Sami Gashi | July 10, 2020 | 3 min

What is influencer marketing?

Welcome to our new blog series on Influencer Marketing.

Influencer Marketing has become an important part of marketing. In the meantime influencers have become creators and advertise products in a professional way for a fee. Influencer marketing is mainly about an interlocking cooperation between the influencer on the one hand and the marketer on the other hand. Only if the marketer passes on his knowledge about the brand and the product to be represented to the influencer. The influencer then stages the product in such a way that it attracts the interest of the followers, a successful influencer marketing can work.

Putting the product in the right light

Above all, it is important that the products to be marketed are offered in a target group-oriented and authentic manner. The influencer is primarily in demand here, as he knows exactly what influence he has on the followers and where his own strengths and weaknesses lie. In addition, many influencers have been dealing with this form of marketing for years and are more or less professionals in this social media area. Especially those who have been involved in the early days of YouTube, Instagram etc. are predestined to advertise certain products very authentically. This is because they have built up a reach at a time when it was not yet about marketing products for a certain fee. It was mainly about enthusiasm for certain topics, which was shared with other interested parties.

There are various ways to select the right influencer for your own product. In addition to various tools and databases, specialized agencies can support you. However, the personal level should not be disregarded, as the human and personal side plays a major role in influencer marketing. Only content that appeals to the followers can lead to the desired result.

However, to ensure that the postings do not get lost in the daily flood of contributions, they are becoming more and more elaborate. It is no longer enough to simply post a good picture. Because what is just as important is the right story to go with it. Ideally, the story is then not only distributed on one platform, but on many different ones at the same time. A well-produced story can build trust with the followers, which in turn has an enormous impact on the sales of certain products.

Engagement is important in influencer marketing

However, influencer marketing is not only about a particularly wide reach. The target group-oriented involvement with the community is also of particular importance. This often leads to more effective marketing than is possible, for example, through TV commercials. Above all, influencer marketing, which is less expensive for companies than TV commercials, makes cooperation with influencers particularly attractive. It should also not be forgotten that followers are more aware of the influencers’ advertising. Usually they get a good feeling when the “idol” makes authentic recommendations. Nevertheless, influencer marketing is not a game, but a scaled business, which is about nothing less than making money.

In addition, the influence of influencer marketing is constantly growing. The market research institute Splendid Research conducted a study on this topic in the summer of 2019 and came to the following conclusions, among others:

– 95% of those surveyed aged between 15 and 69 years are fully aware of what influencers are.

– Based on the recommendations of influencers, 19% have already bought a certain product.

– A full 63% of these recommendation buyers are female.

– About a third of those between the ages of 20 and 29 follow recommendations from influencers.

– 66% of the women surveyed purchased beauty and personal care products and 32% clothing. In contrast, 45% of men bought technical products and 29% computer games based on recommendations from influencers.

Interview with Sabrina Heinke, blogger and influencer (Mamahoch2)

The blogger and influencer Sabrina Heinke let herself look behind the scenes in an interview. She has been advertising for brands on various platforms since 2015. Meanwhile she already has two employees.

For Sabrina Heinke, everything started in 2013, when the topic of cooperation was not yet very important. Almost everything took place in blogs. However, this changed over time as more and more companies realized that influencers can do targeted and above all successful advertising. Today, Instagram is primarily used to advertise products. Facebook or blogs are no longer so much in demand.

As the demands of the users of Instagram, for example, continue to grow, the demands on influencers are also becoming more and more demanding. Companies are also making it very clear what exactly they expect from the advertisements they place. For Sabrina Heinke, it is above all important that the product she is supposed to advertise fits her. Because only if she is 100% behind a product will she place advertising for it. Otherwise she will not be authentic with her followers and will lose credibility. In addition, she makes sure that she only places advertising once a week, as she does not want to be a pure advertising channel, but wants to offer added value to her followers. However, payment is also important to her.

She offers a blog entry for CHF 1,500, an Instagram post costs CHF 250 and an Instagram Story CHF 1,000 (depending on the number of followers and views). An entry on Facebook costs CHF 250 to CHF 500. Sabrina Heinke mainly deals with everything to do with family, DIY and children. About 96% of her target group are women between 25 and 45 years.