Influencer Marketing FAQs
Influencer marketing is a powerful yet challenging strategy.
Brands often find it difficult to run successful influencer campaigns due to problems like finding the right influencers, managing campaigns, spotting fake followers, measuring performance, increasing costs, etc.
So whether you're new to the influencer industry or a seasoned professional, you will need proper knowledge to execute winning influencer campaigns. Before diving into word-of-mouth marketing with little expertise and wasting countless hours, you should understand the strategy from end to end.
Our list of influencer marketing FAQs covers basic to advanced questions like what is influencer marketing and how to tell if a campaign is working to help you understand the problems other brands struggle with. It will also help you improve your strategies to implement successful campaigns.
Let's dive in!
Influencer Marketing 101
What is influencer marketing? Influencer marketing (or word-of-mouth marketing) involves influencers who promote a brand or product to a target or niche audience. The marketing strategy helps brands reach their end goals, like building brand awareness, increasing sales, inviting traffic and leads, and more. Influencer marketing can be a sub-strategy of social media marketing and content marketing as it focuses on two elements: • Social media – influencers mostly promote products and services on their social media pages • Content – influencers create relevant content to talk about the brand
Who is an influencer? The term influencer is used to define someone who has an influence or convincing power over a group of people. It can be anyone from social media influencers to content creators, celebrities, and key opinion leaders. The influencers have an established presence and a loyal following on websites and social networks like Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, etc. They create relevant content in specific niches like beauty, lifestyle, gaming, sustainability, fashion, and so on to engage their audience. Some influencers are also known as opinion or thought leaders who have the power to persuade the target audience based on their knowledge and expertise in a particular subject. They can be doctors, lawyers, nutritionists, and more.
Influencers vs. Brand ambassadors: Which one should you choose? Brand ambassadors promote your products, services, and overall brand message with the consumers for little to no compensation. They are existing customers of your brand who love your products and have previously shared reviews, testimonials, and guides on social media, websites, or events. Brands approach ambassadors for long-term partnerships as they are already familiar with the product and can build credibility. On the other hand, influencers are knowledgeable people who have experience creating content in a niche. Influencers may or may not be existing brand customers, but they speak passionately about your brand and share personalized content with their followers for compensation. Brands approach influencers for relatively shorter partnerships. Choosing between the two depends on your business goals and budget. If you have a small budget and want to partner with someone who has in-depth knowledge about your product, then go for brand ambassadors. But if you aim to boost awareness and reach new customers with shareable content, go for influencers.
How is influencer marketing different from affiliate marketing? Affiliate marketing includes affiliates who work with a brand to bring new customers and increase sales for a fixed commission. Whereas in influencer marketing, brands focus more on generating awareness, increasing traffic, boosting sales and revenue, improving social engagement, and more with the help of different types of influencers.
How many types of influencers are there? Influencers can be divided into categories based on their level of expertise, niche, follower count, location, and more. Here are three main categories of influencers: Based on the follower count • Nano influencers: 1K to 10K followers • Micro-influencers: 10K to 50K followers • Mid-tier influencers: 50K to 500K • Macro influencers: 500K to 1M followers • Mega or celebrity influencers: Above 1M followers Based on niche or industry • Beauty • Fashion • Sustainability • Gaming • Non-fungible token (NFT) • Fintech • Cryptocurrency • Food • Mental Health • Wellness • Pet • Parent • Kid Check out our list of top influencers by niche and geolocation. Based on area of expertise • Social media • Bloggers • Vloggers • Thought leaders or experts Read more: 19 Types of Influencers Based on Follower Count and Niches They Serve Who are virtual influencers? Virtual or CGI influencers are computer-generated people with personalities and features similar to human beings. These influencers create digital content and promote brands in multiple industries on social media. Technical creators or programmers create and manage these influencers and their social media accounts. Virtual influencers have become a sensation in the social media world, including Lu Do Magalu, Lil Miquela, noonoouri, and Imma, who have thousands and millions of followers on their Instagram pages. Leading brands like Tinder, Prada, Dior, and Calvin Klein have already collaborated with virtual influencers to reach new potential customers.
What is influencer/creator management? Creator management is the technique of managing brands' relationships with creators or influencers. It includes the end-to-end communication between a brand and the creator, including outreach, negotiations, content creation, content approvals, campaign management, payments, and performance measurement.
Is influencer marketing effective? Absolutely! Influencer marketing is an effective strategy used by more than 70% of marketers today. Consumers trust influencer recommendations and follow them to get information on new products, learn tips and tricks about a subject, and more. Hubspot's research shows that 80% of marketers say that influencer marketing is very effective. Not just that, 71% of marketers believe that the leads and traffic from influencer marketing are of better quality than other strategies.
What are the key benefits of influencer marketing? A 2023 research shows that influencer marketing is practiced by more than 75% of marketers who believe it is more effective than other marketing methods. It helps you: • Increase engagement on social media • Improve sales and conversions • Attain warmer leads • Improve the return on investment • Build authentic relationships with the audience • Win the audience's trust • Acquire loyal fans for your business
What industries should be using influencer marketing? Influencer marketing is a reliable marketing strategy used extensively in multiple sectors. Earlier it was used by businesses in selected industries like beauty, fashion, and lifestyle, but today, brands in multiple sectors, like pet, fintech marketing, fitness, tech, travel, parenting, etc., are now using word-of-mouth marketing to amplify their messaging. Even the B2B sector is now catching up and seeing merit in using influencer marketing to reach the target customers, regardless of the industry. For example, SAP, American Express, and TopRank are some brands excelling in their word-of-mouth marketing strategies.
Is influencer marketing affordable for small businesses? Influencer marketing is a strategy that can be adopted by every type of business, whether you're a multinational corporation or a startup with a small budget. The cost of your campaign depends on the type of influencer you choose to collaborate with. If you partner with micro and nano influencers like gamers, photographers, videographers, bloggers, etc., you can generate more engagement and loyalty for your product at less cost. Some may even promote branded content for rewards, free products, or event invites.
Does influencer marketing increase sales? The main reason why most brands go for influencer marketing is to spread awareness about their company or a new product. But you can also use it to increase sales for your business by building long-term relationships with influencers. Lasting brand-influencer relations help you gain the audience's trust with consistent content, ultimately leading to more sales. You can also give creators a custom discount code or link, which customers can follow to make a direct purchase from your site or eCommerce store and avail the discounts. This strategy works very well for eCommerce and D2C brands.