5 Reasons Why You Should Work with Social Media Influencers
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by Caroline Aurigemma & Daniella DiMartino
Partnering with social media brand content creators, also widely known as “influencers”, is now one of the top ways for a business to gain visibility. By tapping into this potentially cost-effective resource, your business or organization’s brand can ultimately increase awareness, reach your target audiences, and expand your reach exponentially in real-time.
When an influencer collaborates with a brand, they often create content — posts, stories, reels, videos, newsletters, etc. — to share a first-person point of view of the product, service, or business to their followers. Social media influencers can often offer more value to brands if they have an established niche audience and quality organic engagement.
Choosing relevant and applicable influencers that will accurately represent your brand and promote your products or services can be challenging to handle while you are trying to run your business. And you might not be sure this is right for you. There are multiple types of influencers, from the up-and-coming influencers to influencers with millions of followers to regional influencers. If you are thinking of adding this tactic to your current strategy, reach out to your local social media marketing company to help you get started.
Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Be Working with Social Media Influencers
1. Build trust and expand reach
When working with an influencer, celebrity, or expert to promote your product or service digitally, their followers will instantly see this as credible and trustworthy information. Because these influencers work tirelessly to create a community within their platform, their audience is willing to be influenced. When your brand collaborates with an influencer, it gives the notion that your brand is a leader within the industry.
2. Increase brand awareness
Influencer marketing can truly expand your reach and following in the digital realm of social media. Your brand, your story, and your voice will begin to emerge with their posts and stories and their followers will begin to understand your story better. Keep in mind that the main focus of an influencer’s job is to stay on-trend in order to grow their following and stay relevant. By collaborating with an influencer, your brand will be seen as on-trend or “hot!”
3. Effectively reach your target audience and beyond
When working with relevant influencers, your brand is directly placed in social media users feeds who are already interested or participating within your niche.
4. Drive sales!
When influencers mention or tag your business, your brand begins to drive sales. In “The State of Influencer Marketing: 10 Influencer Marketing Statistics to Inform Where You Invest,” a 2020 article published by MediaKix, Rochelle Bailis reported that, 89% say ROI from influencer marketing is comparable to or better than other marketing channels. It may be nerve-wracking to put your brand in the hands of a social media influencer. However, nearly 90% of all marketers find ROI from influencer marketing comparable to or better than other marketing channels.
5. Create long-term partnerships
Connecting and engaging with an influencer for a one-time barter or partnership can definitely bring more clicks and sales to your business, yet this may not happen instantly. We recommend tracking engagement, follows, interest, and sales within the timeline of the partnership. Depending on your analysis, think about investing with this influencer as a long-term relationship. Just like it takes time to build trust with your brand and your customers, the same goes for influencer marketing.
With the rise of influencers, more and more businesses are using this marketing tactic to reach a much wider audience, gain more followers, post interactions, and creditability. Based on an Influencer Monetization 2021 study from Insider Intelligence and eMarketer, Jasmine Enberg reported that “more than two-thirds (67.9%) of U.S marketers will use some form of influencer marketing this year (2021). That’s expected to increase to 72.5% in 2022.”
If influencer marketing sounds beneficial to your brand, take your time in finding the right influencers who align with your brand’s mission and voice. The goal is to have a creative representative for your product or service who you trust to spread the word on all of the good that you do!
Want to know if influencer marketing is right for your brand? Drop us a line, we’d love to help!
Caroline Aurigemma was the Social Media & Communications Specialist at Katy Dwyer Design through December 2022. Caroline is a Hudson Valley native who has found a passion for helping small businesses grow their social media presence.
Daniella DiMartino was the Director of Marketing & Communications for Katy Dwyer Design through May 2022, a full-service marketing firm based in the Hudson Valley, NY. She has a passion for writing and creativity and blending them into her work.