“Hey Mum, I want to become a social media influencer when I grow up.”

“Oh okay”, the mother replies apprehensively. “What exactly would you be doing?”

Without hesitating, the child replies, “I want to make video content for YouTube and TikTok. Maybe like Marques Brownlee or Mr Beast.”

In the above case, you can’t really blame the mother for being concerned about her child, for not understanding what an influencer is, or why her child would want to become an influencer.

But perhaps the following statistics could change her mind?

Mr. Beast, the #1 YouTube creator in the world, has 100M subscribers to his primary YouTube channel, @MrBeast. In 2021 alone, Mr Beast took home about an impressive $54 million, on the back of his fun challenges and expensive stunts, making him the highest paid content creator ever.

Marques Brownlee, on the hand, is another YouTube influencer, with close to 16M subscribers. He creates technology-focused videos, with a former senior vice president of Google describing him as the “best technology reviewer on the planet right now”.

What’s more, YouTube is no longer the platform for influencers. TikTok, Snapchat and Pinterest influencers are gaining significant traction.

So, let’s understand what Influencer Marketing for brands is about, and how you can create an Influencer Marketing Strategy in 2022.

What is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer Marketing can be described as a targeted method of advertising that uses endorsements and product mentions from individuals with a dedicated social media following; anywhere from 10,000 to 10M. Influencers have usually built up their following organically and have become experts in their niche, to the point that recommendations from them serve as a social proof.

The Current State of The Influencer Marketing Landscape

When Instagram was in its infancy, it was relatively easy for anyone really to become an influencer. All you needed were a few high-resolution images of yourself taken with a DSLR camera against a brightly coloured, aesthetic backdrop. This made sense for the early-stage influencers, given the visual focus of the platform. Influencers could be seen on exotic beaches in Bali and narrow laneways in Brazil, showcasing their curated life to fans all over the world.

Now, however, things have changed. People want less of the curated, and more of the “authentic”. Did you go to Bali? Great! Tell me exactly how much your trip cost so that I can decide if its affordable enough to go there with my family in summer. Posting unedited pictures and videos of yourself informing and educating your audience has now become the golden standard of influence. Brands partnerships with these influencers mean so much more since they can leverage a very engaged audience.

The Value of Influencer Marketing

Brands are projected to spend $15 billion on influencer marketing during 2022. 50.7% of brands working with influencers run ecommerce stores, which suggests that ecommerce businesses are particularly well-suited to the influencer marketing model.

Social commerce is one of the key factors driving this growth. Shoppers are now shopping directly from social networks. Instagram and TikTok have already announced a suite of features that allow creators to earn a commission for any purchases driven through the app. With this new in-app social shopping experience, brands will be able to leverage the platforms as an awareness strategy and also to drive sales.

In addition, influencer marketing is a valuable tool for connecting with younger audiences:

• Gen Z is most likely to respond to influencer marketing efforts.
• Women aged 16 to 24 are 31% more likely to follow social media influencers than men.

How Much Do Influencers Cost?

There’s no doubt that each social media channel has a wealth of influencers to tap into. But how much should you have to pay when partnering with an influencer for sponsored posts?

Source: Net Influencer

*The average rate per post may be higher than the figures shown above, depending upon the industry (fashion, sports, DIY, etc) and type of content (post, story, video).

Types of Influencer Marketing

From social media content to blog posts, there are many ways to collaborate with an influencer.

Sponsored Social Media Content

This is one of the most common types of influencer collaborations as it’s a fast and effective way of getting your product in front of the right audience. Brands should consider partnering with micro-influencers who have authority in a particular area – finance, travel, DIY, etc.

Most sponsored content appears on Instagram, either in the form of a post, story, or reel. It is always recommended to set content guidelines when working with an influencer. For instance, if you want the influencer to demonstrate your product’s use case via a ‘how-to’ video, be sure to communicate that to them to ensure that that you get the results you are seeking, and return on your investment.

Sponsored Blog Posts

This involves paying an influencer to post your content on their platform. It works well as blogs have become a trusted source of information. In some cases, the influencer might even offer to write or edit the post, thereby, adding a unique touch to your content.

Gifting Items

Some brands send their products as ‘gifts’ to influencers hoping that they will post about it on social media. Although the influencer is under no obligation to do so, the cost of this strategy is limited to the cost of your product.

For instance, if you’re launching a new product that will sell for $500, and you give it to 1 influencer as a gift, the cost of the influencer marketing strategy will be restricted to $500.  You would hope that cost would easily be recovered if the influencer decides to post about their experience of your product.

Why Should My Brand use Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing goes beyond the immediate uplift in sales or social media mentions.

Establish trust and credibility.

Influencers have a much stronger connection with their followers than most brands. Followers trust the advice and recommendations of these influencers, which, in turn, affects their purchase decision making.  Their recommendations create instant credibility for the brand they promote.

Brands should identify influencers that align with their values and engage them to create to content around one of its products. The content usually centres around how to use the product, or a social media challenge around the product.

Improve brand awareness and consumer engagement.

Newer brands in the market may be looking to increase brand awareness in the short-term. Social media users can learn more about your brand, your story, and the products or services you offer.

We recently assisted with an Influencer Marketing campaign for an importer of unique Spanish porcelain tiles. Whilst the manufacturer is a family run business which has been in operation for over a century, the products have only just entered the Australian market as part of a curated range of tiles, available through Bunnings.

We engaged 2 different Influencers with large numbers of followers, to use the tiles in DIY / simple projects, and talk about their experience of the tiles.  The campaigns led to thousands of views of the content, lots of engagement with the posts, and hundreds of likes / follows.

 Execute more targeted outreach.

While macro-influencers are great for reaching massive audiences, you need to have a big budget to invest. Brands that are just starting out with influencer marketing can leverage niche influencers as their content often has a much higher engagement rate, and influencers with a smaller following charge less.

How Can I Measure Influencer Marketing ROI?

Like most other forms of marketing, it is possible to measure the ROI on Influencer Marketing, by looking at your audience reach and sales data.

Revenue and conversions

Sales data is the most bankable influencer marketing metric for these campaigns. Using a unique promo code or custom URL that is linked through to Google Analytics or your ecommerce platform will make tracking sales much more reliable.

Pageviews and impressions

For brands partnering with influencers for new product launches, impressions are a good KPI since most marketing goals at this stage of the funnel revolve around having the product shown to the widest possible audience. In essence, more eyeballs potentially translate to more followers and more customers.

Website traffic is also important; you will want to track clicks and time on page, to gauge the number of people who clicked through to the website and their engagement.

Improve Your Influencer Marketing efforts with Contactpoint

Considering Influencer Marketing for your business or organization? You’re not alone.  We are very happy to have a conversation with you, to discuss how to make the most of influencer marketing for your product or service.

Working with influencers can be challenging.  Specifically, we can help you to:

1. Develop an appropriate influencer strategy for your product or service.  Your strategy needs to identify: which platforms to use, what message/s will ideally be conveyed, what target audience are you seeking (demographics, position in the buyer journey etc), what influencer personality type will complement your brand, how many posts / stories / reels you would like, over what time period, how you will measure success.
2. Identify relevant types of influencers.  With your strategy in hand, sourcing influencers who meet your criteria, and have sufficient followers, an appropriate style, and execute paid promotions well, is the next step.
3. Source and negotiate with influencers. Using one or more platforms for this activity can help reduce costs.  Negotiation with influencers is a very unique undertaking.  There are numerous gotchas to be avoided, making the upfront negotiation very important.
4. Brief the influencer to give the greatest likelihood of successful content.  The clearer the brief, the more likely you will get the desired outcomes in the most efficient way possible.
5. Review posts, reels and stories before they are published.  It is important to double-check text, links, hashtags, style, posting schedule, and how comments and interactions will be handled.
6. Engage.  Whilst the influencer should manage responses to people who comment on their content about your brand, you can also join in with the engagement, and depending on your negotiation, re-use the posts elsewhere.
7. Follow up and review outcomes.  If the influencer likes your brand, they may be keen to create future content for you.  Regardless, having visibility of the results – number of impressions, level of engagement, likes & follows – generated on the influencer’s accounts will be helpful in determining the return on your investment.  You will also be able to see any spike in traffic or sales on your side, through your website analytics and / or ecommerce store.

Don’t hesitate to get in touch, even if it is just to talk through the options and likely cost.

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