LITERATURE REVIEW : INFLUENCER MARKETING
INTRODUCTION
Influencer marketing has emerged as one of the fastest-growing social marketing practices as brand marketers look to connect with consumers and customers in meaningful and authentic ways often through the collective voice of active bloggers that are passionate and vocal about the brands they love. It represents a form of Word of Mouth marketing, which we define as an unpaid form of promotion – oral or written- in which satisfied consumers tell other people how much they like a product, service, business or event.
Marsden (2005) says that research shows that word of mouth (WoM) is at least twice as powerful as traditional marketing communications in influencing sales, and given the
To make a difference on a large scale a strategy needs to plan to:
1. Bring these advocates together in one place.
2. Trigger their advocacy through active involvement.
3. Create more opportunities for them to influence the more easily influenced
INFLUENCER STRATEGY
Influencer programs are, by definition, long-term, multi-year commitments designed to build a relationship; they are not marketing campaigns.
The first steps are to identify amongst your key stakeholder groups both the easily influenced (after Watts) and the influentials (after Gladwell). Both approaches have merit and are not mutually exclusive.
How to identify the easily influenced
Many colleges and universities ask new students or business clients who they spoke with or what they read or browsed before enrolling or contracting, but fewer ask specific questions about what or who influenced them and why. It is important to identify who influenced whom rather than merely who communicated with whom. Such questions on your induction or joiner surveys can help to reveal the connected and trusted sources (the influencers) but also this can reveal who was influenced by word of mouth or personal recommendation and the analysis