Influencer marketing is the use of individuals that have knowledge and expertise in a certain field or individuals that have a huge engagement on social media or in the media to market and endorse a product or service offered by a company.
Influencer marketing falls under testimonial advertising where they play the role of a third party influencing potential customers of an organization to purchase the organization's products or services, in other words, influencers have the influence to shape the mindset and purchasing decision of the customer.
An influencer must typically create a light online buzz or interaction between various parties within a community, with the aim of encouraging a purchasing behavior. Influencer marketing is more about advocacy and social persuasion than simply creating awareness.
Influencers should be able to create an impact in the sales of a company, they should be active, knowledgeable, creative and most importantly trendsetters.
Companies and marketing agencies can target influencers selectively based on the content, profession or activities they engage in online, in the media and within the community.
How To Identify The Right Influencer For Your Business
Market research can be done to identify the right kind of influencer that you need to grow your brand. In order to do that your business needs to understand the kind of influencer categories that are out there.
Categorization according to type.
Active minds.
These are Influencers that have a number of interests for example, the youth are always looking to party go out and have fun. So finding an influencer that parties a lot and attends events to promote an upcoming company event that involves ticket sales and drinks. The Influencer's role is to share the party experience online so that other individuals who are interested in attending the concert or show are influenced to attend. From then on the people who engage with the Influencers post is where you can focus your marketing campaigns on so that your leads can turn from potential customers to clients who are adding revenue to your business.
Connected Influencers
These are Influencers that have a huge following online and not just any huge following but a following from a group of people that could be interested in your business. Influencers that are always attending international conferences within the country can recommend the international visitors that are visiting Uganda to hire a local tourism company that can give them an experience of a lifetime in the pearl of Africa. That is why they are defined as connected Influencers because their connections can help grow your business.
Activists.
These are Influencers that champion a social cause, like climate change, go green campaign, better health care, and education. These activists have a following from a particular group of people who are interested in their social cause. So it will always be easy to target such individuals for example if you are running a biogas company you can target and expand your marketing reach to individuals that follow social causes like climate change. Targeting potential customers that like and share the Influencer's posts about your organization will certainly grow your leads that can eventually be converted into a client base that will support your business.
Categorization according to online following.
Influencers are also defined by the number of people that follow them. and they are categorized into two.
Macro influencers/ Mega Influencers.
These are Influencers with a strong following and reach, a big percentage of them are celebrities that have a lot of media attention. They can have a following of more than 50,000 genuine fans and above, to millions of people because of their social status. In Uganda, these include musicians, socialites, and comedians that can fill up an entire football stadium. They are normally used to advertise ticket sales , data , internet, and telecommunication services to the masses.
Micro Influencers
These are Influencers that are highly niched, have active minds, a good following and engagement. They are normally experts in the subject matter they post online. They are usually normal people that social media users can easily relate within everyday life since they are not very popular people, they aren't necessarily celebrities but they are people that have an active and attractive engagement online.
Influencer's media influence can be measured through a number of parameters, which include social media, impressions, engagement in the form of likes and retweets, shares, mentions, and link clicks. A number of social media analytics like facebook ads, tweet binder can be used to measure the social media engagement metrics an influencer generates.
The value addition they also create for your business can also be measured from the number of sales made per influencer campaign that your business runs.
