Concepts:

Social media: A medium which is filled with content by the users. Today, the most up-to-date social media platforms are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

Influencer: Also known as an opinion leader, an influential person who has gained a reputation in the social media, produces content, and is thus able to influence his followers, formate opinion and consumer behavior. Based on a tracking number, we distinguish the following categories:

Nanoinfluencer - followers { 5.000
Mikroinfluencer - 5000 { followers { 100.000
Makroinfluencer - 100.000 { followers { 500.000
Megainfluencer - 500.000 { followers

Influencer marketing: One of the most up-to-date online marketing tools of the recent years: advertisers try to influence followers through an opinion leader instead of reaching their target audience directly. These communicators share brand-specific information and their own experiences in their communication, with two main goals: brand building and encouraging buying.

From radio to YouTube

Over the past decade, social media has accelerated the flow of information to an unprecedented rate: in the United States, radio reached 50 million audiences in 40 years, a number that took just 15 years for television, while today a more up-and-coming video reaches this on YouTube in a few days.

However, as more and more impulses reach us - consumers, we become more and more immune to traditional advertising and sharpen to ads based on manipulative techniques. Social media had the biggest impact on this, as this was the first time that the consumer had the opportunity to react immediately to an advertisement, no matter i fit is a negative or a positive opinion. And it is in the interest of brands to respond so that communication is loyal to the platform, i.e., two-way and authentic.

Advertisers are increasingly oriented towards a personal connection when targeting their ads, thus reaching a much more ancient genre: referral. Behind influencer marketing is the form of human behavior in which we feel an experience based on our own experience is more authentic than a written or image advertisement, behind which in most cases there is no real impulse.

Influencer marketing

Many times, the most authentic advertising is the recommendation of a family member or friend to whom we believe the opinion, and these suggestions are mostly selfless and unpaid. In contrast, influencers on social media and related recommendations are usually made in return for consideration (object, service, or material nature), which, of course, does not preclude a recommendation based on authentic, real experience. The brand, the moment it enters into a contract with the influencer, also acquires its audience, a group who are basically very open and receptive to that particular opinion leader. In this way, you deliver the product or service to them through a person who shares the values of the brand.

The relationship between brand and influencers

As a user, one source of danger is that we never know if the recommendation is based on real or false experience. Influencers’ followers have usually gained their following camps through the activity in which they are talented, to stand out from the crowd in one way or another, talk about fashion, travel, or even a zero waste lifestyle. When an opinion leader advertises in exchange for consideration, reality, as always, plays a key role here: it’s important not to engage in collaboration that is far removed from your person, previous posts, or even your entire profile. This is extremely important not only for your own, but also for the credibility of the recommended brand! Just think about it, if we noticed an ad on the page of an influencer’s profile that had previously advertised a vegan and zero waste lifestyle, a company that sells fast food or even plastic bottles, our faith in it would immediately be shaken. At the same time, the brand would also appear in a negative light, even for its previous followers, as it tried to address a target group through a character who is quite unsuitable for this - simply because of his personality and profile.

Types of cooperation

In order to get the best results possible and the collaboration to bring you the conversion you want, of course, we need to consider which is better for us:
» to involve as many influencers and platforms as possible, thus anticipating a significantly increased marketing cost, but hoping for a large-scale conversion;
» or to contract opinion leaders ”difficult to obtain”, even with a smaller but more concentrated follower group.

Whichever strategy we choose, there are several ways we can work with influencers, so it’s worth exploring our options before the contract. In the current market, the following post types are the most common, or of course countless combinations:

· Dedicated post: In this form of collaboration, the advertiser’s appearance in the posts is quite strong. The text and image are all about the product or service.
· Recommendation: An influencer with a larger follower group recommends a smaller one, even for some ”tangible” collaboration (e.g., a collection of two brands, etc.).
· Mention/Product Placement: At first glance, this type seems to be the least advertising: the ad itself is almost lost in the content, the product or service just appearing.
· Advertising: The 3 + 1 category: in this case, the advertiser is the content producer, and this content includes the specific opinion leader.

To make these decisions, we recommend studying the current domestic and international social media market and previous influencer marketing campaigns!

If you want to know more about what opportunities you have on the market, which influencers you could work with, feel free to contact us!

BRANDER.hu