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Influencer Marketing: Expanding Your Reach

Entertainment outlets are readily available to us 24/7, platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube can have us hooked for hours each day. This can be correlated with the pandemic causing an online shift and leaving us searching for new forms of entertainment. As a result, the rise of influencers has increased dramatically over the past two years. As well, influencer marketing has taken off immensely, causing more than 50% of all marketing agencies to invest in influencers.

The consistent reach that influencers can attract on platforms is like nothing ever seen before. In particular, TikTok has over 1 billion monthly users and engagement through the roof. 

The short video concept allows creators to hold the attention of the audience with the endless feed offered. So what’s the difference between marketing on a platform like TikTok compared to Instagram or YouTube? The algorithm of TikTok makes it so it doesn’t matter how big or small your following is, the feed pushes out videos and you can generate millions of views. 

The addictive layout of TikTok keeps users engaged all day, laying the ground for an enormous amount of advertising real estate. This as a result has created a platform for hundreds of thousands of influencers to promote their affiliations as well as their own brands. So how does this benefit a business? What is in it to gain for the marketing department? 

Let's take a look at what we know: 

Why Should Your Brand Use Influencers?

If you’re a brand in 2022 looking to grow, and you’re not already using influencer marketing, you could be missing out on double, even triple the audience you have now. Users trust influencers, particularly millennial users, 40% of whom believe influencers understand their needs. But how many people even really buy products they’re shown on social media?

Instagrams 2020 data found that more than 130 million people shop for products shown to them on the platform every month. To narrow that down, even more, over 85% of women take shopping advice from social media.

How Are Influencers So Effective?

Brands are partnering with influencers to share their audience for marketing their products. For example, a cosmetic company could partner with a fashion influencer to market their latest concealer. The influencer would then post a video of them with no makeup on, getting ready with the product, looking very nice and happy at the end, providing directions on where to buy it. These videos typically average tens-hundreds of thousands of likes and even more views.

The ability influencers have to connect with their audience is extremely valuable. Audiences become obsessed with the lifestyles and personalities of these individuals. As a result, the cost to work with them does not come cheap. 

How Much Can You Expect To Spend?

The amount companies spend depends on the number of followers the influencer has. Accounts with 10-100k followers can range from $100-$5,000 per post, while accounts with over one million typically have a 10k minimum. These estimations will vary based on the situation and agreements between influencers and brands, but the bottom line is that this will be an investment. 

What Can Companies Gain From Influencers?

The return on investment for influencer marketing campaigns is estimated at $6 for every $1 spent, this is leading over 60% of marketers to spend more of their budget on influencers. The creativity influencers apply to marketing products cannot be achieved the same through traditional advertisements. Influencers are trusted, their content attracts people all over the world by just being themselves. Their ability to market themselves translates into marketing products, if they say they use it, the audience will take their advice. 

Conclusion 

Creativity is increasingly being delegated to influencers instead of a creative team with a whiteboard. This can save companies time in their planning and provide a more efficient focus to invest in their marketing. Now, of course, we cannot disregard traditional methods of advertising as companies do need to still have their messaging developed in-house. Influencer marketing is simply a tool to keep an eye on in today’s marketing world.

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