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The Different Ways to Use Relationships with Influencers to Boost PR Efforts
Have you been inclined to purchase a new product or try a new service because your friend, your favorite celebrity or a family member purchased it first? A recent survey revealed that for $1 spent on an influencer campaign, the marketer made close to $7 in media value. That is not too bad.
Brands have been paying attention, and the way they work with influencers has become more creative. One of the most recent memorable examples is when Gillette Venus decided to work with Julianne Hough to promote and host a type of dance-off for their new razor blade. YouTubers are often called on to promote products and influence their subscriber base to purchase a new product.
Social Media Influencers
These are wonderful examples of how social media influencers and other recognizable public figures can help your credibility with a brand new audience and boost public relations between you and the public. Influencer marketing will help to fill the engagement and trust holes that other forms of media cannot always do.
Investing in your own team of online spokespeople, in addition to a team of online PR degree graduates, has the ability to take your public relations efforts to another level.
Influencers Help to Build Trust
Most consumers trust journalists because they write for reputable publications. They know that the journalists have authority and they turn to them when breaking news occurs.
However, putting trust in an influencer is somewhat different. They are not trusted because they have years of education, a degree or can provide fact checking information. They are trusted by consumers because they have a point of view that the consumer can relate to and/or they have shown they have genuine knowledge about a certain niche. Beauty bloggers are a great example of this.
Instagrammers, Snapchatters and bloggers are just some of the influencers who have built their communities over a period of time. They have worked very hard to get their fans and followers to trust them, and they do not want to do anything that could jeopardize these relationships.
Influencers can bring a sense of honesty to your brand that a large marketing budget cannot buy. Consumers also feel a sense of connectedness to these influencers. They live their lives vicariously through them because so much of these influencers’ professional and personal lives are on display on social media.
Influencers Give Their Fan Base ‘Permission’ to Communicate with Your Brand
Once you think about it, it is very like the experiences of peer pressure you probably had in high school. For example, if you saw someone with a certain hairstyle and this person was considered trendy and fashionable, you were probably inclined to get the same hair style.
When an influencer begins to talk about your brand, this creates the first steps toward engagement. The follower is given a type of ‘permission’ to learn more about your brand because someone they trust and admire engages with your brand.
You will need to take some time to think about the image you want your brand to have, and who you can call on to help influence your brand to others. Do you want to be stuck sending customers emails, or do you want the influencer to act as your handwritten invitation? If the answer is “no”, you need to hire someone with an online public relations degree.
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