We received an electronic letter and inquiry from Austėja S., a student of the Faculty of Communication at Vilnius University, about influencer marketing. Below, we provide answers about this type of marketing.
1. What do you think led to the emergence of influencers in society?
Influencer marketing was applied between 1800 and 2000, by companies such as Coca-Cola, Old Spice, etc. However, the influencer marketing of that time differs somewhat from today’s marketing. One of the more significant reasons for the emergence today is that an influencer’s audience is loyal, making it easier to shape opinions about a product or item. Regular consumers are tired of direct advertising; they want to save time and trust opinion formers who have personally tried the product.
2. What is an influencer?
An influencer is a person who has the ability to influence the purchasing decisions of others due to their knowledge, societal status, or relationship with their audience.
3. Does an influencer differ from an opinion leader?
An opinion leader could be better defined as an expert in their field, who researches, analyzes, and presents conclusions to the wider public. This is a more professional method of providing information. An influencer often appears as someone who tries many things and gives their opinion and recommendations, rather than statistical, specific, or expert conclusions.
Of course, there are moments when these concepts overlap.
4. Why do brands work with influencers?
Common reasons include brand strengthening, additional sales, and shaping consumer opinions.
5. How often do brands use influencers in their communication?
In Lithuania, this is a frequent phenomenon, although less common than on a global scale. Both unpaid product endorsements by influencers and paid messages on their profiles are prevalent.
Growth curve of influencer marketing, source – Google Trends.
6. What types of influencers are the most successful?
In most niches of online marketing, a larger share of baskets and conversion rates is driven by a female audience. Influencer marketing is no exception – successful examples often involve products targeted at women (beauty, clothing, etc.). The most successful cases occur when a quality product is recommended to the right audience.
7. What do influencers have that brands don’t?
An audience that trusts the influencer and their recommended products. Influencers more easily and effectively shape consumer opinion. Brand messages seem like advertisements, whereas influencer messages are close to natural recommendations about a product.
8. Who establishes the criteria for choosing an influencer (agencies or brands)?
The work and task of advertising agencies is to provide clearly formulated questions to brand representatives, gather all necessary information, organize it, define the target audience, and then find the best influencer for that brand.
9. What criteria determine the choice of influencers in brand communication?
The size and quality of the influencer’s audience, alignment with the product concept, and the results of previous posts. The brand’s marketing budget also plays a role.
10. How do you measure successful work with an influencer?
At the start of collaboration, it’s important to set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), assess technological capabilities for tracking visitor flow and results. A few key methods include monitoring and analyzing website statistics using Google Analytics 1-3 days after posting. Organic search traffic, direct traffic, and tracked traffic via technologies like UTM or third-party visitor tracking systems are taken into account. For physical stores, tracking the number of visitors and sales during a specific period is necessary.
11. What added value does an influencer bring to a brand?
In a successful case, influencer advertising generates immediate sales. If an influencer network and long-term strategic plan are employed, brand awareness and trust are strengthened.
12. Could you elaborate on the positive and negative aspects of working with influencers?
Defining a clear strategic plan is crucial. For instance, if a message works the first time, it doesn’t mean the same product by the same influencer should be promoted a few days later. The promotion of products should be varied, along with timing, marketing channels, influencers, and monitoring frequency and results.
For example, if the same product is advertised on the same influencer’s audience 1-2 times a week, consumers will recognize it as direct advertising – this can lead to negative feedback and a weakened brand in that audience. These would be negative aspects in the absence of a strong strategic plan.
Effective example: If there is a clear and solid strategic plan, you will select multiple influencers, rotate promoted products, use different channels (not just Facebook but also Instagram, etc.), set a message that emphasizes recommendation rather than direct advertising.