Love It Or Hate It: Influencer Marketing Works

In a world where content production is in overdrive, it’s getting difficult, and, I daresay, nearly impossible for brands to cut through the noise and stand out among the crowd. That’s why turning people into brand advocates who can move the needle on consumer decisions makes a lot of sense for today’s brands. By orientating their marketing activity around these individuals, brands can attract and retain customers on a long-term basis. For the uninitiated, I’m talking about influencer marketing. What’s influencer marketing? It is the concept that the most powerful way to place a brand's message before an interested audience is through a voice they trust.

Influencers may be marketing’s next “golden goose,” as people no longer trust ads, but they do trust people. More accurately, they trust a voice of authority. But, brands should be careful about who they choose as influencers and how genuine the message is that’s being put forth, otherwise your “influencer marketing” might begin to resemble may wander into the realms of traditional advertising and paid promotion. Perhaps, this is why the relevance and true intent of influence marketing is often frowned upon. However, one thing is for sure—whether we like it or not, influencer marketing is taking off.

Influencer Marketing: Genuine or Misleading?

The opinions vary as native vs. editorial vs. influencer marketing continues to drive conversations about what is legitimate content and what is “spun”. But, that may not be the right debate anymore, because if there’s no honesty involved, it’s not influencer marketing to begin with. It merely tries to look like influencer marketing. This type of marketing ultimately leads to no good and fails to build credibility among the audience.

Influencer Marketing is Getting Hotter by the Minute

Today, when people are more interested than ever in the opinions of experts, thought-leaders, pundits, and self-proclaimed gurus, brands have taken to them to help tell their story. In his bestseller “The Tipping Point” Malcolm Gladwell points out these influencers or “Mavens” as he calls them, and describes them as well-informed and knowledgeable people. That’s really why audiences value influencers, both micro and macro depending on the business, product, industry, etc. This is an age where consumers prefer to make their own decisions. At the same time, people who understand a brand and its products and services through their knowledge and experiences heavily influence their decisions. The success of influencer marketing lies in the fact that it helps people feel confident in their choices.

Several recent studies show how powerful influencer content is in the buyers’ journey:

• Influencer marketing is the fastest growing and most cost-effective channel. (Tomoson)

• Ninety-two percent of consumers turn to people they know for referrals above any other source. (Tapfluence and Influitive)

• Word of mouth generates 2 times the sales of paid advertising. (McKinsey)

• Customers acquired through word-of-mouth have a 37 percent higher retention rate. (Deloitte)

• Businesses make $6.50 for every dollar invested in influencer marketing. (Tomoson)

Influencer-Brand Relationship is Critical

I believe what makes influencer marketing truly valuable is a real relationship between the influencer and the brand. When the individual isn’t a talking head but a true advocate, brands see a great return on their investment. Instead of leading buyers into a pipeline, influencer marketing focuses on the entire buyers’ journey. To that end, influencers play a major role in guiding the buyers at every point in their journey with a brand.

That said, influencer marketing can be a slippery slope, where a single wrong move could be detrimental to the reputation of both the brand and the influencer. Mark Schaefer, marketing strategist and owner of the popular blog “Grow”, offered a view of what happens when influencer marketing goes wrong, “If brands become too exposed with too many bloggers, both parties will suffer. If the credibility of the blogger declines, the effectiveness of their advocacy is doomed.”

There you have it. For an influencer marketing campaign to be successful, it needs to have honesty, unbiased views, and transparency as the key ingredients. Take these factors out of the equation and it ceases to be influencer marketing.

It isn’t surprising that influencer marketing almost always works when done right. What do you think?