In today's marketing landscape, influencer marketing is one of the most potent marketing methods for small businesses, brands, and enterprises.
According to Linqia's The State of Influencer Marketing Report, 57% of respondents said: "influencer content outperformed brand-created content" in 2019.
While influencer marketing is still a growing industry, and the statistics have risen since then.
Working with influencers can assist your small business in overcoming common barriers to promotion, such as the use of advertisements.
In this post, I'll discuss six advantages of influencer marketing for small businesses.
What Exactly Is Influencer Marketing?
Sprout Social defines influencer marketing as,
a type of social media marketing that uses endorsements and product mentions from influencers–individuals who have a dedicated social following and are viewed as experts within their niche. Influencer marketing works because of the high amount of trust that social influencers have built up with their following, and recommendations from them serve as a form of social proof to your brand’s potential customers.
(Source: What is influencer marketing: How to develop your strategy)
If you want a completely different take albeit interesting take on social media influencers be sure to check this episode of the podcast Nice to Meet You. In this episode, Professor Burkhead's Unifier beams a Meerkat and a Social Media Influencer to his space station. As silly as it sounds it is an interesting take on them and is entertaining in the least.
The bottom line is that influencer marketing focuses on employing influential individuals (aka influencers) to transmit a company's message to relevant, broader markets.
It combines the use of traditional and modern marketing tactics. It combines the concept of celebrity endorsement with exclusive content and internet promotions.
As a small business owner, you will most likely want to work directly with one or more influencers to convey your message across their social media accounts.
Influencers can help link customers to companies by influencing others' attitudes and motivating them to take action on a given topic.
Top Five Benefits of Influencer Marketing
Benefit #1: It Boosts Your Business’s Awareness
The key benefit of influencer marketing for your small business is getting it in front of the relevant individuals.
You want to reach out to prospects in new geographical areas and inform them about the services or goods you provide.
Local influencers can help you in accomplishing this goal and increasing brand awareness.
You may be wondering, "Why should I invest money only to make my business more visible?"
People often feel more confident in your business if you increase your exposure through the recommendations of an influencer.
By doing so, you will attract more prospective clients if you become a trusted name in your business.
Benefit #2: It Can Improve Your Sales
Influencer marketing can improve your sales by increasing your exposure and visibility.
If you allow influencers to promote your goods and services, they can encourage more people to use them. This works because the influencer’s audience is loyal and interested in what they are promoting. As a result, their audience is more likely to act.
If you find a niche-relevant influencer or influencers in your local area to help market your brand. You'll have a higher chance of attracting more prospects, which leads to increased conversion and sales if your website is doing its job.
Benefit #3: It Can Be an Excellent Alternative to Paid Ads
The third advantage of influencer marketing for your small business is that it allows you to spread your message to different geographical areas in a natural and welcoming way.
We live in a world where advertisements shout at us from every direction, urging us to take action. On average, every one of us sees multiple advertisements at least once a day.
According to Statista,
In 2019, roughly 25.8 percent of internet users were blocking advertising on their connected devices. This figure is expected to keep growing (albeit slowly), which loosely translated means that a quarter of paid advertising messages will never reach their audiences.
(Source: Ad blocking user penetration rate in the United States from 2014 to 2021)
This is what your small business should consider partnering with influencers as you don't want to risk having your ads disabled or irritating people.
Influencers will advertise what you have to offer naturally that isn't aggressive or deceptive, which improves the effectiveness of your small business's marketing strategy.
In addition to being an organic method, influencer marketing can be far less expensive than other advertising methods.
Benefit #4: It Can Be a Shortcut to Content Marketing
Another advantage of influencer marketing is that it may possibly require less content marketing efforts.
Content marketing refers to the use of various content formats to provide value to your target audience. It is a crucial component of any small business marketing strategy and will often generate the best returns over time.
However, if your business decides to partner with influencers, you don’t have to pay extra for the content they create. The influencer is in charge of curating and collecting information that is relevant to your business and pushing it on their social media sites.
The bottom line is you may want to consider influencer marketing as part of your content marketing strategy.
Benefit #5: It Can Increase Your Website’s Traffic
Lastly, influencer marketing can increase visits and traffic to your small business's website.
Each visitor should be seen as a prospect, and you have a chance to grow your client base. Therefore the more visits you have, the more opportunities for conversions, and ultimately leads that you can convert into sales.
More sales and revenue are objectives that all businesses, regardless of size, strive for. Influencer marketing helps you to do both. It also allows you to do so at a cheaper cost than other marketing traditional marketing strategies.
Final Thoughts
There you have it, the top influencer marketing benefits that your small business or any business can reap if the right approach is put in place.
