Pop-up ads and other conventional methods of digital marketing just aren’t cutting it anymore. People don’t want to be “sold” to or interrupted while they are browsing online, and ad fatigue is more prevalent than ever before. In fact, according to the 2016 PageFair Mobile Adblocking Report, at least 22% of the world’s 1.9 billion smartphone users are blocking ads while browsing on mobile. On top of that, 66% of people say that they are tired of seeing companies oversaturate the web with advertisements - or, in other words, that they are experiencing ad fatigue.
This is a huge obstacle for marketers. With 419 million mobile users using ad blockers and more Adblock companies popping up every day, it can be increasingly difficult to gain exposure and get your company or product out there.
How can marketers overcome this obstacle and gain the exposure that they need? By placing messaging where the target audience willingly looks for information. This is done through influencer marketing, a powerful, effective strategy that will expand your reach and gain strong social influence for your brand.
What is Influencer Marketing?
The main idea behind influencer marketing is to focus on using key influencers to expand your brand’s message to the world. Unlike more traditional digital marketing methods, influencer marketing involves inspiring, collaborating, or hiring influencers to get the word out for you.
Typically, influencer marketing involves two other types of marketing: content marketing and social media marketing. Looking first at content marketing, most influencer marketing contains a content strategy, wherein the influencer creates brand-specific content or the company creates the content for the influencer to share. As far as social media marketing goes, it’s very common for the influencer marketing campaign to include a social media component, especially if the influencer has amassed a large social following: this is a huge audience that can instantly expand your reach with minimal additional effort.
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Despite the constant overlapping in strategy, though, it’s important to note that content marketing and social media marketing are not same as influencer marketing - they just work as smaller components of this larger marketing campaign.
Why It Works
Influencer marketing works because it feels organic and authentic. Think about it: people began using ad blockers because the ads were getting in their way, promoting things they weren’t interested in at an inconvenient time.
SEE ALSO: How to Increase Qualified Web Traffic To Your Site
Influencer marketing fixes this problem by placing the message inline with what the viewer is already looking for. It is discovered by the influencer’s audience - who is already engaged and interested in what they have to say - rather than interrupting someone’s browsing experience. Influencer marketing also has an added level of authenticity. When the messaging is delivered by someone who genuinely cares and loves the product, it provides a level of social proof and relatability that companies just can’t create on their own.
Getting Started
Keeping all of that in mind, here are 3 key steps to getting started on your own influencer campaign:
Identify key influencers
To make sure your product reaches the right audience, you need to identify the right influencers. Know where your audience searches for information and who they are inspired by. This is extremely important: if you choose an influencer that does not resonate with your audience, that person’s messaging will simply not get across to them.
Get the influencers on board
If these are people driving awareness to your product, they have to believe in the product themselves. Get these influencers on board by creating a marketing campaign tailored to them.
Allow the influencers to craft the message
It’s very important that you allow the influencer to control the delivery of the message. These influencers have garnered a large following because they know what their audience wants. Nothing says ad placement or inauthenticity like content that doesn’t align with the influencer’s voice.
If you follow these simple tips and strategies, you will be able to start your own effective influencer marketing campaign. Just remember to keep it real if you want it to work: consumers are smart and they will see right through an inauthentic or over-generalized campaign.
