Influencer marketing is gaining more traction and investment than ever before. With 65% of Influencer Marketing budgets increasing this year alone, the most common budget is between $1,000-10,000, followed by $100,000-500,000.
17% of companies spend over half of their marketing budget on influencers, and almost 90% of them are saying that the ROI (return on investment) from influencer marketing is comparable to or better than other marketing strategies. It’s important to note that Instagram is rated the #1 channel for successful influencer marketing, while Snapchat was the least successful.
How can E-Commerce Help Your Business Reach Its Goals?
With Instagram being the most favored social network for many brands, it’s important to take advantage of the platforms opportunities for creativity and the ability to sell products to an engaged audience that uses social media as inspiration for their future purchasing decisions. With the highest browser-to-shopper conversion rates, Instagram advertising’s integration with Facebook allows users to rely on the second platform for equally (if not better) results for their campaign.
Having clear goals in mind when taking advantage of Instagram in the world of E-Commerce is vital. Focus on creating a community, boosting your engagement through telling stories, showcasing your products in creative ways, and letting potential customers on behind-the-scenes action with the help of influencers can help your business reach and surpass its goals.
The Link Between E-Commerce and Social Media Continues to Get Stronger
In March of 2019, Instagram released a new shopping feature that allows users to shop and purchase products without ever leaving the app. The social media platform has said that integrating the ability to shop for the app is an exciting new investment for the app.
However, having a way to be consistently generating new leads to take advantage of the opportunities in social media is vital. This is where influencer marketing comes to light. With the average consumer being less trusting of traditional advertisements, they turn to their favorite social media influencers for their opinions and recommendations for products and services.
Driving Revenue in the World of Influencers and E-Commerce
On average, every $1 spent on an influencer campaign can earn brands an average of $7.65 in return, with some companies seeing returns of $20.00 or higher. The Instagram Influencer Market is predicted to be worth between $5-10 Billion by 2020. Allowing influencers to market your products to their audience, rather than you choosing to market to them directly, allows potential customers to feel as though they are in direct contact with your brand through the influencers they already know and trust. Consumers want to make purchasing decisions without feeling like they’re being advertised to; they much prefer to be related to.
When looking for influencers to work with, it’s important to find someone that shares the same target audience as you do. Don’t just pay attention to the number of followers someone has; you want to make sure that their audience would actually be interested in what you are selling.
Look for influencers with high engagement rates, which is the number of times their audience engages with their photo compared to their total number of followers. Many companies are turning toward micro-influencers in hope of securing higher engagement rates. Additionally, such micro-influencers allow for companies to communicate directly and consistently with their follower base.
How Can You Best Implement Influencer Marketing?
Whether it’s by reaching out to influencers directly or connecting with them on a marketing platform, establishing the goals and strategies for your campaign is just the first step. With roughly 93% of Influencer Marketing campaigns taking place on Instagram, it’s important to be familiar with what makes a campaign successful on the platform in terms of content creation, resources within the app, and making sure your campaign is following FTC guidelines.
Consider taking advantage of Instagram Stories as part of the campaign. Instagram Stories feature content that is published only for 24 hours. While influencers can use the “Swipe Up” feature to connect followers to your website, the limited timeline creates a sense of urgency for the consumer.
Be sure that you’re following FTC regulations in your campaign. Any paid or sponsored posts must be disclosed by the influencer to their followers. Establishing a level of transparency within your brand early on is incredibly important in building successful relationships via social media.
The key to successful influencer marketing is creating authentic content that users can engage with and relate to. Content is the most compelling part of your campaign and is what convinces consumers to buy from you. The content created from a social media campaign should either educate, entertain, or build a connection with an audience.
