As modern consumers use social media to discover products and get recommendations, influencer marketing can help brands stand out, gain their trust and boost engagement.
Modern customers have significantly shifted how they make purchase decisions online.
These consumers -- especially Generation Z -- increasingly use social media platforms over Google as their preferred search engine. Organizations have noticed this shift and learned that short-form videos and personalized recommendations from trusted influencers can increase revenue. Influencer marketing has become essential to help brands expand their reach and connect with their target audiences.
Brands can partner with different types of influencers, such as celebrities or micro-influencers, to gain the trust and credibility these individuals have built with their followers. As social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram dominate consumer attention, influencer marketing can increase brand awareness, enhance credibility and trust, create more authentic campaigns and enable higher engagement rates.
To create an effective go-to-market strategy, marketers should understand the benefits of influencer strategies.
1. Increased brand awareness
Influencers have loyal audiences who trust their recommendations. Brands that collaborate with these online personalities can gain visibility among potential customers who might not have encountered them otherwise. Social media influencers, particularly those on TikTok and Instagram, can increase brand recognition, as they introduce organizations to thousands or millions of engaged followers.
2. Enhanced credibility and trust
Brands that embrace influencer marketing can increase credibility, as audiences are more likely to trust recommendations from familiar faces than corporate advertisements. Consumers see influencers as more relatable and trustworthy than traditional advertisements because they choose to follow them. Influencers also cultivate strong relationships with their followers, which makes their endorsements feel more authentic and relatable.
3. More authentic campaigns
Influencer marketing thrives on authenticity. Unlike traditional marketing campaigns, which can feel scripted and impersonal, influencer ads often feel like user-generated content, which users create, upload or offer to a website themselves. This type of content organically blends into consumers' daily social media feeds.
Audiences are more likely to trust recommendations from familiar faces than corporate advertisements.
Brands can choose to dictate the direction of the paid endorsement. However, they can also use the influencer's creativity and step outside their corporate promotions' normal bounds. This authenticity resonates with audiences and fosters strong emotional connections between brands and consumers.
4. Higher engagement rates
Social media algorithms prioritize content that generates engagement, such as likes, comments, views and shares. Influencer content typically sees higher engagement rates because influencers have a deeper understanding of their audiences and create content that resonates with them.
Additionally, influencer posts tend to reach wider audiences than brand posts because users voluntarily subscribe, like and follow them. This engagement and reach lead to improved brand visibility and stronger audience relationships.
5. Access to niche audiences
Marketers can partner with nano-influencers -- creators with between 1,000 and 10,000 followers -- and micro-influencers, influencers with between 10,000 and 100,000 followers, to reach niche audiences. Unlike macro-influencers, who have broader appeal, smaller influencers often have deeply engaged communities within narrow markets and promote products or services that tightly align with their own content. For instance, a rock-climbing influencer might promote climbing gear, outdoor apparel or eco-friendly products tailored to outdoor enthusiasts.
Additionally, nano-influencers typically have higher engagement rates than other types of influencers. This targeted approach lets brands connect with people who are likely to want their products or services.
6. Cost-effective marketing
Influencer marketing can offer a more cost-effective approach than traditional advertising, especially if brands work with smaller influencers. Many micro-influencers offer high engagement rates at a fraction of the cost of celebrity endorsements. Collaboration with smaller influencers lets brands achieve significant results without exceeding their marketing budgets.
7. Improved SEO
Influencer collaborations can improve search engine optimization (SEO), as they generate backlinks -- links on external websites that direct traffic back to an organization's site. Major search engines, such as Google and Bing, consider domains with many backlinks to have authority. Therefore, if influencers post content that links to a company's website, its search rankings can improve.
Additionally, increased brand mentions on social media contribute to a more substantial online presence. While social media engagement doesn't directly affect search ranking, it can increase traffic, which can lead to more backlinks and improved SEO performance.
8. Increased conversions and sales
Influencer marketing can increase conversion rates because influencers' recommendations can lead to purchases more often than traditional advertisements. Their followers trust their opinions and are more likely to take action based on their endorsements.
Influencers can also help marketers generate long-term brand loyalty by sharing personal experiences with products and services on social media. This type of content comes off as authentic and can increase repeat business and immediate sales.
9. Versatile content creation
Collaboration with influencers offers brands high-quality, shareable content they can repurpose across multiple channels. Whether short-form videos on TikTok, Instagram Stories or long-form YouTube reviews, marketers can integrate influencer content into their brand's broader marketing strategy to offer more content variety.
10. Stronger social media presence
As social media evolves, brands must maintain an active presence on existing and emerging platforms to remain competitive. Influencer partnerships help brands stay relevant on customers' preferred channels because influencers are often up to date with the latest social media platforms and trends. Brands that consistently feature influencer content can strengthen their presence, relevance and engagement across key social channels.
11. Greater flexibility in campaign execution
Influencer collaborations offer flexibility for marketers to experiment with different types of content and platforms. This approach lets brands test different promotional strategies, such as live-streaming events and interactive challenges on TikTok, at a low cost of entry. Brands can test various approaches and optimize campaigns based on real-time engagement and performance metrics.
12. Stronger customer relationships
Influencer marketing enables more personal and interactive engagements, which can create strong relationships between brands and their customers. For example, influencers often respond to comments, share testimonials from themselves or other satisfied customers, and use products in real-life scenarios, which creates a sense of community and trust.
This ongoing engagement helps brands build long-term relationships with consumers and leads to higher customer loyalty, repeat business and new customers who might someday become brand advocates.
Influencer marketing can reach new audiences, increase engagement and drive conversions. It lets brands tap into influencers' credibility and social media presence to create more authentic campaigns that resonate with consumers. If integrated into a brand's larger marketing strategy, this approach can yield significant long-term benefits.
Griffin LaFleur is a MarketingOps and RevOps professional working for Swing Education. Throughout his career, LaFleur has also worked at agencies and independently as a B2B sales and marketing consultant.
