What is influencer marketing and why is it needed?

Before purchasing a product or using a service, people are always interested in some recommendations about it. And if it comes from a person whom the audience trusts, the effect will be stronger. Such a person is called an opinion leader or influencer. This is the approach used by influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is a full-fledged promotion tool. Influence on the audience is achieved through personal recommendations from an influencer who has public authority (an expert, celebrity, blogger, media personality, etc.). In this case, it is more important to be popular on social media than to be popular outside the Internet.

Influencer marketing has a number of features:

- Native advertising - advertising is integrated into the influencer's regular content, making it more natural for consumers. It does not look like a pre-planned advert, but rather becomes an integral part of what consumers are used to seeing;

- Targeting - this strategy allows you to direct content to a specific audience. Thus, through the right influencer, you can communicate with the target audience that is most interested in the product;

- Live traffic - from the blogger's page, leads can be driven to the website, personal accounts of business owners, etc;

- Feedback - After publishing an advertising material on the blogger's page, you can immediately assess the audience's reaction: see the number of likes, the mood in the comments, etc. This should be taken into account during the next publications to improve the results.

Influencer marketing success depends not only on the number of subscribers and likes but also on careful partner selection and adapting strategies to the target audience.

Influencers are divided into the following categories based on their level of influence on the target audience:

- nano-influencers - up to 1,000 followers. These are influencers with a small but very loyal and engaged audience. Advertising looks like friendly advice, the cost is low, and the degree of customer engagement is high;

- micro-influencers - up to 10,000 followers. The audience is also very loyal and engaged;

- macro-influencers - up to 100 thousand followers. An ideal option in terms of the ratio of content quality and cost;

- mega-influencers - more than 1 million subscribers. Celebrities who have a great impact on loyalty and recognition. But their advertising is the most expensive.

Developing an influencer marketing strategy involves several key steps that will help you confidently promote your brand or product through collaboration with influencers:

1) Define your goals: First of all, determine what you want to achieve through influencer marketing. It can be to increase sales, build brand awareness, promote a new product, or attract a new audience;

2) Study your audience: Understanding their interests, needs and behaviours will help you find the right influencers who have an affinity with your audience;

3) Choose the right influencers: Evaluate influencers based on their relevance to your brand, their audience's engagement, and their reputation. Remember that the number of followers is not always the only measure of success;

4) Develop a strategy: Together with the influencers, develop a content strategy that will attract the audience and reflect your brand at the same time.

So, influencer marketing can quickly increase brand awareness, attract a significant target audience, and make your product or service well-known. In the coming years, influencer marketing will continue to gain momentum, and the cost of advertising integrations will rise. If you plan to launch an advertising campaign now, we recommend carefully planning your promotional strategy, approaching the selection of influencers for collaboration with attention, and objectively assessing your advertising budget. Only by doing so will you achieve real profits, and all the invested funds will return with a surplus.