No matter how you feel about the word “influencer” there is no denying that this form of online promotion has completely transformed the way that companies today market their products and services.
Influencer marketing has opened up new doors for Ecommerce companies and made it possible for these brands to reach new customers through sponsored endorsements. Influencer marketing essentially takes the premise of referrals and multiplies it, allowing brands to pay a commission to an influencer for every sale they make.
The great thing about influencer marketing is that it has a little upfront cost, and brands typically only pay influencers when they make sales, making it an accessible marketing approach even for new Ecommerce businesses and smaller brands.
Do you want to see what influencer marketing could do for your Ecommerce business?
Influencer marketing is a type of online marketing in which brands choose to collaborate with online influencers who have large social media followings. In this partnership, both the influencer and the brand can benefit.
Influencers promote products or services on their social media page or website, typically by showcasing the items or leaving detailed video or picture reviews. The influencer will then post a link (typically with a discount code for an extra incentive) so that shoppers can go directly from social media to that website to make a purchase.
The influencer will then get a small commission once the sale is made. The influencer obviously benefits by making money, while the brand can benefit by getting access to more customers and only paying their influencers for this type of marketing once sales are made.
In other partnerships, brands may decide to pay the influencer up-front for a curated or sponsored post or offer free products in exchange for posts promoting their products.
The reason that influencer marketing is so successful is that most of these influencers have a dedicated following of individuals that trust their opinions and insights. It’s the same premise as referrals, only in a more accelerated format, as influencers can reach thousands or even millions of individuals with a single post.
The most important thing about influencer marketing is—it actually works.
According to Business Insider, the influencer marketing industry is slated to be worth $15 billion in 2023, and it’s only growing in popularity. What is perhaps most interesting about the growing influence of influencer marketing is that a lot of the revenue from influencer marketing actually comes from smaller brands instead of big businesses.
Influencer marketing is undoubtedly popular and becoming a very lucrative business, but before you decide to have your Ecommerce brand engage in influencer marketing—it’s important to know that there are different types of influencers.
Typically, influencers are broken down into four different categories or types based on their number of followers. As you look into the different types of influencers, it’s important to remember that it’s not just about how many followers they have on social media platforms—it’s about how many followers actually engage with this individual, meaning how often they like or comment on posts.
Engagement rate is important, and it isn’t always related to how many followers that person has. In fact, in many situations, influencers with fewer followers have higher engagement rates, which often means they have better relationships with their followers, which may mean more trusted sales.
You can use engagement calculators to determine the engagement rates of an influencer before starting a partnership.
Here are the four main types of influencers today.
While once overlooked, nano-influencers are now some of the most sought-after types of influencers out there. These are individuals with anywhere from 1,000-10,00 followers and tend to have pretty high engagement rates. They typically have twice the engagement of “micro-influencers” and tend to be far cheaper.
In fact, most nano-influencers are working on building their influencer side hustle and will do a post or promotion for you in exchange for a free product or less than $100.
However, the thing to remember about nano-influencers is that typically, your low-cost partnership won’t last forever. Once a nano-influencer gets more than 10,000 followers, it will fall into the category of “micro-influencer” and typically become more expensive.
A step up from the nano-influencer is the micro-influencer. This is someone who has between 10,000 and 50,000 followers. When influencer marketing first really blew up, they were all the rage, and today they are still the most widely-used type of influencer.
While they are still fairly cost-effective compared to the bigger influencers or celebrities, they also tend to have pretty specific niches, so you will want to make sure you are clear on what their niche is before starting a partnership. This can be anything from fitness to fashion on a budget, home style, or “mom bloggers.”
When most people think of influencers, they think of macro-influencers. These are the individuals who make a living off of being influencers and who typically have between 100,000 and 500,000 followers or even up to 1 million. Working with macro-influencers can be expensive, and in addition to affiliate links, they may charge thousands of dollars for a single post.
However, with that many followers, a single post can be a great return on investment for certain brands.
Some celebrity influencers were famous first, and others became famous from social media, but either way, these are the accounts that have some big-name recognition. Celebrity influencers typically have between 5 million and 10 million followers and are “verified” on social media.
These individuals can charge a lot for posts or a high percentage of affiliate links. They also can be very particular about which partnerships they take and don’t take. However, a single post from a celebrity influencer won’t just help a brand get sales, it can help solidify its credibility as well—meaning it may be worth the investment.
If you are ready to get started with influencer marketing, then there are a few steps that you should take first to find the right influencers that will work for your company. There are a few different ways that you can find an influencer to partner with.
First, you can organically try to find influencers online on social media that you think will work for your target audience and contact them directly about their pricing and availability. While many influencers will get commission on the backend once they make sales, some of the bigger influencers, such as celebrity influencers, may charge for a single post on their page.
Most influencers will have a pricing sheet available as soon as you message them.
You can also use an agency that will take a small fee for helping to match you with an influencer and help you find the type of partnership that will work for your company and what you are trying to achieve.
As you look for the right influencer for you, one of the most important things to keep in mind isn’t just how many followers they have, it's about the types of followers they have. If you sell power tools, you’ll want to partner with an influencer that does DIY home projects. However, that may not be the best influencer if you are selling high-end jewelry.
You need to really think about your target market of consumers and whether or not that influencer fits in with your target market of influencers so that they not only represent your brand but will attract individuals within your target market of consumers.
From there, you can start to build your network of influencers. Typically, the model works best when you have multiple influencers working at once. You’ll want them to have similar but not the exact same pool of followers. When managing promotions throughout your influencer network, you can send out similar campaigns at once to all of your different influencers.
From there, you can start tracking sales and determining which influencers you want to and don’t want to keep as part of your team based on what type of ROI you get from your partnership.
Conclusion
When done correctly, influencer marketing can be one of the most effective forms of digital marketing out there, you just need to be ready to find the right type of influencers that represent your Ecommerce brand.
If you're looking to learn more about marketing or Ecommerce in general, feel free to reach out to us at: solutions@undigital.com