In the age of tighter data restrictions and the increasing influence of social media, companies need to catch onto the trends of today to stay relevant. Influencers (an individual who has power to affect purchase decisions of others because of his/her authority or relationship with his/her audience) are increasingly sought after by brands who understand the power these figures have in making or breaking a product.
What is unknown to many companies however, is that utilising influencers to promote companies can indeed lead to brand loyalty – by channeling the loyalty of the customers towards their ‘idol’ towards a product endorsed by the influencer. So, what is there to gain from influencer marketing for brand loyalty?
Trust from consumers
In the digital age of social media, the image of companies can be tarnished by a poor choice in marketing content or unethical decisions by management – leading to some brands to be dubbed ‘cancelled’ on social media. This means that trust or willingness to listen to any corporation in their communications has broken down and fresh methods of getting your messages across is needed.
Here’s where Instagram comes in – this is a space where influencers are the most trusted voices on the platform. The audience is able to see that these people are ‘normal humans’ just like them and therefore identify on a greater level with the person selling the product and trusts their intentions in selling the product. Choosing an influencer as a spokesperson for your brand will ensure loyalty comes in the form of people understanding your brand for what it truly is.
The opportunity for conversation
When your budget is tight, compromise is often needed in the content of the messages you get across for your products. With influencers on-board, you get much more space to play around with your content given the relatively unstructured world of social media posts. Millennials want a different kind of communication to the traditional and one-dimensional brand-to-customer narrative, they want a conversation.
With influencer partnerships, conversation can be facilitated through live videos or viewing and responding to customer feedback about the product via comments. This creates an ongoing brand-consumer partnership that can keep the brand in the minds of the followers in a more organic, continuous way. Consumers will then feel greater loyalty towards your brand by understanding the product much better than they would through a snappy ad.
Consideration, however, should be given as to who participates in the conversation – whether it be the influencer or the company. Maintaining the authenticity of the promotion by the influencer is essential as well as ensuring the influencer is well-equipped enough to understand the brand and put forward its key messages in the right way.
Making it relevant
No matter how many tags added into your blog posts or your Facebook ads – you can never be fully sure that your paid-for ads are reaching the desired audience. With influencers, you can use your human observations and instincts to know where the right place to put your money is. There are influencers for all kinds of niche trends and interests – from vintage clothing to Caribbean food. You can guarantee that the followers of this figure will share a common interest in the content of the influencer’s profile and will likely take interest and endorse whatever product he or she is promoting.
This also works as an indirect mean of inbound marketing, in which Instagrammers following accounts of similar interests will be seeing your influencer-endorsed product on their discover page. This gives you a huge potential to gain new customers through the innovative ways social media works. This increase the chances of your new customers coming with loyalty towards your brand already given that common connection found with it.
The key to cult loyalty
Cult loyalty is the ultimate level of devotion to your brand. This is where customers are willing to pay more for your brand because they see within it a unique value that no other brand can provide. Every brand wants to reach that similar level of loyalty that sees queues of people outside Apple stores for new devices, or fashion websites crash due to demand for a new line. Influencers could hold the key to unlock this state of consumer devotion.
Not only may certain influencers be fashion bloggers – they can also be wives, fathers, friends or dog-owners. Their platforms aren’t only for posting outfits but for showcasing their lives that their followers may either relate to or admire and wish to emulate.
Often the audience may well get their like-minded friends to also follow the account given their common ground and shared interests, and may be discussing together the latest outfit upload or newest pet adopted by the influencer. This leads towards an emotive connection and shared experience that can be the most powerful thing to lead a customer to cult loyalty status. Maritz market research data shows that when it comes to referring others to a brand, cult loyalists are the consumers most motivated by having friends or family join in the brand experience with them.
Having millennials in your workplace is a pivotal step in understanding the world of influencers to boost your brand’s loyalty. Begin your journey to relevance and innovation by checking out our partners’ opportunity portal and gain access to millions of young entrepreneurs with AIESEC.
