brand, printed on its packaging, the face of Nancy Green, a charismatic North American former slave, and storyteller.

It might seem trivial, but we’re talking about the late 19th century and this hadn’t been done before. Because it was Nancy’s face on their packaging, the company received more than 50,000 orders.

Nancy Green wasn’t famous. But she became the face of a product. And this created greater identification with the end consumer. And of course, the model’s charisma helped too.

With all the progress over the last 150 years, things have changed a lot. Nowadays, this type of advertising involves more elements than simply someone who can “be the face” of a product.

Now, such a person is a business’ spokesperson, capable of encouraging the audience to get to know the brand, and all over the internet.

Investing in these professionals means ensuring that your company has a presence in a specific audience, with someone they know, and who exercises a role of influence, which are the so-called digital influencers. 

Who are the digital influencers?

Although this tactic of reaching an audience is older than we imagine; nowadays, it’s very much linked – if not totally, to digital marketing.

Digital influencers are people who are capable of attracting an audience with their own content, be it on blogs, social media or YouTube channels.

And these channels are perfect for increasing the audience’s identification, which comes in handy in a marketing campaign.

Therefore, digital influencers are capable of attracting – with their friendliness, qualified content, and intelligence, a qualified audience to your business. And thanks to this, they create people’s interest in everything they use, do, say, and suggest in their content!

Including products and services.

What are the advantages of influencer marketing? ​

You’ve already gotten to know some of the advantages of applying influencer marketing in your business, haven’t you? This type of strategy allows you to reach the right audience much more easily.

But that’s not all. Check out other benefits of investing in influencer marketing.

Accessibility

You know those details you might face when trying to hire a celebrity to be your poster boy or girl? Agencies, agents, scheduling, among other details…

With influencer marketing, this doesn’t happen!

Negotiating with influencers is much easier and more accessible. The amounts and payment methods vary a lot, but you can create partnerships that benefit both of you in terms of brand and image’s reach – a factor that is highly valued by influencers.

Greater audience trust

You already know that, thanks to influencers’ reach, this strategy allows you to reach niche audiences.

And this is another advantage of this type of strategy. Influencers are widely known by their audience and the authority they generate are the assurance that your brand is reliable. 

In other words, if an influencer says that your product is good, the audience will embrace the idea much more easily.

Improving the brand’s image

Remember Nancy Green and Aunt Jemima, which we mentioned earlier? Nowadays, this same strategy of making the brand more human still works, and a major advantage of using influencer marketing. 

In addition to hiring the person to become your brand’s “ambassador”, bringing your business even closer to your audience, influencer marketing makes your product or brand real and true.

In other words, the audience recognizes themselves in your product simply because someone they trust recommended it.

How does this strategy work?

Well, ok. You’re convinced that influencer marketing is the right strategy for your digital business, be it an ebook or online course.

But you’re probably wondering, “I just have to contact an influencer and let them handle everything?”

Of course not. 

The internet provides several opportunities for the creation and advertising of content and you can exploit each one strategically.

The first factor, which must be clear in order to get into this universe of possibilities, is knowing which audience you want to reach in order to find the best partner for your strategy.

Once you’ve found this person, you can work on a format that is aligned with your idea and the content that the influencer masters.

Certain formats have been trending, such as the famous “gift received” strategy.

Let’s say that you have a partnership with a YouTuber. They receive a “gift” from your company and promote it by opening the box and trying the product. This technique even has a name. It’s called unboxing.

Another very popular– and therefore, very engaging one -, are partnerships in which the influencer explores a subject that you master.

Let’s suppose that you have a course or an ebook about movies. You can ask a blogger, who is specialized in the subject, to talk about your product in a post!

Or someone who has a YouTube channel about recipes and that uses your product to cook a dish.

There are many possibilities, which further increase your chances of reaching the right audience and also increase your business’ recognition with the help of an influencer.

How do you hire an influencer? 

The internet offers several possibilities of creating effective partnerships that allow your brand to be easily noticed by a new audience, or even revamp content conveyed by someone your audience trusts.

If you’re interested in applying influencer marketing to your business, it’s time to find an influencer now!

Just take certain precautions, such as choosing someone just because of their number of followers. Take into account the type of content they create, as well as their audience. After all, there’s no use in collaborating with a trendy blogger when their audience is completely different from yours, right?

And to help you make the right choice, we have a few practical tips you can use when hiring an influencer. Enjoy and good sales!