Why Influencer Marketing Is Important (and not Going Anywhere)

Influencer Marketing is at the top of its game right now. Businesses of all sizes are harnessing the power that influencers can have over their target audiences. Companies that implement the right IM strategies are finding that they generate very good results for their brands. In fact, the global Influencer Marketing market has doubled in value since 2019 and now stands at 16.4 billion U.S. dollars. And this value is set to increase. 

Let’s explore why Influencer Marketing is important for brands and how this digital marketing strategy can benefit your business.

Increases Brand Awareness

The first reason why Influencer Marketing is important is that it increases your brand awareness. Basically, this means how familiar consumers are with your brand’s name. An effective Influencer Marketing strategy can help you reach a larger audience, boost your visibility, and improve your online positioning. This, in turn, encourages more potential customers to find out who you are and what you have to offer. So much so that a study from 2018 demonstrated that 58% of companies benefit from increased brand awareness after collaborating with an influencer. 

The benefits in terms of brand awareness don’t stop there either. Many companies have also found that they can increase awareness through relatively cheap Influencer Marketing activities. For example, contests, giveaways, and referral programs can be a highly cost-effective way of getting your brand out there and starting meaningful conversations with your target audience.

Builds Brand Trust

Another reason why Influencer Marketing is important is that it can help you develop consumer trust and credibility. This is mainly down to the fact that when a respected influencer endorses your brand, it provides you with a level of social proof that helps consumers buy into what you have to say. It also helps your message come across as more authentic. This is down to the fact that a successful influencer understands who their audience is, so they know what strategy they need to use so that your message resonates with them. And this is especially important in an age where many consumers are skeptical of traditional advertising strategies. They’d rather take recommendations from someone they consider to be almost like a friend.

The trust that consumers have in the influencers they follow provides you with a few other benefits, too. Studies have shown that influencer trust was not only found to positively affect brand trust, but it also has a positive impact on brand liking, and ad enjoyment. And this makes it far more likely that your marketing campaigns will generate the level of engagement you need to see positive results.ç

Boosts Online Reach, Engagement, and SEO Positioning

By expanding your online reach and brand awareness, Influencer Marketing can boost your engagement and improve your SEO positioning. And this is one of the biggest reasons why 66% of brands are anticipated to increase their influencer marketing budgets. 

The main reason for this is that, provided you hire the right influencer, you’re able to promote your brand to a relevant, targeted niche audience. And if you select an influencer with a strong presence in the market, then even more people are likely to engage with your campaign’s key message and call to action.

Another benefit of Influencer Marketing in this regard is that collaborating with an influencer can boost your other digital marketing strategies, too. One of the reasons for this is that you start to learn which types of content work best with your target audience, so you can apply your learnings to all your other digital campaigns. And with the right strategy, all this could potentially improve your website’s search engine ranking and further expand your online reach.

Enriched Content Marketing Strategy

The final reason why Influencer Marketing is important is that it can teach you how to enrich your overall content marketing strategy. You can get inspiration for new ideas from an influencer and learn how to create more user-centric content. This fresh perspective can help you develop more effective content that elicits the response you need from your marketing campaigns instead of focusing purely on self-promotional content. 

The other benefit that you gain in terms of your content strategy is that thanks to an influencer’s increased reach, it’s much easier to collect customer testimonials that you can share through social media and your website. And all this adds the level of social proof you need to build a solid and appealing brand in the eyes of your target market. And this, ultimately, is the goal of any marketing strategy.