Once it was the case that popular celebrities were a target for collaboration in marketing campaigns, with the endorsement of such people seen as an excellent way to attract new customers to a product or brand. Yet with the growing influencer culture that increasingly visual social media platforms have spawned, it is now clear that a different approach is required. Influencer marketing is proving to be a highly effective means of engaging with a more targeted customer demographic, as well as helping to drive up valuable conversions and sales figures.
A Visual Landscape
The runaway success of TikTok has pushed visual social media platforms to the fore, and its competitors have scrambled to rise to the challenge that this disruptor represents. Instagram, for example, now rewards accounts that heavily feature video “reels”, and the rising number in views of such content makes it an attractive new resource for those working in digital marketing in Toronto and beyond.
Influencer marketing capitalises on the followers of personalities who have carved out a niche on social media, using this as a means of reaching a targeted customer demographic. As influencers tend to focus their account on a particular niche (such as home renovations, fashion, fitness or beauty), their followers are therefore already proven to have an active interest in this topic.
By aligning a product or service with an appropriate influencer, brands can immediately zero in on the kind of people who are likely to be interested in it, thereby increasing the power of a marking campaign straight away. Better still, as influencers are typically “ordinary” people rather than those who have become known through a showbusiness route, potential customers tend to see them as more relatable and are therefore more likely to take notice of their brand recommendations.
A Smart Approach for Digital Marketing in Toronto
There are other benefits to choosing influencer marketing, too. First of all, it can represent a highly cost-effective strategy, as influencers can be willing to promote a product or service in exchange for a free sample. The greater the number of followers an influencer has, the higher the cost may be, but this is still likely to be far less than the cost of a traditional celebrity endorsement deal and the upfront views of the product or service could also be far higher, too. This means that influencer marketing can be a superb way for smaller brands to increase their exposure without blowing their marketing budget.
A typical influencer marketing campaign can vary, with options including a reel or TikTok demonstrating the product or service, an inclusion of the product in social media content provided by the influencer, and the use of relevant brand and product hashtags. The number and type of mentions of the product can be negotiated, as can the times of such mentions (peak times will, of course, be the most desirable), allowing digital marketers to get the best results from their deals. And, perhaps best of all, by focusing on marketing in the social media space, brands can engage directly with customers, building lasting relationships.
