Social networks are entering our society more and more, not just on a personal level: companies, gurus, brands, etc. social media is becoming a serious matter also on a professional level. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram are now used daily for speak directly to consumers or potential consumers.

From these channels a real specific figure was born: theInfluencers.

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But what is a Influencers? It is a person, with a very large following of followers on social media, of a more or less authoritative voice in a certain field, or more simply of a person loved by the public.

Brands entrust Influencers with the task of conveying their messages to the ranks of followers as these figures lead to increase the Brand Recognition, increasing sales in no time. And this happens because the public identifying with the influencer feels the desire to emulate the character they love.

Influencers have the ability to turn people into customers.

This type of communication strategy leads to positive results such as: the Brand Awareness (i.e. the consideration that the public has of the brand in question), Business Leads (i.e. the increase of all those contacts that can turn into customers), Sales (the actual sale of a product or service).

That 'Influencer Marketing it is a field certainly destined to expand.

What is Influencer Marketing and who are Influencers?

- Influencers they convey and amplify the messages of the brands on their target audience. They are therefore not chosen on the basis of how famous they are, (although this is certainly an important factor for certain strategic choices), but above all for the type of reputation they enjoy, based on how much confidence  their followers have in them and therefore how much - precisely - they influence the action of those people who follow them.

Influencers convey messages, generating conversations, word of mouth, relationships and this leads to giving visibility to the brand by carrying their reputation on it.

Influencer marketing can therefore prove to be a winning and effective strategy, but for this to happen certain key elements must be present:

• La reputation of the chosen Influencer must be consistent with the values ​​that the brand transmits.
• THEauthoritativeness of the Influencer should not be underestimated, in fact it is preferable to choose someone recognized as a capable and reliable person in his sector and in the brand sector.
• The Influencer must have certain skills and abilities in their sector.
• Also the Community it is important, it is that network of followers that the Influencer has created around him, but not only in fact the relationships he has with, precisely, his community also count.
• Definitely important in Influencer Marketing is the Word of mouth, in fact, through this tool a network is created, through trust, respect and affection, so the massage can become viral.
• The ability of the Influencers is that of influence opinions and decisions, thus stimulating precise actions such as the purchase of a product or service.

 

There are three important points on which to base the use of an Influencer Marketing strategy: the frequency of exposure (the more we interact and the more we follow a character the more easily we would be influenced by this); the proximity to the public (the more the Influencer looks like human and therefore close to his audience, the more you make "imitable "); the similarity with those who follow him, a quality capable of creating a sense of belonging to a community with common interests.

So the choice of the Influencer must be based on its authenticity and its proximity to the public and the values ​​that the brand pursues.

Do you really need Influencer Marketing?

The Influencer is a hybrid between a testimonial and a consumer, in fact, his are not commercials (even if the final purpose may be the same), but welcome advice.

Authenticity, storytelling and normality are the keywords that are the basis of a successful Influencer Marketing campaign.

For the choice of the right Influencer it is essential that the selected person shares socio-demographic characteristics similar to the brand target; moreover, the Influencer must be perceived as a normal person, close to the public, his own storytelling it must be intimate and personal.

There is no obvious and safe answer for all situations, but it sure is one strategic tool that if well exploited can bring value to the brand.

By exploiting the virality of his messages and word of mouth, he can increase the knowledge of the company he has contacts with.

Building one's reputation is certainly a complex operation, which is why the Influencers' words take on all that value, his followers will have faith in his words and his opinions will convince users-consumers who are still in doubt. THEInfluencer Marketing it is a precious ally regarding the strategy of Lead generation, or the conquest of new contacts to then transform them into customers.

They also help in the process sales stimulation, because the Influencer's opinion and advice is perceived as selfless and honest by his community.

Influencer Marketing and Trust

The Influencer's audience thinks they can trust him or her when it comes to purchasing a product or service. For this reason the Federal Trade Commission, in the United States, has instituted a new law for the protection and defense of consumers.

So Influencers now have an obligation to flag paid content that is posted on their personal profile. In fact, it is now mandatory for them to use hashtags such as #sponsored or #adv. This ensures greater transparency and allows you to track the sharing of this type of content, which is becoming increasingly important in influencer marketing strategies. In fact, there is talk of about over 200 thousand posts per month of this type, a number that is related only to Instagram.

THEInfluencer Marketing it can therefore help the brand to become a reliable reference point in the sector that belongs to it, as thanks to the Influencer who conveys it, the brand is recognized as competent, experienced and credible.

Having therefore decidedly positive effects on reputation and consequently on sales. Influencer Marketing is therefore a decidedly powerful means and it is advisable to follow it, only if you choose the right Influencers, those who enjoy an excellent reputation and with an image consistent with that of the brand that is represented.

Una User Experience conveyed by Influencers provides emotions to remember, effective storytelling and at the same time creative and memorable: in essence, the focal point is to excite. The stories on Instagram are one of the favorite ways and most traveled by Influencers, eye contact, more participation and more naturalness.

Why Influencer Marketing Works

THEinfluencer is a person like us who tells a story or who shares his daily life on Social Networks. Nothing more. So why does it work?

The reason is simple, the public feels more attracted to someone than tells without filters what has been done during the day, from morning to evening, every single movement. Someone similar to him but from whom he can still learn something.

It is a kind of fiction, a TV series where there are no superheroes as protagonists but people like us. It's like a virtual friend but at the same time real to which we aspire or that it really seems very similar to who we are or who we want to become.

And it's certainly this is the great strength of this instrument, the fact that these people, so-called influencers, are easily reachable and live our own daily life (or almost), not like the great cartoon heroes, impossible to go to sleep today and wake up Batman tomorrow.

The influencer, in addition to show us his days and his life, slowly fits into ours day without stealing too much time, the platform used is in fact the one we usually open every day: Facebook and Instagram.

Go and take a look at what our influencer has written or said that we most esteem quick and easy like drinking a coffee. The marketing saw us well and it was immediately understood that this could be a great way to sponsor any type of product.

The context is indeed genuine, the influencers, in Italian "people of influence", have created one network of users around them who trust and as the term says they are totally influenced by their figure and their way of acting.

Leveraging Emotions: A New Way of Marketing

The influencer is based on a strong engagement, and this term refers to the emotional involvement that is established between himself and his followers. Clearly it is created through a storytelling that must leverage feelings and emotions.

The user normally returns to the same pages of the Social Network because it recognizes the person who "follows", the values ​​that are dear to him, even though he has never met an influencer in person, he feels connected to him by sharing the same passions.

The real victory of a marketing campaign in this area is the transformation of a one-time customer or in any case a generic user in a regular customer and totally loyal.

Collaborative posts: a new frontier for influencer marketing

Starting from the end of 2021, Instagram has introduced a new feature of great interest in the perspective of influencer marketing strategies, both for the Brands and for the Influencers themselves. We are talking about “Collab”, a new Instagram feature that allows you to create posts and Reels shared between two users.

In practice, every time a user publishes a post or a Reel on Instagram, in the tag section he can choose the "collaboration" option and invite another user to become co-author of that content. If the invited user accepts the collaboration, the shared content will appear on both profiles and will therefore be visible to a greater number of users.

The "Collab" function is available for all types of Instagram profiles and undoubtedly has some enormous potential for brands that collaborate or wish to collaborate with influencers. In fact, posts and Reels created for the promotion of a product or service will therefore appear both on the Brand's profile and on the Influencer profile and their usernames will both appear as co-authors of the content.

Sharing Instagram posts therefore allow you to avoid creating duplicate content for the promotion of the Brand. Before the introduction of this function, when you wanted to publish the same content on the Brand profile and on the Influencer profile, it was necessary to create two different posts that entered into competition as they were addressed to the same audience.

The benefits of sharing posts for influencer marketing

On Instagram, shared contents have greater visibility than normal posts or Reels, as they appear automatically on two different profiles. This allows the Brand to show its products directly to the followers of the influencer's profile, thus reaching a new audience wider area where future customers may be.

The “Collab” function also allows you to obtain a shared engagement between the Community of the Brand and that of the influencer. This translates into an exponential increase in interaction with the content, as the number of "likes", comments and views recorded by the two profiles will be calculated in a single overall engagement rate.

The greater visibility and greater engagement generated by shared content have the advantage of increase the chances of selling through influencer marketing. In fact, thanks to the “Collab” function, products sponsored in collaboration between Brands and Influencers can reach a considerably greater number of potential customers.

Sharing posts therefore make it possible to make the synergy between the three fundamental elements that are the basis of all influencer marketing strategies even more effective: BrandValue, the Influencer and Followers.

The Three Protagonists: Brand Value, Influencer and Followers

1. La BrandValue is the value of your brand. This, through the strategy of influencer marketing, is automatic increase and gradually improve. Through the Social Network platforms it is quite simple and fast to create a name and an identity: to become popular.

 

La dissemination of knowledge of the company and products that sells is effective in this area. Since it is mostly based on trust it is a lot more lasting and effective than a simple online advertisement.

The reason why tents arwhat is most impressed is that it is created by a strong community that through stories or simple viral word of mouth spreads the Brand more and more.

2. The second protagonist is clearly thean influencer. A figure not necessarily famous but who reflects the right ideals of a large number of people who decide to follow his life and his daily life. He must clearly be a credible and genuine person.

 

3. I followers. These are the ones who give success to influencers, after all they are the ones who have the decision-making power to give popularity to a specific person or not. However, it is the users who can transform themselves into potential customers if the marketing campaign that is implemented is successful.

These users are the ones who generate profit.