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Instagram has become a powerhouse on the social media marketing circuit and for good reason as well. There are 1 billion people who log on to Instagram every month, and this presents a huge marketing potential for brands who are looking to increase awareness and reputation.
While there are several avenues for marketing on Instagram, one method that has proven itself time and again with brands of all sizes is influencer marketing. Let’s learn more about how it is one of the most used methods to garner popularity in any brand niche.
Influencer Marketing – What Is It?
An influencer is someone who has a lot of followers, leverage in the niche, has Instagram real growth and whose opinion is valued. They are key advocates for your brand on social media who can drive engagement and traffic organically. Influencer marketing involves getting these people engaged in your marketing process, thereby getting more exposure for your brand.
Popularity Of Instagram Influencer Marketing
Inbound marketing has been the key phrase in this day and age. People are keen to reach out to brands or people that they trust for guidance or clarity. Influencer marketing is one of the best-performing methods of inbound marketing at the moment. So much so that nearly everyone from superbrands like Google to smaller niche brands like Swisspers are using influencers to better connect with their audience.
Outbound marketing methods, on the other hand, have continued to decline since people don’t seem to respond to them the same way they used to.
Influencer marketing works well with the general population because people trust and value the opinions of other people. It is much easier for people to put their faith in an influencer rather than having to trust another “faceless” corporation.
Instagram influencer marketing has been growing by leaps and bounds – a lot of Instagram influencers are aligning themselves with famous brands in the niche for mutual benefit.
Why Should Brands Rely On Influencer Marketing?
For a lot of brands and marketers, influencer marketing is still new compared to traditional advertisements on different media. Regardless, influencer marketing is quite a viable alternative to traditional marketing techniques.
We have highlighted a few key reasons why brands should consider influencer marketing as their go-to strategy for reaching out to their audience.
Trust Factor
Influencer marketing is the new kind of word-of-mouth marketing, and there is nothing that increases trust in a brand quite like it. A massive 92% of all consumers trust what people have to say about a brand before making a purchase decision. There has been a paradigm shift in recent times – people don’t trust brands blindly just because they throw big bucks at advertising on the TV or the radio. Moreover, when you get an influencer to endorse your brand, you are bringing in the human element to the marketing equation.
Interacting Socially
Like it or not, this is the age of social media relevance. If statistics are to be believed, then about 2.77 billion people around the world use at least one social media platform. The world is growing smaller and more social. Brands are expected to get on with the times and interact with their audience on a social platform. Influencer marketing is a big step in the right direction when it comes to harnessing the power of social media. An influencer can add the human facet to a brand, thereby making it a lot more approachable and easier for people to relate to.
Boosting Brand Awareness
A brand should always consider expanding its niche to ensure that it can remain successful in the long run. This is easier said than done because this can be a hurdle for even the biggest brands out there. This is best illustrated with an example. Mercedes, we all know, is a massive brand with global reach and recognition. They wanted to target a new demographic for their brand – the youth. They approached a really popular influencer, Loki, a husky/wolf/malamute, to be part of their advertisement campaign. Needless to say, it was a major success, and Mercedes had a good amount of exposure to a younger audience who were able to relate to the influencer a lot better.
Relatable Content
Businesses want content that appeals to their demographic and spend a great deal of money to hire branding agencies. The chances of these succeeding with the audience are 50/50 at best. For a brand, content that relates to their audience is critical to its success on social media. With influencers, the entire process becomes really easy, and you can share it around without appearing biased. Also, when you involve an influencer, you have the option of retargeting their audience with content at a later time. This works really well because the chances of them connecting with an influencer endorsed brand are high.
Summing It Up
Instagram is an excellent choice for growing a business on and at the rate at which it is growing, could be the best social media marketing platform for companies in the near future. Another point in its favor with businesses is that it has the highest engagement rates compared to other social media platforms. Also, when you supplement your Instagram marketing process with influencers, you have the best chance of getting a relevant audience to your brand.
