Influencer Marketing Keeps On Growing

The idea of having a well-known spokesperson endorse your brand is nothing new. For decades, leveraging a celebrity’s popularity has allowed brands to reach and sell to audiences they otherwise wouldn’t have.

With the continued growth of social media, along with a charismatic person’s ability to grow an audience, influencer marketing can be an attractive angle for many brands.

In fact, 57% of marketing professionals who use influencer marketing say it is highly effective. 46% have plans to up their annual spend specific to this marketing tactic in 2022. In addition, 11% claim it as their top trend for ROI. (source: hubspot.com)

Thinking Smaller

And here’s the thing, brands don’t have to invest millions into celebrities to reach a captive audience. Enter the Micro-influencer – a social media personalities with thousands to tens of thousands of followers. Micro-influencers can have dedicated and industry-specific followings. This makes them great for capturing niche markets.

For example, have a clothing boutique that sells high end clothes? There are lots of fashion micro-influences. Want to increase visitation to your DMO or attraction? Get a micro-influencer to visit and post about it. Have a new restaurant with great food? Invite a micro-influencer to try it out and make a recommendation to their audience. 

Leveraging an influencer’s or industry leader’s audience helps increase overall brand awareness and lends credibility to a product or service.

Keep It Real

In addition, micro-influencers can be more powerful than a big celebrity endorsement because they are still considered “real” people. Therefore, a brand audience is more likely to trust their opinion and recommendations.

The key when determining which micro-influencer to partner with is to answer a few simple questions:

• Does their style of content mesh with your company’s brand?
• Does their audience compliment your target audience?
• Audience size is important,  but what are their engagement rates – things likes, clicks, responses?
• And, ultimately, does an investment with an influencer pencil out from an ROI perspective?

If influencer marketing isn’t part of your current marketing mix, perhaps it should be. Talk to the professionals at tdg today. We’ll help guide you through this or any marketing objectives your business may have. 

Written By:

Chad Blair

Director of Accounts

I am the Director of Accounts at tdg. In short, my job is to make sure our clients are well taken care of. I also lead much of our strategic marketing and creative efforts on behalf of our clients. Outside of work I enjoy being active, building things and spending time with family.