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 Navigating the shift towards Influencer Engagement: Role of influencers in building brand awareness

Social Media is encouraging companies to enhance their brand marketing tactics

Undoubtedly social media has become a significant part of our lives, with more than 2.6 billion active users, globally. From the viewpoint of consumers, social media plays a great role in enhancing their buying experience. Prior to this, consumers had to visit the store, speak with the staff to gain knowledge about any product. That has changed largely because of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram, as customers can access free details anytime, anywhere more easily.

Considering the trend, most prominent and aspiring businesses will carry on to invest in social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to share their visual strategy through influencers, infographics and films with the purpose to ultimately maximize their online income and long term business growth. In addition to that, social media has a flexible nature which makes it an ideal forum for storytelling, for displaying new initiatives and for product debuts.

Brands are investing in influencers to drive awareness about their products/services

Influencer marketing is an extraordinary medium to build brand awareness and for creating trust among potential consumers. Many growing brands lack the credibility that bigger brands (who have been in business for long) have. Ergo, for such brands, influencer marketing becomes essential. Social media personalities have several followers, in thousands, lakhs and even millions. When an influencer with huge followings talks about a brand or company, the word definitely spreads much more rapidly and people are interested to know more about that brand.

When one recommends a particular product that they’ve been using to their circle, they unconsciously create awareness about that particular brand. Word-of-mouth is a powerful tool for creating brand awareness, and social media helps to amplify that process even further.

It’s essential for a company to have a strong presence on social media in order to build their brand and reach more people. Social media provides so many opportunities for brands, from increasing brand awareness and discovery to helping meet marketing goals. Influencer engagement has become key to making the most of social media and its potential.

Thanks to influencers, content on social media has become much more unique and engaging

Collaborating with influencers helps companies to cut across the noise and attract followers towards their brand.  Furthermore, each influencer has their own uniqueness which comes to the forefront through their content and makes it interactive and engaging for their followers. Understanding the niche of an influencer and selecting the right personality who suits the massaging of the brand is a must. Additionally, through this marketing strategy, companies gain visibility and are able to initiate meaningful and positive online conversation about their products or services.

‘Cross-Channel Marketing’ has also gained momentum amongst brands and influencers

As significant social media platforms mature and new mediums emerge, customers are now spending their time on multiple social media channels. Brain Dean, (2021) mentions that average active users of the internet have an account on more than 6.6 diverse social media platforms. Considering this, savvy social media personalities are embracing multiple channel approaches and savvy companies are joining hands with them to reach large audiences. At the moment, the most relevant and ongoing trend in social media is ‘cross-platform marketing’, like how Instagram permits its users to automatically share their posts/stories on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.

Likewise, finding the right influencers to help create strong brand awareness on social media can be a daunting task. However, there are a few key steps that can help a brand in the process.

First, the brand should decide what kind of message it wants to convey and what kind of influencers would be best suited to help achieve that goal. Once you have identified the type of influencers that complement the image and narrative of the brand, you should research potential candidates and assess their social media presence, followers, and engagement. Additionally, one should consider the influencer’s audience demographic, as this will help you determine if they are the right fit to reach your brand’s audience.

Finally, you should reach out to the influencers you have identified and discuss the potential collaboration. With these steps, you can ensure that you find the right influencers to help create brand awareness and social media presence.

Role of influencers in building brand awareness

Additionally, they can help to create a sense of community around the brand, as their followers will be more likely to engage with the brand’s content and share it with their own networks. And by leveraging the influence and reach of an influencer, brands can reach a larger audience and create more meaningful connections with their target market.

Ultimately, influencers can be a powerful tool for building brand awareness, helping to create a strong and positive connection between the brand and its target audience.

 

(The author is Ms. Prerna Aggarwal, CMO, Campus Activewear Ltd., and the views expressed in this article are her own)

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