Influencer marketing is the fastest growing channel of marketing in America. The question is why it is suddenly getting every brand and marketer’s attention. The truth is you have been influenced by people all through your life. You follow recommendations made by people whom you like and ‘trust’. The same feeling works here.
Why is Instagram perfect for influencer marketing?
Although influencer marketing became hugely popular after the explosion of social media websites led by Facebook and Twitter, it became big when Instagram arrived. One big difference is that while other social media marketing shares information or education, Instagram shares experience. It is a marketing channel that promotes or sells the dream of an ideal lifestyle and it tells people what products or services they need to buy in order to achieve that dream.
Why is choosing the right influencers important for Instagram marketing?
Social Media Examiner defines “influence” as audience reach multiplied by brand affinity and strength of the relationship with one’s followers. Hence, brands not only need to have a strong perception or differentiating quality but reach out to influencers on Instagram who have a strong voice in that particular niche. Influencer marketing works if the messages are directed to the right segmented and targeted audience so that the messages seem to be personalized. Mass media has failed in building trust because it treats a huge monolithic mass of heterogeneous audience as “one” and fails to acknowledge the differences.
Where demographic differentiation doesn’t work, psychographic parameters should be used to identify the right audiences and the influencers who already have a following among them. Influencers can answer questions, encourage their followers to talk or create their own content, enter contests and basically help a campaign go viral.
Examples of Instagram influencer marketing done right
- Birchbox and Emily Schuman– Birchbox, an online subscription service for beauty supplies, approached lifestyle blogger Emily Schuman to help them customize one of their beauty supply boxes as per the tastes of her own followers. She took the liberty to share new designs, products, and concepts from Birchbox she thought would resonate with her audience and got a boost in her own brand value as she had aligned with a reputable brand. Birchbox, on the other hand, got a ready access to a highly targeted and relevant audience that matched their buyer persona perfectly. It was a highly successful partnership and one of the best examples of influencer marketing on Instagram.
- Daniel Wellington’s success with top influencers: Daniel Wellington was a relatively unknown Swedish startup watch brand before it decided to harness the voice and expertise of a number of powerful influencers on Instagram. These influencers were of all sizes and mainly belonged to the fashion and lifestyle domains. They started to publish beautiful images of them or models wearing the watch and used powerful hashtags. The brand also encouraged their target audience to promote their own images using the brand hashtag and soon it was a big name. The #danielwellinton hashtag generated more than 900000 posts in no time. They didn’t rely on one influencer alone. Rather they employed a number of them so as to reach the maximum target audience and increase the brand recognition. It was a highly successful campaign.
- Adidas: Adidas, already a leading sports fitness brand, decided to take their business one step further and used Instagram influencer marketing to promote their brand and products. They started a campaign with the hashtag #MyNeoShoot and had Selena Gomez kickstart the campaign. They got other influencers to talk about this brand and use this hashtag. They didn’t just stop there. They encouraged the target audience received through the influencers to enter a contest by sharing their own content using the above-mentioned hashtag and get a chance to win one of the six shoe models. They received 12000 entries for the contest, their hashtag got 71000 mentions, and their fan page acquired 41000 new followers. Their sales also got a big boost.
Influencers on Instagram are important and powerful players whom brands can’t ignore if they want to micro-target. The can not only use them to create and share content to popularize the brand but also involve the fans through them to share user-generated content and a strong buzz. It is the best channel for gaining quick visibility and also trust.
Ifluenz can help you promote your brand/product/service with an effective influencer marketing strategy.