Working with influencers, is it a waste of money?

Over the last few years, the trend of influencers seems to keep on growing but as a business is it a waste of money to work with them?

What is an influencer?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, an influencer “is someone who affects or changes the way that other people behave, for example through their use of social media”, people such as bloggers or YouTubers now fit within this category alongside Instagram stars. With the use of traditional methods of marketing on the decline due to reasons such as AD block online and the ever-growing trend of catch up TV at our fingertips. Which of course means no adverts. Using influencers seems to be the next logical step for most. Due to their growing following, whether this is to promote a product, place a link to your site or host a competition on your behalf.

Micro vs Macro Influencers:

There are two types of influencer micro and macro, the micro-influencers have a smaller following (under 100,000 followers) however can still achieve great results if they have a high engagement rate, a micro-influencer can be great in terms of budget for your brand. If you’re working with an influencer with over 100,000 followers the required budget is going to exceed what an influencer who only has 1000 followers requires. Working out a marketing budget and a clear marketing plan can be a great place to start. To sum it up, Micro or Macro influencers can both do well, measuring via follower amount means it’s more focused around numbers instead of the engagement rate which of course, is an enormous part of a successful promotion.

Is working with influencers worth it?

With influencers there is a debate in which there is no clear cut answer, most say it depends on what you’re looking for and the desired outcome. If you’re looking to show off your latest product sending it to influencers can be beneficial, as it creates buzz around the products in the form of reviews. This can be on blogs, tweets and Instagram stories. Forbes advises to look out for authenticity as well as numbers, it is important to remember, followers can be bought. Influencer Marketing Hub reveals in its latest marketing survey, that 63% of businesses are planning on investing in their marketing budget for influencers on a larger scale over the next 12 months.

Where to find influencers?

Finding influencers is easy if you know the right places to look, there are millions of influencers out there, so there are plenty of people to choose from. You will be able to locate these on social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter. Try reaching out to them on their social media channels or via their email. It is usually easy to find both on their social media and website. If you’re looking for a certain niche of influencer, putting a tweet out and using the hashtags #bloggerswanted and #bloggersrequired can be a great way to find influencers. If you’re looking to create an Instagram campaign you can do so by using sites such as Tribe who deal with the majority of the campaign on behalf of the brands.

What can influencers do for my business?

Influencers as a whole can increase the exposure given to a website and also drive sales and traffic to the site. In the instances where the item is shown on social media, it is likely to interest the followers of the influencer, for example, an item of clothing an influencer will likely be asked where it is from and how much does it cost. As they want to get their own. This is not unusual for influencers to be able to create an impact on sales in a high capacity. Which is why a vast majority of clothing brands, including clothing giants such as Boohoo and Missguided work with influencers on a regular basis.

As well as driving sales, they can also spread the word about your business by writing posts on their blogs with links to the client they’re promoting. Doing this can help with SEO if done correctly and build-up your ranking on Google, which as a business is key to being noticed.

If you’re interested in finding out more about our SEO Services and what we can do for your business, you can reach us on our contact page.