What Is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing is on the agenda. It is increasingly common to see many companies betting on influencers to reach their target audience. It is a different way of connecting with the audience and transmitting the brand philosophy.

It is a strategy that seeks to strengthen ties between brands and their customers, being very useful to achieve more visibility on the Internet. In addition, it is really interesting to reach potential customers and enter new markets or segments .

Influencers are people with charisma, power of influence and great communication skills. They are people who have managed to gain the trust of their followers and who have great credibility with them. In addition, they use a persuasive voice in their social networks and have become authentic opinion leaders .

Thanks to the ability of influencers to reach their followers, more and more brands are betting on them and on including this figure in their marketing strategy .

What is influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is a very popular marketing strategy that seeks to achieve effective links between brands and their customers. It is a way to get real connections and increase brand engagement . In addition, if a company is associated with a person who fits with its values, it will gain more visibility and brand credibility.

It is a strategy that has the support of influential people in their sector and who are capable of transmitting messages in a credible way. However, it is important to choose the influencer well and properly analyze their profile to see if they convey the company's philosophy. Otherwise, a reputational crisis can be created.

On the one hand, if campaigns with influencers are prepared properly , you can achieve more visibility on social networks and achieve more engagement, as well as a greater impact and conversions. In addition, there are different types of influencers and each one is focused on a different field, for example: travel, fashion, lifestyle, gastronomy, sports... And depending on the needs of each company, it is appropriate to bet on one or the other.

On the other hand, it is vitally important that the company pay attention to the number of followers and interactions before starting to work with it. It is also advisable to study the profile in depth and see if it really fits the needs of the brand. Another important aspect is to confirm that the followers are real and that the influencer is not using any fake application.

In addition, it is necessary for every company to be informed about current legislation and how the current regulations regarding influencer marketing are regulated .

Who are the influencers and types of profiles

As previously mentioned, an influencer is a person who has a certain protagonist in a sector or field. It is also the case of celebrities, since in most cases the profiles that have a greater number of followers are public figures. Many of them are known for appearing on television or being linked to the world of art, sports or cinema, among others.

There are different kinds of influencers: macro and micro . Micro - influencers are becoming more and more fashionable and the results obtained by working with them are very positive. They have less than 50,000 followers, but a great impact on their target audience. Practically all the messages they spread are shared by their followers, since their engagement is very high.

Today, many companies with few resources are choosing to collaborate with micro -influencers , since people who exceed 50,000 followers usually ask for very high fees and are not affordable for any small or medium business .

In marketing , quality is much more important than quantity and, above all, it is essential not to carry out covert advertising, but to bet on transmitting transparent and real messages. It is also important that all companies indicate when an advertising action is taking place . This can be indicated by a hashtag that says “ad” or a message that says “collaboration with the company in question”.

Advantages of betting on microinfluencers

These are some of the advantages of working with people with more specific communities of followers .

• These are people with a great ability to influence a very specific topic or field.
• They perfectly master the language and have great communication skills.
• They know how to reach their followers and what kind of messages fit into their posts.

They have a very loyal community that trusts what they say in every Instagram Story or feed post.
With microinfluencers you can carry out very relevant actions that can have a great economic impact on the company. You can send product in exchange for a specific number of publications or stories or carry out a communication campaign to publicize a new product or service.

The most important thing is that every company is clear about its objectives and what type of strategy is the most appropriate in the situation in which it finds itself. It is necessary to analyze the environment, the needs of the clients and the competition and, from there, define a solid and coherent strategy.

You can also carry out events, sponsored publications, product reviews or reviews, among other actions. It is a matter of getting to know the influencer and seeing what fits best with him or her and his or her community.

How to contact influencers

Micro - influencers are usually contacted directly through Instagram or the social network they have. You can also send them an email to their personal email . However, influencers who amass a large following on their social networks often have a representative or are in the hands of an agency that manages their collaborations .

Referring to macroinfluencers , the agency or its representative usually asks for a higher price because they take a percentage of commission from each action that the influencer performs. And the higher the amount to be paid, the higher the commission that the collaborator takes from the influencer. Their objective is to be intermediaries and pass the filter to the collaborations to bet only on those that fit their profile.

Advantages of influencer marketing

The main benefits of using influencer marketing techniques to attract new customers or gain more visibility are the following:

• Increased brand awareness and conversions.
• Increased brand presence on social media.
• Increased web traffic or to a landing page.
• Increased positive messages about the company.
• Possibility of reaching new market segments.
• Possibility of promoting a product, service or campaign.
• Potential to reach younger generations who have a large presence on social media.
• Increased return on investment.
• Increased reputation and prestige of the brand.

How to design an influencer marketing campaign ?

To design a campaign with influencers , it is essential to know the objectives of the company and have a well-defined strategy. It is necessary to determine the strategy that you want to use in social networks, since this will mark the type of collaboration that is carried out with the influential person.

There are a series of criteria that must be taken into account when carrying out a campaign and choosing the influencer :

• That it fits with the products or services that are going to be promoted.
• Have an affinity with the brand.
• That it has a community with a high degree of interaction.
• Create valuable and quality content.
• Be active on your social networks.

What legal restrictions must be taken into account?

There are five standards that each company must be extremely vigilant about and must comply with:

• Law on Services of the Information Society and Electronic Commerce. Commercial communications must be identified as such.
• General Advertising Law. It is completely forbidden to make use of covert advertising that is considered misleading. It is essential to use the hashtag #ad on Instagram, as penalties can be as high as €30,000.
• Unfair competition. Going against competitors through the use of illicit and comparative advertising is strictly prohibited.
• Legislation on the protection of honor, privacy and one's own image. Images may not be used without the consent of the person appearing in them.
• Intellectual and industrial property law. It is mandatory to respect copyright.

In short, when launching a campaign with influencers , it is vitally important that a follow-up is carried out during the launch of the campaign . Likewise, once the campaign has been carried out, the results must be analyzed.