Have you ever made a purchase based on someone’s recommendation?
NB: This is an article from Milestone
You trusted them because they were an expert, a friend, or someone you admire. This is the power of word-of-mouth marketing. In our modern world, influencer marketing taps into this powerful strategy to help you gain more leads and increase sales.
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What is Influencer Marketing?
An influencer has a large following of people online on one or more of the social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, or YouTube. Usually this large following comes from their expertise on a topic, ability to entertain, or power to inspire. The title “influencer” comes from their ability to influence many people at one time with their content.
For years, businesses have capitalized on this unique opportunity to promote their products and services through influencer marketing. If there’s an influencer who travels regularly, you can pay them to stay at your hotel and wax eloquent about how perfect their experience was. As a healthcare provider, you want an influencer who can benefit from your services and share the story of their experience with their followers.
People today desire connection, like social media offers, but traditional commercials cannot provide. 89% of marketers say influencer marketing works just as good and sometimes better when compared to their other marketing efforts.
Top Instagram celebrities by follower count
- Cristiano Ronaldo @cristiano 422 million, 5.4% of population of earth
- Selena Gomez @selenagomez 310 million followers
- Dwayne Johnson @therock 308 million followers
- Ariana Grande @arianagrande 303 million followers
- Kylie Jenner @kyliejenner 325 million followers
- Leo Messi @leomessi 317 million followers
- Kim Kardashian West @kimkardashian 297 million followers
- Beyonce Knowles @beyonce 248 million followers
- Justin Bieber @justinbieber 228 million followers
- Kendall Jenner @kendalljenner 228 million followers
These are celebrity influencers, so they would be out of budget reach for all but the largest brands. Additionally, Joe Rogan is a major influencer with an estimated 7 to 10 million people following his podcasts on Spotify, and his contract is reported to be worth $100 to $200 million.
Most non-celebrity influencers consider influencing as the main part of the their business income. Here are some top non-celebrity influencers.
Top Non-Celebrity Influencers of 2021
- Huda Kattan @hudabeauty 50.1M followers
- Lele Pons @lelepons, 47.7 million following
- Zach King @zachking 24.4M followers
- Cameron Dallas @camerondallas 23M followers
- Joanna Gaines @joannagaines 13.5M followers
- Jay Alvarrez @jayalvarrez, 7.2 million followers
- Aimee Song @aimeesong 6.3M followers
- Alexa Chung @alexachung, 5 million followers
- Dr. Mike Varshavski @doctor. mike 4.3M followers
- Demi Bagby @demibagby 2.6M followers
Paid and Organic Influencer Marketing
There are two types of influencer marketing to choose from, paid and organic. Paid influencer marketing is straightforward: your company pays an influencer to promote your business. You choose how they promote. Some influencers are content creators who can create clever and captivating TikToks and other short-form videos. Or you may pay an influencer just to share pictures featuring your business with a caption.
The FTC requires that influencers disclose when they receive any pay or in-kind compensation for their promotion.
The organic method is less expensive because you don’t have to pay for the promotion. Organic influencer marketing is any time an influencer posts about something they love without being paid to do so. However, this method does require more work and strategy, and you have less control over the promotion.
In fact, with true organic influencer marketing you have no control over whether or not someone chooses to promote you at all. You can encourage a shout out by sending an influencer a free product, trial of your services, or stay at your hotel or hospitality establishment, but once you give them any product or consideration, they need to disclose that. It’s important to target the influencers that you know will love your business and who have a following that is your ideal client.
How Influencer Marketing Works
So, you’re ready to try influencer marketing. Where do you begin? Here are 4 easy steps to help you run your influencer marketing campaign from start to finish.
