Influencer Marketing: What it Really is

Throughout the past year, influencer marketing has become a new up-and-coming tactic for the marketing world. We define influencer marketing as the relationship between a brand, such as American Eagle, and an influencer, like Addison Rae. In most cases, the influencer promoting the brand is well versed in the product or the company they are promoting. For instance, a popular example is when a fitness clothing company asks a well-known personal trainer to make a TikTok, a brief captivating video, or an Instagram post wearing their brand to target a specific audience.

The most interesting part about influencer marketing is that influencers operate independently, allowing themselves to be their boss. Meanwhile, maintaining the common main goal of perpetuating the loyalty of their consumers. One unique aspect of this budding career is that the influencer salary solely depends on their fan base and how much attention they bring to the brand. For instance, Instagram influencer salaries range in correlation to their following: the set price point is $1,000 for every 100,000 followers. As a result, this creates a broad range and possibility of income based on popularity and recognition received by the intended audience.

Even though the salary aspect of the job may seem slightly unreliable due to the high competition surrounding this field, there are also countless perks from being an influencer. One of the more glorious privileges for an influencer is their permitted flexibility, making it manageable to keep a good work-life balance. Moreover, in theory, anyone can become an influencer despite their background, race, and education, which opens doors for many people who could not afford a college education or have difficulty finding a stable job.

Influencer marketing is not only accessible to all but also a very advantageous strategy for brands to obtain. Due to the diversity of social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter, it makes it harder to reach your intended audience, which creates a problem for brands to sell their products. Nevertheless, influencers provide a resolution to the disparity of content by making relatable or catchy bits to gain public interest. The main role of an influencer is to reach the target audience by knowing which platform is best appropriate for the content they are promoting.

The primary downside to utilizing and incorporating influencer marketing into branding strategies is the reliability of the target influencer. Since the job of an influencer is not as credential-based as other marketing jobs, it can lead to issues such as professionalism and lack of maturity which can detrimentally affect the brand. As a result, companies should always take many precautions and run multiple tests, such as background tests; especially, taking a look at influencers' social media platforms before hiring an influencer. Nevertheless, influencers are on the rise and it seems like the end is not nearing as they promote all of the intended products to the wanted audiences.

By: Roshelle Gutt

Source:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2018/07/30/understanding-influencer-marketing-and-why-it-is-so-effective/?sh=6f951baf71a9