You are familiar with the importance of influencers, as you also want to become an influencer. Three main challenges are there in the marketing departments. Building up content that is enough to cover all audiences and channels, grabbing the attention of costumers and building up trusted, authentic, and brand identity. All these problems get solved when the phenomenon of influencer came on the sight. Marketers were quick to take advantage of this new strategy.
It helps in committing time, money, and resources to build campaigns of influencers, hiring online profile personalities and acquiring platforms to manage it all. Do you have any idea how much flexibility these influencers have and should marketers be re-thinking who they get to front their campaigns?
According to an estimation, the influencer market spends will reach $5-$10 billion by 2020. The influencer market is strongly continued to grow rapidly. In-depth study shows that advertisers spent a confounding $1.6 billion on Instagram in 2018 only. For the rapid growth of Instagram account, you need to stay away from fake Instagram influencer followings that some macro and micro-influencers used.
Well, the rules on fake followers are getting stricter; however, influencer marketing is losing its shine. What do you think? Is that true?
For some brands, influencer marketing proves to be a combination of experience.
1. Authenticity
How would you know if the number of influencer’s followers is real or fake? You must be known to the fact that getting fake Instagram followers is not a big deal, these days. A random Google search can even produce several followers. Though Instagram is making an effort to diminish this practice and warned its users last year that everyone using the apps would find their accounts banned from the Instagram platform. To staple off the fake followers, marketers can make use of different tools to clear up discrepancies.
2. Picking up the right influencer
Deciding to choose influencer is definitely a challenge. Generally, the process goes something like this for many brands.
- Search for keywords in their bio, posts, or blogs that match those you are looking for
- Manually refine the basis of the results on the individual analysis
- Grading according to the number of followers
3. Variable Results
Suppose you are running two campaigns with two different influencers. Both influencers are having the same amount of followers and add up the same number of posts. Still, one campaign is doing better than the other. Do you know why? Well, to find the reason for this discrepancy is not impossible, and marketers are strongly willing to invest in adequate resources in terms that have no predictability.
4. Using Celebrity Names to Draw Attention
Using the names of celebrities is not a new thing in social media marketing. However, sometimes inherent risks and the amount of money involved might be astronomical. It can be carried away with a buzz by putting hype before substance. Brands must think vigilantly about committing more significant portions of the marketing budget to a strategy that depends extremely on celebrity influencers. It all can result in the marketing resources that could be better used elsewhere.
5. Putting the Emphasis on Trust
Though influencers can have the attention of that 5,000-10,000 follower, the marketer is seeking for. But it does not mean that the opinion of influencer has much weight with his audience. According to a report, only 23% of the surveys accept the opinion of influencers rather than preferring the advice of colleagues, friends, and family.
Who are the Best Influencers?
Most likely, the best influencers can be your customers. You may think of it as a chestnut, and communication power is the most effective method of marketing. The social media power, along with the ever-present nature of the Smartphone, has puffed up the individual’s field of influence.
Just a few years ago, you shared your experience with someone, only when you had a good experience with a brand or product. Recently, people post it on social media and share the news randomly. It becomes viral among dozens of hundreds or even thousands of people easily.
And there is no doubt that customers are more likely to trust the content over the production of an influencer. It becomes a succession of frequent attention-grabbing factors in the influencer market.