3 ways influencers can increase brand awareness

Influencer marketing has grown stronger as consumers continue to use the internet for social connections, education, and shopping needs. In fact, according to Benchmark Report from Influencer Marketing Hubthe industry raised more than $800 million in funding last year and is expected to grow by $16.4 billion this year.

There are many strategic ways to implement influencer marketing to increase brand awareness. Influencers are a powerful tool for creating content that is more personal and targeted to your specific audience. Working with influencers also allows you to create additional campaigns that can extend your brand’s reach.

1. Create personalized content

The personal aspect of influencer marketing makes this method effective. Consumers prefer to interact with their peers rather than a company. As a result, incorporating influencers into your marketing strategies can be an effective way for brands to establish meaningful connections with their target audiences.

“Influencer marketing is successful because it creates a whole new area of ​​human-to-human connection and innovative brand creativity,” said Sherri Nourse, co-founder of influencer marketing company, Ambition media. “People trust advice from family and friends over that of third parties and corporate entities. They are naturally inclined to follow and are persuaded by peers with social gravitas exemplified by social proof – followers, likes and shares.

This is also supported by research. According to an questionnaire according to Rakuten Marketing, 46% of consumers said influencer recommendations can help them choose a product to buy. Moreover, good taste and passion were the two things consumers used to determine the authenticity of an influencer. This authenticity encourages 43% of consumers to continually trust influencers who openly disclose their partnerships with a product or brand they recommend.

2. Get to know your target audience

One of the most common tips I’ve heard given to new influencers is to choose a niche. In other words, new influencers are instructed to become very knowledgeable about their specific target audience and to learn the language of their target audience. An influencer’s knowledge of a specific group of people becomes the key to their success and the reason why certain brands have great success working with them.

A brand can access more individuals in its target audience through influencers who have done all the work to build intimate relationships and trust with individuals. However, once a brand gains audience members through an influencer, it must maintain trust and provide social proof of the effectiveness of its product or offering. Learning how to nurture relationships with new audience members can also be learned through the example of influencers.

Linqia’s Vice President of Strategy, Keith Bendes, says, “The world of influencer marketing is also highly self-regulated. If you don’t keep your audience engaged, you lose the audience, and if you lose the audience, you lose the ability to make a living. Influencers are thus incentivized to create quality content that their audience will want to engage with and that means only working with brands that match their personality and can therefore be authentically woven into the structure of their content.

When considering which influencers to work with, don’t completely ignore micro-influencers or influencers with smaller followings. Often these accounts have the bandwidth to actively engage with their audience and your potential followers.

3. Implement campaign tactics

Once you’ve found influencers to work with that fit your niche, consider more creative ways to expand your audience. Few influencer marketing campaigns are as effective as running a contest or giveaway, especially when it invites followers to tag their friends for extra reach. According to SproutSocialthese campaigns increase customer loyalty, convert leads and can increase a brand’s following.

When determining which contests or giveaways would be most effective for your brand, consider asking your audience. You might even consider giving a prize to the person who comes up with the best content idea. Either way, communicating with your audience can help you better understand what they need or what products they’d most like to share with friends and people they care about.

Another campaign to consider as part of your 2023 influencer marketing strategy is sending products to influencers to review and post to their personal social media accounts. This is evident from a study by Later77% of companies reported sending free products to influencers in exchange for sponsored posts.

While working with influencers feels like a new game, building trust with customers has always been important. As the world changes and customers have new expectations, companies need to embrace influencer marketing to increase brand awareness.