What is Influencer Marketing?

 
Influencer marketing is the practice of using individuals with large followings on social media platforms (blogs, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) to include a specific product or brand in their content. The goal is to reach the audience of the "influencers" with positive brand messaging and to benefit from the third party credibility of the person posting the content. Influencers are frequently, but not always, paid or otherwise incentivized by the brand.

When anything of value changes hands between the influencer and the brand (compensation, free product, a trip), U.S. law requires disclosure of the material connection. Such disclosure requirements are overseen in the United States by the Federal Trade Commission.

We've recently found many people confuse the term influencer marketing with celebrity marketing or advocacy marketing, which are very different marketing practices. Celebrity marketing is when a brand hires someone like Kim Kardashian to tweet about their brand, and advocacy marketing relates to people and consumers who just love a certain brand and are willing to share their adoration on Facebook, Instagram, and other social networks. Ultimately, they are different things.

At Carusele, we're thinking more about micro-influencers. These are people with 10,000 to two million followers who are usually paid to include a brand in their social content in an effort to reach the audience of that influencer and show people ways to use a particular product or brand that inspires them to go out and purchase the item. It's been a very effective method of marketing over the past few years and is increasingly popular in 2018.

If you're interested in learning more about influencer marketing, how you can begin to implement effective campaigns, and what types of results you can produce for your brand, contact us today using the form below. We've developed over 100 influencer marketing campaigns for some of the worlds leading consumer brands, and we would love the opportunity to partner with you.