It is impossible to open any kind of social media app without seeing a post that’s related to or just directly influencer marketing. The only way to avoid it is if you’re completely offline - but c’mon, we’re Gen Y and we ain’t about dat life.
Since social media has exploded and it’s growth has been exponential, it’s moved past being the medium we talk to our mates on. It’s become an essential part of any brand wanting to succeed, think of it as a metaphorical arm for a brand. If you haven’t got an arm, you can still function but you’re not at your full potential.
Part of a brand’s arm is influencer marketing.
What is influencer marketing?
In simpler terms, it’s using an individual and their personality or brand to promote your product. Essentially, there’s two types of influencer marketing - the kind you pay for, and the kind you don’t.
Paid influencer marketing is when a company pays a prominent individual to promote their product by posting about it. The unpaid kind is when a prominent individual actually promotes a product because they genuinely like it. Take Lorna Jane or Nike as an example, both very popular brand with many advocates.
A big player in paid influencer marketing is @kyliejenner. Her millions of followers across her social media accounts and the cult like following means she has big reach and big pull (I personally don’t know why but whatevs). She’s promoted things from teeth whitening products, hair growth vitamins and your usual clothing item (which we probs can’t afford).
Influencer marketing doesn’t just extend to people, famous Instagram personalities have just as much pull when it comes to the promotion of a product. Take @lifeofpikelet: a rescue staffy from Sydney who does the occasional promo post.
Influencer Orchestration Network provided some pretty interesting stats about influencer marketing in 2016:
- 47% of online customers have ad-block technology, meaning the way to reach them is to provide content from people they trust
51% of marketers see better results from customers when using influencer marketing, they believe this is because the relationship began with trust in the influencer.
74% of shoppers use social media to make purchase decisions.
Those stats clearly show a path for 2017, it’s going to be an explosion of growth for social media and marketing. Celebs won’t be the main focus for brands looking at influencer marketing either, think the likes of fashion or travel inspired Instagram accounts and popular YouTubers to take more of the influencer marketing.
As this year goes by, you’ll see more collaborations between brands and affluent individuals and you won’t know which cleansing teatox to buy.