Imagine a scenario of the mid-90s, when we used to buy something – how we used to make a choice, how we used to rely on the opinion of the shopkeeper. The underlying thought, in this case, was Trust. And, consider today’s scenario where we have a pool of choices and options to go for. How, at times, we aren’t able to make our minds to decide what to buy and what not to buy. Surely, we can easily blame on to mixed reviews, authenticity and vast options.
Trust is an integral part of our lives and the way we build trust has also transitioned. And, that’s where Influencer Marketing has taken the center stage lately. Every brand and individual who wants to build a brand is trying their hands on Influencer Marketing.
If 2015 was all about Twitter, 2016 is all about YouTube and Instagram. The common denominator is engagement. As 74% of consumers use social media to make purchase decisions. Every brand wants engagement and the same can be retweets, business enquiries, likes or comments. Engagement is one of the most crucial social media marketing metric!
In 2017, influencer marketing is about to go through the roof, according to eConsultancy almost 60% of fashion & beauty brands have an influencer strategy. B2B Influencer Marketing too will take a new shape in 2017.
So What Is Influencer Marketing?
In simple terms, it is a form of marketing that focusses on the key leaders to drive the brand’s message to the audience at large. Influencer marketing often gets married to content & social media marketing. For obvious reasons, that a major chunk of influencers have a strong and huge following on social media platforms. Many such campaigns drive the content that subtly talks about the brand and it builds credibility in audience’s mind. The same definitely leads to brand resonance.
I have been experimenting a lot with Influencer Marketing for my own ecommerce platinum jewellery startup Jewelove. The different permutations and combinations have upped my game in many a ways ranging from building a brand, trust, business inquiries.
What Are The Key Ingredients Of Influencer Marketing?
- Identify key influencers for your brand: We can’t advance to the next level if we haven’t done the homework right or this step goes wrong. In my case, when I look at the influencer who would I go for? Somebody who is a fashion enthusiast or a lifestyle blogger. Pen down who can be your influencer for your business
- Fix a goal and drive a marketing campaign around it: Without a clear objective, driving an Influencer Marketing wouldn’t reap any result to your campaign.
- Track key metrics: Any marketing campaign without metrics to gauge the response would be incomplete. For me, the metrics comprised an increase in the followers on Instagram of Jewelove or likes on Facebook. Bigger metrics were the inquiries raised via this campaign and the reach of content through the influencer. Setting the right metric is very critical as it helps you in your next marketing campaign.
The crux is unless you experiment different avenues of influencer marketing, you wouldn’t be able to map the results against other marketing initiatives.
[The author of this post is Ruchika Beri, co-founder and CMO, Jewelove.]
