Influencer marketing is the latest form of creative marketing, and if you haven’t noticed, it has exploded in popularity in the last few years. But which businesses can benefit from it and is it really worth it? Keep reading to find out!
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing has been a very hot topic recently, but the idea isn’t really anything new. Celebrity endorsements have been an effective marketing tool for decades. Surely you remember Beyonce’s $50 million dollar deal with Pepsi. Influencer marketing is essentially a modern version of that. But very few companies can afford top tier celebrities like Beyonce, much less on a $50 million dollar budget. Influencer marketing allows companies to utilize influencers’ online presence for a much smaller price tag, typically in exchange for free products. In the modern world of content creation, the word “influencer” is very broad. It can include YouTubers, Instagram influencers, TikTokers, etc. Here’s how it usually works.
Typically, when companies have a new product launch or campaign, they enlist a few influencers to promote their product to their online audience, in exchange for money or free products. One thing to note is that lots of followers does not always equal a lot of audience reach. A person with 1,000 YouTube subscribers could have a better ROI on sponsored content than a person with 1 million subscribers. It all depends on engagement.
David Dobrik & SeatGeek: An Influencer Marketing Case Study
One of the most well-known influencer brand deals is with popular YouTuber David Dobrik, and event ticket company SeatGeek. The partnership began in 2016, and has followed a similar formula ever since. SeatGeek has partnered with Dobrik for over 20 videos. In this particular case, the YouTuber is known for giving away cars, thousands of dollars for college tuition, iPads, and more. Dobrik is a unique influencer, in that he takes the money from his brand deals and gives it all away, and uses the reactions of his friends and family for video content. Whether he’s surprising his friends or total strangers, it’s likely that SeatGeek supplied the cash. SeatGeek is not only gaining reach within his 18 million subscribers, but because they have created a long term partnership with Dobrik, SeatGeek is basically a character in the videos themselves. This has basically created a brand persona for SeatGeek in the universe of Dobrik’s videos, which has arguably made the deal for SeatGeek even more beneficial. While a brand giving an influencer thousands of dollars multiple times is not necessarily the standard in influencer marketing, this partnership has clearly been wildly successful. From the viewer’s perspective, it may seem like SeatGeek is kind of just throwing money at Dobrik, but when you look at the ROI, it’s a win-win for both parties. According to Tube Filter, sales from Dobrik’s discount code at SeatGeek have grown over 1,500%!
Why should you consider influencer marketing vs. traditional marketing?
Again, Dobrik’s case is a unique one in influencer marketing, but as a marketing strategy it has incredible ROI compared to other marketing strategies. Silk Almond Milk performed a study and found:
- Households exposed to influencer marketing purchased 10% more Silk products than the control group
- Each 1000 people viewing influencer marketing purchased $285 worth of Silk products over the control group
- The ROI of the blog posts alone (not including social promotion) is 11X the ROI of banner ads, after 12 months
The truth is, paying a couple of influencers in either money and or free products is insanely cheaper and yields better results than many traditional marketing methods. Billboard ads can cost upwards of $10,000 and can be ineffective at targeting the right audience, while influencer marketing can start at a few hundred dollars and create highly qualified leads. Why is this method so effective? To get these high ROI’s, it’s important to pick an influencer that aligns well with your brand. It only makes sense that a consumer who is following a health and fitness Instagrammer will be a more qualified lead to buy a wellness product than a random person viewing the ad as a billboard on the highway.
So, where do you even start with influencer marketing?
- Pick your marketing goal - What are your goals for this campaign? This could be increased sales of a product, a successful launch of a new product, or just general brand awareness within an influencer’s audience.
- Find influencers that align with your company - Like mentioned before, this step is very important and has direct influence on your ROI. Remember, there are influencers everywhere, so depending on the product you are pushing look into creators on YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, blogs, etc. It’s also essential to do your research on that specific influencer you are considering for the deal. Have they done brand deals in the past? Is their sponsored content high quality or does it look low effort? Remember, these people are representing you and your company.
- Come up with a pitch & pitch them - The first step here is making a budget. How much do you want to spend? Will this be a one time deal or extended partnership? Are you using one influencer to push your product or multiple influencers? When creating your pitch, it’s also important to include hard deadlines for content. So, for example, if your brand deal includes 3 Instagram posts, 2 Instagram stories, and a YouTube video, give the influencer exact deadlines when that content needs to be created, approved, and posted. It will make everything easier with clear communication. The last step would be finding their manager and pitching them via email or DM’s.
- Enjoy the effective cheap advertising!! - While influencer marketing can sometimes be a controversial topic, it is a very effective, cheaper than traditional form of marketing in the modern world. It will be interesting to observe how it evolves in the near future, and whether it will stick around as a long term strategy.
Want more useful marketing content like this? Subscribe to our newsletter by clicking the button below!
Submit a Comment