Influencer marketing is a collaboration between influential online personalities and brands to promote products or services.
Social media has given rise to influencers: those among us who are glamorous, and charismatic, and have influenced what we eat, how we live, and the clothes that we wear.
As we spend more time online, brands and businesses are turning to influencers to promote new products and services, with influencer marketing spend reaching over £896 million last year.
Working with influencers offers a unique opportunity to reach new demographics, build a community, and encourage User-Generated Content (UGC) for your business, which can in turn increase overall brand awareness.
What is an influencer?
An influencer is an individual who has a significant social media following and has the power to influence the behaviour of their community through their authority, knowledge, or relationship with their audience.
Influencers typically have a dedicated following in a specific niche and engage actively with their followers through exciting content, providing trust opinions and recommendations.
What platforms are most popular for influencer marketing?
According to a 2023 survey, most UK consumers used Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook to follow influencers. TikTok is quickly gaining popularity for brands looking to work with influencers as it reached a whopping 1.5 billion users in 2023, offering plenty of opportunities to advertise products and services.
Can small businesses work with influencers?
Influencers come in different sizes – nano, micro, medium, macro, and mega – depending on their follower count:
- Nano influencers typically have fewer than 10,000 followers
- Micro influencers range from 10,000 to 50,000
- Medium influencers have between 100,000 to 500,000
- Macro influencers have more than 500,000
- Mega influencers have over one million followers.
Nano and micro-influencers are ideal for small to medium businesses to work with, especially those who are local to the area. Smaller influencers are often more affordable and have a closer relationship with their followers – 70% of brands opted to work with nano and micro-influencers due to their increased trustworthiness and engagement rates.
In 2022, our team supported the relaunch of family-run restaurant Ate O’Clock and its sibling bar Social 8 through social media management services, PR, and influencer marketing.
We created a guest list of prominent influencers in York and the surrounding areas for the launch party, which resulted in a 220% increase in Instagram reach and 104.5% increase in new Facebook likes after influencers created engaging content on social media.
Influencer marketing is an effective way for businesses of all sizes to enhance their reach, build brand credibility, and drive engagement on social media. By strategically partnering with the right influencers, your brand can tap into new audiences and achieve remarkable growth.
To find out how influencer marketing can benefit your business, get in touch with us here.