You can’t go anywhere these days without seeing the impact of social media. Everyone is checking their phones for the latest posts, even while out shopping. That’s the power that social media holds over everyone. And with this extraordinary growth, social media has become a necessity for every business trying to get its name out there. Influencer marketing is no longer a novelty. It’s a necessity when it comes to a company’s marketing strategy.
Social media provides a vast opportunity to tap into a broader potential customer base, offering platforms for current and potential customers to visit repeatedly throughout the day. These consumers scroll their feeds, reading tips and recommendations about products and services from others.
For a brand that gets recommended by someone posting on their social media platform, there’s a great opportunity to build on their customer base. Nearly everyone who sees a brand recommendation has more trust in it, even if they don’t know the person who made the recommendation.
Whether you own a small business or serve as an executive in a large, publicly-traded business, influencer marketing, and word-of-mouth recommendations will bring customers to you.
What is Influencer Marketing?
As nearly 5 billion people around the world join social media, more than half the Earth’s population has joined at least one social platform. That’s a lot of opportunity for businesses, and not just big companies with huge marketing budgets. That’s a source of customers that any business of any size can tap into.
For example, a single creator marketing agency in Los Angeles can connect businesses with online creators all over the world who have built huge followings, from the thousands to the millions. A company hoping to tap into new customers can partner with these influencers to have their products and services promoted to these followers. In a single post, an endorsement from one of these influencers instantly introduces new audiences to a company.
And these aren’t the typical potential customers’ businesses often find themselves competing for. These are highly engaged consumers who actively follow these influencers for their insights and opinions on current trends. They trust the influencers they follow, and that trust is crucial for any brand hoping to connect with new customers online. This is a powerful marketing tool that provides more to companies than they would receive in traditionally-paid advertising campaigns.
Influencer marketing elevates the concept of celebrity endorsements by creating a stronger bond in the partnership. An influencer who has created more trust and connection with their followers through direct contact is more persuasive than a celebrity they admire but don’t interact with. Social media offers a chance for followers to build a closer connection to influencers, and this is a valuable opportunity for companies to tap into.
The power of social media continues to grow each year, with new platforms offering more opportunities for influencers to impact consumers. Some of the more successful social media platforms are Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, but many customers continue to follow influencers on other platforms, including Twitter and Facebook.
The key to tapping into the power of social media influencers is to know who your prime target audience is, then connecting with an influencer who has an audience that aligns with your desired customers. Once you establish the partnership, create unique experiences that the influencer can share with followers, offer incentives for sharing and keep an eye on the results. Be creative and adjust along the way, developing a stronger digital marketing strategy with your influencer that drives business results.
What is Word-Of-Mouth Marketing?
Put simply, word-of-mouth marketing is what neighbors do when they share their experiences with a company or service provider. Think of working in your backyard and your neighbor sees you and says hello. You chat briefly, when you notice they bought a new grill. After you ask about it, they rave about how much they love it and tell you what a great deal they received at the local big-box store. That’s the basic idea of word-of-mouth marketing, although these days you don’t have to run into your neighbor to get those recommendations.
Customers offer their own insights about businesses on social media. Check out any daily posts on NextDoor, Facebook, and Instagram. You will find frequent posts that promote companies and customer experience. Of course, social media can cut both ways. Chances are you may also see customers sharing bad experiences with brands as well. But the point is, neighbors sharing their experiences is happening on a larger scale these days, and businesses that want to thrive cannot ignore it.
There was a time when Dropbox started offering its storage space on the web, spreading the word about their service through word-of-mouth. The company encouraged everyone who signed up for the storage to recruit others to join, offering extra storage space for free for each customer who opened an account. This widely successful campaign brought in a ton of business for Dropbox just by getting the company name out there to new customers through word of mouth. People shared with colleagues, friends, and family the useful new online product that they enjoyed and they received more storage space by recruiting other customers. They, in turn, shared the product with their networks, and Dropbox exploded in popularity as the online storage service it has become, with hundreds of millions of users around the world taking advantage of it.
A successful word-of-mouth marketing campaign can transform a business. The campaign can start organically by customers who are just really impressed with a product or service; or it can be part of a well-crafted, well-executed marketing strategy for a company with specific business goals in mind. No matter how word-of-mouth campaigns begin, they are a critical component in today’s marketing campaigns that serves as one of the top sources of digital traffic for small businesses that use affiliate marketing.
As a strategy that drives trillions of dollars in annual spending around the globe, word-of-mouth marketing is responsible for a growing percentage of all sales for businesses. It can also be a source of great frustration, as one in four consumers say they will avoid a brand if a relative or friend shares a negative experience with them. It’s important to make customer service and support a key priority when entering into the dynamic experience of word-of-mouth marketing, while also focusing on positive opportunities for market growth and customer sales.
