Influencer Marketing: 5 Benefits You Need to Know

Influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placement from influencers, people and organisations who have a purported expert level of knowledge or social influencer in their field. This sector has increased dramatically over the past few years, with the total global value of influencer marketing in 2021 estimating at $13.8 billion (Influencer Marketing Hub).

It’s clear that there’s big money in it for brands, with 60% of UK millennial consumers claiming to have bought something recommended by an online influencer (Cure Media).

So, is this the end of old fashioned advertising? Let’s take a look at 6 key benefits of influencer marketing and why you should implement this into your own marketing strategy.

1. Increases Brand Awareness

When your products are sent to social media influencers, you’re opening the gateway for your brand to be seen to a wider audience. As soon as they post an image or, even better, a video to their socials with your product and packaging, your brand is gaining instant exposure.

This is why it’s key to ensure your product AND packaging is perfected before sending it out there. The packaging must reflect the product and be of the highest quality possible if you want to remain reputable.

Most influencers will do an ‘unboxing’ video where they film themselves opening the packaging of the product. So, this is the perfect opportunity to show off your brand before they’ve even tried the product.

For example, these influencer boxes were made for Clinique to promote their #evenbetter makeup range - endorsed by their brand ambassador and global awarding winning actress, Emilia Clarke.

The boxes were sent to over 200 influencers so they needed to reflect the latest range of products well in order to create positive brand awareness.

2. Builds Trust and Authority

When you work with influencers with a large following, you’re pushing your products into the eyes of their audience. Over time, influencers are able to build strong relationships with their fans, establishing trust and credibility.

So luckily for brands, when it comes to promoting a brand or product, their followers tend to trust their opinion. This gives a certain level of authority to the goods on offer as users accept their recommendations.

Celebrities tend to make useful social media influencers due to their already large followings. Their opinions seem to be respected by users, making them the perfect fit to become collaborators.

3. Drives Conversions & Generates Leads

Influencer Marketing is ultimately another method to increase brand awareness and of course, increase sales.

When an influencer shares your product, they’ll most likely tag your own social media handle in their post. This gives users a quick and easy way to access your social media page, where they can presumably find out more about your products and check out your site.

Sometimes influencers are given an affiliate link which allows their followers to click the link and find the product they are promoting. Through the trust and authority they have gained from their fans, it’s usually a successful way of driving conversions to your website and opens up the doorway to generate more leads.

4. Provides Content

It can sometimes feel like a difficult task to generate original and authentic content to social media. There’s a constant pressure to post fresh content that’s engaging to your audience in a way that’s different to all your other content.

Take WOW Hydrate, for example. They sent a number of influencer boxes containing their WOW Protein Water to a range of influencers, including fitness trainer, Reah Georgia and former Love Island star, Nas Majeed.

The influencer box was a huge success with influencers filming their reactions as they opened up the quirky boxes to find the song ‘Push It’ booming out loud.

Having influencers that are sharing your products is a great way to share new content because, more often than not, the influencer will share an image or video of the product.

As long as you receive the head’s up to reshare the content they provide, you can share this onto your own socials.

Not only does this give you new content, it also enhances your brand image as your followers are exposed to the influencers you are working with. It’s a win win!

5. Build Long-Term Relationships

If by this point you’re seriously considering using Influencer Marketing, it’s also worth knowing that to gain real success it’s a good idea to partner with an influencer on multiple occasions.

Partnering for just one post might not bring you the best ROI as their followers are only seeing the product on their feed once.

However, teaming up with an influencer for a campaign for 6 months, for example, allows them to post a few times within that period. This again links back to gaining trust from their audience as they may associate the product as actually being part of their daily lives.

These long-term relationships are only going to create a positive impact on your brand and product.

So, if you’re thinking of using Influencer Marketing as part of your strategy, think about the awareness and authority it can bring to your business. With the rise of influencers and social media only growing more as the years go on, it can be a great opportunity to generate leads and boost your company to its full potential in this digital world.