5 Trends To Help You Spearhead Influencer Marketing in 2017
Happy new year everyone! Hope everyone had a great holidays and lots of delicious unhealthy food. There’s been a big focus on influencers over the past year and its set to grow even more in 2017. I wanted to share some tips on how you can leverage these trends for your brand. Wishing everyone the best 2017!
1)Digital will surpass TV spending in 2017. Millennials/Z generation who opt for Netflix over traditional television are becoming harder to reach. Adblock is becoming the standard and brand loyalty is at its lowest(Forbes). Influencer Marketing will have a bigger focus while holding a larger budget in your marketing mix.
Action: Get your feet wet with influencers. You don’t have to dish out the big bucks. Reach out to 5–10 influencers who could become brand ambassadors. Start with micro-influencers unless your budget is really big.
2)Consumers don’t believe in your ads, they’re even starting to hate it. Can you even tell me the last time you actually clicked on an ad and bought something(if ever)? Don’t spend the money on bombarding your consumers with ads on every social platform. 70% of consumers even think less of your company if you do intrusive ads(Hubspot).
Action: Spend your ad budget by sending influencers some products. Get them to do a review and see what they think. Use this as an opportunity to organically reach these communities or as a chance to improve your product.
3)Budgets are increasing and influencers are now mainstream. 66% of marketers now use influencers(Chute) and at least half of US marketers are planning to increase budgets for 2017(eMarketer). This means not only will it be hard to find/retain influencers, but also to sell yourself. Make sure to have an outreach and relationship management strategy.
Action: Make a list of advantages of why influencers should partner up with you. Sure money is good and brand equity is important, but there is a limited pool influencers to work with. Start building relationships for the long term.
4)Influencer marketing will improve with a focus on technology. The rise of technology in the industry will help everyone scale campaigns. Two years ago the average influencer campaign took 5–6 months. A year ago this was 90 days. Today, managing campaigns on platforms such as Musefind, 41 days. This not only helps influencers gain more opportunities, but also helps brands reach a wider audience faster.
Action: Check out 2–3 different influencer marketing platforms in the industry. There are many different models: agencies, marketplaces, full tech platforms with their own advantages. I will try to make an article on these comparisons in the coming weeks. This will definitely take your influencer game to the next level.
5)Everyone will soon see surprising indirect benefits of influencer marketing. The main goal of influencer marketing had always been to drive brand awareness and ultimately sales. Brands are beginning to realize that these individuals are vital points of market research and content creation. Think about how much you pay for professional photography and the amount of time put in for a new theme/concept. Influencers go through this creative process for every campaign and they’re so good at it that they’ve built a huge following.
Action: Engage your influencers in focus groups and keep every piece of content they create. These people are experts in their respective niches. Who better to ask for advice/feedback on improving your product. They will likely give you a pointer or two from what their followers are saying and how to market better.
TL:DR
There are some big changes for 2017 in influencer marketing. This fairly new trend has been building slowly and now become mainstream. Influencers will be harder to find and retain as everyone tries to get involved. Budgets across the board are increasing and so is efficiency. Brands are also beginning to realize many additional benefits to influencers.
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