Influencer marketing is taking a new course of revolution with the changing economy. From the beginning of the corona pandemic where everything and everyone got clutched in the hands of the deadly corona to the present day scenario with the vaccination expected to bring things back to the normal, a lot has transformed with meaningful outcomes. And so do the digital trends.

Talking about influencer marketing, it was very much in trend even before, but the pandemic changed the industry’s scope and significance. More and more people businesses are looking for influencers, and more and more people are striving to increase their followings to gain traction from reputed brands across the globe.

When it comes to brands, they often keep in mind specific metrics that play an integral role in fulfilling social media influencers’ hunt. If you are an influencer, then this may be beneficial.

• Average Engagement Rate: The average engagement rate includes the percentage of followers that like, comment, or share your posts. Brands also look into consideration whether the comments are meaningful and whether they make a contribution in further discussion or not.

• Encounters with Fake Followers: These days it is easy to buy followers and then to have millions of followers with no engagement is a mere waste of time and energy. Brands are not looking for silent followers who have zero interactions and absolutely no interest in what you do or post.

• Past Interactions: Brands are always keen about learning your past interactions with various brands. They are eager to understand the names of the brands you have interacted in your previous years, they are more into knowing what benefits you were able to provide to those brands, and of course, what was the kind of engagement you were having with the brands you associated with.

• Consistent Branding: What kind of posts you make and how you display yourself through your social media channels speaks a lot about you. This makes it easy for brands to understand your branding capabilities and your skills as an influencer. The consistency that you showcase through your images, videos, content and other forms of intelligent conversations do their job perfectly.

• Demographics: Brands always hunt for influencers known to have followers who match their specific demographics. This means that the audiences brands aspire to reach should be your list of followers, irrespective of whether you are a micro-influencer or a macro-influencer. You have to be specific to a common group of people, geographical locations, or interests.

• Personal Interests: Knowing what you like and knowing what you are passionate about takes you deeper into the influencer ecosystem. Based on your likes, interests, and passion, brands are able to make justified decisions of whether you will be able to represent their respective brand with commitment, professionalism, and reliability.

   Popular Influencer Marketing Examples

Going by live examples makes it easy for everyone to understand influencer marketing’s core and how effectively it helps brands create a benchmark-setting. Here are some of the live examples of influencer marketing campaigns.

• Subaru: Subaru’s #MeetAnOwner influencer marketing campaign designed and executed by a YouTube influencer, Devin Graham (@devinsupertramp), used a fantastic video of the new Impreza at various locations.
• Swisspers: Swisspers is a U.S. Cotton brand that launched a campaign to encourage their followers to post makeup-free selfies. This made celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence and Taylor Swift post their selfies without makeup. This, in turn, proved to be an authentic and self-serving campaign for a cotton brand.

• Marriott: A known tourism brand associated with Jeana Smith (@PrankVsPrank), a popular YouTube influencer. They collaboratively published a video featuring a surprise dance party for mobile users as part of the celebration that calls for a target reach of one million check-ins on Marriott’s application. When the video went viral, the number of check-ins automatically started to skyrocket.

• Microsoft: The popular Microsoft campaign, “Make What’s Next” proves to be a strong source of inspiration and encouragement for young girls who aspire to pursue a promising career in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The campaign was run on the International Women’s Day in association with National Geographic. It was featured with images captured by renowned wildlife photographers and published on five Instagram accounts. This made Microsoft gain around 3.5 million likes in one day.

The Takeaway

The list of influencers, the list of successful influencer marketing campaigns, and the list of businesses looking for influencers have become a never-ending initiative. The list goes on and does not seem to have an end, at least in the near future. This makes it evident that the future of influencer marketing is bright and prosperous. What is required is the clear vision of brands and mindfulness of social media influencers who look to make a career with their passion. So, be mindful, be authentic if you are influencer to get yourself discovered easily. And if you are a brand looking for influencers, know your target audience and analyze your goals before jumping into the ecosystem to find the perfect influencer association for your brand.