With the rise of more and more people becoming influencers by gaining huge followings of ‘fans’ on social media platforms, there is a great opportunity for marketers to invest in influencers. Influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing where influencers are paid to promote and endorse products. The reason it works so well says it all in the name, ‘influencers’. They are able to influence what their followers will purchase as they have established a trusting, personal relationship with their following. When influencers recommend the products they are paid to promote, followers trust their opinion as ‘social proof’ that the company’s products will be up to their standards. Influencer marketing is the modern-day version of ‘word of mouth’ and is used through YouTube videos, Instagram posts, TikTok videos, and any other platform where the influencer has a following.
Is influencer marketing effective?
Influencers have created huge followings on various different platforms. This means there is unlimited choice and you can choose a platform that your target audience is likely to use to attract many potential customers. With the global pandemic having forced people to stay home to keep safe, the social world completely shifted to communicating online. By watching videos and consuming content by influencers from home, it makes people feel like they’re hanging out with a friend. This has enabled influencers to build an insanely strong following and allows them to influence their fan’s buying behaviours.
Influencer Marketing Hub found that it is increasingly being used worldwide and is expected to grow even more and be worth up to $13.8 billion in 2021. They also explain that for every $1 spent on influencer marketing, businesses are making $5.20. The proof is in the pudding, influencer marketing can be extremely lucrative if you create a great strategy where you choose a trusted influencer on a platform that your target audience uses.
How to use influencer marketing
Instagram and TikTok are the biggest social media platforms for influencer marketing, however, brands can still use other platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Mega influencers are able to reach a huge group of people, however, micro influencers achieve better engagement rates. Micro influencers have between 10,000 and 50,000 followers. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, micro influencers on Instagram have an average engagement rate of 3.86% and this rate declines for bigger influencers before hitting 1.21% for mega influencers. Micro influencers on TikTok achieve engagement rates of nearly 18% while mega influencers get about 5%. Another upside to using micro influencers is that they won’t make as much of a dent in your marketing budget as a mega influencer would.
Therefore, in order to achieve the best results with influencer marketing, it would be beneficial to use micro influencers on Instagram and TikTok. It is also important to understand that when working with influencers, your brand has to step back and allow them to control the narrative they choose to go with in order for them to endorse a product with authenticity so that their followers will trust their opinion.
New Zealand Influencers
Some of the biggest industries for influencer marketing are Beauty, Fashion, and Fitness. In New Zealand, sport and fitness are a huge part of the kiwi culture. Depending on what industry your brand comes from you can pay micro influencers in NZ as a form of marketing to advertise your products. Below are some of New Zealand’s fitness and social micro influencers which you could potentially use in your influencer marketing strategy.
NZ Fitness Influencers
@kaatestacey – 30.6k followers with an engagement rate of 2.5%
@anjuli_mack – 39.5k followers with an engagement rate of 1.7%
NZ Social Influencers
@antonia_prebble – 35.9k followers with an engagement rate of 4.3%
@thehannahelizabeth – 33.4k followers with an engagement rate of 1.6%
To find more of New Zealand’s influencers, check out the top 1000 Instagram influencers here.
Want to learn more about how you can create a strong marketing strategy? Contact Naked Marketing for advice today.
