What Startup Entrepreneurs Need to Know About the Influencer Marketing Landscape

What Startup Entrepreneurs Need to Know About the Influencer Marketing Landscape

In the first quarter of 2017, influencer marketing was responsible for 28 percent of online customer-acquisition, and 67 percent of businesses said they planned to increase their influencer marketing budget over the next 12 months. Every niche you can think of has influencers that direct those who follow them, which is likely part of the reason why startups with aggressive marketing campaigns are going from ground floor to nationally recognized seemingly overnight. What makes influencer marketing so important? Influencers' followers trust them and the products they promote. When they help you market your products, you build trust with consumers and get your products in front of them regardless of the ad blockers they may have. When you use influencer marketing, you build trust with your audience quickly through your influencer(s). You increase brand awareness. Influencers are typically specialized; for example, Jaclyn Hill is a YouTube and social media influencer in the beauty space, but her content is focused on makeup rather than hair. The point of SEO is to get quality, credible content about your brand on the web to boost your search rankings. It's important to look at all the different channels available and find an influencer who actively uses the same platform your audience is using.

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What Startup Entrepreneurs Need to Know About the Influencer Marketing Landscape
Jaclyn Hill

Last year, according to a study by Marketing Hub, the term “influencer marketing” showed a 325 percent increase in searches per month, and more than 200 new platforms and influencer marketing-focused agencies joined the market. In the first quarter of 2017, influencer marketing was responsible for 28 percent of online customer-acquisition, and 67 percent of businesses said they planned to increase their influencer marketing budget over the next 12 months.

Every niche you can think of has influencers that direct those who follow them, which is likely part of the reason why startups with aggressive marketing campaigns are going from ground floor to nationally recognized seemingly overnight. But as straightforward as influencer marketing may appear, it can be a complex landscape to navigate, requiring a strategic plan and optimization to make it work.

How many different types of influencers are there?

As noted, there are influencers for every niche you can think of — food, fashion and beauty, video games, fitness, business, finance, direct sales, couponing … the list goes on and on. Within those niches, there are different types of influencers, like celebrities, news personalities, analysts, bloggers and even people who are considered thought leaders or “sensations” (think: YouTube personalities).

Just a few of the most followed influencers of 2018 include: Huda Kattan, a makeup artist and beauty blogger; Zach King, a social media magician; Tai Lopez; an online business self-help leader; Kayla Itsines, a fitness influencer and cofounder of The Bikini Body Training Company; and Deb Perelman, a self-taught home cook. For every niche, hobby, or quirk there’s a slew of influencers already creating content around that subject.

What makes influencer marketing so important?

Thanks to the internet, it’s easier than ever to get information out about your product. It’s also easier to publish any information you please, even if it’s not true. Consumers are well aware of the misinformation out there and wary of the content and claims they come across. They put less trust and stock in ads and even use ad blockers en masse, which has dampened the success of many marketing campaigns.

With influencer marketing, you can address all those issues in one. Influencers’ followers trust them and the products they promote. When they help you market your products, you build trust with consumers and get your products in front of them regardless of the ad blockers they may have. In a Collective Bias survey, 30 percent of consumers out of 14,000 respondents reported that they were more likely to purchase a product promoted by a non-celebrity blogger, and almost 40 percent of Twitter users have reported that they’ve made a purchase because of a Tweet…

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