4 Reasons Why Every Company Should Work With Influencers

Table of contents:

• Does Influencer Marketing Really Work?
• Should I Use TikTok and Instagram Influencers?
• Build Brand Trust Through Liking
• Potential Virality
• A Range of Influencers to Choose From
• Finally, More Sales

Influencer marketing is a promising path to companies looking to see results from marketing efforts, without a lot of the effort.

More “traditional” marketing strategies such as pay-per-click (PPC) and social media advertising can only go so far in helping prospects connect with your brand, particularly if it’s on the smaller side. A little push from online personalities who can introduce your brand to their loyal following can help you drive the sales and social proof that you’re after.

So, if you have no idea which marketing route to follow, or if you haven’t seen great results from your current strategies, then working with influencers is your best bet.

In this article, you’ll learn:

• Why 59% of brands are crazy about micro-influencers.
• Where to find the best influencers for your business.
• Success stories from brands that trusted influencer marketing (and don’t regret it).
• Why influencer marketing works wonders for everyone, even low-budget brands, if done correctly.

But before we get started, let’s take a look at some facts.

Does Influencer Marketing Really Work?

Working with influencers works well in 2021 for a number of reasons.

One of them is that millennials (people ranging from 18 to 34 years old) are heavily impacted by internet influencers and the people they follow on social media platforms, like Instagram and TikTok. The right advertisement with the right person plays a large role on how much they’re willing to buy something.

So, if a notable personality praises a product, the buyer intent increases, and followers are more likely to make a purchase even if a brand is unfamiliar to them. That’s social proof doing its job.

Additionally, marketers have been prioritizing micro-influencers over macro-influencers. The former tier comprises influencers starting at 1k followers, going up to around 100k followers--while the latter includes well-known celebrities with over 1M followers.

There’s a reason why 59% of brands work with micro-influencers, while only 44% of brands work with macro-influencers. Not only are micro-influencers accessible, but they also have larger engagement and conversion rates. Due to a smaller number of followers, they’re closer to their audience and more likely to fit into a niche they’re passionate about. In other words, micro-influencers aren’t generalists when it comes to creating content, much less promoting products.

What’s more, micro-influencers are cheaper, allowing low-budget brands to work with multiple influencers at a time and still get a profitable return. The average price-per-post of a micro-influencer is $100, whereas a single macro-influencer deal could cost thousands of dollars.

Note that influencer marketing isn’t a conversion guarantee. Yet, influencers do a lot of the heavy-lifting for you, which is more effective than relying on a brand’s reputation alone. They already have a loyal net of followers who trust their input, and you can borrow some of that clout with a great deal.

Choose the right influencer, and you’re on the right track to building social proof for your brand and having qualified leads coming your way.

Should I use TikTok or Instagram Influencers?

Ideally, you should use the platform that resonates with your audience the most. Different platforms resonate with different products and consumers better. If you’re unsure about which platform to get started on, you can always start with multiple platforms at once. Currently Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are the top three platforms for influencer marketing.

TikTok influencers are a great starting point since almost 50% of its users are millennials, but also because brands are entering the app en masse since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Influencers have also come aboard TikTok thanks to the opportunity of earning an even higher following through TikTok’s 1 billion users. It’s been working pretty well so far for TikTok stars like Charli D’amelio, who amassed 100 million followers in November of last year and closed multiple high-paid partnerships with brands like Orosa Beauty, EOS lip balms, and even a Super Bowl commercial for Sabra hummus.

As a brand owner, however, how can gathering the right influencers help you achieve sales goals? Here are all the answers.

4 Reasons Why Every Company Should Work With Influencers

1. Build Brand Trust Through Liking

We’ve talked about social proof. Now let’s talk about the “liking” factor.

One of the greatest persuasion tactics to exist is liking. The more likeable a person is, the more easily people should comply with their requests. That’s what professor and psychologist Dr. Robert Cialdini describes in-depth in his bestselling book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

But why would we trust someone we don’t even know?

Two words: good storytelling.

If there’s one thing influencers must do well, that’s helping people connect with their personal stories through a brand. And when people connect with your story, they’re inclined to like you. That’s why storytelling is a stellar marketing strategy.

Take the Glamnetic case study as an example. Glamnetic is a magnetic eyelash brand that achieved a 10.5% increase in purchases through several marketing strategies, influencer marketing being one of them. Their product’s unique selling proposition is ease of application: wearers no longer need to use lash glue to stick their eyelashes on, and can use quickly adhering magnetized lashes instead.

“Our success came from: 1) shooting our own at-home Facebook and Instagram video ads 2) showcasing influencers in our ads to build social credibility as a small brand, and 3) constantly testing new creative on the platforms, particularly on Instagram, as that has been our main driver of growth.”, said Glamnetic’s co-founder Kevin Gould.

Here’s where influencers did a great job of connecting to potential customers: their video campaigns often highlighted the frustration of not being able to apply lash glue without ruining the rest of eye makeup, or not being able to apply fake lashes altogether. Viewers could instantly see themselves in that same situation, which increased buyer intent.

The relatable storytelling was already in place. Glamnetic added the perfect influencers to the mix, and success followed.

But there’s a caveat: connection and liking can be impacted by the reputation of the influencer in question.

That’s why it’s important to check an influencer’s credentials when doing your research. Were their other brand connections successful? Is their background clean? What have other brands said about them?

An unlikeable personality could be a deal-breaker. While they could make your brand soar, one slip could lead to a shattering fall. That’s why it’s important to choose your influencers wisely, preferably through a trusted platform.

2. Potential Virality

The order goes: more views - more engagement - more prospects - more sales.

The great thing about TikTok is that users don’t need to garner an impressive following or subscriber count to have their videos seen and shared. That’s because their chances of going viral increase once they fall on the radar of what’s called the “For You” page.

The For You page is unique to TikTok. It’s an algorithm-generated section that assembles videos of your liking based on past interactions with other videos.

It’s similar to Youtube’s “suggested videos” algorithm in a way, but there’s a difference: even though previous popularity isn’t required, a video should be engaging (have a decent number of likes, comments, and shares) for higher visibility chances. Plus, the more content a user creates, the more likely they are to fall on someone’s For You page.

Why does that matter?

Influencers know what’s trending and what’s not. It’s their job. They know exactly what to do to make TikToks popular, thanks to successful past experiences and extensive knowledge about social media in general. The right influencer can, in fact, make an inconspicuous brand go viral.

One proven strategy influencers use to increase the popularity of a brand is harnessing the power of hashtags. An example is cosmetic brand TooFaced, which relied on ongoing, multiple influencer partnerships to promote the hashtag #toofacedpartner. The brand counted on the participation of influencers like Kristen Hancher, Victoria Lyn, and Chloe Rose to create a campaign that amounted to 1.8 million views in total.

While the influencers mentioned fall into the 4M follower range, you don’t have to climb the Kardashian ladder to make this work. Remember that micro-influencers are the way to go!

3. A Range of Influencers to Choose From

There’s no shortage of influencers in the industry today. Worldwide, the total number of influencers on Instagram, YouTube, and Tiktok is somewhere between 3 and 30 million.

That said, any brand is sure to find just the right influencers who will instantly connect with their audience. They come from different backgrounds, ethnicities, personalities, and each of them has a different story to tell. As a brand, all you have to do is reach them in their place of work.

Yes, we’re talking about influencer platforms. We can’t stress enough how important they are when it comes to saving time, energy, and money when coordinating influencer campaigns.

4. Finally, More Sales

As with any other marketing strategy, the goal of influencer marketing is always to generate more sales in the end.

Of course, some people might think having to pay several influencers for their services, especially with a low budget, is counterproductive. But the ROI is what you’re here for: $5.20 for every $1 invested, on average. Besides, 89% of marketers state that the ROI from influencer marketing is comparable or better than that of other marketing channels.

Need examples? , a LED teeth-whitening kit company, had only a small sum of money to invest in marketing, and their budget was too small to focus on celebrity influencers. So they focused on micro-influencers instead.

By targeting the right audience and influencers with the right product, their revenue increased, and they continued doing what they were doing right: bringing in even more micro-influencers to promote HiSmile across social media channels.

What started out as a $20,000 investment was bringing in $40 million a year only three years later.

It’s important to note that you’re not going to always receive a positive ROI from each and every influencer that you work with, but by leveraging the content they create for your brand you can maximize the money spent. Besides a shoutout on their social media page, the influencer is also providing you with some high quality content that can be repurposed for your website, social channels, and ads. It’s important to understand that content can be reused, as long as you are granted permission from the original content owner. HiSmile was very good at repurposing content which ultimately helped them build up their social proof.

In short, a small budget is no excuse not to adapt to influencer marketing. In fact, it should be an encouragement to those who want to target celebrity influencers, but can’t.

Find Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube Influencers For Your Brand

By now you should have a good idea of why influencer marketing can be beneficial to your brand. The next step is to go out and find influencers that align with your brand, an easy way to do this is by using Collabstr’s influencer marketplace to search through thousands of influencer profiles. When you find someone you like, simply place an order or send them a message.