The Power of Influence

“Oh, have you seen the blush that makeup guru uses, it’s so good!!” “Let’s follow her routine for legs, and then his routine for arms.” “Pilates looks so fun, have you seen that lady on Tiktok and her transformation?” “Wow, that restaurant looks so good, I’ve seen so many Instagram posts about it…”

One and all have thought, said, or even commented about something like this in the place that is our second home - the internet. Whether it’s simply a search for the temperature, an essay, watching a movie or communication, what would we do without Google and social media? Due to the latest developments in technology, everything is online, and digitalization increases day by day. With four or five clicks, a customer’s touchpoint journey is reduced infinitely. Instead of going to the cinema, people simply turn Netflix on, and watch the same thing, for a cheaper cost in the comforts of their home. Similarly, banking and office work can be done online too, with remote working becoming an advantage with the rise of devices in each and every work environment. As technology increases, the demand for jobs to revolutionize businesses increases too.

As our lives become more and more prone dependent on the web, masses of crowds have shifted onto platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. And this is where influencing drops the bomb. Influencers are people who build a mass following and can use social media and its people to build relationships. They are a proponent of promotions and ideas, and their infallible apperenace certainly does help. Whether it is a habit, lifestyle, brand, product or even an idea, that feeling of a person that is like a close friend, someone who understands you, comes in handy when wanting to encourage more to do it too.  

And wait - if your friend wants to try that new brand, maybe you should too?

These are the exact mind games influencers earn from. Businesses invest their products and monetary value into their influencer, which gives the influencer their products for free. For the business, this cost all balances out as they get the appreciation of the followers. This appreciation can turn into user-generated content (UGC) at no cost, which develops a strong and positive persona on the web. But simply a kind outlook is not the most important aspect for a business. Because whilst it can help, at the end of the day, everyone needs to earn money. This is where the art of investing into the right influencer comes in.

Now, businesses can’t just choose any person they find. This could have a possibility of ending very badly. Businesses do in depth research onto what sort of influencer they are interested in. They cannot find someone solely on audience needed but also need to keep in mind the background of the influencer. Before they contact them, an influencer’s previous promotion, content and media is researched thoroughly, as associations with negative connotations fail the partnership before it even starts. Additionally, will they be a person to rely on? Will they be able to display the product in the way you want, in an ethically just, yet light and entertaining manner? Depending on the focus of this promotion, a business takes the necessary measures and caution to research effectively beforehand.

But why is this important? Well, the answer is obvious. If a business will be allocating a certain amount of money on this strategy, they must have some faith in getting the audience to buy from them. Ultimately, this can only happen if they show and put in the effort to display their products in a way that seems extremely unfair to simply not own. This, alongside, how the creator appeals to their audience will be the key factors in the mix that will convince someone to buy.

Is it all worth it? Well - it depends on what the business is going for. If a large business is aiming to tackle the issue of brand awareness and reach, perhaps the idea of a celebrity endorser may be better than an influencer. Their wide outsourcing will get what is needed to a multitude of customers. However, if the business is more local or even mid-sized, working with an influencer can be a great idea. Their work in the niche culture of theirs means that if you find exactly what you are looking for, the investment into influencer is going to be worth it. This can bring in guaranteed solid sales as well as customer loyalty in the demographic best fitted for you.

Although it’s frankly new, influencer marketing has become popular very fast, boasting an ever-growing $16.4 billion dollar industry (2022). To believe it here’s a throwback - think about the time Dunkin’ Donuts partnered with TikTok star influencer Charli D’Amelio in 2020. This was a huge hit, as COVID-19 had just hit, and the influencer was a raging phenomenon. Everyone on TikTok around that time knew what ‘The Charli’ was, with a whopping 20% increase in sales for cold brew on the day of the launch. Dunkin’s business was forever changed.

Now simply because it may sound like a strategic investment, doesn’t mean it’s only a clever way to trick a customer It is not always a lure or an evil trap to fall into. Rather, it should be considered a sort of symbiotic relationship – one that benefits both parties equally, but only if both take the right steps to do so.