Brand Influencers
A brand influencer is an individual who uses their following on social media to promote products for a brand. Brand influencers partner with brands to engage with audiences who might be interested in the brands’ products. It has become increasingly popular for brands to create partnerships with influencers as part of their social media marketing strategy.
With social media usage on the rise, conventional advertising methods which directly ‘sell’ a product to viewers are no longer effective. Brand influencers have an already established connection and affinity with their followers, which makes it much more likely that they are going to listen to the message that the brand influencer is trying to convey. They have an already established trust with their followers, and their social media profiles have grown organically over time. The main source of this trust is the credibility of brand influencers as well as the authenticity in the messages with which they communicate with followers.
The increasing popularity of brand influencers has allowed brands to develop a strong marketing strategy which is more long-lasting and impactful that traditional media of advertising. Brand influencers have influence in their specific niches or fields such as beauty, food, fitness, health, lifestyle, fashion etc. This makes it extremely useful for brands to target a specific influencer which posts content relevant to the industry or product the brand deals in.
Often times, brand influencers also create unique content and serve as trend-setters in their area of interest. This serves as a huge advantage for brands to benefit from the interest these trends create among the brand's followers. For brands that feel that their content or product image needs a boost of creativity, engaging such brand influencers can help revamp the brand's image and and give it fresh appeal.Brand influencers can be engaged through various social media platforms, including Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Twitch. Bloggers with a significant following can also be engaged as brand influencers. By far, the most popular medium used by brands to connect with influencers is Instagram. It also has the largest influencer presence. With the number of Instagram users increasing every year, brands are increasingly preferring to use Instagram as their main social media marketing platform.
For platforms like Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, brands will usually send out products to influencers to use and then post about it to their followers. Brands will often launch campaigns such as hashtag campaigns or use of promo codes in partnership with brand influencers. In the case of bloggers, brands mostly rely on product reviews on the blogs to capture public interest.
Once a brand has identified the right brand influencers, it can discuss the content and promotional strategy with the influencers to design a campaign that will yield maximum benefit for both the brand and the influencer. Using brand influencers also has the advantage of generating much higher return on investment than many other digital marketing methods. 90% of all brands that engage in brand influencer marketing that it has a higher ROI than other channels they have used. The return from as well as the reach on each promotional post or video is also much easier to track.
Brand influencers can engage with businesses by utilising the services of influencer marketing agencies like Influencer Hub. Influencer Hub provides a complete package for businesses and influencers to conveniently connect and create meaningful partnerships. It is a cost effective platform that provides the perfect solution to your digital marketing needs. Read up here to know more about Influencer Hub and its services that you can benefit from, whether you are an influencer, or a brand.
To conclude, it goes without saying that the use of brand influencers in marketing cannot be ignored if brands are to remain competitive in their industry.
