This article was written by:
Evdokia Bairampa is a marketing and communications manager at Intellyo.
Let’s start with the principles. Influencer and content marketing aim to meet the same goals. Brand awareness, sales boost, lead generation, trust and credibility.. Yes, all these goals will happen only if marketers and influencers produce high-quality content.
Content is the magic ingredient that makes the recipe successful and attractive to your audience.
But, what is influencer marketing and how is it linked to content marketing?
First of all, this article aims to introduce the basic concepts of influencer and content marketing. Secondly, it will point out their common grounds on which you will build a successful strategy.
What is influencer marketing?
Nowadays, marketers are investing more and more time, energy and resources to understand the benefits of influencer marketing and build relations with influencers in their industry. But why?
According to 2017 Tap Influence research, 40% of customers have purchased an item after seeing an influencer advertising it on social media platforms.
Source: Neil Patel
Indeed, customers trust recommendations from a third-party, not from the brand itself. Influencers can be the third-party that will spread the word about your product or your service. They aim to build trust and credibility around your brand.
Influencers will easily drive traffic to your website and boost enormously your sales. Based on mutual agreements, they will actually create content about your brand. They will share it with their own followers and enhance your brand awareness and popularity incredibly.
But, before even start approaching them, think about your target audience. Try to define your influencers based on topics your niche would love to get informed about.
For example, Justin Bieber was considered one of the most influential personalities on social media. But, would he be the best fit to promote your innovative content writing software? Would he fit the general concept and create a high-quality content to enhance your brand?
So, many factors can influence the success of your marketing campaign. But one factor remains steady and unchangeable. Your brand needs to be communicated and promoted by the right personality who is familiar with your industry and create content to build trust among your community.
Once you find an influencer, take action! Start sharing their content, engage in their conversations and get to know what they are writing or tweeting about. If still, you are not sure whether a certain profile is the best fit for promoting your product, just ask.
The impact and the success of an influencer campaign really depend on the chemistry and the communication you will develop with the influencer.
For this reason, it’s important to invest time to discuss the goals and challenges of the campaign. At the same time, you can get familiar with their passions and motivations.
What is content marketing?
Source: Impactbnb
According to Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and keep a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.
A very recent survey in the UK shows clearly the tendencies towards the importance of content marketing.
More precisely, 75% of UK marketers reported that their organizations are strongly, very or moderately successful with content marketing. On the other hand, 68% of the respondents confirmed that content marketing helped their organization evolve and be even more successful compared to one year ago.
Content marketing still works and it will remain dominant in 2018. But why?
There are 4 prominent reasons for businesses that use content marketing:
- Boost their sales. By optimizing your content assets, it will convert prospects to potential customers by educating them and allowing sales be efficient even more.
- Attract more committed and loyal customers. Create content that solves a problem and educates your niche on a major field. Then it is more likely your customers to trust and be loyal to you.
- Empower their brand’s reputation. A well-written piece of content enables enterprises to build a strong brand. It can literally “make miracles” especially when the content is aligned with your customers tastes and expectations. Then your content can be “your influencer”.
- Decrease marketing costs. Content marketing is inexpensive, safe and beneficial for your enterprise. It only costs time. But, the sooner you start investing in it, the sooner you’ll see the results. It increases traffic and builds relationships with your industry and your clients.
But now, let’s discover if influencer marketing can be aligned with content marketing.
Influencer marketing and Content marketing: Allies or Enemies?
Source: Digiwale
No matter where you are in your content marketing campaign, influencers can empower your brand and take you to the next level.
There are myriad ways that you will benefit from integrating those talented online stars to your content marketing strategy. How?
Influencers can create relevant content for your audience
First of all, you should look for the right persona that fits to your brand. But if you have already done it properly, then Congratulations! This is the great start of a successful campaign.
Influencers dedicate most of their time posting and chatting with their audiences. They produce content for their community’s needs and for this reason, they probably understand the market even better than anyone else. Collaborating with them from the beginning of your project or your campaign will push your presence in your field. It will also poss your brand on the top of customers’ preferences and beat your competitors.
Also, don’t ignore the influencer’s insights and advice. They can help you structure your general strategy and the content.
Customers trust them
Influencers have worked hard to build a trustworthy relationship with their followers and fans consider them decision makers. They have the power to refuse a partnership with a specific brand if it’s not valuable for their community.
They have the power and the knowledge to influence purchase decisions and do great results with their friendly recommendations. A tweet or a Facebook post, or a cute image + message on their Instagram can enhance exceptionally your brand place, increase traffic on your website and convert visitors to customers.
Influencers can maneuver easily and fast
Fans follow their idols suggestions and ideas. It is more likely to open an email or click on a link posted by an influencer they like. Chances are dropping when they don’t know the brand or even if they know it, they won’t have probably created a personal relationship.
That’s why they can maneuver and catch the attention of their niche faster and easier than anyone else.
However, we have to agree on the fact that it doesn’t really matter whether you are an experienced writer or you have partnered with the most influential person. If your content is unclear or not valuable for your community, you have to reconsider your strategy.
Content is the king and the milestone for influencer and content marketing.
According to Shane Barker, the quality of content plays an integral role in the success or failure of the entire influencer marketing strategy.
Now watch this video and you will understand the power of content.
Source: Volkswagen
In 2012, Volkswagen decided to launch a brand awareness campaign to inform female drivers about the dangers they face applying making up while driving. For the campaign execution, Volkswagen collaborated with the make-up blogger and influencer Nickie De Jager. The video flows so naturally until the moment of the “crash”! The awareness message is very strong and clear enough in order to attract the attention and motivate the female drivers.
Final words
Influencers and content marketing go hand in hand.
Consider influencer marketing as a stable and profitable strategy.
First of all, search. Understand who is the most suitable influencer for your brand. Create the most powerful content that motivates your target audience.
Always, keep in mind that you and they want to achieve the same results using the same weapons.
