The Power of Influencer Marketing

Traditionally we’ve seen marketing follow a set pattern. For example, in a 30 second commercial a spokesman appear on screen (be it a gecko, purple butterfly or guy in a tasteful polo shirt) and they will discuss a problem you may have. And how they sell a solution to that problem. This has been the way since live broadcasting began. Usually that spokesperson is recognizable and hopefully likeable. We even have developed a measure of trust in some of these fictional figures. Geico has sold millions of policies because we took the word of a tiny lizard. Wow. Certainly this method has proven itself effective. But it isn’t Exactly perfect. Why is that? Well for one, it’s EXTREMELY expensive to advertise in this way for a few reasons. Production of each commercial can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars even millions to produce. Then to air it it costs even more. Then when the commercial airs it will reach some of your target audience, and the rest is wasted. For example, a diaper commercial is for a very specific group of people. Parents. Or other less fortunate individuals... but point made, it’s a target demographic. And if you don‘t fit that category then the advertising company really wasted their money on your percentage of viewers. Ouch. The new kid on the block Enter The dawn of social media marketing. Social media marketing Is still very new by perspective. And the traditional methods can still be applied to it, with one major difference. Targeting. Let’s face it, the internet knows you pretty well by now. It knows what you like, what you may need, and how to show it to you too. By figuring out what you like it acts like the middleman between you and advertisers and picks which ones fit best for you. I know data mining is kind of a trigger word right now, but let’s not put the tin foil hats on just yet. What it does enable is a better market experience for the sellers and the buyers. Only seeing ads that make sense to you means that you’re probably more likely to buy something. Everyone wins, that is if you don’t have a spending problem... but you get the point. This is a MUCH less expensive way to market. But there is a new method that’s even better.

The end of traditional marketing is nye.

Influencer Marketing is taking over And finally we reach the title to this article. Influencer Marketing. How is this taking over the market? Well first we need to examine what an influencer is. On any given social media platform like Instagram or YouTube there are people that have a lot of followers because they make or do things that people like. Some blog, some make tutorials, some make reviews, and some play video games. Whatever it may be, these people make “content” that people enjoy watching. And due to the social nature of the platforms they’re on there can be interactions between the creators and the viewers that forms a sort of bond between them. Some even feel like its group or team that they are on and develop a tight loyalty. That is far more common among the younger generation that grew up with the platform. Crazy. What’s more intriguing is how ridiculously marketable that audience can be. So let’s do numbers. We’ll start small. Say you are a YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers. Good job! Now, lets be real. Some (probably most) are a bit more on the passive side. Meaning they liked a video, gave you a sub, and check in from time to time. That’s fine. Out of those 100,000 subscribers, let’s say you have 1,000 super die hard fans. They wait for each video to come out with eager anticipation and love everything you do. Those people buy T-shirts. It may seem like a joke but I couldn’t be more serious. They want what you want, they like what you like. If you say that you’re say that your camera is a Sony A7 guess what camera they’re going to buy? Yup. Say you review a laptop that you love and recommend, guess what laptop they’re going to buy next. Take it a step further. you make a travel video where you tour New Zealand and show all the places that you stop along the way at. Well you just inspired their next dream vacation that they’re going to save for. Crazy right? Well not really, I could dive deeper into the psychological factors, but I think that I’ll leave that for another article. Simply put, Influencers on social media have loyalty and trust on their side.

What that loyalty gets you in the end.

With that loyalty and trust companies have found a strong platform to promote their brand. New, younger companies can reach out to smaller YouTube channels to review their product by giving that person the product for free. Which usually is accepted. The youtuber gets free stuff and some exposure and the advertiser gets virtually free audience exposure minus the cost of the product. Win win. Now on the larger scale a YouTuber may have Millions of subscribers, so much larger companies will reach out to these individuals for a sponsored post that can be worth up to $20,000! Just for a 30 second mention in the video. Wow. Seems like a lot of money at first, but in reality it is an immense saving for that company. Because they could easily have spend millions just by airing on television to a completely non targeted audience. So everyone wins right? Well… kind of yeah. All except for the television networks. Speaking of which… did you know that in 2019 it is projected that there will be more screen time with online media rather than TV? So you can see the direction marketing has to follow. With more audiences online than on TV, traditional TV marketing ads are beginning to fade. With it are new opportunities for both the users and the advertisers. Cool right?

#influencer #marketing #socialmedia