Leveraging Influencers in Your Marketing Efforts
The Current State of Influencer Marketing
If you're an active social media user, chances are you've seen all sorts of influencer marketing content, especially on your Instagram or TikTok feeds.
Influencers are compelling because they have a trusted voice and can impact the perception of your brand through their dedicated followers, who can double as your brand's target demographic. Well-crafted influencer campaigns can help lift the curtain on a brand with their reach.
Types of Influencers
In addition to the less quantitative measures of influence—like affinity, respect and trust—the sheer number of followers directly determines an influencer’s status:
Influencer marketing can take many forms, and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. It all depends on what your brand wants to accomplish by having influencers in the marketing mix.
Even More Types of Influencers
Every influencer has something unique that drew their audience in the first place. Their content can change over time based on the number of people that follow and engage with them. The following examples are more specific types of influencers.
Celebrity Influencers
Sometimes influencers become so famous they gain celebrity status. Other times, celebrities like A-list movie stars and international pop stars take on brand deals and use their status and popularity to attract ideal clientele, including their fan base. When brands can afford them, depending on the celebrity influencer they choose, it's an excellent option for massive reach and robust results.
An example of a celebrity influencer is professional soccer player Lionel Messi. Messi is a celebrity sports star, but he's also an Instagram star with 482 million followers. With that kind of star power, any brand he partners with has a considerable reach potential. Several huge brands have already partnered with the pro football player, including the food brand Lay's.
Social Media Influencers
These are the most common but diverse types of influencers. Social media personalities aren’t always influencers, but they can be hired as influencers when their content seamlessly blends with a brand's service or products.
An example of a social media influencer is Zach King. King started on the now-defunct Vine platform but quickly gained a massive following that has continued onto YouTube and other social video platforms like Instagram and TikTok. His fun digital and special effects help attract a viewer's attention which is why he's been able to make several brand deals with Disney, Apple, and more.
Content Creator Influencers
Not all influencers have their following on mainstream social media channels. Influencers can also be YouTubers, podcasters, Twitch streamers, vloggers, or bloggers who often have brand deals and sponsorships that help fund their content creation. Sometimes these sponsorships are longer contract deals. Longer contracts for influencers who continuously produce a lot of content are becoming a more popular option for brands that like the frequency of exposure influencers can provide.
An example of a content creator influencer would be MrBeast, AKA James Stephan Donaldson, and his YouTube channel. He is the most-subscribed individual user at 173 million YouTube subscribers as of 2023. MrBeast has partnered with several brands, including Honey and Quidd, to make numerous product placements within his videos.
Local Celebrity or Community Influencers
Many local influencers don't have huge social media followings, but often experience higher engagement from their following. For example, on-air radio talent has great engagement through their radio program but may not have any social media presence. Even radio personalities can be community influencers for local brands, businesses and organizations. On or off air, radio personalities are often the trusted voices of the community and have their ear on the ground of what their listeners like and dislike.
Other examples: Thought leaders like LinkedIn influencers, political or social activists, and subject matter experts (SMEs). An example of an SME is Bill Nye, The Science Guy, partnering with Coca-Cola to "demystify" recycling in an educational video.
AfterMath Clients X Influencer Collabs
How Our Agency Leverages Influencers For Our Clients
There are many ways to utilize an influencer for your brand or business to stand out. Luckily, we have a lot of experience when it comes to working with all kinds of influencers. Most notably, we've worked with known personalities in specific industries and networks of influencers who can distribute content even further, all with a unique voice. In addition, we've worked with radio programs of industry experts and brand integration through well-known TV programs using hosts as influencers. Sometimes we've used a single influencer, and other times we've used several at a time.
Remember, though, influencers only serve as one element of the overarching marketing strategy.
Our key goals when using influencers:
Get through to audience segments that are typically more challenging to reach, engage or convince through traditional channels.
Fortify other marketing efforts by strengthening multi-channel marketing efforts.
Reinforce messages through an influential third party to establish credibility and trust.
Our client examples:
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Client: Kinetico Water Systems, water filtration, water softening, and specialty solutions
Influencer: Mike Holmes, a well-known TV personality and contractor with his program on HGTV called "Holmes on Homes."
Strategy: Since he's a great public speaker, has a strong personality, and is aligned with the Kinetico mission of improving home water quality, we leveraged his credibility across all sorts of media, including videos, photos, speaking arrangements, blog posts and more social content in an on-going partnership.
Results: Many blog posts we created gained high visibility in Google organic search results. The "How to Choose the Best Reverse Osmosis System" ranked on page 1 of Google SERPs since it was a very relevant query that attracted qualified visits to the Kinetico site. In addition to the blogs, social media posts drove an average engagement rate of 20% higher than the industry benchmark.
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Client: LP Building Solutions, trim and siding products like SmartSide® Siding Solutions
Influencers: Networks and micro communities of influencers, specifically lifestyle influencers that were carefully selected for their high revelance to the brand
Strategy: We partnered with a network of lifestyle influencers to generate awareness about the quality and value of LP SmartSide. We offered each influencer and 100 readers a cup of Starbucks coffee to enjoy while they modeled the new LP SmartSide in their homes. Influencers created blog posts featuring their thoughts on choosing LP SmartSide for their homes and then syndicated this content across their social channels for additional reach and engagement. Influencers had creative control over their posts to maintain their unique social voices and create a more organic experience.
Results: The campaign exceeded audience reach goals by 15% and generated 50 article shares among the influencer group.
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Client: Clopay, garage/commercial door manufacturers
Influencers:
Anthony Carrino, an HGTV host that gained notoriety on his series, with 50k followers on Facebook and 65K on Instagram (Micro Social Influencer)
Gary Sullivan, a home improvement radio host, "At Home with Gary Sullivan”
Bob Vila, a now-retired American home improvement television show host
HGTV Urban Oasis, Family Handyman, and other "Show Home" sponsorships, e.g., Southern Living, New American Home, New American Remodeled Home, etc., and a combination of other micro influencers
Strategy:
Carrino Strategy: When Clopay provided us with a unique project, "The Firehouse Makeover" Carrino renovates an old Firehouse in his hometown, and one of the episodes in this web series pays a visit to our client, Clopay, to document the creation of the garage door. The client had additional coverage of the door installation plus beauty shots of their door on Carrino's properties throughout the web series and on Clopay-owned properties.
Sullivan Strategy: In addition to ads, Clopay's content lived on Gary's website as an "endorsed" product, while Clopay also received regular in-studio, live interviews on different topics.
Vila Strategy: Created native, custom articles developed collaboratively with Bob Vila's editorial team. Efforts included paid promotion of articles to drive visibility. Article content included photo galleries and articles offering guidance and inspiration in the decision-making process to upgrade a garage door. These articles would live on BobVila.com and drove engagement and traffic organically for years.
In addition, we facilitated several other product donations (plus media commitments), including coverage on TV, in print and website. In addition, Clopay received assets and did a blog with an architect as well as host a customer event at their home. Other "show home" projects provided editorial and promoted coverage, plus stunning photo and video assets.
Results: This variety of influencer and branded content programs resulted in great brand exposure for Clopay and generated increases in site traffic and leads. For example, the Gary Sullivan content received more than 300,000 page views after launching, and the Bob Vila program was consistently one of our most efficient lead drivers, with a cost per lead 80% lower than even our highly successful site retargeting program.
Pitfalls of Influencer Marketing
Relinquishing Control
Influencers must understand your brand and how to promote it. It's a give-and-take on trusting them to know what their audience will respond to and setting boundaries and expectations on what promotional content should look like before it's posted.Fast but Messy Results
When working with an influencer, content can become effective at driving potential customers toward your products or services. When the views come in fast, especially when there is a lot of content, ensure there's a plan to measure key performance indicators, such as determining if influencer content is driving strong click-through rates and engagement.Human Risk
Influencers aren't perfect or even nice sometimes. An influencer getting negative PR or even breaking the law can hurt the brand they sponsor or promote. There are countless examples, like the infamous PR scandal involving Kanye West losing his most lucrative brand deal with apparel company Adidas. The wrong influencer choice could hurt a brand's reputation in the long term.
The Future of Influencer Marketing
Sometimes a disembodied "brand voice" could intimidate or create distrust among potential buyers. However, influencers can help put buyers at ease by demonstrating and showcasing a product or service they believe in as they document their journey. Even though there are many risks to using influencers to promote your brand, the benefits usually outweigh the risks, since this marketing strategy isn't going away anytime soon. Of 132 surveyed, 61% of marketers say they can attribute influencer marketing to sales according to a survey report conducted by CreatorIQ.
Trending Areas of Future Growth in Influencer Marketing
Social Commerce
The growing popularity of social commerce or social media platform shopping helps influencers convert viewers to customers through the ease of shopping straight from their brand-partnered content.Technology-Driven Influencing
As the tech industry races toward the next big thing, whether it's AI or Metaverse opportunities, advertising could center on influencers trying different technologies. Influencers could create trust among a skeptical public. Outside of that, the Metaverse could bring demonstrations to life with the possibility of intricate visuals, making it easier for influencers to showcase a brand they've partnered with to promote.More Creator-Led Marketing
Sometimes content creators can make better ads than a brand can, which is why 77% of the 132 marketers surveyed leveraged organic fans as content creators according to a survey report conducted by CreatorIQ. These fans-turned-creators will more likely create authentic content because they already have loyalty and a passion for the brand.
Want to see how an influencer could change the landscape for your brand?
Contact Mike Pocci at mpocci@teamaftermath.com to see if an influencer campaign could deliver the results you're after.