19
Apr

Marketing Influence Everything You Need to Know Part 1  

Influence marketing is a type of marketing that relies on opinion leaders to promote a product. It corresponds to the identification, the collection of information, the commitment, and the establishment of a network that influences the behavior of consumers during the customer journey. These leaders can be personalities or reference sites on a given topic.  

Influence marketing identifies individuals or sites that have an influence on potential buyers, and directs marketing activities around these influencers. It is linked to many areas such as marketing, PR, sales, customer service in order to lead to a similar strategy.  

Content created by influencers can be presented as a recommendation where they act as a potential customer or a third party. Third parties are either part of the supply chain (stores, distributors, manufacturers, etc.), or are value-added influencers (journalists, academics, industry analysts, professional advisors, etc.) 

The influence marketing sector has grown extremely rapidly in recent years and its overall value for Instagram is now estimated at US$1.07 billion. One of the factors limiting market development is fraud against followers. False accounts, false influencers and false comments constitute a “large parallel market”. The inventory of automated accounts was estimated at a minimum of 3.5 million in 2019. One of the facilitating factors is the development of influential marketing agencies or platforms, such as Influence4You, Influo.com, Kolsquare and Hivency. 

Note: In the event that the influencer receives a benefit from a brand (free product or remuneration), he or she must communicate transparently about the perceived benefit in order not to fall within the framework of deceptive marketing practices. Influence marketing is therefore subject to strict rules of transparency as well as those provided by professional organizations such as the ARPP.  

An influencer is an individual with the ability to influence another person or a group of people. This force is related to different elements such as the frequency of communication, the power of persuasion and the size and position within the social network. 

Influencer activity has developed with the rejection of advertising and brands by consumers. In fact, in 2018, 25.2% of Internet users in the United States blocked advertising on their devices. Today, brands do not hesitate to adopt mixed communication strategies to reach consumers at different stages of their buying journey, including adopting digital levers and trusting consumers to promote the brand.  

Influence is the process by which a person’s way of thinking or behavior is affected by the action of a third party. This is different from manipulation, which is a hidden influence, and is therefore the ability to cause measurable effects or change impressions or behaviors (Brian Solis definition).  

How do you become an influencer?

Today, new technologies have made it easy for consumers to learn about and take a strong interest in the topic – especially through social networks. Influencers have become the living showcases of brands through all these new tools and have made it possible to highlight them on the market.  

Influencers are followed by hundreds of thousands of fans, gather around them faithful communities. They are increasingly prized by brands and companies and have managed to create a market that is on the way to compete with that of advertising. These people have become famous on social networks thanks to the publications they regularly post, that is, videos and photographs that can generate millions of reactions.