One of the main benefits of using social media influencers to promote customer loyalty is that they can provide authentic and credible endorsements of your products or services. Customers tend to trust recommendations from people they admire and relate to, rather than from ads or corporate messages. Influencers can also create engaging and relevant content that showcases your brand values, features, and benefits, and encourages customers to interact with you and each other. This can help you build a loyal community around your brand, and increase customer retention and referrals.
Some of the best "influencers" are current users with an audience rather than finding someone with an audience and making them an influencer. Because one day they'll end their partnership with your brand and they won't miss your product. However, that customer you made an influencer might be more willing to stay on longer and say more positive things about your brand. Some of the best people to promote a brand are current customers.
brands can tap into the emotional connection influencers have cultivated with their audience. Influencers can humanize a brand and make it more approachable. They bring a unique perspective and voice that aligns with the values and interests of their followers. This relatability creates a powerful bridge between the brand and the target audience, fostering a deeper connection and increasing the likelihood of customer loyalty. Moreover, the ability of influencers to engage their audience through interactive content, such as polls, Q&A sessions, or challenges, adds an extra layer of authenticity and involvement. This engagement creates a sense of community and encourages audience participation.
There are only three types of brands using social media influencers for ecommerce loyalty: 1. Influencer enthusiasts - Leverage authentic endorsements - Boost visibility and reach - Create engaging content 2. Influencer skeptics - Struggle finding right partners - Worry about authenticity - Challenge measuring ROI 3. Influencer novices - Miss out on social proof - Lose viral content opportunities - Fail to tap emotional connections Which are you? - Embracing influencers can build trust, expand reach, and foster community. - Skepticism may stem from authenticity concerns or ROI challenges. - Novices risk missing valuable marketing opportunities.
Digital native customers tend to trust messages from social media influencers and social circles, as compared to pure corporate ads/communication. Social media influencers also can create & modify content, and in a way create a content multiplication effect for the brand Again out of experience I have found that influencers who are real users of the brand/category tend to build more realistic content, as opposed to influencers who have been signed up by a brand because of their follower base.
However, using social media influencers to promote customer loyalty also comes with some challenges. One of them is finding the right influencers for your brand and goals. You need to do your research and analysis to identify influencers who have a genuine interest and expertise in your niche, who share your target audience and values, and who have a high engagement rate and positive reputation. You also need to avoid fake or fraudulent influencers, who may have bought followers, likes, or comments, or who may not disclose their sponsored partnerships.
When using social media influencers, it is important to ascertain the originality of their content and the authenticity & relevance of their influence network I good brand marketer can look at the historic content of the influencer to understand their content style, and how well it is likely to resonate with the brand's TG. Equally, when looking at the followers of the influencer, it is good to see the rate of growth to get a sense of how many of the followers are organic and otherwise. One should also look at the profile of the follower base to check the relevance with the Brand's TG Platforms like HypeAuditor & SocialBlade help analyse the follower base of an influencer viz follower demographics, engagement rates, audience quality etc
When working with influencers, you need to keep this in mind: Influencers are trying to build THEIR brand, not yours. So it's important to carefully vet influencers to pick ones who have a proven track record of measurable results with brands in the same or similar market as yours. Ideally, you want to pick influencers who are ALSO current customers. That's the best of both worlds, because your happy customers will want to build your brand.
The riskiest challenge is the risk of negative publicity or controversies associated with influencers. Brands must conduct due diligence to assess an influencer's online presence and reputation to avoid any potential backlash or damage to their own brand image. Transparency and open communication between the brand and the influencer is crucial in addressing any concerns and setting clear expectations regarding content, disclosure, and ethical practices.
Another challenge is managing and measuring the influencer marketing campaigns. You need to establish clear and realistic objectives, expectations, and guidelines with the influencers, and communicate with them regularly and respectfully. You also need to provide them with creative freedom and flexibility, and respect their voice and style. To measure the impact of your campaigns, you need to track and analyze relevant metrics, such as reach, impressions, clicks, conversions, retention, and loyalty. You also need to collect feedback from the influencers and the customers, and adjust your strategy accordingly.
You have to be clear about your product's TG whom you would like to influence, and demographics & psychographics details -age, location, interests, social media platform preferences etc Using tools like Upfluence, AspireIQ, Traackr, BuzzSumo, and HYPR filter influencers by niche, audience demographics, engagement rate, and other relevant metrics. Read and analyse the posts to check if there is an alignment in terms of values and tonality alignment. Create a influencer mix consisting of macro-influencers ( to grow your follower base ) and micro-influencers ( who can influence call to action / conversion )
Brands should create a clear influencer strategy that outlines their goals, target audience, and budget. The strategy should also include a process for selecting influencers, measuring the results of campaigns, and optimizing future campaigns. When choosing influencers, brands should consider the following factors: Relevance: The influencer should have a following that is relevant to the brand's target audience. Engagement: The influencer should have a high engagement rate, which means that their followers are actively interacting with their content. Authenticity: The influencer should be authentic and genuine in their interactions with their followers. Brands should set clear guidelines for influencers.
Choosing the right social media influencers for your customer loyalty goals requires careful consideration of several factors. Depending on your budget and objectives, you may opt for micro-influencers (10,000 to 100,000 followers), macro-influencers (100,000 to 1 million followers), or mega-influencers (more than 1 million followers). Micro-influencers tend to have higher engagement rates and more niche audiences, while macro- and mega-influencers tend to have wider reach and more authority. Additionally, you need to evaluate the quality, relevance, and consistency of their content, as well as their tone, style, personality, and interactions with followers and other brands. Furthermore, you need to determine the type of influence they have on their audience and understand their values, opinions, and preferences to see how they affect their followers' decisions and behaviors.
To echo Steve, one of the best ways to find social media influencers is to take a look at your raving fans. Who is in your customer base already? At one of the companies I worked at, we started with our existing customer base to find influencers. It worked out really well because they were genuinely enthusiastic about our product, and excited for the opportunity.
Selecting social media influencers depends on a combination of factors - the Brand's product/service, the lifestage of the brand, the objective of using the influencer. For an early-stage brand selecting macro influencers who have authentic reach to a large follower base matching the brand's TG makes sense, because the purpose is to create more brand awareness quickly. For a mature brand, where the intent is to drive customer acquisition and purchase, it makes sense to look at micro-influencers, who have deeper knowledge of the product/category, and stronger influence on their follower base. When picking such influencers, if you are able to identify existing users & fans of the brand who are also influencers, it is a winning combination.
Collaborating effectively with social media influencers requires building a long-term relationship based on trust, respect, and mutual benefit. You should provide clear guidelines on what you expect from them, such as the type, frequency, and duration of the content, and key messages and hashtags. Additionally, you should set realistic and measurable goals and KPIs, agree on compensation and terms of the contract, and encourage creativity and authenticity in their content. By following these tips and best practices, you can leverage the influence of online personalities to build a loyal customer base for your brand.
Influencers aren't just for major recognizable brands. Smaller companies in niche industries can find influencers with a large following (compared to others in the industry). Influencers with just 10,000 followers, as long as they are the right followers, can prove to be an excellent investment of marketing dollars.