How effective is Influencer Marketing? Really?

Came across an article a few months back on HBR (Does Influencer Marketing Really Pay Off?). Made me think of how differently influencers are used back in the mobile communications industry VS gaming industry.

In a nutshell this article talks about the following:

• Influencer marketing can be a powerful tool for brands, but it’s important to do it right.
• There are seven key factors that can affect the ROI of an influencer marketing campaign:
  • The size and engagement of the influencer’s audience
  • The relevance of the influencer’s content to the brand’s target audience
  • The quality of the influencer’s content
  • The authenticity of the influencer’s relationship with the brand
  • The timing of the campaign
  • The type of content that is created
  • The measurement of results
• When done correctly, influencer marketing can be a highly effective way to reach new customers, build brand awareness, and generate sales.

How exactly to do you do it right? How do you know whether your agencies are equipped with the best knowledge about what influencer suits your brand?

• Choose the right influencers. Not all influencers are created equal. When choosing influencers, it’s important to consider their audience size, engagement, and relevance to your brand.
• Set clear goals. What do you hope to achieve with your influencer marketing campaign? Do you want to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or drive sales? Once you know your goals, you can tailor your campaign accordingly.
• Create high-quality content. The content that influencers create is often what will ultimately drive engagement with your brand. Make sure that the content is high-quality and relevant to your target audience.
• Track your results. It’s important to track the results of your influencer marketing campaign so that you can see what’s working and what’s not. This will help you optimize your campaigns for future success.

I think it’s important to frame the usage of influencers in the right part of the marketing funnel. Elsewhere in the world these people are also called Key Opinion Leaders – and they should do just that. Their opinion on your product should matter. Influencers are generally used at the Awareness and Consideration stage, and should rarely be used to focus on conversions.

In the mobile industry, we use a whole variety of influencers from techfluencers (those at the forefront of tech), to photography influencers (to showcase how great your cameras are), to fashion icons (to elevate your brand just to name a few. Otherwise in gaming, you’d really want to use gaming influencers within the vertical mainly, though they can also be sub-categorized into casual streams (Let’s Players), Pro Gamers, and Content Creators (Edutainers). These are the folks that generate localised content that consumers need to watch in order to decide whether they have interest in your product, or whether it’s even worth purchasing at all.

Overall, a highly integrated 360 marketing campaign is important to cover all grounds when launching a new product.