Why Influencer Marketing is effective in 2021
What started out as a form of entertainment and a platform to share special memories has within the past decade, been transformed into a virtual business scape fuelled by the incessant need for instant gratification. Social media has, without a shadow of doubt, become an innate part of our society, it is where we go to for news updates, shopping, relationship advice and general information relating to health, fashion, politics and current news and events. It is in essence a virtual replication of our world wherein each individual has an opportunity to create an identity for themselves and build a community based thereon. An influencer is a user who has managed to curate an identity for themselves through consistent content and, as such, has managed to create a community of ‘followers’ with whom they have a trust bond. The more relatable the content is, the more followers will trust a user enough to engage with their content and be ‘influenced’ to consume what the user is promoting whether intentionally or not.
Over time, people start to rely on these influencers and influencer marketing to provide accurate reviews on products and/or services, and subsequently build their consumption habits around these promotions. Businesses have long since recognised the value of building partnerships with influencers for the purposes of promoting specific products and/or services. And so began the rise of the influencer.
Initially, influencers were criticized for promoting unattainable lifestyles by publishing content that relates to a luxury lifestyle, owning expensive brands and going on exotic vacations. However, influencers were not deterred and continue to promote overly expensive lifestyles which has, in effect, inspired users to constantly seek instant gratification through the consumption of luxury online fashion brands and expensive eateries and restaurants. Another reaction to the rise of influencers is the creation of micro-influencers who have a smaller following community and create content for a specific niche such as fashion styling tips, food or even financial advice.
The benefits of partnering with micro influencers is that they have already built a community around a specific niche, which guarantees traffic to a particular website and a resultant sale. What’s more, influencers in general have a platform on which to receive and provide feedback relating to a product/service that could only benefit brands and contribute to their success.
In short, influencers have proved themselves to be invaluable assets to businesses in every niche possible. The only oversight from a business perspective is ensuring that the brand of the influencer/s they align themselves with is promoting a brand that is consistent with that of the business, as they could inadvertently sustain brand damage. That said, being an influencer is not without its disadvantages, they have to maintain a certain level of censorship in terms of what they say, what they do and how they present themselves to an audience that is constantly dishing out criticism. But is it worth the risk?
It definitely is. Partnering with influencers is the best way to market your brand effectively to an audience that is quite simply bored of seeing adverts pop up on their screen.
Originally published at http://dailyjava.co on July 13, 2021.