Since Instagram took off and bloggers took over, the word “influencer” has been thrown around a lot. Also on YouTube you can read names like ElRubius or Dulceida, Spanish “youtubers” who have managed to be the idols of millions of young people around the world. These two groups are the most influencers on the Internet. What does influencer mean? We will explain it to you in more detail.
Influencers: the owners of social networks.
Influential person, in English: influencer. As their name indicates, they are people who condition, through their actions and opinions, the way of thinking and acting of another. Their natural habitat is social networks, through which they send various messages to their followers. The most prominent influencers are dedicated to talking about their tastes in fashion, travel, video games and their daily lives in general. Who do they influence? About the youngest.
The followers of the most famous instagramers and youtubers are between 12 and 18 years old. Mostly teenagers who position these characters as references in their lives. Because? Because they generate confidence. They are not the usual famous people, who seem impossible to approach. They consider them part of their life, as if they were their friends, they interact with them through a simple “like.” And furthermore, they feel listened to because influencers owe themselves to their audience and generate content for them.
A new niche for advertising
Brands and advertising agencies could not turn a deaf ear to the large audience of these young people. Yes, because most of the kings of Instagram and YouTube are not over thirty. Therefore, they soon began to offer them free products in exchange for showing them on their social media profiles. This is how influencers began, in large part, to generate profits from their work, thanks to advertising.
But does it really work? The truth is that yes. In fact, around 40% of Twitter users admit to having purchased a product after reading a tweet from an influencer. For this reason, more and more renowned brands are encouraged to have influencers in their promotional campaigns. Do you want to see examples?
Puma: #IgniteXT
The sports clothing and footwear brand Puma launched a new model of sneakers called IgniteXT last year. Its promotion was carried out through three Spanish Instagrammers. Nina Urgell, Marina Romero and Jessica Goicoechea are fashion and lifestyle bloggers; and, in addition, they boast of playing sports and leading a healthy life. The objectives of Puma’s campaign were to achieve notoriety on social networks and improve its brand image. Through profiles with as much engagement as those of these three girls, the company managed to increase its number of followers on the networks, with the increase being even more noticeable on Instagram.
That was one of the first marketing strategies with influencers of this sports brand. Feeling success, it has continued to rely on social media stars to advertise its products.
From Internet to TV
You’ve probably seen the latest Fanta ads on TV. And, probably, you have had a soft drink “spinning the bottle” like in the spot starring ElRubiusOMG and more well-known youtubers. In this case, the brand makes the audience participate in exchange for being part of the next commercial and sharing a space on television with the youtuber with the most subscribers in Spain. In this way, consumers themselves are responsible for promoting the company through their profiles on social networks. The result: free advertising and a fresh, modern vision of the brand image.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Krch9UwA6I
These two cases have been a real success. But influencer marketing can be a double-edged sword. The reputation of the character and his audience is very important. If your company has products and services aimed at young people, working with an influencer will be a good idea. While if your target audience is more mature, you should be careful with these types of strategies and choose the right person carefully.
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