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Influencer marketing is no doubt one of the fastest-growing industries. Years ago who would’ve thought that being an ‘influencer’ could be a career and that these creators would play such a huge part in growing a brand. Due to the relevance of social media in brand success in 2021, this sector is booming and it is set to grow to approximately $13.8 billion throughout the year. So why should paid ads complement influencer marketing on every campaign? To get to the bottom of things, what is influencer marketing exactly?
Influencer Marketing
An influencer marketing campaign is a partnership with online creators and working together to create content that appeals to their audience (who is also your target audience). Using their position of authority or influence, the content aims to leverage how your brand could serve their audience to drive a sale. This person could be a specialist in a certain industry, an internet celebrity or someone with a lot of followers. The creator will endorse your brand or product and share it with their followers in a way that is most appealing and authentic to them.
Despite economic fluctuations, there has been a significant rise in the influencer marketing sector as the digital sphere was unaffected, if not flourishing, due to the global state in 2020. What’s more, they were given a boost due to lockdown laws forcing people to be at home, where a majority have increased their screen time with social media.
The influencer marketplace is booming and brands are realizing the importance of connecting with consumers in a new way. Influencers know how to generate content specific for any channel that will appeal to the consumer, content that feels more authentic than traditional branded content.
How important is authenticity? Check out this blog to learn why the difference between marketing on TikTok vs Instagram depends on transparency.
Instagram can be seen as the home of influencers, with reportedly over 500,000 active influencers using the platform. Influencers are constantly promoting brands through images and videos while using Instagram features such as stories, Live, IGTV and Reels.
Recently, there has been a major increase in the use of TikTok for Influencer Marketing. Top TikTok influencers Charli D’Amelio and Addison Rae know how to create brand content for the platform. Whether that be through a short dance or 1 minute vlog. They maximise the ability to capture the audience’s attention in under 1- minute while scrolling through an endless feed and add small CTA throughout videos and in the caption.
@charlidamelio update on my #invisalign journey! click the link in bio to take the smile assessment and see if its right for you #ad #smilesquad
@addisonre
Why It Works
The key reason why influencer marketing works is due to the trust that they have built with their following. In the world of social media due to their huge following, influencers have the power to change and influence people’s beliefs. Especially during these unprecedented times, people are finding comfort in online communities.
So why not take advantage of that and take it to the next level? The most common reasons for using influencer marketing is to increase brand awareness, draw attention and increase sales. In order to cover more ground, when brands partner with influencers they should incorporate paid ads into the campaign.
Benefits of Combining Influencer Marketing and Paid Ads
1. Influencer Content Performs Better on Paid Ads
Influencer content is being proven to increase the number of impressions and conversions. Without paid ads, the content can only reach the influencer’s followers, reusing the content for paid ads on social media platforms can reach wider audiences. These posts are promoted using the platforms sponsored ad content options to the best performing audiences or new ones.
For instance, getting your video shown on the desired audiences For You Page on TikTok or Instagram feed while they are scrolling. The more successful an influencer’s post, there is a greater likelihood of that post also performing well over paid ads.
2. Cost Efficient
By choosing the right influencer and creating purposeful content. Stretching your influencer investment and exploring usage rights to the creator’s content can allow it to be repurposed through paid ads. This lowers the ad design costs and is proven to provide a brand with a higher ROI (return on investment).
Looking to run an epic influencer marketing campaign with paid ads? NeoReach has the best experience in creating viral campaigns that convert on social media. Sign up here!
3. Paid Ads Can Do What Organic Content Can’t
Paid ads can do what organic content can’t. Influencers provide the trust and relationship to drive sales. Paid ads will then boost the organic content, going beyond the influencers organic audience to reach new target audiences, including those of competitors. It will also provide a secondary CTA to drive conversations. Running a paid ad campaign will provide metrics that can be used to further improve marketing goals to boost KPIs in the future.
The Concept In Real Life
Popular department store chain ‘Macy’s’ were set to open up a new location ‘Market by Macy’s’. Offering a more immersive, small store local experience. A new location meant Market by Macy’s needed to be promoted and word needed to be spread about the store.
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The team at NeoReach created an ideal campaign, incorporating influencer marketing with paid ads. Focusing on bringing awareness, lifting the brand name and giving the audience an idea of what it was like to shop at the store.
Curious about the full campaign process? Check out the campaign breakdown for Market by Macy’s here.
The main social media platform was Instagram, as not only is it visually appealing but influencers are constantly promoting their favorite brands on the platform especially clothing.
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From fashion trend starters to those who actively promoted fashion, popular local influencers from Texas were carefully selected to promote the new store and each influencer brought their own creative flair to their posts.
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The influencers posted stories and feed posts, producing a total of 8 posts between the 2.
With paid ads used to amplify influencer content, the campaign ended with over 2k fan engagements as well as more than 226K views. With a total ROI (return on investment) of 1.57X. These results exceeded the projected views for the campaign.
Overall, the campaign demonstrated that when influencer marketing and paid ads are intertwined they can excel a brand, lifting its name to the audience and potential customers. Taking the campaign to a whole new level.
