Your Basic Guide To Influencer Marketing
July 9, 2018 | in Brands, Social Media | by admin

Companies have used influencers for their advertisements since the dawn of businesses. We’re sure that when the first cavewoman that started selling produce to her fellow cave-dwelling friends, used the influence of a powerful caveperson in the community. Maybe it was the buffest, most athletic mammoth slayer who loved getting a boost from her freshly picked veg, or the Regina George of the village who wore the coolest sabertooth necklaces and ate only the crispiest produce. Having a spokesperson who had used the product, enjoyed it, and had the prominence to get others involved really does help boost a business. An influencer connects the audience to the product. It allows the audience to see themselves using it. If it worked for the influencer, they believe it can work for them too.

Even if you have a small business, you can still obtain an influencer and boost your sales. The influencer you use might not have a major celebrity reputation like Beyonce or Justin Bieber, but they can still hit the target market that you need. Think like that cavewoman and pick out someone from your area who fits your target market. Using a local social media influencer can truly help to up your reach as well as your sales. Luckily enough, we live in the 21st Century. So influencing a wide audience it very possible through the channel of social media.

Take Parabo Press for example. They are a small photo printing service located in California, who ship printed images to their customers. They recognize who their target market is and found a clever way to make their audience become their influencers. A large chunk of their target market included millennial girls who use the prints to decorate their space. Most millennials are heavily involved in imagery, as they are consistently on social media sharing pictures. Instagram itself is specifically designed with photos in mind and allows a printing service to be strongly relevant. A customer can use their service to print their Instagram photos. This opened up a perfect opportunity for Parabo Press to sell their service through their own audience of Instagram users. Why not make the young people who already use the service into influencers? That’s just what they did. The post below shows how they even advertised to their audience to become a Parabo Campus Rep.

Here’s an example of using an influncer account to promote your local business. If you click the tags in the image, you can see that this young influencer is hosting a giveaway for a variety of small businesses. She’s wearing the swimsuit, using the wall hangings, and therefore proving that these products are just as cool as she is. She’s local and gets tens of thousands of views, which makes her perfect for small businesses in the area to get a spotlight. This post shows that a real person uses these products, and so should you.

Even larger companies use local Instagram influencers to promote their services. The Von family from Salt Lake City uses their high follower account to post about their vacations. Royal Carribean uses the Von’s real-life life experiences to promote their cruise services. Other moms scrolling through their social media will see this average everyday family having a blast at sea, and it could influence them to prep their own family vacation with Royal Carribean.

Still curious about how the big shots make it work? Here’s an example from Puma’s partnership with model/actress Cara Delevigne. It almost seems like a print ad, but it’s casual enough that it looks like Cara just posted about it herself. (We personally think adding the hashtag #ad is a little tacky, but mentioning that it’s a partnership is necessary. A better way to do so is just to casually talk about the brand and tag them in the post. A paid partnership location option is also available at the top of the post.) This post collected millions of likes, proving its success. It’s a relatable picture and quote, which is exactly what an influencer post needs to be.

Be your own #Muse. #ad

A post shared by Cara Delevingne (@caradelevingne) on

Ready to start influencing? Contact us at Avant8 and we’ll match you to the perfect influencer for your business!  Head to our contact page to get started.

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