5 Reasons Why Your Business Should Harness Influencers Share: Pace Social Media Date Published 13 February 2019 Categories Blog, Guide Reading Time 4-Minute Read Social media is increasingly becoming a platform for avid product research and you should hack into this feature for the benefit of your business. Social media is increasingly becoming a platform for avid product research and you should hack into this feature for the benefit of your business. How do you do that? Well, it’s time to change your marketing strategy. Most brands are switching over to influencer marketing to get that 100% target audience reach and even wiser brands are combining influencer marketing with social media marketing to get the best out of both worlds. Presently, influencer marketing has gone mainstream to the point that it has a huge impact on businesses. Traditional marketing simply meant your business had to advertise to everyone, however, you didn’t effectively target your intended audience. Influencer marketing enables you to tap into your intended market at a cost considerably less than traditional marketing. By harnessing influencers, you achieve what is known as social selling. Influencer marketing is a long-term marketing strategy since influencers will build your brand’s credibility and reputation in the long run. Here are five reasons why as a business you should harness influencers. 1. Influencers Build Relationships, Trust & Loyalty Influencers can be viewed as a middle-man or a mutual connector for relationship building. Considering how hard it is for businesses to start building a relationship, for influencers it is quite easy building bridges between their followers and your brand. It is no secret that people have a hard time trusting brands and their advertisements. However, the same brand when recommended by their friends becomes an instant sales hit. This is the case when you employ the use of influencers, as they talk more about your brand they build trust within their circle of followers. Moreover, loyalty influencers have emulated with their audience is an important and valuable asset. 2. Influencers Create & Distribute Content Influencers are the ‘overlords’ of content creation, not just any content, but high-quality, engaging content. Being content machines, they are an important resource for brands, as they are good at it and can also create user-generated content for use on your e-commerce platforms. Additionally, while influencers may be primarily content creators, they also distribute other relevant content on their channels ultimately widening your brand’s reach. 3. Generate Quality Leads & Boost Your Roi with Influencers As mentioned earlier, influencers give you the opportunity to effectively tap into your target audience, more so with tailored content. Doing so, your brand message will resonate and drive conversions. Furthermore, having quality leads which translate to more conversions all boils down to increased revenue. 4. Influencers Are Expert Communicators & Are Engaged A huge part of an influencer’s life is in the digital space, therefore they have developed and built a digital communication empire. They’re excellent at communicating and as a business, you can use them to better communicate your brand’s vision and message in an engaging way that will make their followers connect with your brand. Additionally, since a huge chunk of an influencer’s job demands that they engage their followers and encourage engagement on the platforms they represent. This is essential to businesses in expanding their brand awareness. The number of engaged followers may show the interaction capability of the influencer and this is a better indicator of reach and positive brand impressions. 5. Influencers Generate Sales & Build Brand Awareness It is no secret that influencers generate sales, being so, many brands are consciously jumping onto the influencer marketing train. From the moment an influencer speak about your brand or endorses your product or service, sales generation commences depending on the influencer’s channel and the length of the influencer marketing campaign. Influencers also build brand awareness since they are the link between a brand and its market awareness. Aside from influencers generating leads and sales of huge proportions, the brand awareness they build is also unrivalled relative to traditional marketing strategies. Conclusion Influencers are excellent value for money compared to traditional advertising and marketing strategies. Considering your aim is to connect to a target market, collaborating with an influencer generates a return on your primary investment. Furthermore, the role that influencers play is ‘influencing’ a prospect’s purchasing decision is essential for your business in general. It is, therefore, necessary to gain a better understanding of harnessing the power of influencers and the potential impact it has on your marketing strategy.