Influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing where an influential person collaborates with a brand to promote a product or service. These influential people will usually have a large following where they've already built credibility and trust with their audience.
It's now a mainstream form of online marketing used by brands to get their products seen by new audiences. Influencer Marketing Hub explains that while it's a relatively new marketing tactic, influencer marketing is a hybrid of old and new as it takes the idea of celebrity endorsements and puts it into a modern channel. The difference today is that influencers aren't just celebrities, but everyday people who've built an online following.
An influencer is generally someone who has the power to affect the purchasing decisions of others because of their authority, knowledge, position or relationship with their audience, and often in a particularly niche area. Within any industry there are influential people and some will be particularly niche. The strength of influencers is that they've built an enthusiastic and engaged audience - and they have a following that cares about their opinion.
40% of consumers have purchased something after seeing it on social media
Source: Digital Marketing Institute
Some interesting statistics from Digital Marketing Institute are that 70% of teens trust influencers more than traditional celebrities, and that not only do 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations, but that 40% had purchased something after seeing it on social media.
It's also not just about having a massive number of followers. Many will be ordinary people and may have 10,000 followers or even less, but they will've grown a reputation as the trusted experts in their field.
Influencer Marketing Hub also reveal that influencer marketing has grown to a $13.8 billion industry as of 2021, which reinforces that it should be taken seriously as a marketing tactic.
There are now agencies who have a network of influencers on hand for whatever your industry is. And there's also technology available to manage influencer relationships. Tools such as Influencity use AI to help marketers discover influencers, manage campaigns and track results.
There are specialist awards celebrating the industry, one being Influencer Marketing Awards that has been running annually since 2018. The awards celebrate effective, creative, and inclusive collaborations that authentically connect brands with consumers, and reward campaigns that deliver superior results.
You can take your influencer marketing campaigns to the next level by creating a WOW factor. We've worked with Krispy Kreme UK & IRE on several occasions, designing and printing fun cardboard packs ready to send out to influencers.
These packs were bespoke and designed specifically to hold their delicious doughnuts, and generated excitement so that the influencer just couldn't help sharing. Putting products in a pack is also a great opportunity to provide the influencer with full product details so that they're more likely to share the correct information with their followers.
We also created an influencer marketing pack for the launch of AllBeauty's skincare brand, At1 with the range of products provided in a branded, luxury box. This involved our MauveCreative design team developing the artwork, through to our MauvePrint team producing the box.
Digital Marketing Institute also reports that 51% of marketers say that influencer marketing helps them acquire better customers, so it's clearly come a long way and is now seen as an effective way of getting your message out there and increasing sales.
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