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Very recently, we have experienced an explosive growth in influencer marketing. We read about stories where companies leveraged this marketing strategy to increase their traffics and conversion rates dramatically. In fact, one such company even claimed to increase their \u201cwebsite traffic by over 400 percent with influencer marketing.<\/i><\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n But before more on this, let\u2019s see what is meant by influencer marketing.<\/p>\n Understand Influencer Marketing<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Although the term \u201cinfluencer marketing\u201d is quite popular these days, no one is absolutely<\/span> sure about it. The biggest challenge is that to each brand it has a different image. Typically, it is defined as the marketing strategy that helps you identify and target influential individuals who are trusted by your target audience. The influence is usually driven by relationship between this individual and his\/her followers as well as the individual\u2019s expertise on the given subject.<\/p>\n The core of this concept is nothing new. Remember in the old days how brands used celebrities to advertise and promote their products, endorsing their brand value? Influencer marketing as we see it today is just an extended and more robust version of an age-old concept. Brands realized that celebrity endorsement is not only expensive, it was gradually losing its touch as people became cynical of the entire thing as it was based on monetary interest. In fact, a recent Nike study<\/a> found that less than 25 percent of customers don\u2019t believe most online advertisements.<\/p>\n As a result, brands focused on real people who have influence over their community. Popular bloggers, industry leaders and subject experts were targeted by brands as influencers due to their credibility and the trust people put on them. Wouldn\u2019t you trust a brand if Guy Kawasaki says he trust them too?<\/p>\n In addition to popular bloggers and celebrities, brands are now targeting everyday users as they too can have a large impact on other buyers. As social networking became popular, a lot of brands across a large vertical shifted their focus on influencers. They are asking these individuals to promote\/speak for their brand, and in turn, these influencers are often compensated through freebies, commission-based programs and paid contract-based positions based on the engagement they can create based on peer recommendations.<\/p>\n Scopes of Influencer Marketing<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Basically, influencer marketing is just another form of word-of-mouth marketing where industry influencers speak about your products and services. And we are already aware of the power word-of-mouth marketing has over traditional forms<\/span> of marketing. In fact, according to a McKinsey Study<\/a>, this form of marketing generates more than double the sales generated by paid advertising. The study also includes that customers acquired through word-of-mouth marketing have 37 percent higher retention rate.<\/p>\n Another report published on The Guardian<\/a> indicates that the<\/span> Internet will be used as the key source of information by around 69 percent of consumers within the next five years. It is therefore quite obvious that peer recommendations play a significant role to persuade consumers, making influencer marketing a highly leveraged strategy among marketers.<\/p>\n Brands and Influencer Marketing<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a note how the popular car manufacturing brand General Motors<\/a> is using influencer marketing to gain a competitive edge. They have created<\/span> an exclusive website with limited access to the special and privileged \u201cGM Insiders,\u201d who were basically customers with a deep knowledge about the brand and have had an affinity and long-standing history for GM\u2019s products. It featured exclusive news, sneak peeks and special offers to encourage these privileged customers to talk to their friends and family about GM cars.<\/p>\n ModCloth<\/a> is another brand that is using influencer marketing just perfectly. This vintage clothing company is very active on social media channels where they share images provided by their audience members wearing ModCloth\u2019s clothing. This is one of the best ways to make your customers feel special, encouraging them to post more and more pictures in order to create engagement. Besides, these customers are more likely to share these posts within their networks, which again increase ModCloth\u2019s social mentions and reach.<\/p>\n In fact, a lot of fashion and lifestyle brands are incorporating this strategy. Some are even sending their products for free to the influencers and ask them to review the whole experience on their website\/blogs and share them on their social media accounts. In addition, few brands are even holding contests and asking their audience to enter them to win free goodies. Most contests are built around the brand\u2019s products such as asking users why they would rather use this particular item over others or may be to share an image (again related to the product) and the maximum share and liking wins the contest.<\/p>\n Google did something similar with Google Glass back in 2013. The tech giant asked users to justify within 50 words or less why they deserve to receive an early version of Glass. And the winner could buy a Google Glass for just $1,500. With 8,000 beta testers, called Explorers, the product received a lot of buzz even before Google decided its official launch. Each of these 8,000 beta testers were actually Google\u2019s influencers who created an excitement around the product through word-of-mouth marketing.<\/p>\n Finding Good Influencers<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n If you too want to leverage influencer marketing, you need to find some good influencers to start with. There are different types of influencers but you need to find the most trustworthy ones, establish a strong relationship with them and find a way to motivate them to promote your brand. You must consider including some authority figures such as bloggers, speakers and industry experts as your influencers as the message they give out creates a positive impact on your buyers.<\/p>\n