How Influencers Affect Brands

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Since the beginning of the internet age, a entire new market has emerged in the business world, influencers. These are the fashion bloggers, Youtubers, and Instagram models. They are different from the typical celebrity endorsement because they have a more personal connection with their following. Many brands have begun to use these people as a way to get their products more popular. According to Forbes contributor Deborah Weinswig, an award-winning global retail analyst and a specialist in retail innovation and technology, in the article “Influencers are the New Brand”, influencers have special components about them that make them different than every other type of marketing plan. Influencer’s approval of a product are an incentive for consumers to purchase a product because they are seem as much more trustworthy than regular celebrities.

According to Weinswig, influencers are beginning to turn more and more towards influencers for their ad campaigns and less towards traditional TV ads and traditional celebrities. This is because influencer’s are much closer with their audiences.  Their recommendations carry a lot more weight because they have a bond more similar to a friendship with their audience. In fact, data from influencer marketing platform Muse Find shows that 92% of consumers trust an influencer more than an advertisement or traditional celebrity endorsement.

The interesting part of the equation is that the most successful ad campaigns are in partnership with “micro-influencers” meaning people with audiences less than 100,000 people. That is because these are the people that have a very personal bond with their following. So if they tell their following that they like a product, the fans are more likely to listen because they trust what the influencer is saying. According to Weinswig, “The power of influencers does not necessarily lie in their follower count, but in their ability to actually influence through authenticity and curation.” So within the last couple of years, “micro-influencers” have become a new market all on their own, because of this personal connection they have to their audience. It is a different feeling that regular advertisements or even ads with big influencers have, because with micro-influencers their relationship feels more like a friendship than a “celebrity-fan” one that many mainstream influencers have.
Brands are also beginning to realize that, “they need to leverage the power of influencers for more than just marketing; they can be a powerful feedback tool for brands to understand their customer.” Influencers are special because they create a personal relationship with both the companies they work with and their audiences. This can be very helpful in the future for companies to take advantage of because the influencers can be more than just ads. They can be real tools for companies to use because they give feedback, and help brands narrow their target audiences. This can also help make the influencer's audience more loyal to a product because they know that their creator is helping in the process.

Next research question: How do brands gain trust and loyal customers?