Should You Invest in Influencer Marketing in 2022

Influencer marketing becomes more popular year after year as marketers see long-term gains and growth opportunities. Influencer marketing utilizes social media platforms to build brand awareness and increase conversions. However, it’s not the same as social media marketing. While some argue it’s a form of social media marketing, influencer marketing campaigns use people outside of the organization, known as influencers, to promote products and services. 

Ultimately, influencers are individuals with large, engaged followings on social media platforms, and their audience views them as thought-leaders or experts in an industry. In addition, customers are more likely to trust a human than a brand, making influencer marketing a no-brainer for businesses in just about every industry. This article will discuss the pros and cons of influencer marketing to decide if it’s a strategy you should invest in this year. 

Pros of Influencer Marketing

As we’ve already mentioned, consumers are more likely to trust influencers because they’re real people. Unfortunately, while brands have real people behind them, their messaging often falls flat with modern consumers who want a more personal experience. Here are the benefits of influencer marketing. 

Increased Brand Awareness

Influencers have thousands if not millions of followers, making it easier for them to reach a large audience. Unlike brands, which might not be able to reach as many people in their niche, influencers can effectively communicate with thousands of people every single day. Increasing brand awareness might not directly lead to increased sales immediately, but it can help you get in front of more potential customers so they can begin learning about your offerings. 

Trust and Credibility

Influencers are trusted by their followers because they’re real people, and they’re not hiding behind any single brand or message. You can leverage an influencer’s trust with their audience to make potential customers trust your brand more. If you work with a credible influencer, your brand can become more credible to thousands of people with a single post. 

Long-term Opportunities 

The most successful influencer campaigns are those that build relationships with the influencers promoting products and services. Instead of hiring new influencers for each campaign, you can continue to work with the same trusted influencers you know will deliver results for your brand. 

Boosts Content

Many brands have a difficult time coming up with a content calendar for their social media profiles. Influencer marketing can help improve your content strategy by creating fresh content centered around the brand without the need for someone in the marketing department to create posts for hours. Instead, you can work with influencers who can create posts for you and leverage their existing relationships with their followers. 

More Conversions

Working with influencers offers brands the opportunity to earn more conversions. With a simple influencer campaign, you can give their followers an exclusive deal to allow them to easily shop on your website and get to know your brand. For example, if you run a clothing brand, partnering with a fashion influencer is a great way to boost conversion by having them wear some of your products.

Cost-effective

Using paid advertisements can be expensive and bring very little return on your investment. However, influencer marketing can be cost-effective if you utilize the many different marketing tools available to help you find and hire qualified freelancers and influencers who work for themselves. 

Ideal for Businesses of All Sizes

Influencer marketing is cost-effective enough that companies of any size can work with them. Companies with a lower budget can work with micro-influencers who typically have a smaller but more engaged audience than the celebrity influencers big brands go after. Working with micro-influencers is a cost-effective way to increase brand awareness, boost conversions, and build trust with new customers. 

Cons of Influencer Marketing

While influencer marketing can help all businesses boost their brand awareness, it might not be the right marketing strategy for everyone. Here are the cons of influencer marketing. 

Potential to Work With the Wrong Influencers

Influencer marketing takes time to find the right influencer to work with. There are many different types of influencers, so you must do your research and go through their social media to ensure they don’t say anything that could ruin your brand’s reputation. If you don’t find the right influencers with the same values as your business, you could damage your reputation. Unfortunately, many first-time marketers have difficulty finding the right influencers for different campaigns and identifying whether their followers are legitimate.

Time-Consuming

If you’re trying to save money on influencer marketing, you might choose not to use a platform that will allow you to find and vet influencers, create contracts, and measure the effectiveness of your campaign. Unfortunately, if you’re not using any of the many influencer marketing platforms available, you could be costing your business time and money. 

Difficulty Measuring Results

Many people have difficulty understanding how to track the results of an influencer campaign, especially if they don’t have a digital marketing background. You’ll need to analyze every campaign to determine if you received an ROI, gained new customers, or had any negative outcomes from working with influencers. Luckily, there are many ways to measure the effectiveness of your influencer marketing campaign. Still, it might be best to work with an agency or use a management tool that can help you track and measure campaign success and failure.

Should You Invest in Influencer Marketing in 2022?

Some marketers believe they don’t have a big enough budget for influencer marketing because macro-influencers can charge thousands of dollars for a single post. However, influencer marketing can work with a budget if you choose to work with influencers that have smaller but engaged followings. 

Influencer marketing can help businesses of all sizes and industries, but making mistakes can cost your business thousands of dollars. If you’re interested in learning more about influencer marketing, you can work with an agency to help you design the perfect campaign, or you can run your campaign in-house. If you choose to run your campaign in-house, do your research to ensure you can build an effective strategy while considering your budget. Ultimately, you don’t have to go after the most expensive influencers just because they’re celebrities.

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