Tag Archive for: Influencer Marketing Strategy

What Will Influencer Marketing Look Like in 2021

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It’s fairly safe to say that 2020 was a tough year for us all, in personal and professional life. We have all needed to adjust to the new normal. One industry that was heavily impacted was influencer marketing, where they saw a sharp decline in the value of their content as people moved indoors and grappled with the loss that the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed on the world. What does this mean for the future of influencer marketing in 2021? Experts at Onimod Global took a deep dive into the topic to help you decide when it’s appropriate to use an influencer, and how that will change in the upcoming decade.

Where influencer marketing began

Initially, before brands used celebrity endorsements, they used characters to evoke empathy from consumers such as Santa Claus for Coca Cola and Tony the Tiger for Kellogg’s cereals. The next wave included all sorts of celebrity and public figure endorsements. This helped brands to get their consumers to connect the dots between brand, trust, and recommendations by public figures.

Then entered the influencer era: where celebrity endorsements are still popular, but now they have to compete with “normal” personalities. Influencers are similar to characters in the sense that they still perform the role of someone in an ad on social media but they are, and very well could be, your neighbors; just with hundreds of thousands of followers online. Influencer marketing has boomed in popularity over the last years, especially in the fashion and lifestyle industries. Consumers that would once shop based on cool advertising and customer reviews, have changed their ways and will buy based on a raving review from their favorite influencer. Today, influencer marketing is worth a reported $10 billion dollars, and now every social platform has been involved in some way.

Impact of microinfluencers

While the influencers and celebrities with an established audience of hundreds of thousands of followers can make a significant impact on your overall sales, they can also take a massive toll on your company’s wallet. This is why brands also opt for “microinfluencers”, or social media personalities with a lower follower count.

Their content is usually centered around a very niche passion or community, some examples being health & beauty, trucking & logistics, or travel. The most incredible USP about microinfluencers is that they can have an engagement rate of nearly 60% versus that of a celebrity doing something similar. While being a cost effective option for a brand that wants to get involved in influencer marketing, they are also seen as very trustworthy source of information.

The future of influencer marketing

What’s up next for the future of influencer marketing? The first change we’ve seen thus far is influencers beginning to charge for exclusive content on Instagram and other platforms. Some charge a monthly fee to become a “Close Friend” on Instagram, while others are trialling WeChat’s new paywalls. In effect, content quality is becoming a focus.

However, this has the potential to also be a benefit for brands. If the influencers they work with are more invested in producing high quality content, they could be more likely to develop stronger partnerships with a select number of brands. “It will enable influencers to avoid having ‘one night stands’ with brands and rather focus on creating long-term ambassadorships with brands that are truly authentic to their lifestyle,” says Krishna Subramanian, CEO of influencer marketing and branded content firm Captiv8.

Private fan subscriptions are just one of many changes we predict will happen in the next decade, and Onimod Global experts will be sure to keep you up to date on all new influencer marketing news.

More from Onimod Global

Onimod Global is looking forward to the future and helping your business reach your full digital potential. Interested in growing your digital presence for your company? Reach out to us here!

Onimod Global releases the latest digital marketing news and essential marketing tips every Tuesday and Thursday! To catch up on the top digital marketing news and trends, click here. To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here.

Influencer Marketing Tips: Finding the Right Influencers for Your Brand

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Influencer marketing allows brands to easily break into the consumers’ circle of trust in a way that feels more organic and welcomed. It’s relevant, reliable and relatable, making it an extremely effective marketing tool for brands. 

Are you looking into influencer marketing but not sure where to start? Here are our top tips to help guide your search and create a successful campaign. 

1. Know the type of influencer campaign you’re going to run. 

As you begin mapping out your marketing plan, identifying the specific type of influencer campaign you want to run is crucial. This will in turn help you connect with the best influencer and help you reach your campaign goals. Different types of influencer campaigns include: 

  • Gifting. This entails giving the influencer free products in exchange for shoutouts, mentions, posts, etc.
  • Guest posting. The influencer would get to create a post for you that you would then be shared directly on your page.   
  • Sponsored content. You would pay the influencer to share your content or create content that is somehow tied to your brand. 
  • Contests/Giveaways. Using contests as an incentive to get influencers to mention your product, brand or share your content. 
  • Takeover. You would be allowing the influencer to completely take over your social media page for a set amount of time. 
  • Affiliates. Share affiliate codes with influencers so they can earn money each time a user comes through their funnel and purchases from your brand.
  • Discount codes. Allowing influencers to give discount codes for your offerings to their own followers. 
  • Brand ambassadors. Partnering with an influencer who would then regularly promote your brand in exchange for discounts, deals and additional perks from you. 

2. Research influencers relevant to your niche. 

A great place to start finding influencers is by looking at famous, well-known or respected figures in your industry. This will not only increase the reach of your message and build more brand awareness, but drastically enhance your authority within the industry as well. While this can be difficult for smaller brands, it’s not impossible. You just have to prove why you stand out from others in your industry and get in contact with the proper people. 

To support this strategy, set up Google alerts for industry terms to see who is regularly writing content about important topics in your industry. You can also try browsing forums to see who might be regularly answering questions related to your industry. 

3. Research competitors’ influencers. 

It’s not uncommon for influencers to work with two competing brands, as long as both brands agree to it. So, to find influencers that are likely to work with your brand, look for those who are already working with brands like yours. Another benefit of this is that since they already create content or write about others in your industry, you won’t have to do much educating on your niche. 

Finding these influencers should be fairly easy. You can browse industry-related hashtags on different social platforms to see who is already sharing content and engaging with competitors. You can also look through competitors’ pages to see if there are any influencers working with them that look like they would be a good fit for you as well. 

4. Find influencers that already share your audience. 

It’s not necessary for an influencer to be directly tied to your industry to be effective. Influencers who share your audience can provide just as much value. Actually, working with influencers in an industry that overlaps or is complimentary to your own can help you extend your reach even further. It also connects you to your audience in a space that isn’t already saturated with messages from your competitors. 

To find these influencers start by doing a target audience analysis. This will help you to fully understand your ideal audience, their needs, interests and other sites they frequent. This can help you to then identify other non-industry-related influencers that your audience already follows. 

5. Audit potential influencers’ following, reach and engagement metrics. 

Once you’ve identified a few different influencers you’re considering, start evaluating their authority. Or in other words, determine if they have a large enough reach to help you accomplish your campaign goals. An influencer analysis consists of looking at factors such as: 

  • Number of followers 
  • Engagement rate of their followers 
  • Type of regular content 
  • Quality of content 
  • The depth of niche coverage 

Final Thoughts 

A strategically planned influencer marketing campaign that leverages the influencers most relevant to your goals, audience and niche can lead to big results for your campaign and brand as a whole. 

Onimod Global releases the latest digital marketing news and essential marketing tips every Tuesday and Thursday! To catch up on the top digital marketing news and trends, click here. To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here.