Influencer Marketing — the Ultimate Multi-tasker and its SEO Boost
When an influencer writes about Tide Pods it’s not just a powerful word-of-mouth recommendation, it’s also making a significant impact on Procter & Gamble’s SEO.
The Ultimate Multitasker
Influencer marketing has proven to be the ultimate multitasker — it expands reach, delivers double the sales of paid advertising, is targetable and traceable, increases credibility (92% of consumers turn to people they know over ads), creates user-generated content across Vlogs, Blogs, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest and much more.
On top of all this, influencer marketing increases SEO by 25%! User-generated social posts account for 25% of search results for the world’s top 20 brands. (The more people mention your brand on social media, the more popular and relevant you will be on Google).
Digital Advertising & Search Engine Marketing
According to the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), U.S. digital advertising spending grew to $50 Billion in 2014 with 50% of that spent on search. (Brands spend on search engine marketing in order to increase the ranking and visits of their web page through search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo.)
P&G, the maker of Tide Pods, is the largest advertiser in the world and one of the most innovative. They adopted a digital-first approach based on global research that indicates, “up to half of people’s media viewing time is spent on digital technology”. (Mark Pritchard, Chief Brand-Building Officer). As a result, P&G increased their digital spending to 35% of their total budget in 2014, which is significantly above the industry average of 20%.
The “SEO Boost” & ROI
When a bellweather marketer like P&G is able to impact their search results by 25% it’s h-yuuuggge. The cost of an influencer marketing program would barely make a dent in the over $100 million dollars value that boost represents — it’s that efficient. (It’s most cost-effective customer acquisition channel in line with email marketing.)
What does this mean for other marketers? By implementing a successful influencer marketing program, a brand could boost their search engine results by 25%, essentially adding in the neighborhood of 5–10% value to their digital budget. It’s no wonder that 59% of marketers are planning to boost their influencer marketing budget this year, and that Google has classified the term “influencer marketing” as “Breakout” in search (that “SEO Boost”).
Influencer marketing has proven to be astonishingly cost effective, with an ROI of $6.85 in earned media value for every dollar spent on paid ($11.33 for food, $10.48 for apparel and $7.04 for travel).
Indispensable Influencer Marketing
In this digitally connected world, consumers expect to be entertained, informed and to be part of the conversation with brands. Influencers have proven to be a wonderful source of ideas, insights, word-of-mouth, authentic content and credible recommendations, and visionary marketers have noticed. They are strategically partnering with influencers to spark and amplify conversations, all while dramatically improving their ROI and SEO. An influencer marketing program is quickly becoming indispensable for brands.
Search Response
Of the top six search responses from my Google search for “Best Pod Detergent” below, two are by Influencers (33%).
Sources: Sources: Kantar, IAB, Marketo, McKinsey, Wall Street Journal, Tomoson, The Social Media Revolution, Adweek/Social Times, Burst Media 2014 Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report, Google
