Marketers and business owners alike may be wondering about the effectiveness of social media influencers. There has been a recent boom in brand and product promotion by social media influencers. Since this is a newer and less traditional form of marketing, some businesses may have hesitations about making use of it. As a marketing professional, you might not know much about brand influencers and their impact on companies.
However, recent figures and statistics leave no room for doubt about the effectiveness of influencer marketing. Let’s take a look at the top five reasons why social media influencers are the future of marketing including key influencer marketing statistics and facts.
Proven Effectiveness
In 2018, 78% of marketers opted to use social media influencers for their marketing strategies, and 81% of those marketers found the method effective. The return of investment (ROI) of influencer marketing was also revealed to be 11 times better than traditional forms of marketing. This is especially true for beauty brands. Some of the other benefits businesses reported include brand awareness boosts. Social influencers also increase revenue and leads.
On a related note, 57% of marketers also believe that influencer marketing will soon be a part of every company’s marketing activities, due to the changing attitudes of consumers and its positive impact on brands.
Builds Trust
Followers of social media influencers form strong emotional attachments to these people, and that translates into trusting them and their recommendations. This is especially true of YouTube stars. Consumers have become more wary of marketing that comes directly from brands. Moreover, they desire a more authentic perspective of the product, which influencers can provide.
This “personal touch” is one of the biggest strengths of influencer marketing. Social media influencers aim, first and foremost, to build relationships with their audiences and gain their loyalty. This is more difficult to achieve through traditional marketing strategies such as ads and commercials. So, the influencer serves as authentic, human proof of the brand’s quality.
Positive Reactions
There may be a misconception that consumers are turned off by seeing sponsored content on their feed or timeline. However, 60% of consumers have said that they actually don’t mind seeing influencers promoting sponsored items. In fact, 40% of people who see a product being promoted by an influencer end up buying it online afterward. On a similar note, users on Twitter who see promotional content from influencers become five times for likely to make a purchase. Hence, using brand influencers is a great generational marketing tactic if you target millennials who use social platforms.
Despite being a generation known for its critical view on traditional marketing, millennial consumers are also actually willing to watch ads, intros, or product shout-outs. They monitor these materials from their favorite online celebrities as a show of support. The key is to tap influencers who have built a good reputation. The best influencers have loyal fan bases that matches your target demographics.
Invested Influencers
Businesses can also benefit from picking influencers who are already long-time consumers of their product or service. These influencers typically go the extra mile for a product or service. After all, they have actually benefited from and are genuinely passionate about. This authentic support for the product also translates into a better content output. Quality content leaves a better impression on their followers.
Another factor to bear in mind is that businesses do not need to compete for a contract with big-time influencers who boast sky-high follower counts. They may already be promoting a dozen other brands perfunctorily. It’s been shown that it is actually the micro-influencers who generate higher engagement rates. Micro-influencers turned out to be 6.7 times more efficient at reaching and engaging their audiences. Plus, the perception of a more intimate or personal connection between the influencer and their smaller group of followers remains intact.
Increase Reach
Instagram currently has over 1 billion users, and this figure is expected to grow 50% every year. 80% of users are following at least one brand, and a large percentage of them hear about products and services for the first time via the app.
Millennials are a popular target demographic for influencer marketing. With 47% listing the Internet as something they cannot live without, it makes sense. The omnipresence of the Internet in our everyday lives is one of the main reasons why influencer marketing has become a dependable method for reaching such vast audiences.