The art of marketing has transformed dramatically throughout the years. From print advertisements, television commercials, and online advertisements—companies have more to choose from when it comes to getting themselves out there. But something that has stayed constant is the use of famous faces to market a product or a brand. 

However, now, fame is not only exclusive to athletes and celebrities as social media users with large followings are also being tapped to star or be the center of advertising campaigns.

And that has been the case for digital marketing in the Philippines in recent years. The booming demand for Influencer Marketing is what’s currently shaping advertising in the country, specifically online.

To give you a clearer image of what it is, we’ll dive deeper into it. 

What’s Influencer Marketing?

To put it simply, Influencer Marketing is a type of social media marketing that makes use of people who’ve got popularity, expertise, and authority in a specific field to affect or shape consumers’ actions. 

Influencers are typically found online and are in possession of a huge following on a social media platform—or multiple social networks. Their field of expertise or knowledge can be in beauty, health, technology, lifestyle, travel, entertainment, and others. 

How it Works

Just as we mentioned earlier, Influencer Marketing is closely related to social media. This means that it’s released—more often than not—online, catering to audiences that can be found there. 

It takes advantage of the popularity of a particular individual or niche creator to drive a brand’s message to a target audience, which they already have. This technique focuses on boosting brand awareness and increasing traffic. 

How Effective Is It? 

As we all know, the digital world is now king when it comes to marketing. In fact, this January 2021, the total number of people around the globe actively partaking online has reached 4.66 billion, which is more than 50 percent of the world’s total population. 

And out of that population, 3.6 billion people are using social media. This is what makes Influencer Marketing an effective tool in increasing a brand’s recall or recognition. 

Here are some interesting statistics that prove just that: 

• According to a study conducted by TapInfluence and Nielsen Catalina Solutions, Influencer Marketing content delivers 11X higher return of investment (ROI) than traditional forms of digital marketing. 
• Besides this, it’s also been found that 70 percent of teenagers trust influencers more than celebrities. 
• According to a study conducted by Twitter in 2016, 49 percent of consumers rely on influencer recommendations for their purchases. 
• In 2017, Sprout Social found that 74 percent of people rely on social media networks for their purchases, especially opinions from friends, influencers, and families. 

Types of Influencers

• Mega-Influencers

This group of influencers is composed mainly of celebrities, who have followings that surpass a million. They’re highly visible on social media due to their star status and generate a ton of engagement from fans.

They’re often used for broad advertising campaigns and target a more general audience instead of a niche one.

• Macro-Influencers

These group influencers possess a following of 500,000 to 1 million. They are pretty similar to mega-influencers except they usually gain popularity online instead of traditional media avenues. 

They can be podcasters, vloggers, social media stars, and influential bloggers. This group is best used if you want to slightly narrow down your audience or appeal to a particular age group. 

• Mid-Tier Influencers

Mid-Tier Influencers have a following that ranges from 50,000 to 100,000. And compared to the first two, they’re niche-oriented. 

They also have a higher engagement rate and release content based on their experience, which comes across as authentic and trustworthy.

These influencers climbed the ranks through hard work and leverage on personal experiences. You can partner with them if you want to build rapport with your targeted audience.

• Micro-Influencers

Although micro-influencers only have a few thousand followers, their advantage lies in their impressive engagement rates and trust ratings. 

Brands and companies usually turn to this group when they want to build more intimacy with their target audience and boost their patronage. 

• Nano-Influencers

Out of all the influencer types, nano-influencers have the lowest follower number. However, what they lack in following, they make up for in engagement rates. 

This group has the highest engagement at 8.8 percent. Their content is considered hyper-authentic and is highly personalized, offering partner brands the opportunity to form a more meaningful connection with their chosen audience. 

Choosing the Right Influencer for Your Brand

• Define Your Needs and Wants

When it comes to choosing the right influencer partner for your brand, what you need to consider is the purpose of your advertisement campaign—whether you want to increase the general awareness of your brand, target a specific age group or community, or increase your interaction with existing followers. 

• Check for Relevance 

And as we’ve mentioned earlier in the post, influencers have different rates of reach, engagement, fields of expertise, and audiences. With that in mind, it’s important that the influencer you choose is in the same category as your business and that they can add value to your brand. 

• Come Up with a Budget

It’s also important that you set a budget for your campaign and go with the type of influencer that fits your needs. 

• Always Do a Background Check

Most important of all, you have to do a background check on your potential influencer partner. This way, you’ll be able to make sure that you’re partnering with someone who has a clean track record and prevent controversies or problems in the future. 

A Few Helpful Reminders

While Influencer Marketing is something that can be accomplished on your own—through trial and error—it’ll be much better if you prepare beforehand. After all, jumping on the strategy without much knowledge or background information will only set you up for failure.

Do your research and create a strategy that will fit your needs. The tools that you need are all available online, especially the data. 

But if researching is not your thing, you can avail of walkthroughs or classes virtually—think Skillshare, Udemy, or even Master Class. There’s bound to be a lesson already done for it.

However, if you want fast and foolproof results, you should seek the help of those who are well-versed in the industry. It won’t even be that hard to look for one since social media management agencies in the Philippines are in no shortage. 

To bolster the effectiveness of your brand’s Influencer Marketing strategy, you can use it in conjunction with search engine optimization (SEO).

SEO is a method that uses keywords to improve traffic to your online store or website. Much like agencies that manage social networks, there are companies that handle SEO services in the Philippines, which means you won’t have a difficult time finding one that can assist you.