The Use Of Social Media For Influencer Marketing

Shuchi Sethi Sep 30, 2021

Marketing involves creating, communicating, and delivering superior value to the consumers. Internet penetration and the growth of social media users have presented social media as a medium to connect with potential customers. The year 2021 is marked with 4.33 billion social media users across the globe; it is a staggering number, more than 55% of the global population.

Indians continue to dominate social media with a user base of 448 million and clock an average screen time of 2.25 hours per day. It presents an opportunity for marketers to leverage social media for brand awareness and gain momentum on the sales throughput.

Rise of social media influencers

The growth in the number of internet users and the availability of social media platforms opened new avenues for marketers to connect with potential customers. Influencer marketing is on the rise, thanks to short video apps and social media platforms offering multiple content formats. Small businesses can quickly build demand for their products or services by becoming a part of the social media ecosystem.

Internet literacy has bought about a radical shift in consumer behaviour. As customers search online for products and make a side-by-side comparison before making a purchase decision, social media marketing is proving to be profitable. A popular survey indicated that 30% of customers are more likely to buy if the product is endorsed by a non-celebrity influencer. The questions to ponder before you consider social media marketing are as follows.

● Is leveraging social media influencers a better approach than the traditional medium?

● Does influencer marketing pay a better ROI?

● How to choose social media influencers?

● Where can one find social media influencers?

Is leveraging social media influencers a better approach than the traditional medium?

The selection of an advertising medium rests on the count of potential buyers and the cost to reach them. The metric used is the cost per thousand impression model or CPM. In a recent survey, CPM for social media marketing was as low as 8.92% of the CPM on broadcast TV. The ROI from influencer marketing beats that from traditional marketing by 11 times. This can be further increased with a strategic digital strategy in place. A study conducted by Hubspot revealed that only 3% of consumers making the purchase trust marketing while 82% get driven by peer recommendations and reviews. Marketers can relate to actionable data in influencer marketing like follower count, response to a promotion by the influencer, user demographics, screen time, and response to content formats. This data enables marketers to have a sharper approach toward the target audience. The expected growth in influencer marketing is estimated to be at $13.8 million in 2021, with 75% of brands making it an integral part of their digital marketing strategy.

Does influencer marketing pay a better ROI?

The traditional medium is a one-way street that offers lower visibility into customer response and poses a challenge in calculating the ROI. Influencer marketing provides better visibility into customer response and enables a marketer to alter the campaign on the fly. A survey revealed that 89% of companies found the ROI from influencer marketing comparable or better than that from traditional media channels.

How to choose social media influencers?

The choice of social media influencers is critical to the success of influencer marketing campaigns. While selecting influencers, marketing professionals have to consider the following criteria.

● Campaign objective: This is the first step in influencer selection. The objective can be brand awareness or promotion, customer reviews, promoting downloads of apps, or generating sales throughput.

● Target group: It is the backbone of any influencer campaign. Marketers pay attention to user demographics, preference for a social media platform. For example, a target group of fitness enthusiasts is likely to follow an athlete over a food critic.

● Engagement rate: It is the response an influencer generates among the followers. Audience engagement is the key and not the count of followers.

● Value system: It is essential to have an influencer who shares common values with the product or services offered. You cannot have an influencer who has certain restrictions for promoting a shaving product.

● The influencer’s activity level: An influencer that makes his/her presence frequently felt via their posts is what marketers look for. An inactive influencer is a bad investment, even if he or she has a large pool of followers.

Where can one find social media influencers?

You can find social media influencers via locator apps. Marketers can also partner with digital marketing agencies that can help in locating social media influencers.

Conclusion

Influencers are in the driving seat of social media marketing. The researched trend confirms that 92% of consumers trust influencers when making a purchase decision. The internet access on a mobile screen beats the TV screen by miles on eyeball engagement. With an exhaustive list of influencers available in the market, the success mantra is to rope in influencers that drive consistent follower engagement.

The Author is Shuchi Sethi India Lead - AnyTag at POKKT