In a recent post we mentioned that campaigns with micro-influencers were one of the five digital marketing trends for the remainder of 2017.
And this is a trend that won’t end anytime soon. Social Chain predicts that in 2018, influencer marketing will take the next step to become “brand advocacy” marketing , meaning that in one way or another, we will all become influencers.
The growth of social media and other digital channels such as blogs and YouTube has meant that “influencers” have an increasingly important role in general opinion. Naturally, these digital channels will continue to grow. They may mutate into something we cannot yet imagine, but the door to interaction that they have opened will not close.
This is why working with influencers is a great opportunity for brands, as it allows them to get closer to their audience in a way that they cannot do on their own. This is what influencer marketing is all about: getting in touch with influencers who help us get our message across to more people, in a more personal way .
Ok then, we've answered the initial question, right? Not at all…
So let's start by defining everything we need to start working on an influencer campaign.
What is an influencer?
Let's get one thing clear first, influencers have always existed.
A basic definition of an influencer is a person who has a certain authority over a group, such that he or she can gain an advantage or modify the behavior of this group in some way.
The difference between then and now is that influencers used to be limited to celebrities and famous people. Nowadays, anyone can become an influencer. You, your neighbor, your doctor… You no longer need to appear on television or in mass media that depend on third parties (the owners of those media). Each person can control where, how, and when they appear.
So, let's redefine what an influencer is in terms of the new digital channels and what interests us for our marketing strategies:
This is a person who has a significant audience within their niche, we could start from a thousand followers and up.
This audience listens to what this person has to say , and this is noticeable in the interactions, mainly in the comments.
In addition, their followers make decisions based on the influencer's opinions.
This person is considered authentic and generates their own content.
But… where does this influence come from?
Influence can come from these four sources:
Legitimacy. This occurs when influence is given by the position of the person, for example, Sundar Pichai who saw his influence grow after becoming CEO of Google.
Sundar Pichai
Reference/Reputation. This occurs when a person is recognized by a large majority as a reference in a certain subject, either due to his/her career or past behavior in relation to said subject.
Experience. This is given by the recognition of a person as an expert in a certain subject. It is closely related to technical fields such as SEO or even cooking, for example, a chef who is an expert in certain techniques.
Informative. These influencers always have news, numbers or gadgets first hand. Whether it is due to their profession, whether they are journalists, etc. or connections, they always manage to be among the first to spread information. Today, great weight is being given in this area to the ability to generate their own research and analyze large volumes of data.
Why does influencer marketing work?
When we described the characteristics of an influencer, we talked about how they are seen as authentic people. Their main interest is in the topic they are passionate about rather than selling us something. This is the complete opposite of a brand, whose main interest is to get us to buy its products.
The truth is that there is some psychology in all this.
What do we do when we have to buy gambling data usa something we have never bought before or we have doubts about? We ask a friend who we know is knowledgeable about the subject or who has been through the same situation.
This is why, perhaps unconsciously, we prefer to listen to influencers over brands. This behavior is repeated in the digital world time and again. According to a study by Nielsen, 83% of people trust reviews from others more than advertising.
Influencer marketing works because we believe that these people are offering us honest and selfless recommendations.
This is especially true for micro-influencers (we will return to this topic in future articles), and not so much for celebrities. In the latter case, we are more clear that the celebrity is receiving something in return from the brand, but we trust that the celebrity would not risk their reputation by recommending something bad or something they do not believe in.
How to find and choose influencers?
When we talk about influencers, we are including both celebrities with hundreds of thousands of followers, and so-called micro-influencers. The latter are defined by Adweek as those with less than 30,000 followers, but the truth is that the number of followers is relative depending on the niche they target.
In our opinion, a good influencer marketing campaign should be targeted specifically at influencers within your niche. Or as in the case of Brita , which managed to unite a highly influential figure in the media with a basketball superstar in a YouTube commercial.
The important thing is to be clear about what your goals are and how you want to be seen as a brand. What values is your brand associated with and what values does one or another influencer represent?
When working with an influencer, you run the risk that some of their personal opinions may be linked to your brand and negatively affect it. As was the case, for example, with PewDiePie, a famous YouTuber who had signed deals with Disney and Google, and was later found to have made anti-Semitic statements.
Once you have your goals clear, there are tools that can help you find influencers.
One of them is Followerwonk, which works very well for Twitter and allows you to search for keywords in user biographies, number of followers, etc.
Another one that allows you to search on Instagram, in addition to Twitter, is Klear . As you can see on its main page, it is a platform created for influencer marketing.
With these tools, you'll find dozens of people with a certain degree of influence that you can contact to help you spread your brand's message.
But, in addition to the filter we have already talked about regarding image and values, how do we choose?
The number of followers is a good indicator for making a first filter. However, it is not a very reliable one. According to Adweek , 7.8% of Instagram accounts are bots or fake.
So the next thing you can look at is the influencer's engagement with their own brand. How often do they post? Do they create their own content? The latter will be very important, as people are looking for authenticity. If you give them content that you created yourself, this will be lost and won't have the same effect.
Finally, look at the number of interactions each post generates. This will be proof that someone is really listening. Here the analysis should be a bit qualitative, since there are also bots that generate likes and comments. So see if real people are commenting and sharing the posts.
Now it's your turn
Are you ready to start working with influencers? This has just been an introduction to the topic and we will come back to it later. If you have any questions along the way, we are here for you .
Note: In the text, use the words influenciador and influencer alternately since there is no noun accepted by the RAE to call these people.
