By Adrian Fisher
Despite the fact that influencer marketing campaigns are a fairly new branding strategy, they are one of the fastest-growing sectors of digital marketing. A unique business model made possible by the prominence of social media, influencers partner with brands and recommend products to their followers for a fee. This benefits the brand by increasing their online presence and social media exposure while allowing them to learn more about their target audience through the influencer’s reach.
But because influencer marketing is a recent phenomenon, it is often seen as an untested advertisement method. However, influencer marketing provides an array of possibilities and can be a valuable asset to a marketer’s arsenal of campaign strategies. For example, my team finds real estate professionals who have become experts in marketing themselves online through our Facebook group. Then, we like to invite the top experts to guest post, record a podcast interview or webcast or even create a series of videos discussing their top tips that we can easily share across all of our marketing channels. This is a great way to show our audience real-world examples of how they can market their own personal brands and businesses. Here are a few key ways that partnering with an influencer can benefit your business, too.
Increase Public Perception And Conversions
Many businesses struggle to understand how partnering with an influencer can be more beneficial than simply running ads on social media. My advice is to think of influencer recommendations like word-of-mouth references.
Having an influencer that consumers are already engaging with recommending a service is not much different than having a friend make the same suggestion. This makes an influencer partnership the perfect strategy both for increasing overall online reputation and increasing the likelihood of acquiring a new customer.
If you don’t know where to begin, there are several tools that can help you get started with an influencer campaign. For example, IZEA and Brand Backer are great options for companies new to influencer marketing. There are also options dedicated to helping you connect with video or YouTube influencers only, such as FameBit and Octoly.
Feature Image Credit: Shutterstock
By Adrian Fisher
Adrian Fisher is the founder and CEO of PropertySimple, a real estate technology company.
