How Influencer Marketing Can Elevate Your Brand Identity

Unsure of what influencer marketing is? Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

Now that word-of-mouth recommendations and criticisms spread through social media faster than forest fire, influencers, i.e., people who are active on social media and blogs with massive following in a particular industry such as food, fashion, finance, etc. use this “influence” to sway their dedicated audience’s opinion. Quite powerful, eh? If tapped on in the right manner, they can be YOUR brand advocates and niche promoters too.

Why is influencer marketing important?

You’re thinking you have an excellent marketing team that understands and evaluates your market perfectly. They have the right knowledge about Facebook pixels, Google Adwords, target groups, social media timings — so what does your brand need an influencer for?

Customers tend to trust recommendations from a third party more often than a brand itself. Think about it — you don’t usually believe a person who brags about himself to sway you, but you do believe your mutual friend who vouches for that person. An influencer is that mutual friend that creates a credible identity of your brand in the eyes of your target consumers.

So how do you identify these crucial influencers or marketers?

Remember how these social media figures can drive not only awareness, but also action among your potential customers.

Contextual fit

An influencer differs for every brand. So reaching to a fashion blogger for a brand in the food industry will not bring you business, no matter what their fan following is. Make sure your brand fits into your chosen influencer’s audience right in.

Their reach

Just focusing on relevance narrows your reach down. So make sure your influencer ranks among the top bloggers of your space! Higher their audience, higher is your brand visibility and credibility!

Your audience

Know your audience. Obsess over it. Your influencer is only relevant to them (and therefore to you) if their interests, thoughts and opinions are similar. For instance, I market Hashtag Loyalty’s customer retention solution and loyalty program in the FMCG industry, which contains an array of restaurants, bars, cafes, salons, spas, retail outlets, supermarkets, etc. So my ideal influencer is someone with a fantastic hold in the Food & Beverage, a fashionista who’s a curator of looks from various brands, or even a make up enthusiast who tries and promotes beauty products sold by salons!

Action point

Influencers have their following because they allow their ardent audience an ‘opt-in’, rather than imposing themselves upon them. This is the influencer’s ability to cause action by their fans. Hence, due to the audience’s choice, you see continuous engagement and willingness to see their influencer share their knowledge around a particular subject!

How do you begin your search?

Social Media Monitoring

Social media monitoring also allows you to find influencers who advocate for the genre or niche you have outlined. This could be through searching your relevant hashtags, keywords, products, etc. or even influencers themselves.

Bloggers Outreach

Bloggers arguably are the strongest spoke in the wheel of influencers. Reports have shown that 86% of influencers also operate at least one blog. One of the bonuses of targeting bloggers is that they almost always are active across many social media platforms. To hit jackpot, list out all your influencers based on their rank, fan following, context as well as SEO statistics to ensure optimal organic reach.

Now that your idea of influencer marketing isn’t so elusive, it’s time to get started with your search. Liked what you read so far? We’ve got a lot more industrial insight to share with you! Become a part of the Hashtag Loyalty network today and remain in-the-know of the FMCG market.