We’ve heard of different marketing strategies such as email marketing, social media marketing, paid advertisements, and relationship marketing. These are all proven ways to grow your brand, but a newer, incredibly effective marketing strategy is influencer marketing.  

This strategy is a form of social media marketing that involves influencers who typically have a considerable number of followers. The influencers usually have established credibility in their fields and can easily persuade their large audiences. Brands provide them with products to endorse, leading to a newly created consumer pool.  

While Influencer marketing is new in the world of marketing, it’s highly favored. Influencers’ ability to shape minds and opinions is powerful. This strategy is effective because, unlike hiring an actor in traditional advertisements – influencer marketing offers the view of well-respected public persons idolized by thousands or millions of consumers. In turn, their audiences trust influencers, making the purchases of the products and services they endorse more likely. 

When businesses pursue this marketing strategy, there are several things they should consider before choosing an influencer, one being just how much exposure they can buy. There are essentially three tiers of influencers: micro-influencers (below 40,000 followers), macro-influencers (40,000-1 million followers), and mega-influencers (1 million or more followers). Some mega-influencers require payment of $1,000,000 per post, so these marketing deals are typically only made with big-name brands. (I know what you’re thinking, how do I become an influencer?!) 

Businesses should also do extensive research on potential influencers to ensure they’re a good fit. For example, fitness brands should seek out fitness enthusiasts, and beauty brands should seek out beauty enthusiasts, etc. They should also be cautious of fake influencers. Some social media users buy followers, likes, and comments to trick brands into paying them for sponsored content. To mitigate this, choose Influencers by their audience engagement rate, not their likes and followers.  

Influencers who believe in the product they promote will likely have a higher sales turnout. Building influencer relationships ensures your brand is promoted authentically and appealingly. These relationships are beneficial for both parties because it increases the efforts put in by the influencer when posting the brand and provides ongoing opportunities for them as well. 

This marketing style deals with a more personal form of outreach, making it an ideal tactic. Influencers nowadays are revered and looked up to, making them the perfect sales representatives. If you’re a business owner looking for ways to spread your name, try reaching out to social media influencers with high audience engagement, which you think will thoroughly enjoy your product.