In 2022, 68% of marketers around the world collaborate with influencers. About 88% of marketers set a budget for influence marketing – on average it is $50-500k. And according to HubSpot, 11% of marketing experts say that collaboration with an opinion leader has brought them the best ROI compared to other marketing tools.Experts of the Internet marketing agency Clickmagic shared in the article what benefits influence marketing brings to the companies and how to choose the right opinion leader.
Who are opinion leaders and what does influence marketing mean
Influencer marketing is a method of promoting goods and services with the help of people who are known and respected by the audience: stars, bloggers or famous personalities in a narrow niche. For influencer marketing to be effective, you need to follow the three R’s rule:- reach – the ability to transmit the message to the target audience;
- resonance – the ability to influence the audience;
- relevance – the strength of the relationship between the blogger and the audience.
How an influencer can help
According to some estimates, for every dollar invested in a campaign with an opinion leader, a brand receives $7.65. In 2020, influence marketing increased brand profits by $9.7 billion in the global market, and by the end of 2021, brand profits increased to $13.8 billion. A campaign with an opinion leader increases sales, boosts company awareness, improves and strengthens reputation, increases traffic to the site and improves the position of the company’s website in search results.4 types of opinion leaders
Influencers – primarily in SMM marketing – are divided into four types.- Mega-influencers – audience from 1 million, but heterogeneous, relations with it are not very close. The cost of advertising for such users is cosmic – for example, American model Kylie Jenner receives $1 million for an Instagram post.
- Macro-influencers – from 100.000 to 1 million followers. They gained popularity thanks to blogging. They have a more loyal audience, it is easier to create content that the audience will like, and it will cost less.
- Micro-influencers – 10-100.000 followers. The accuracy of hitting the audience is much higher – advertising is seven times more effective than that of macro-influencers.
- Nano-influencers – up to 10 thousand subscribers, the connection with which is as close as possible. Often the blogger is personally acquainted with his subscribers, trust and loyalty to him are as high as possible. Advertising campaigns are ten times more effective than those of micro-influencers. Publications usually cost several hundred dollars.
Which influencer is more effective?
A study by the media agency MullenLowe Mediahub shows that the difference in engagement between different influencers is huge:- for a base of 1000 followers, the engagement index is 4.5%;
- for 100.000 followers – 0.7%.
Checklist of preparation for collaboration
Before contacting an influencer, it is important to decide on the goal, audience, key message and KPIs. When this is clear, you can dive into the content of specific influencers. It is important to:- find out the background of interaction with other brands and audiences;
- understand whether the influencer is organic for your brand;
- see how he/she communicates with followers;
- evaluate qualitative and quantitative indicators of the blog.
Tips for working with an opinion leader
Do not expect that the blogger will come up with everything him/herself. It is important to share your concept with the influencer, discuss limitations (if any) and give space to create unique content specific to this author. We have collected additional tips on how to work with bloggers:- Write down the key message. If the influencer does not have the opportunity to try your product, you need to describe it in as much detail as possible and highlight what is important to emphasize in communication.
- Discuss Q&A. An opinion leader should understand how to respond to questions posed by the audience. You should not ask the blogger to answer “with a piece of paper”, but they themselves need to understand how to respond to comments under the post about the company’s product or service.
- Allow the use of products. An opinion leader cannot advertise a robot vacuum cleaner without knowing how it works. A great example is Huawei, which always provides influencers with new products. In addition, it gives IT products for long-term use.
