The Benefits of Influencer Marketing

There are multiple channels of marketing, and one channel that’s gaining traction is influencer marketing.

Simply put, influencer marketing involves service and product endorsements from influencers. Social media is the mouthpiece of influencers.

There are numerous benefits of influencer marketing: from quicker lead generation to brand awareness and more social media followers, influencers should be a major part of your social media marketing.

Table of Contents

1. Lead Generation

The first advantage your business can reap if you work with an influencer is an influx of leads.

These leads are the influencer’s audience, which could be in the tens or hundreds of thousands of people.

That’s a far larger audience than your small business has ever had the chance to reach, so you can be 100% certain that the audience attracted to your business now is completely unique.

Of course, just because you have an influencer on your side doesn’t mean that you should stop using other lead generation methods.

Further, it’s important that you have some sort of lead capture method in place before you begin working with the influencer.

Influencer marketing statistics — *Source*

If you don’t, then the leads you generate will be useless because you failed to take advantage of a golden opportunity.

2. Lead Conversions

Are the leads that an influencer brings in readier to convert? While maybe not 100% of the time, usually, yes, they are!

The influencer — if they did a good job of explaining your products and services — will have already made your customers aware of what your product or service does.

They’ll learn how your products and services work, what needs they fill, and what they cost.

This allows the influencer’s audience to make decisions on the spot about whether they are interested in your products and services.

By the time these leads enter your sales funnel, they may be further along than most of your leads.

3. Brand Awareness

What is your brand voice?

That’s a question you’ve been eagerly trying to help people answer since your business first opened its doors (both literally and figuratively).

With the help of an influencer, you can finally spread the message about your brand, creating awareness in the throngs of potential customers who have yet to hear about your business and the exemplary products and services that you bring to the table.

Your brand’s name recognition may not be quite to the level of Coca-Cola, Nike, or Apple after working with one influencer, but you’ll see a huge spike in name recognition that wouldn’t have happened so fast otherwise.

That can be quite a great feeling. You’re still the small fish in the big pond, but you’re the slightly bigger.

4. Brand Strengthening

Perhaps you’ve been working hard for a while to build your brand, and most of the measures you’ve employed have actually worked.

Well, building one’s brand is a job that’s never done, and the same goes for strengthening that brand as well.

Pairing with an influencer, especially one with enough name status, is going to help you cement your brand.

If your name wasn’t on the tips of most people’s tongues before — then with your influencer marketing strategy — this will change soon.

Your social media presence will grow, people will engage with your content, you’ll get better email open rates, and your business your boom.

Benefits of influencer marketing — *Source*

5. More Website Traffic

Naturally, when an influencer’s audience becomes curious about you, the first thing they’re going to do is ‘Google’ your brand name.

Your website will pop up, and there, a curious lead will click around to gather as much information about your small business as possible.

The traffic will spike the most around the time that the influencer posts promotional content on their own website or on social media.

For even a couple of days, you can expect more robust traffic than average, but then, it will taper off and not return unless you have another influencer deal in the works.

That’s why, as we said, you must have lead capture methods in place.

If you haven’t redesigned and optimized your website in a long time, then you should prioritize doing this ideally before you even seek an influencer to work with.

You should add opt-in forms and lead magnets to your site, especially on your homepage.

Be sure to include some call-to-action buttons, including one above the fold and several below the fold, so it’s easy for website visitors to find what they’re looking for.

6. More Social Media Followers

It’s not only your website that’s going to benefit from working with an influencer, but your social media follows as well.

The influencer may plug your socials into their video or post.

If the video is already on a social media channel, then it’s very easy for the influencer’s audience to look you up without even leaving the social media platform.

Your social media follower numbers may experience a healthy uptick or even a significant leap from the prior numbers.

It’s great to have an inflated social media count without having to buy your followers, but now you have to retain them.

That means beefing up your social media presence and posting high-value content if you’re not doing so already.

As we always discuss on the blog, what constitutes valuable content in the eyes of one audience is not the same for another audience.

This is why you can’t choose an influencer based solely on name recognition or how big of an audience they have.

You’re trying to capture a share of that audience. If the audience has no interest in the products or services you sell or the types of content you post, then it’s only a matter of time before your new social media followers leave you.

Inspire Schitts Creek GIF by CBC — *Source*

7. Better Authority

Why did such a big-name influencer choose to work with you?

That’s a question that’s naturally going to float through the heads of your followers, leads, and yes, even your competitors.

This influencer could have chosen to partner with anyone, and instead, they selected you. That says a lot!

People will recognize this, and your level of clout will begin to grow, as will your authority. Leads and customers will trust in you more because you have that influencer’s seal of approval, so to speak.

Having authority is advantageous for your small business in a multitude of ways. You’ll find that when you get website traffic, your bounce rate goes down.

Other companies will be eager to work with you so that some of your good luck rubs off on them. You might get more links and certainly more guest blogging requests.

You’ll stand out even more from your competition. The material you publish will be more powerful since you have more clout.

You’ll also generate a more staunchly loyal audience!

8. More Sales

Yet another benefit of influencer marketing is the increase in sales you’re sure to experience.

As we talked about before, the leads who come to you are naturally going to be a lot more qualified due to how well your influencer partner promoted your products and services.

Many leads are indeed ready to buy right here, right now.

The less hesitation in a lead’s purchasing decision, the sooner you’ll see a sales spike as a result of working with an influencer.

9. Could Open the Door to Future Partnerships

It’s not necessarily easy to get that first influencer to agree to work with you, especially if you’re a startup or small business.

After that, it’s more like the rules of momentum. Once the ball is rolling, it continues rolling on its own, gaining more speed as it does.

You might strike a repeat arrangement to work with that same influencer again, or you could find that other influencers are more receptive to partnering with you after you have one successful influencer arrangement under your belt!

Conclusion

The benefits of influencer marketing cannot be overstated — it’s a win-win situation for all involved.

In a nutshell, influencer marketing could be just what your business needs to capitalize on a new market, grow your social media following, increase your sales, or boost your customer loyalty!

Supercharge your marketing with our ultimate guide on the best powerful strategies – don’t miss out!