Influencer Marketing is one of the biggest marketing trends for the past five years. If you spend much time browsing Instagram or YouTube, no doubt you will have come across an internet celebrity with a sponsored post or product placement promoting some random brand. So how does it all work? Social media influencers are individuals who create content promoting certain brands through social media sites like Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. This is a marketing strategy used by brands who hire these influencers to increase their interactions with their target customers online, increasing their brand awareness and recognition, increasing sales. “Influence can be broadly defined as the power to affect a person, thing or course of events. Influence manifests itself in many ways, from direct purchase advice to subtle shifts in perception of a vendor’s credibility.” (Brown & Hayes, 2008) Influencers have built a reputation online for their knowledge and expertise on a topic or lifestyle or because of their status. This reputation gives them social influence in their specific niche or area of expertise/fame, their followers taking note of their actions and opinions. Unlike celebrities of the past who often lead very private lives, influencers give followers access to a snapshot of their personal lives. This glimpse into the good life creates a bond and helps influencers to win the trust of their target audience. These social relationships become assets for influencers to collaborate with brands to help them reach their marketing goals, as they have the power to affect the purchase decisions of others through their authority and trust of their following. This provides credibility for brands with a shared target audience.

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WHAT IS INFLUENCER MARKETING?
Influencers create content promoting certain brands through social media sites like Instagram, YouTube, Twitter,
and Facebook. This marketing strategy is used by brands who hire influencers to increase their interactions with
their target customers online, increasing their brand awareness recognition, increasing sales.
Influencers are people who have built a reputation online for their knowledge and expertise on a topic or
lifestyle or because of their status. This reputation gives them social influence in their specific niche or area of
expertise/fame, their followers taking note of their actions and opinions.
“Influence can be broadly defined as the power to affect a person, thing or course of events. Influence
manifests itself in many ways, from direct purchase advice to subtle shifts in perception of a vendor’s
credibility.” (Brown & Hayes, 2008)

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THE BENEFITS OF INFLUENCER MARKETING
The major drawcard of using influencers in a marketing strategy is their ability to give a brand a wider audience
online. The following statistics are an indication of the effectiveness of influencer marketing:
• 92% of marketers surveyed believed influencer marketing is effective at generating and converting leads in
generating leads
• In 2017, 92% of marketers said their influencer campaigns were effective
• One study found that every $1 spent on influencer marketing produced an average return of $18.
• 80 percent of consumers surveyed had purchased a product after it seeing it in an influencer’s post.
Brands can target audiences that were previously unreachable through mass marketing.

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HOW IS INFLUENCER MARKETING SO EFFECTIVE?
Social media has broken down the barriers between been brands and their consumers. Influencers have made
this even more of a two-way relationship, where previously advertising was one very one way.
influencers promote brands by using them in their personal lives, it does not seem like advertising. The product
placements they use in an everyday setting makes brands seem more relatable to consumers. In this sense,
influencers serve are a connector between a brand and a consumer.
Through openness in their social media content, influencers seem authentic which gives them credibility.
Social media followers learn from the example of influencers, and through this observation, people have a
higher likelihood of adopting those behaviours. Social Learning Theory (see Bandura, 1969) proposes that
people can develop new social behaviours through observing and imitating others.

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Celebrities: can be sports stars, actors, pop stars or people famous for being famous. The Kardashian/Jenner
family are the perfect example with three of the family in the top 10 most followed on Instagram.
These celebrity influencers typically have more than a million followers and tend to have a wide range of
followers rather than in one niche. The cost to use this celebrity influencers is extremely high, and their
followers are not as defined – they often come from all walks of life.
Industry Experts and Thought Leaders: Influencers can also gain their status by gaining it through their
qualifications, position, or experience in their area of expertise. They often gain this reputation and respect
through having a prominent role in the workplace.
These include journalists, CEOs at large corporations, academics and industry experts.
TYPES OF INFLUENCERS

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Content Creators and Bloggers: Content creators are everywhere on social media from TikTok to LinkedIn. They
post a variety of informational content about a topic of interest, build a following through this. These
influencers differ from industry experts as they are not in a position of power or have widespread credibility
because of their professional reputation. They are often business-owners or passionate about a certain topic.
Nano, Micro and Macro Influencers: Nano and Micro-influencers are the other end of the scale from
Celebrities. Nano influencers have small followings of under 10,000, Micro-influencers are the next tier up with
10,000 to 10,000 followers and Macro-influencers from 100,000 to a million. They are normal people with
normal jobs, becoming well known because of their content and knowledge in a specific niche. They are
credible and their social media following are people interested in that niche and engage often in their posts.
TYPES OF INFLUENCERS

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The influencer game is changing. Celebrity influencers are no longer as popular as they used to be, as brands
move toward the use of teams of micro-influencers instead of using one or two celebrities. Nearly 80 percent of
the brands surveyed by Linqia said they want to work with micro-influencers in 2020.
Celebrity influencers require a large pay-check, and if their content does not come across as authentic, then the
return on investment is not going to be as high as using micro-influencers with a more genuinely engaged
following. Contrasting the perfect image portrayed by many celebrity influencers (how can that be real?), micro
and nano influencers create content that is not glamourous or staged. It is a lot more believable.
Influencers are employed for their ability to influence people. Not just because they have a following. Having
the ability to influence the decision-making of consumers defines them.
CELEBRITIES ARE OUT, NANO & MICRO-INFLUENCERS ARE IN

8. Daniel Hopper
Marketing Specialist - BYB MARKETING
#50WEEKSOFMARKETING
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