How to work with influencers
Is it worth crafting a strategy to work with influencers? Will your brand benefit from it? What are some tips from experts that you can use?
Buy buy love
I recently went in to the market to observe people trying to buy a TV. They are totally lost with the jargon. HD, OLED, LCD, LED... size display, viewing distance ... the list goes on."I overheard the salesperson pitching in
"If you are planning to buy Full HD TV below 42 Inch then there is no point of purchasing FULL HD LED TV. A human eye cannot find/identify the difference between HD Ready and Full HD in small screen sizes..."
I must convey my ignorance on the matter. To me LED and LCV could both be TV brands. The TV buyers genuinely believe that the more specs they share, the more enlightened the buyer is. This is wrong. A lot of decisions making is not rational. It is emotional.We buy brands we love. Buying is a process of showing the brand our love. Influencers help us decide whom to love. Millennials especially make decisions differently. 70% of millennial consumers are influenced by the recommendations of their peers in buying decisions. This is where influencers come in.
Influencers simplify
According to a survey by Linqia 30% of marketers report that they will spend between $25K - $50K per program and 25% report that they will spend between $50K - $100K per program in 2018.Gaurav Chaudhary is the creator of one of the most viewed technology reviewers in India. His videos make technology easy to understand. But influencers come in many shapes and sizes. All of them make choices easier.
Influencers humanize the brand
Rani Mani who handles the influencer marketing program for Adobe says,
"Influencers humanize a brand by being the name, face and personality behind the logo."
Authenticity is the currency of the influencer. People give them their trust. So any behavior by an influencer that looks fake will erode the influencer's credibility but also impact the brand. Brands must spend as much time looking for an influencer as they would for an employee in an high visibility and high-impact role.Adobe's philosophy is to look at it like a date with an eye towards a long term commitment. The person must fit the culture of the organization as seamlessly as any other employee of the corporation.
Employees as Influencers
Every employee is a brand ambassador. When an Uber or Ola Driver misbehaves with a passenger, the brand perception takes a hit. The man who was forcibly deplaned from a United Airlines flight had to be given a big compensation. That may have pacified the aggrieved employee but in the public memory the association with the brand remains.Can employees act as influencers? Most organizations rarely allow any one employee to build a social media presence such that it allows the employee to be an influencer. an employee of a well-known airline who was synonymous with the airlines raised eyebrows of the Board members who believed that he was building his own brand at the cost of the organization's.That is exactly why influencers cannot be replaced by employees. Rani Mani says:
"Influencers provide a trusted, authentic, believable level of evangelism to the brand that employees on your payroll simply don't and they also bring a fresh outside in POV that forces you to evolve and improve."
Nevertheless, leveraging influencers for building trust in the employer brand is not something that too many organizations have done. This is a white space waiting to be exploited. Several companies use testimonials from influencers on their webpage, When purchasers want to get advice from influencers. Most buyers turn to online advice for their purchase decisions. In a tough talent market, creative HR leaders will start using influencers, for sure.Where can you find influencers? "Instagram seems to be a universal favorite. 92% of marketers in the Linqia study chose it as the most important social platform for influencer marketing. Snapchat seems to be the least favorite among marketers when it comes to working with influencers."
More advice from Rani on Influencer Marketing <click here>Read: How to turn employees into brand ambassadors
