Influencer Marketing and Why Your Brand Needs It
Influencers are storytellers. We, as rising communication professionals, are storytellers. Brands belonging to our future companies, agencies, and clients, need storytellers. Stories are universal; everyone craves stories. Memories are stories. We connect events and experiences, writing our own mental stories that are then indexed, stored, and revisited. When we share these stories with others, we can impact their perspectives, opinions, and even purchasing decisions.
Whether you share stories about how your favorite brands have positively impacted your life on social media or in conversation with friends, you can influence the decisions of others. You are an influencer. Everyone is an influencer.
Brand Stories
Brands have stories, too. Despite brands being inanimate, they still have a defined purpose and journey. Sharing your brand story can be immensely compelling to your target audience. Individuals might associate with a brand if it relays a message of empowerment, inspiring them to pursue their desires. Patagonia, for example, is a purpose-driven, sustainable outdoor clothing brand with an excellent, eco-friendly reputation. Patagonia’s compelling brand story, creative campaigns, and influencer marketing strategies are integral to its success.
Influencer Marketer Stories
Patagonia’s brand is strengthened through strategic influencer engagement. Outdoor influencers who document their adventures through social channels, such as blogs, create original content that sparks the curiosity and wanderlust in their viewers. The goal of Patagonia’s partnership is twofold: (1) to capture the attention of potential customers and (2) to inspire adventure. People look for purpose. When influencers represent a brand such as Patagonia in an inspiring, impactful fashion, the influencer's community is more likely to become interested in the brand and its products.
Credibility is key. Connecting with the right influencer is imperative because influencer marketing is most successful when it is genuine. When an influencer’s personal brand aligns with your brand, the influencer is more likely to connect with and endorse your brand.
The Right Influencers
The right influencers vary depending upon the goal of your campaign. Generally, the right influencers are passionate about your brand’s mission, genuine, charismatic, and have high community engagement and visibility.
Passion, the driving force behind achievement and success, is what differentiates incredibly successful influencers from the masses. Influencers impassioned by their missions emanate that drive to their audiences, causing viewers to feel the importance and relevance of promoted products and discussed topics.
Trust is an integral factor to consider when looking for the right influencers. When an audience trusts an influencer, audience members are more likely to act upon the influencer’s advice.
Likability, or charisma, is especially important when it comes to influencers because likable influencers can more easily attract and maintain large followings. When viewers like an influencer, they are more likely to engage with and share posts, increasing visibility.
While considering adding influencer marketing to your marketing mix, think about the influencer’s audience as it relates to your target market. More views are not better if the people viewing your advertisement are not in your target market. For this reason, it is imperative that you carefully choose influencers.
Why Influencer Marketing?
Partnering with influencers to increase visibility and inspire your target audience can dramatically increase brand awareness and sales.
Influencers have unique personas and distinct audiences. Since there is a wide variety of influencers, there are endless opportunities to connect with and establish trust with your target market.
Call to Action
Storytelling is universal; everyone craves stories. Partnering with influencers whose personal brand story aligns with your future company or agency brand story will increase your brand reach and support the influencer's brand development.
About The Author
Lauren Gilly is a senior Strategic Communication major with minors in Communication Studies and Education at Texas Christian University. In her current role as the Director of Communication at Roxo, she facilitates the growth and development of agency members' writing skills and serves as a mentor to agency copywriters. Lauren has a growth mindset. She is passionate about storytelling and making a positive impact in her community.