Georgia Horne, PR Account Manager at Mobas, shares her thoughts about the power of influencer marketing and how it can be used to benefit both brands and products.
Influencer marketing is not a new concept within the communications industry. In fact, it has steadily become a cornerstone practice in our industry. Over the past few years it has grown from a niche group of individuals using their platforms to a multi-billion-pound industry. There are three main types of influencers:
- Celebrity
- Macro – between 100,000 and 1 million followers
- Micro – between 1,000 and 100,000 followers
They collaborate with brands to help promote different products and campaigns through their social channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and blog posts. Influencers are trusted figures within their online community, whether that’s parenting, lifestyle or health and beauty, and they are often seen as possessing expert knowledge and experience in that field.
With over one billion users, Instagram has overtaken Facebook to become the biggest channel for influencer marketing. And, the introduction of Instagram Stories in 2016 has catapulted the platform to the top. Although influencers are often seen promoting a brand or product through their channels, they do operate independently by creating their own content and then incorporating a brand, product or campaign into it. There are plenty of influencers who do this exceptionally well, for example, Kylie Jenner has recently been crowned the highest paid Instagram influencer, making an impressive $1 million per paid Instagram post.
Alongside this, influencers such as Deliciously Ella have also evolved on the influencer scene. She started her blog in 2012 to document her meals and recipes. Since then her success has snowballed into a multi-million-pound business including several delis across London, a phone app, cookbooks, TV appearances, YouTube channel and food products. Influencer marketing has changed the media landscape.
In recent years, influencers have come under a lot of scrutiny, particularly in relation to being paid to promote certain brands and products. This has led to stricter regulations about how they work with companies. Today, they must be clear about whether they have been paid, given or loaned products; they must state their relationship with a brand or business; and they cannot mislead the consumer by misconstruing or failing to disclose relevant information.
As influencers grow their presence and work with more brands, their reputation and authority also develop. Take Sophie Hinch, aka ‘Mrs Hinch’, as an example. She posts regular content on her social channels about cleaning hacks. In the past year she’s accumulated over 2.5 million Instagram followers, recently published a book and appeared on ITV’s This Morning. Her growing influence has seen her work with brands such as CIF, Flash, Harpic and Zoflora – who saw a 28% increase in sales following endorsement from the influencer. In fact, 60% of people who have heard of her said they would buy something based on her recommendation. Impressive!
Influencer marketing has become an integral tool in communications. At Mobas, we have strong relationships with hundreds of prolific influencers across the UK and have used them to great effect for well-known household brands, restaurants and events including ACE, The Ivy, Bills, Pernaton, Nads and Holkham Country Fair to name a few. We believe they are a powerful resource for any marketing campaign which is seeking trusted endorsement to a target audience. As our Head of PR, Amanda, said recently in an article for the Eastern Daily Press: ‘Influencers are an essential part of our campaign strategies for clients. When we launched The Ivy Norwich / Cambridge Brasseries, influencers were an essential part of our activity as their publicity was instantaneous and authentic’.
If you wish to explore how influencer marketing can help your brand reach new audiences, why not get in touch?
