Product reviewing: how to utilise digital influencers. Identifying and using the appropriate influencers in your marketing strategy is pivotal to ensuring that your brand and product are being seen in the right place, at the right time and most importantly, by the right people. Perhaps, it’s because digital influencers are still often seen as ‘regular people’ which makes them more accessible to their followers. Some of the benefits include: Increase in traffic to your site Building brand and product awareness Increase in sales Growth of social media channels Credibility for your brand amongst your desired audience Access to a new market Long standing relationships with influencers But product reviewing doesn’t come without risk. A disclosure can appear anywhere in the post; however, the most useful placement is at the top in case users don’t read the entire post. Is it social media channels such as Twitter and Instagram or is it long form blog content? Have they done product reviews before? How will their audience engage with your product? The audience of a digital influencer are defined as an ‘opt-in’ network – they chose to consume the content put before them. Ask yourself: How did my product come across in the review?
Credible and reliable endorsements are now, more so than ever, vital to a brand’s success.
Identifying and using the appropriate influencers in your marketing strategy is pivotal to ensuring that your brand and product are being seen in the right place, at the right time and most importantly, by the right people.
It is becoming increasingly apparent that brands are choosing to recruit digital influencers to act as their ambassadors. Previously, brands would try to on-board a celebrity to become the face of their brand or product – so why, in recent years, have we seen a shift to digital influencers?
Perhaps, it’s because digital influencers are still often seen as ‘regular people’ which makes them more accessible to their followers. Many influencers still work a day job, run a household, have children and engage in everyday social activities that, in the eyes of their audience, make them more relatable.
A survey of the fashion and beauty industry by Econsultancy at the start of the year showed that almost 60% of fashion and beauty brands already have an implemented influencer marketing strategy, with a further 21% planning to invest in developing a strategy throughout the course of 2016.
When asked, ‘What role do influencers currently play in your marketing strategies?’ 27% responded that product launch is ‘critical’ when it comes to influencers with another 42% placing high importance on the use of influencers. So, with 69% of brands saying product launch is top priority, should you be incorporating it into your marketing strategy?
So what are the benefits of product
reviews?
In a report published last year it was estimated that more than half of UK adults use online reviews and that 6% look at a blog or a vlog before committing to a purchase.
If you get product reviewing right the ROI can be monumental for your brand. Some of the benefits include:
- Increase in traffic to your site
- Building brand and product awareness
- Increase in sales
- Growth of social media channels
- Credibility for your brand amongst your desired audience
- Access to a new market
- Long standing relationships with influencers
But product reviewing doesn’t come without risk.
You should be under no illusion that because an influencer has agreed to produce a review that it is going to be anything but truthful. Inviting an influencer to review is asking them to provide an honest opinion of your product. If they don’t like it, they are probably going to say exactly that.
In the recent ‘The Voice of the Influencer Report’ what influencers want and need from brands became very clear:
- 60% of influencers assess brand reputation before entering a
relationship. If your brand has a bad reputation influencers are
going to be more wary - 47% said that personal development and being their own brand is
of utmost importance - 93% believe influencers should be controlling the narrative,
not the brand - 67% said that being authentic is the key to building
influence
Rules for staying on the right side of the law… and Google
In addition to the above, as outlined in the Blogger Crackdown: The New Commercial Laws Simplified Google issued these rules around how influencers must disclose sponsored promotion and reviews:
“Use the nofollow tag where appropriate. Links that pass PageRank in exchange for goods or services are against Google guidelines on link schemes.
Companies sometimes urge bloggers to link back to:
- The company’s site
- The company’s social media accounts
- An online merchant’s page that sells the product
- A review service’s page featuring reviews of the
product - The company’s mobile app on an app store
Bloggers should use the nofollow tag on all such links because these links didn’t come about organically (i.e., the links wouldn’t exist if the company hadn’t offered to provide free goods or service in exchange for a link). Companies, or the marketing firms they’re working with, can do their part by reminding bloggers to use nofollow on these links.
Disclose the relationship –
Users want to know when they’re viewing sponsored content. Also, there are laws in some countries that make disclosure of sponsorship mandatory. A disclosure can appear anywhere in the post; however, the most useful placement is at the top in case users don’t read the entire post.
Create compelling, unique content –
The most successful blogs offer their visitors a compelling reason to come back. If you’re a blogger you might try to become the go-to source of information in your topic area, cover a useful niche that few others are looking at, or provide exclusive content that only you can create due to your unique expertise or resources.”
So how do you choose the best digital influencer to
review your product?
Understanding your own audience is the key component when it comes to selecting the right influencers to align with your product. Not only who they...
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