Influencer Marketing has become a very vital part of both online and offline business. An Influencer is a person who has a significant online presence with a huge amount of followers. An influencer has thousands, if not millions of engagements and can affect the actions of their followers based on established trust.
Marketing is simply the act of strategically promoting and selling goods or services.
In social media management, influencers can be divided into three different categories which are; Macro Influencers: these are Influencers that have over a hundred thousand followers on their page.
Micro-Influencers: these are Influencers that have followers between ten thousand and a hundred thousand on their page.
Nano Influencers: these are Influencers that have followers of less than ten thousand.
Brands looking for promotions will have to look at what they're promoting, the niche of the product or service, and their budget so as to enable them to know the class of Influencers best suited for their brand.
One of the major importance of influencer marketing is the ability to reach specific and targeted audiences in large quantities. Followers are already dedicated to the influencer, making it easier for the influencer to advertise the goods or services. So far the products or services being promoted are within the niche and demographics of the followers, so it will be easier for the influencer to promote them.
Furthermore, influencer marketing gives business owners or brands the opportunity to tap into storytelling. Through sponsored ads, Influencers use their storytelling skills, which make their followers fall in love with them to introduce the goods or services to them. The storytelling might be in the form of video, audio, or writing. This brings authenticity to the goods as the followers are already related to the influencer.
In addition, influencer marketing can be very cost-effective compared to the traditional methods of advertising known in the past. Advertising on the television, radio, or billboards has limited advantages (s) because it will be for a specific period of time, and if not heard or viewed as at when due, that's all until you renew your payment with them. But for influencer marketing, with the increase in the use of social media recently, ads can easily be accessed and will be available over time and the videos, audio, or texts can be downloaded and accessed offline.
However, with the diverse importance that influencer marketing has on business, it has its own shortcomings too. Going for the wrong class of Influencers can have little or no improvement on the business intended to be promoted, imagine a small brand going for a macro influencer.
Another difficulty that can also be faced in influencer marketing is that the influencer's brand might overshadow the brand intended to be promoted. Authenticity can also be looked into, with some influencers endorsing products mainly for profit, leading to doubt from consumers. Lastly, there's the risk of negative publicity if the partnership goes sideways which might lead to an online crisis.
Finally, influencer marketing has wide importance on business progress though, it has its own shortcomings too. If it's well monitored, though, it will be of vital help to grow business.
