Should you use influencers to build your brand?

Social media has become a great way for small business owners to grow their brands, and gain exposure to a wider audience than ever before. Instagram over the past few years has been one of, if not the most popular platforms for many businesses to promote their offering for free. With so many Instagram personalities (Influencers) around, it has become a market for companies of any size to maximise their advertising spend and created a more dynamic approach for building brand awareness. The question is, does using social media influencers work, and do you really need to use them?

I launched my business The Groomed Man Co. in August of 2014 with a small budget, and no real marketing budget. My capital was spent on the products, packaging, web design and the customer experience. I used social media platforms to promote the business for free and have tried both unpaid and paid influencer marketing. Since launching I have been able to reach customers in 71 countries and really enjoyed learning about what does and doesn’t work for me. I am still learning along the way about what works best for me.

I would like to share my experiences and opinions with you, to give you more perspective on this relatively new type of marketing so you can make decisions that could potentially save you money and time. This is based on my experience, so please take what you can and apply what is relevant to your business.

Dealing with online influencers.

I have found dealing with online influencers both a positive and negative experience. If you choose to approach someone who could potentially influence their followers to adopt your brand, you need to ask yourself some of the following questions.

• What type of person do I want representing my brand?
• What is my return on investment expectation?
• Could I work with this person in the long-term to build a more authentic advertising strategy? Quick fixes/posts rarely pay off.
• What type of engagement rate will my influencer have?
• Are their interests and content aligned with my brand?
• Could I invest my money into something more worth while?

You will also want to ask your potential influencer some questions. Simply looking at the number of followers and how many ‘likes’ they receive isn’t an effective strategy or guarantee you’ll make a return on your investment.

• Ask the influencer about previous campaigns, and if they have any data or information about the success of that campaign.
• Ask the influencer about how they intend to promote and post your product.
• What are their traffic numbers?
• Who are their followers, and how engaged are they?
• What platform/s do they intend to use to promote your brand?
• What is their total reach? An important and obvious when dealing with bloggers. Expect some people to give you higher numbers than expected.

A professional and suitable influencer will have this information. The fact is, you need to do proper research before taking a punt, because most of the time it doesn’t pay off. Just because someone has 50,000+ followers, doesn’t mean you will make your money back. By identifying clearly defined goals and having an influencer profile, you will save yourself time and money.

What platform should you use?

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube, the list goes on. What platform should you use? Businesses experience success on different platforms, but that doesn’t mean your business will achieve the same success. When I launched, Instagram was beginning to be the place to advertise with influencers. It had power, and the returns were much stronger then compared to now. Consumers have become so use to seeing social media influencers posting pictures with bottles of shampoo or teeth whitening gadgets, that they have become desensitised. This means less return on investment, as consumers have switched off and even turned against this type of marketing.

If you’re paying for an influencer, you want real impact. YouTube is the second most used search engine after Google, and I believe it creates a lot of opportunity to meet with influencers who can create content that will continually rank as their page grows. This also gives you content to use across your platforms, increasing engagement and sales.

Using YouTube influencers is still a relatively new way for many businesses to promote their product or service, which means it can be unfamiliar territory. How much should you be paying for this? Ask yourself the questions above and look around as costs vary depending on whether the influencer has agency costs, uses more expensive equipment, editing quality, time devoted to your product or service.

Is it all worth it in the end?

There is no doubt that influencer marketing has the ability to increase brand awareness and drive sales, however you need to know how much time and money you’re willing to spend focusing on it, and what else you could possibly be doing to drive traffic and sales. I personally haven’t seen much success with paid influencer marketing, and have only used this approach a handful of times. Creating content and a sense of community has been the leading way to grow brand awareness for The Groomed Man Co.

What should I do to drive influence and engagement while building brand awareness?

The best possible influencer you can employ is your customers, the ones who have invested in your brand and the ones you’ve invested in. Everything I do in my business is customer focused, and is the sole reason I have been able to engage them to help promote my brand and expand my reach. Some of the following tips may help you decide what is most important for your marketing strategy.

• Focus on your customers. Create an engaging customer experience from the minute they visit your website or social media platform.
• Create engaging packaging and marketing materials which encourage your customers to help you spread the word. Don’t be afraid to ask your customers to share their experience tagging your brand. It works and is more genuine to their followers who are their friends. You’re more likely to believe your friend when they promote a product over an influencer who promotes everything from detox tea to eye cream.
• Don’t be afraid to email your customers. Many people say this is a small picture strategy but I beg to differ. I personally email my customers, which surprises them, but also builds that relationship and brand loyalty. As your business grows it gets harder, but you will find a way.
• Your customers may have only 200+ followers, but they have a genuine impact combined.
• Give back, by delivering something more than a product or service. Create resources and content that adds value for the consumer will keep them engaged with the brand and attract people to the brand.

Social media is an ever evolving space full of opportunity. If you get it right and do your research, influencers can pay off but you have to ask yourself if you could be working on other areas of the business to drive sales and traffic. I hope that this article has helped you identify whether or not social media influencers are a route that you want to actively pursue.