How Social Media Influencers Are Paving the Way for Businesses
Businesses are no longer bricks and mortar structures. They also include online presence of stores, big and small. Advertising and marketing has moved into the virtual world as well. No more billboards and front page panels on papers. Today, it’s about creating likes and shares on social media. It’s about sharing pictures and videos, or using audio clips to put your message across.
Businesses all over the world are relying more and more on influencers to create traction for their products and services. The world of social media influencers is powerful and efficient. Here’s how social media influencers are paving the way for businesses:
How social media influence works is simple. An influencer creates a loyal followership, a community, an audience that can be convinced about a buying decision because of the trust established between the influencer and the audience. The idea of why this works can be traced back to how any one of us makes a buying decision. We tend to ask around, check forums online, discuss with family and friends. The influencer uses this need of ours to find reassurance to create traction for a brand or product.
Take an example of a make-up/beauty blog or webpage. The blogger has a large following and regularly posts pictures of a beautiful visage and hair in place. She buys a new beauty product, uses it and then writes a review of it on her blog/webpage. If she likes the product and writes a favorable review, she can cause a marketing movement.
She adds the name of the brand and the product she’s used and links it to her Instagram and Facebook page. She could hashtag the brand or product on Twitter. All of this garners likes, shares, comments and responses. Many commenters may ask her where she got it from. She might mention the brand store or an online vendor, generating more buzz for those spaces too. Customers will head to the nearest mall or place to buy the product, thus creating more numbers.
When it’s a bad review, it works in a negative way. Let’s say that there’s a complaint with the service of a car. An influencer can leave a complaint on the manufacturer’s Facebook page. He can tag important people on his complaint, and post it on Twitter as well. His followers read and assimilate the information and then decide to not go with the brand or the service provider. The car company loses potential customers, needs to remedy its service situation at once and the influencer gets to see it all happen. In many cases, a different car company might now send out feelers and attempt to woo the influencer. The cycle of influence starts anew.
Quite often, the promotion of a brand or product may not be overt, but subtle. Some smart placement can send across the same message as a long blog post. For example, a baker may post a recipe of a delicious cake, with a picture on Instagram. It has a list of ingredients and the brand accompanies one of the ingredients. Or it could just be a neatly placed product. Maybe a tub of butter with the name on it, or maple syrup from a particular company. The audience member watching carefully will see the product and understand that an endorsement has taken place.
It makes sense for businesses to look at the influencer to cause movement for their brands and products. Word of mouth is key here, and the influencer uses his or her voice to say something that is important to the audience. You can find social media influencers on influence.co.
