Role of Social Media Influencers in "Branded Marketing Campaigns

Anticipated for 2023, approximately 78.6% of U.S. marketers within companies exceeding 100 employees were projected to leverage influencers for marketing endeavors - Jack Shepherd

Product-based businesses today prioritize branded marketing. Businesses today consider carrying out branded marketing campaigns supported by the assistance of influencers and bloggers across social media platforms. Influencer marketing has become one of the most valued and prominent branches of modern-day marketing. It aids businesses in creating targeted campaigns that reach their targeted customers. These campaigns are fruitful because they provide detailed insights regarding consumer preferences, demographic data, and trend analytics.

According to Statista, the market size of influencer marketing has increased by a significant amount of 22.3 billion US dollars.

The origins of social media influencers date back to the 2000s when bloggers were influential and the audience they created was organic. However, the concept of social media influencers gained popularity in the last decade, when applications such as Instagram and TikTok made the production of visual content creation easy and accessible. The ardent followers of certain social media influencers feel a sense of connection with their favorite influencer's routine, and they highly relate to his/her activities. These people are most likely to buy a product that is recommended by their favorite influencer. The influencers try to cash this feeling of relativity amongst their loyal fanbase into engagement derived from branded marketing. 

Zoe Sugg or Zoella a famous social media beauty influencer, is known for her ability to connect with audiences especially those between the age bracket of 20-29. Zoe currently has 10 million subscribers on YouTube and 9 million followers on Instagram. What's the reason for her massive fanbase and popularity?

The answer is simple, the audience relates to her videos. A quality that makes an influencer stand out from its competitors is the degree to which his or her audience can relate to their content.

The use of social media influencers to conduct branded marketing increases and enhances brand awareness. These influencers can be used by brands to create hype for their upcoming products, too. For example: Bach Flower Remedies teams up with famous bloggers like A Girl Named PJ and A Clothes Horse to market their product line. The campaign went down as one of the most successful campaigns on social media, resulting in a follower increase of Bach Flower Remedies by 258% and 6,000 clicks. Influencer marketing also helps brands enter new markets and crack new niches. For example, Bulldog, a skincare brand in the UK, collaborated with TikTok influencers to enter the German market. They asked those influencers to make videos related to the faults that men make during shaving. The campaign resulted in an 8% increase in sales and 29.8 million new impressions for Bulldog.

It's, however, crucial for you to make sure that before hiring an influencer, the authenticity of the followers is identified to ensure an organic reach on brand advertisements rather than unnecessary traffic. It is also important that you gain insights into the demographics and target audience. The relationships that you build with influencers should be constructed on moral and ethical values. Effective communication is the key to a successful marketing campaign. You should clearly communicate your goals with the influencer and set SMART goals to avoid any disruption during the flow of the campaign. It is also important to give value to influencers apart from financial compensation, for instance, in the form of your brand's premium products, coupons, and other exclusive services. It's also important that you gauge and assess the performance of marketing campaigns and understand the insights of impressions obtained. Influencer marketing is a continuous and gradual process, so it is important to regularly modify the campaign. It's necessary that you collect data regarding the customer's experiences with using your product, which will better assist in shaping your future branding strategies.

The reason why this industry is flourishing at a tremendous pace can be summed up through this saying:

• “People Do Not Buy Goods And Services. They Buy Relations, Stories, And Magic.” — Seth Godin