01 Jul Should You Invest in Social Media Influencer Marketing?

1.9 billion unique monthly Facebook users.

1 billion unique monthly YouTube users.

600 million unique monthly Instagram users.

317 million unique monthly Twitter users. (Source)

The debate is over: your brand should be on social media. If your consumers are on it, you should be too. But are you utilizing your social presence to its full potential? This is the conversation brands should be having right now.

When it comes to social strategy, there’s more to it than creating brand pages. A lot of work goes into building and maintaining your audience. One method — set to redefine influence and interaction in 2017 — are social media influencers.

What is a social media influencer?

Social media influencers are people who use their social platforms to promote the products or services of a brand. They can be celebrities, bloggers, YouTubers, Instagramers, etc. who create branded social content to market to their large, loyal followings. This working relationship between brand and influencer helps create more exposure and sales.

In fact, 94% of marketers label influencer marketing as highly effective. That’s because on average, social influencer campaigns generate up to 960% ROI.

Just check out this social media influencer campaign by Axe. They hired 30 high-profile social celebrities like Rudy Mancuso, Anthony Padilla, Josh Peck and more to promote Axe Pomade on Instagram.

This group staged a series of “Instagram Takeovers,” posting photos and videos on their personal channels as well as on the brand’s IG. But as the above graphic shows, just notice the difference in audience reached between a video Axe posted of Rudy Mancuso vs. a video Mancuso posted himself. This huge gap in engagement proves how brands reach bigger audiences through influencers. Without them, Axe wouldn’t have gotten even half the product exposure they wanted.

What about limited budgets? Trust in micro-influencers!

It takes more money to play with the audiences of top social media influencers like Jake Paul and Neil Patel, that is true. But that doesn’t mean your hopes of launching an influencer campaign are now out of the question. You can still reach the audiences you want through micro-influencers.

Micro-influencers are everyday social media users who have follower counts ranging anywhere between 500 to 5,000. Sure, the audience reach is a lot smaller but these types of influencers actually have higher rates of engaged users — making micro-influencers the most effective type influencer there is.

Not only are they typically a lot cheaper to work with, but they’re also generally more loyal to your brand. Think of it this way: if you sell workout leggings, you can hire an influencer you know who already wears them. This creates a more genuine work relationship, and their promotion of your product will be more authentic — which is what you want.

The ROI may not be as extensive, but micro-influencers are still a good tool for generating brand exposure beyond your own social channels.

And it’s not just for millennial targets.

There is no bigger myth than influencer marketing only working for millennial audiences. Older generations are on social media too. In fact, 82.3% of baby boomers belong to at least one social media site. Your audience is there, and just like millennials, they’re engaging and following popular social accounts. Your influencer strategy may have to change e.g. finding the right influencer for your targeted demographic and choosing platforms like Facebook over Snapchat. But effectively using influencer marketing techniques for older demographics is still possible!

Social media influencer marketing is for everyone! All brands can use the help of social influencers to market their products, because no matter your company’s budget or targeted audience, social influencer marketing works. Just ask us — our RI Social Team can help take your social strategy to the next level with social media influencer marketing. We’ll direct your brand to the social influencers best suited for your goals; we’ll help curate your strategy; and we’ll monitor the overall campaign effectiveness. Get in contact with us here.