Understanding Influencer Marketing

You may have not paid attention to this so far in your business model or probably in your marketing strategy as a company. I have discovered that a lot of businesses, even big companies do not pay attention to metrics so they spend so much on marketing and get turnouts which if proper metrics are taken, such companies will realize that they ran at a loss. However, since there are no proper metrics taken, such a company automatically assumes that they are making progress so far.

Influencer marketing is one area where this fallacy is common, and I will analyze why it is so and what you can do to get the best result on marketing. Firstly, influencer marketing is simply the use of influencers to help promote your business, product or service. Banks and telecom networks use a lot of artistes to help brand their products and make them visible to the public.

This approach is very good in helping a business idea get publicity. However, I wouldn’t recommend it to every business or company and as a matter of fact, some things should be known before you venture into trying out the influencer marketing approach when setting up your marketing strategy. I’d give an example; I once watched an Instagram celebrity or influencer in Nigeria market a product and I unfollowed him immediately. Prior to this time, I check his Instagram account daily because I do get value from it but this particular product annoys me. So I got offended that he was marketing such product to me.

The first mistakes companies make is that they just hand out their products to any type of influencer not considering the niche such an influencer belongs. For example, an Instagram celebrity or artiste may have been well known for talking about Hip Hop, well known in such a niche. It is just common sense to automatically assume that most of the fans of such influencer will be Hip Hop lovers. You cannot approach such an influencer if you have a product that is for R n B lovers because they will most likely not be followers of such influencer unless you have plans to convert them.

Most times, it’s better to focus your marketing strategy on those who are already almost interested or likely to be interested in your products or services than on people whom it will cost you more stress to convert. This is because it will save you more time, energy and also save more money. The point is that you need to also pay attention to the audience of the influencer you want to use. What does their audience trust them for. Are their audiences all Christians or just Muslims alone. Do they even believe in God’s existence. This is very important! I’m explaining this so you’d get the output you invested your money into.

Another important thing about influencer marketing is to understand the influence such influencer has over their followers. There are three categories of people following any account whatsoever.

• Followers: an influencer might have 10 million persons following their Instagram account or any social media account. The followers are just people who either intentionally or unintentionally follow such account. They are people who consciously or unconsciously like their post. At this stage, these people are not deeply connected to such influencer. It will be wrong to go for an influencer because of numbers because you have a 50/50 chance of missing it completely. What if all the audiences are not even connected to such account. What if they followed such account because of hype, a bonus offer or some sort. The followers are just followers. They don’t give a good ROI on marketing expenses.
• Fans: This is the next stage of following. Fans are loyal to the brand, to the influencer. They can also be called advocates. They stay true to the influencer and can defend their image any day and anytime. They regularly visit such page and love to fraternize with the idea of knowing such influencer. They can be a good consideration if your strategy is targeted at bringing awareness to your product or service. Most times, they are not a good metric when talking about conversion except it takes some time.
• Customers: The customers happen to be a fraction of the whole followers and even a smaller fraction precisely. If you want to get sales, then focusing on customers is the best bet. You look for influencers who have higher control over the decision of their audience whose audiences are also capable of purchasing such product. It is one thing to wish to purchase something, it is another to be capable of purchasing.

I have literally helped you analyzed how best to use influencers and also how you should portray your brand to be customer-focused and not just follower-focused. A brand having much influence over a small niche is better than a brand having very low influence yet no specific niche.