A look at the evolution of influencer marketing and influencer marketing platforms. Influencer marketing is one of the most recent trends in digital marketing.
Its popularity has skyrocketed since its introduction. That’s due to a major change in consumer behavior online. Even a few years back, celebrity endorsements were the primary focus of marketers across the globe.
Celebrities like cine stars and sports personalities always have a huge fan following in our society because people think celebrities are more intelligent, knowledgeable, and trustworthy.
Today, people attribute the same qualities to social media personalities in various niches. These social media personalities have no less fan following than celebrities; naturally, their recommendations and presentations are quickly set in the minds of common people.
Needless to say, influencers have come a long way before becoming influencers. They are considered experts in their respective niches.
Today, makeup brands looking for influencers, tour and travel companies looking for influencers, or app developers looking for influencers; in fact, every business, social activity, and even political party is spotting and contacting the influencers just to get into people’s minds in the best possible way. Their followers consider them experts – it’s a trust that they have gained through their social media presence in their signature ways.
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The omnipresence of influencers: How did influencers emerge?
The concept of influencer marketing and the impact of influencers have a history. In the physical world, we can abbreviate some well-known personalities in our society or local communities as influencer marketing platforms.
Professionals like doctors, teachers, local businessmen, and army officers have their say in society. People ask them for solutions and follow what they recommend. They are the influencers because people know they are trustworthy.
Now, if you pay attention to the use of the internet at the beginning of the 21st century when the concept of blogging had just begun and sometime thereafter, some internet users used to refer to niche-specific bloggers with their problems.
Those expert bloggers were not celebrities when it came to getting advice on how to rear children, how to teach math to a first-time learner, where to travel during a long or short vacation, or which makeup brand could be suitable for a specific skin type, the internet users find bloggers in those niches just great in recommending and explaining what they wanted to know.
The bloggers were the older versions of today’s social media influencers. If you follow the trail from physical world influencers to Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, or Twitter influencers, only the media has been changed but the concept remains the same: people trust whom they find trustworthy.
Social media influencers have proved their dependability through their works that come in the form of solutions, tips, recommendations, exclusive videos and images, breaking news, insider stories, and many more.
What makes influencers so persuasive?
Influencers are not cine stars, footballers, or politicians but very much like us, like our next-door neighbors, friends, and peers. The only difference is their social media presence.
Like any other individual, they also use social media but have achieved millions of fan followers through their social media activities and transparency. They are “stars” on the internet for their own rights. They do something that millions of others on the internet cannot. That makes them so much more persuasive.
Unlike celebrities who directly endorse a product or service on different social media platforms, influencers achieve their eminences through the information they share or activities they do to entertain other social media users.
Digital marketing experts opine that influencer marketing platform can change consumer mindset or their online or offline buying trends abruptly. That is why these days, influencer programs for brands like beauty influencer programs have gained so much momentum.
Both local and global brands want to encash the popularity of social media influencers that they think are more result-oriented and cost-effective.
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Become an Influencer: Influencer Marketing Platform
If you want to become an influencer, you have to choose your niche first. If it’s a broader niche, try to be more specific considering subjects that interest you the most. You then need to create accounts on one or more social media platforms.
Choose the platforms that will best represent you and your content. Some platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn allow diverse types of content formats while some platforms have limited types of formats to offer. Then, you have to plan your content types.
In this matter, you have to be innovative so that viewers find your content interesting. Take cognizance of other influencers in the same niche. Observe their activities, choice of topics, and ways of representation but never imitate them.
Lastly, start posting in all possible formats. Create your own content and also refer to the good works of others in your niche. Consistency and quality pay off in the long run. If you want to be an influencer you have to make a difference in the niche.
The success of an influencer lies in their easy accessibility and expertise in story-telling. Many brands cannot afford to hire celebrities due to high expenditure whereas influencer marketing if used strategically, can penetrate the market faster than celebrity endorsements.
Hence, be an inspirational influencer brand to connect with rather than being just a celebrity in the landscape.
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