What is Influencer Marketing?

While at Inbound2015, we attended an eye opening session presented by Lyle Stevens, the Co-Founder and CEO of Mavrck, an Influencer Marketing platform for driving sales on social networks. “Influencer Marketing” is a new marketing term, but is something we see almost every day.

According to AdWeek, 60% of marketers plan on boosting influence marketing budgets within the next 12 months. For every $1 spent on influencer marketing, $6.50 is made by the business. With an ROI almost as high as email marketing, we can see why influencer marketing is on the rise.

So What is Influencer Marketing and Why Should We Care?

Influencer Marketing is “a type of marketing that focuses on using key leaders to drive your brand’s message to the larger market” (thanks TapInfluence for the definition). The rise of social media now means that consumers look to each other, and at their favorite personalities, to inform their purchasing decisions. Instead of traditional marketing to a mass group of consumers, your brand uses influencers to boost your message.

Influencer Marketing is native advertising, meaning it does not interrupt the consumer experience, and instead creates a more pleasant experience for the consumer. Influencer marketing is powerful, and it’s social. That means if your business isn’t social yet, it’s time to make the shift. Why? Because people want brands to interact with them, not shove advertising down their throats. People want to be engaged, part of the conversation, entertained and informed.

What Does Influencer Marketing Look Like?

Here, Athenos cheese teamed up with blogger, author and designer Emily Schuman. See her sponsored Instagram post with a lot of positive responses from some of her 309k followers.

As you can see, Emily uses her social media presence to organically promote a brand through her instagram photo & related hashtags. She also includes the hashtag #sponsored to show that she is working together with Athenos. With over 300 million monthly active users on Instagram, brands shouldn’t ignore influencer marketing!

Right before this blog was published, Social Media Examiner posted a blog called “How to Run an Instagram Influencer Campaign” -- how time appropriate! Check out the article and learn how you can contact key influencers for your brand.

Interested in learning more about marketing for your business? Let us know!