Despite influencer marketing being the future of marketing, the average consumer does not know how this marketing modality works. In this post, I will describe what my initial understanding of influencer marketing was before I started writing for Find Your Influence in comparison to what I now know about it after spending the past six months researching the subject.
I’m Jason Noury and I have been writing blog posts for Find Your Influence since the fall of 2020 in an effort to diversify my writing portfolio in a professional capacity before I graduate from Arizona State University this December. In addition to other topics, my blogs have helped to explain what influencer marketing is, how it works, and its benefits.
When I first started writing for Find Your Influence, I thought that influencer marketing involved somebody from a company wanting to jump on a certain social media trend or attempting to cash in by asking a particularly favorable influencer or celebrity to share a pre-scripted post or review on their social media platforms.
The FTC released rules on when and how social media influencers should disclose ads.
Now, I understand that influencer marketing is actually a bit more complicated than that. Of course, on a very, very basic level, brands want exactly that —especially since their core demographic spends hours each day scrolling through videos on TikTok. However, that is where companies like Find Your Influence come in. Find Your Influence works with influencers and brands in order to help them realize what the going rates are, based on their specific platform.
Find Your Influence figures this out by taking several variables—such as the number of followers an influencer has as well as the engagement level of the followers—into mind, which helps brands understand why the influencer is so valuable. Often, an influencer’s value can be emphasized based on the return on investment.
In a nutshell, the return on investment is the profit that an influencer brings in, weighed against the amount the brand pays to have the influencer promote their products or services. As explained in another blog, how to measure ROI with influencer marketing, it is important to note that, unlike with traditional advertising, an influencer marketing campaign’s returns aren’t always immediate. With the influencer marketing approach, influencers generate a stronger long-term brand awareness for their loyal following.
Find Your Influence can use the data to come to an agreement with brands so that the brand can stay within their marketing budget all while making sure that the influencer is fairly compensated for their work.
On top of making sure larger brands pay influencers what they are worth and do not take advantage of influencers, Find Your Influence also helps match compatible brands and influencers In a February 2019 blog How Zappos Fell in Love with Influencer Marketing, Melissa Depelchin, a marketing manager on the Zappos Co-Op Marketing Team, emphasized how well FYI’s vast network of influencers works with the wide range of campaigns that Zappos runs.
Influencer marketing is really taking off, and I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to write for Find Your Influence, the company whose goal is to help facilitate the influencer marketing process for all of the parties involved. Additionally, it is much more complicated than one would initially think. Many influencers, for example, do not know their worth, and agree to much less compensation than they deserve when they begin the process of making brand deals. As for the brands, they have some peace of mind in knowing that their investment will pay off in the long run.
Freelance contribution especially written for Find Your Influence by Jason Noury.