Influencer marketing trends in 2018

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Influencer marketing has been on a rise for a decade. It’s one of the newest marketing strategies. Around 70% of consumers are influenced by peers recommendation when making a purchase and 30% are more likely to make a purchase when the recommendation is not by a celebrity. This is where bloggers and influencers come in. Consumers value the opinion of influencers more than celebrities because they are able to relate more to influencers.

While shopping at a store, 60% consumers have been influenced by a social media blog or post. A whopping 67% of marketers consider influencers the largest marketing challenge.

Influencer marketing is strategic and tactful.The best influencer marketing trends which are used by some of the best digital marketing agencies in India are; integration of influencer marketing for the entirety of the customer journey That is, the integration of the three main categories of influencers, mega-influencers, macro-influencers and micro-influencers. And the integration of other strategies such as loyalty programs, word-of-mouth, advocacy to provide a coherent customer experience.The aim is to build an experiential and emotional connection with target customers with the help of relevant content and touch points.

Influencer marketing throughout the consumer journey would begin with awareness, generally in the social media space. The next step would be a generation of interest about the brand and what it provides by determining the type of content that’s relevant to every affiliated influencer’s following. After the generation of interest, the brand needs to understand desires and work towards satisfying desires with the right product, right price, promotions, offers with the help of testimonials and reviews to enhance the desire to make a purchase. The next step would be action, where influencers direct customers to make the purchase. Leads need to be converted into sales and a common method now used to measure how many customers are on board because of influencers is the use of ‘promo-codes’. The last step would be converting customers into an advocate. When customers use word-of-mouth they become ambassadors. More the ambassadors lesser the cost per acquisition. They serve as an extension of the internal marketing team.

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Building relationship with influencers requires a strong foundation that benefits both sides of the relationship. Personalisation helps build the relationship and will potentially be a very important influencer marketing trends that brands will see.

Influencer marketing for B2B is another upcoming trend. Even the top digital marketing agencies in India look set to focus more on B2B social channels such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc. as well as, recognise B2B influencers such as Buzzsumo, Traackr etc.

Influencer marketing is more than audience growth now, its focus is on returns! This is just the start of influencer marketing and will continue to grow so building an influencer network is essential for any brand!