The Internet is not highly democratic, there are those who are worthy and those who are worthier – mainly those who have more readers, more followers, more influence and higher access to significant audiences.
Those who are in continuous and substantial contact with a relatively large number of users are sometimes called Gate Keepers or Influencers.
What characterizes the relationship between the Influencers and their audience?
Mostly listening. In the digital world, in order to tell a story, convey a message or sell a product and idea, the first step is to fight for the attention level of your target audience. This is no easy feat: evidently, TV advertising does not gain a significant level of attention. Certainly not when it comes to the most important audience today – the Y-Z generations – the digital natives.
Banners also do not enjoy significant attention (remember, 26% of users have already installed ad blockers).
Emotional Engagement – is the second characteristic of the relationship between professional Influencers and their audience.
Many online stores have removed any elements associated with traditional advertising from their marketing plans, leaving only social marketing, Influencer marketing, and in field promotion activities.
Which Influencers do you wish to connect to?
Surprisingly, or not, the more targeted and smaller the audience, the better the engagement performance it brings to the brand marketing activity.
Influencers are first of all people who are passionate about the brand, the product and the category. Based on their genuine passion they could promote brands and amplify its message. Their other advantage is attracting audience attention, that same audience which is itself passionate about the category. These are attentive circles of audiences who will try your product, talk about it, read your content and distribute it.
Why is that good?
A certified – high valued source affects an audience more than a message from a brand or company and affects the readiness to try a new product, listen to the brand and even support or reinforce a buying decision.
Influencer marketing – key benefits:
- Relevance
The Influencer positions your brand to your audience in a more relevant context.
- Authenticity
The Influencer works in a two-way message system and generates trust and attention.
- Effective Reach
The digital age is typified by the need to achieve effective reach (as opposed to basic reach in the offline era). Influencers are the most efficient source of effective reach. They do not talk at people. They talk to people they know and their real acquaintance with the audience is a necessary condition for listening.
- Micro Budget
Influencers could be used on long, focused tail activity. Business and payment model can be based on per exposure payment or per measured post payment Long tail sharing
Research shows that Influencers’ audience is more inclined to distribute and share content they get from the Influencer (even if it is a branded content – as long as it brings them value).
Selecting the right Influencers for your company :
- Basic adjustment
The basic factors to consider are the match between the identity of the brand, its characteristics, the story it tells, its audience and the consumer’s / readers profile
- Interaction based adjustment
One must consider the nature of the relationship between the Influencer and his target audience, how involved they are and how tight and frequent their interaction is.
- Selection based on a business model and measurement capability
One of the advantages of digital marketing is that measurement is done on the fly. This capability should also be maintained when working with Influencers.
Online stores are starting to move from Influencers to micro-Influencers and Nano – Influencers . It makes sense.
How to work with Nano/ Micro-Influencers?
- Tell a story based on the value you bring to the target audience.
You should provide your relevant Influencers with an interesting company story and visual materials that tell your story. This is the right way to turn the Influencer into your promoter.
- Try to achieve continuous presence
A one-time presence is perceived as campaign. Continuous presence could initiate a relationship with the Influencer’s target audience. (Second tier relations).
Define your micro segment, approach it by using micro publishers (Influencers and Gatekeepers) and base your marketing on micro, measurable budgets.
The end of mass marketing is here.
As mentioned above, Influencer marketing is a logical, economic and fundamental trend which has proved effective.
Born a few years ago and much like any other media and marketing area, it has risen up from the bottom – individuals who created content attracted the attention of more and more readers and viewers later gaining the attention of businesses who have identified among these small media the possibility to gain effective reach at reasonable costs.