A lot of brands are turning to influencers to amplify their marketing efforts. This makes complete sense.
Why so?
That’s because influencers can help you cut through the noise and generate exceptional results. They can also help businesses do away with self-promotions that is something audiences are growing extremely wary of.
If you’re considering to use influencer marketing for your business, here are four things you should know.
1. It Can Help You Expand Your Brand’s Reach
Influencers can enable you to pitch your product to a completely new audience. Moreover, they can help you reach out to the right people.
For instance, if you sell travel equipment, you can partner with a travel influencer. Their followers are likely to be people who love traveling.
2. It is Relatively Affordable
The effectiveness of your marketing strategy will largely determine how much money your business makes. This is why businesses invest huge sums of money in their marketing campaigns.
However, influencer marketing is here to tell you that you don’t need to invest big bucks for great results. With nano-influencers and micro-influencers gaining traction, those with smaller budgets can also reap the benefits of this marketing strategy.
Moreover, since influencer marketing uses a targeted approach, you’ll have higher chances of success. This increases the cost-effectiveness of your campaigns.
3. It’s All About Finding the Right Influencer
If you partner with the wrong influencer, you may end up hurting your brand’s reputation. Not all influencers can help you achieve your goals.
While there is no handbook for finding the right influencer, filtering your search by age, audience demographics, categories, languages, and locations may help. You should also gauge if their content style aligns with your brand’s voice.
Moreover, it is important to remember that popularity does not equate influence. Just having a huge following does not make an influencer the right pick for you. So, don’t chase follower counts.
4. It Comes with High Risks
A lot could go wrong with influencer marketing. Sometimes, the content that influencers put out may not resonate with the target audience.
There have also been cases of influencers inflating their following by using bots and fake accounts.
In addition, evaluating the performance of your influencer marketing campaign is not a child’s play.
All of these drawbacks of influencer marketing can put your company’s resources and reputation at risk. However, you don’t have to tackle all of this on your own.
To avoid making mistakes, you can team up with a reputable influencer marketing agency. Check out some of the best ones on my blog, ShaneBarker.com.
To delve deeper into the upsides and downsides of influencer marketing, take a look at the infographic below.
Shane Barker is a digital marketing consultant who specializes in influencer marketing, content marketing, and SEO. He is the co-founder of Attrock, a digital marketing agency. He has consulted with Fortune 500 companies, influencers with digital products, and a number of A-List celebrities.
