Experts believe that in the current 2022, more than 72% will use influencer marketing to promote their products. This is a real trend, and further it will only gain momentum. But what exactly are the features of influencer marketing? What is it, how is it used, what happens?

There are a lot of questions. In today’s article, we will try to answer them.

The concept of influencer marketing and its features

Influencer marketing is a way for influencers to influence the target audience of a business. A simple example: you are following a famous blogger. He enjoys crunching Lay’s chips on camera so much that you want to immediately run and buy them at the nearest store.

There is a good chance that this is not a coincidence. The blogger was paid by Lay’s for such advertising, and you were “seduced”. This is how influencer marketing works.

Now let’s move on to the features of this promotion method:

1. The exact hit on the audience . It is important for an advertiser to choose a suitable blogger who will have potential clients/buyers as subscribers. In this case, the targeted action of the advertising message is ensured.
2. Nativity of advertising . No offers “on the forehead.” Influence marketing aims to achieve the maximum naturalness of the advertising message. The content is unobtrusive, it does not stand out from the style of the blogger’s account, but harmoniously fits into the grid of posts.
3. Working with “live” traffic . Leads, real customers, buyers can go to your site from the opinion leader’s account. There are almost no restrictions here.
4. Established feedback . After placing an advertising post on the blogger’s page, you can immediately begin to analyze the response: the number of likes, comments. The reaction of people will let you know what to add in the next material, what else to work on.

Classical advertising has long caused only irritation in people. It has become so much that businesses simply need to find more original ways to promote. Influence marketing is great for this. If you treat it wisely, you can attract a lot of people to your offer. Ecommerce platform.

Why and what kind of business needs influencer marketing?

The main goal of influencer marketing is to increase sales. But in parallel, it allows you to solve other problems:

• show the public the real possibilities of the product in practice;
• demonstrate the benefits of the acquisition;
• close the objections and pains of the target audience;
• create and strengthen trust in the company/brand;
• improve the image, etc.

Often, the influencer marketing format is used to bring a new product to market. Easy, understandable, presentable.

Just imagine the situation: when a video with native advertising appears on a YouTube channel with a couple of million subscribers, thousands of potential buyers become aware of the product! It really works.

It is also good that representatives of different businesses can take advantage of the advantages of influence marketing. The tool is universal. But there are areas where it works especially effectively:

1. Mass market niche products, popular services intended for a wide target audience. This is a variety of cosmetics, children’s products, automotive products, etc. That is, everything that we use almost every day.
2. Goods and services with the possibility of instant order. These are mobile applications, subscriptions, etc.
3. Highly specialized goods and services. These are handicrafts, plastic surgeon services, etc.

The narrower your target audience, the more specific the product, the more carefully you should approach choosing an influencer and analyzing subscribers. Otherwise, you risk lowering the budget in vain, not achieving the desired effect.

The Real Cons of Influencer Marketing

Like all other marketing tools, this one also has its drawbacks. Here are the main ones:

• Difficulties with choosing a leader of opinions . 90% of the success of the campaign depends on this. Imagine that an avid healthy lifestyle and athlete advertises fast food. Is this interesting to those who subscribed to it for advice on proper nutrition? Such advertising can be a real failure;
• Difficulty generating ideas for promotional content . Conventional advertising has become boring for a long time, but the same thing is starting to happen with native advertising. Many already easily distinguish real content on a blogger’s page from advertising. So you have to work hard to give out some interesting, exciting and creative material;
• inability to control the advertising post . Advertisers rarely think through every detail of an ad, usually the blogger is given the freedom to improvise. But influencers are real people who can convey something wrong. The result is a complete failure.

It is worth noting another important detail – money. Millionaire bloggers and celebrities put very high price tags on their services. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo takes $1,600,000 for a post. e. And our celebrities also have prices that bite. For example, Yuri Dud asks up to $27,000 for a post on Instagram. For advertising on his own YouTube channel, prices start at 2 million rubles.

So the location also matters. This is also worth taking into account when choosing a blogger.

What to Consider When Using Influence Marketing?

So, if you decide to use influencer marketing opportunities, there are a few things to consider:

1. Set specific goals for the tool . If you need to achieve brand/company recognition, go to celebrities. If you need to reach a wide target audience and quickly make yourself known, contact bloggers with millions of audiences.
2. Determine the scope of the advertising campaign . Most advertisers reach out to influencers once, and the second time is rare and out of necessity. But sometimes it is better to order several consecutive publications in the storytelling format. Then you will attract the audience and gain their trust.
3. Calculate your advertising budget . Influence marketing can be free, but it can also be outrageously expensive. Immediately determine for yourself how much you are willing to spend on promotion. With this in mind, choose an opinion leader.

The main thing in this method of promotion is to abandon spontaneous decisions. If there are doubts about the same target audience, it is better to look for other influencers.

Top Influence Marketing Trends in 2022

If you’re determined to use influencer marketing, it’s worth looking into current trends. You need to understand what works best, how to use this or that format of cooperation.

Let’s start with the most interesting. In 2022, 3 key influencer marketing trends took the top spot. Native advertising in videos and posts is gradually becoming a thing of the past, so it’s time to use new methods of promotion.

Embassy

The Ambassador is the representative of the brand among its target audience. The person himself uses the product and talks about it. That is, the ambassador can be considered an intermediary between the seller and the buyer.

Ambassadorship is an old concept. Many business representatives have been using it for a long time. For example, in 2017 Yury Dud became Alfa-Bank’s ambassador:

Jennifer Lawrence is a Dior Ambassador in her country:

Collaborations

A huge number of bloggers release their own product lines (merch): hoodies, caps, bags, etc. Often these are the results of cooperation with manufacturers. That is, a collaboration in the creation of a product. This approach is beneficial to both parties: the blogger receives % of the sales of the product, and the manufacturer receives buyers in the person of this blogger’s subscribers.

Merch is just one of the results of the collaboration. The products are all kinds: cosmetics, language schools, courses, etc.

Let’s take a look at some well-known examples:

1. Kanye West has partnered with Adidas to launch the Yeezy line of athletic shoes. The design turned out to be unusual, the sneakers just scattered.

1. Known in teenage circles, Vlad Bumaga (A4), together with his team, created a branded A4 BOX in Burger King. The composition includes a burger, 1 of three snacks and a drink of your choice. The boxing feature is unique collectible patches. Another example of a successful collaboration.

1. The famous performer Rihanna also collaborates with Dior. If in the example above Jennifer Lawrence is an ambassador, that is, only the face of the product, then the singer Rihanna created sunglasses in a futuristic style for the brand. In fact, she took part in the development and released a thing in collaboration with a famous brand.

Everything benefits from collaboration. But this method is usually used by advanced, already well-known brands in order to attract even more people, to cover a wide target audience.

External creatives

With this format, the influencer participates in the development of an advertising creative, but the creative itself is not placed in his profile. This issue is dealt with by the advertiser. There are a lot of options for using ready-made creatives: banners on racks, targeted advertising, TV advertising, etc.

By the way, this format is already known to many. For example, in 2015, Beeline launched a similar campaign in collaboration with famous bloggers.

Additional marketing influence formats

The trends mentioned above will be relevant in 2022. But is it worth limiting yourself to them? Unlikely. People quickly get bored with monotony. It does not hurt to use other trends.

“Shop on the couch” 2.0

You probably remember this TV reception. The commercials sold frank consumer goods at the “best price”. All kinds of sets of dishes, massagers, etc. It would seem that the trend is a thing of the past, but it suddenly returned, only on the Internet and with some changes.

The bottom line is this: a well-known opinion leader starts a video stream where he promotes a certain product. You might think that this approach has outlived its usefulness, but the numbers prove otherwise. In 2020, in China, the total turnover with such stores reached 171 billion dollars! Already in 2021, the amount approached 200 billion. Further – more.

So we strongly advise you to follow the trend and try to apply it.

Reserved Advertising

A popular trend in Western countries. He will probably get to us soon. The point of the approach is that you can book slots for your video ads on the page, the selected channel, and even the video.

Various formats of reserved advertising are available: In-Stream with and without skipping, masthead, splash ads up to 6 seconds. without a pass, etc.

The only nuance and minus: the advertising campaign is launched exclusively through Google sales representatives. While this is problematic even in the West, what can we say about us. But you should not despair. Everything is developing, moving forward, so that the possibilities of reserved advertising will soon reach us.

Commercial YouTube channels and social media profiles

Sometimes even the company itself can become an opinion leader! And then neither bloggers, nor a detailed analysis of the target audience, nor wasting time on discussing the nuances of cooperation are needed.

Large brands have long had their own pages on social networks and channels on YouTube, they have gained a decent audience. But you need to work well with SMM promotion (quality texts, photos, and the rest).

Mobile marketing and live videos

The importance of mobile marketing is obvious. Once again, optimizers repeat to clients that an adaptive version of the site is necessary, as well as relevant content from bloggers. In particular, we are talking about video content. Design it to reach the mobile audience. That is, place special emphasis on promotion through stories and rails on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc.

interactive content

People love to interact with the brand and their favorite blogger. This desire has been observed recently, and further it will only intensify. Therefore, in 2022 it makes sense to use the following tools:

• podcasts, live broadcasts;
• streams with feedback;
• surveys and quizzes;
• branded masks in social networks.

Interactive influencer marketing is aimed at attracting different categories of target audience. It embraces even those who have not been able to approach before.

Nostalgia in Influence Marketing

Remember the feeling of watching a Coca-Cola commercial with a holiday truck. We involuntarily hum “The holiday is coming to us” and seem to plunge into childhood. This is how nostalgic advertising works. And in influence marketing, she also found a place.

Let’s look at some examples:

In 2018, Google released a Google Assistant ad in collaboration with Macaulay Culkin. At the same time, his mega-popular image of Kevin from the movie “Home Alone” was used. All the same scenery and goosebumps familiar environment. Nostalgia went off scale, the video literally blew up the Internet. The idea worked.

The well-known blogger Anton Lapenko released a video for HH.ru in his characteristic style – to be recorded on a cassette. From such advertising carries the spirit of the 90s a mile away. In a good way.

In 2019, Motorola ventured back to the past and released a clamshell smartphone in a previously beloved design. Alas, the idea was not crowned with great success, although the novelty nevertheless caused a mean nostalgic tear for many.

The concept of brand community

Along with influencer marketing, there is another concept. This is the brand community. With the right approach, influence marketing helps build it.

More specifically, a brand community is a tight-knit group of like-minded people who already have brand loyalty. They are ready to defend their favorite brand or product both online and in real life.

We encounter this often. Remember the “war” in the comments under posts with Apple products. Apple fans fought back in every way from those who spoke negatively towards the brand. Here are the true fans.

Brand communities exist in various areas. Most importantly, they cause resonance in society and active discussion. This is largely a plus for the brand, as it is constantly on the lips.

5 benefits of a large community for business

What other advantages can be obtained from the brand community? A lot of them:

1. reputation and trust . If you cooperate with well-known opinion leaders, you can attract a very large and interested audience. Moreover, because of the trust in your favorite blogger, people will begin to trust you.
2. Detachment from competitors . Each major brand has created its own philosophy, which, thanks to influencer marketing, can be successfully maintained, standing out from the competition. An example is BMW and Mercedes. The first company has a daring style, which is evident in all of its campaigns. Mercedes prefers a solid, representative image. Of course, each company has its own brand community. BMW are active youth, and Mercedes are business people.
3. Additional source of promotion . The brand community is those people who will promote your product for free and without any pressure. And now we are not talking about bloggers, we are talking about their audience. These ordinary customers voluntarily leave product reviews, discuss on forums and advertise you.
4. “Brand Advocates” . One can only envy the strength of spirit of the representatives of the community brands. With what confidence they protect their idol! The same lovers of “apple”, for example. Now Apple representatives no longer need to prove the superiority of their products. Representatives of the brand community do it for them. They will make a video review, “fight” in the comments.
5. Support in times of crisis . Take, for example, even the current pandemic crisis. He ruined many businesses. But big brands with a huge audience of fans are confidently staying afloat.

The community of brands is strength. If you manage to get them, it will be much easier to develop and advance.

Who should apply influence marketing to form a brand community?

Obviously, this approach is not for everyone. Sometimes it is better to direct the budget to other advertising channels.

But some can make efforts to form a community of brands. This is relevant if:

• your product is unique;
• the brand has the potential to assemble its own fan base;
• you form a company with a “human face”;
• other ways to solve the problem is difficult.

When is a brand community not needed? For example, you work in the B2B segment and have several permanent large client partners. What’s the point of building a community for a company that makes disposable bags? Everything is logical.

findings

Influence marketing is a very powerful marketing tool. It helps to attract new customers, gain their trust, and make the brand more recognizable. So much so that communities are formed around him, ready to defend the honor of their idol at least around the clock! It is only important to use the influencer marketing opportunities wisely: choose the right influencer, create cool content, and use trends.