Influencer marketing is a huge catch phrase; there’s no denying that. The term went from being lightly talked about in 2013 and ‘14 to being one of the top buzz phrases today. There’s one glaring reason why it’s such a big deal, though, and that’s because it works.
Although there are many reasons influencer marketing should be a part of your marketing strategies – at least occasionally – today we’re going to cover the top three.
1. The ROI of Influencer Marketing is HUGE
ROI is a big thing. It’s the biggest reason we do what we do as business owners, right? To see our return on investment double, triple, etc. Growth, yeah?
Influencer marketing is all about ROI.
Let’s look at an example. Back in 2015, Lord and Taylor used Instagram for influencer marketing. According to AdWeek, the retailer got 50 influencers to post a picture of themselves wearing the same dress. The dress sold out and their social skyrocketed. You can read the details in the AdWeek article. Long story short, it was a rip-roaring success. Yes, the Instagram influencers were compensated, but how much more might they have spent on high cost television or magazine ads?
The return of investment isn’t just lip service. It’s measurable, as shown in this case study conducted by Nielsen Catalina Solutions, TapInfluence and WhiteWave Foods. The title of the case study says it all: “It’s Official: Influencer Content Generates Unprecedented ROI – Try 11x* The Average Traditional Digital Campaign.” You read that right. Influencer marketing generated 11 times the return over traditional advertising.
A more recent study conducted by the media technology company, RhythmOne, shows that advertisers average $11.20 for every $1.00 of paid media spend. That’s the average. One advertiser earned $21.03 for each $1 of paid media spend.
The “how” of that is the second reason this form of marketing should be in your powerhouse.
2. Influencer Marketing is Residual
It has major hang time. As the case study points out, traditional ads only last for so long. You run them for a month, two, maybe six, but eventually you shut them off. Influencer marketing campaigns go on, and on, and on.
For example, today, right now, you can still go to Instagram and see the posts from the Lord and Taylor campaign. So you have a one time investment for, literally, months of return.
Influencer content stays online unless the site goes down. While that happens, it’s rare that it happens to all of your influencers at the same time. So you actively run the campaign for three months. Six months later that content is still up and still doing it’s job of bringing in people. A year later, and it’s still bringing in people.
You can’t get that kind of residual ROI with traditional paid advertising.
3. Influencer Marketing is Powerful
It’s marketing on steroids. Why? Because influencer marketing uses word-of-mouth (WoM), and the people that are talking are, by definition, influential.
Cision (global media intelligence company, owner of PRWeb), shared an awesome list of WoM campaigns that really points out how powerful influencer marketing really is. A few highlights:
- Chinese company Dettoll increased sales 86%
- Zappos had more than $2 billion in sales in a year, driven by WoM
- Adidas created a campaign that received 5.5 million views, successfully increasing awareness of the Chinese Women’s Volleyball Team
Influencer marketing is word-of-mouth marketing, but it’s picking the best mouthes to do the talking. It’s the difference between an endorsement by Neil Patel or an endorsement by Joe Blow that nobody knows. It’s the difference between Stephen Fry sharing a piece of music from an unknown and an unknown sharing a piece of music from an unknown.
And if you were able to talk the President of the United States into endorsing a product… phew. Who knows the returns on THAT influencer… (yes, we dream big)
Final Thoughts
Influencer marketing isn’t new. It’s been around since at least the 1700s. -And the reasons it’s stuck around is for the same reasons we covered today: great ROI, residual return and powerful effects.
So here’s the question. If you knew there was a form of marketing out there that could bring in 2x the return on your money, are you neglecting your company if you ignore it? We think so.
Influencer marketing works. Let it work for you!
