Influencer Marketing Isn’t Optional Anymore – It's Essential for Brand Growth

The influencer industry is not a passing trend, it’s a powerhouse. Valued at an estimated $250 billion today and projected to reach $500 billion in the next two years, it's clear that influencers are revolutionizing the way brands connect with consumers. Incorporating a robust influencer program in your marketing strategy is a must these days, no matter how big or small your brand is. It’s not just a direct way to reach consumers; it’s a critical driver of brand growth. 

If you’re still not convinced, here’s a breakdown of why influencer marketing belongs in your strategy and how it can deliver real results for your brand. 

Authentic Content Performs Better and Sells More 
Social media has undergone many iterations over the years (and it’s only going to continue to change!), but one thing that has remained constant is the enhanced ability to connect with others. 

Consumers are inundated with content every single day on social media, and it’s critical to ensure your brand is able to stand out and cut through the noise. Customers want to relate to your brand, not feel like they’re simply being marketed to. That’s where influencers come in. They’ve built their following by developing a relationship with their community. Their followers are engaged because they trust the influencer and feel a sense of connection to them, making a partnership with the right creators the perfect way to authentically reach your target consumers. 

When an influencer posts about a product they love, their followers trust their recommendation. And if they’re recommending your product to their audience, sales will follow – research has found that 86% of consumers make a purchase inspired by an influencer at least once per year.  

To be truly successful though, brand marketing teams need to work closely with the influencer to ensure the content doesn’t come off as pushy or overly promotional. Yes, of course, the end goal is to drive sales and brand awareness, but if it doesn’t feel authentic to the influencers’ audience, their followers will see right through it. You might remember the Scott Disick and Bootea Protein Shake controversy.  

On the other hand, a partnership like the one between content creator Hannah Berner and Skrewball showcases perfect brand alignment. As a self-coined espresso martini lover it just makes sense, and it’s clear that she was truly a fan of the brand long before they were working together. When working with any content creators, it’s also important to trust the influencer’s vision because they know their audience the best.  

Driving Brand Awareness with Target Audiences 
One of the biggest advantages of influencer marketing is the ability to reach an incredibly targeted and engaged audience, which is not always the case with traditional advertising.  Many influencers carve out ultra-specific niches – not just 'travel,' but 'budget-friendly getaways under $500,' or instead of 'fashion,' it's 'zero-waste outfits for every season.' Their followers are all people who are highly invested and interested in that niche, and those people are exactly who you want to reach. 

Niche influencers typically have a smaller following on social media (think 15K-50K), and that works to a brand’s advantage in two ways. One, it means they have higher engagement rates, which are the gold standard in the industry to drive more conversions. And two, it usually means partnering with them will cost less, so you don’t need to have a large budget to incorporate influencer marketing into your strategy.  

Many brands think they need to pursue macro influencers who have upwards of 100K followers, but these smaller, more engaged communities created by nano and micro influencers will actually give you the best bang for your buck. If you partner with an influencer who has 500K followers to promote your skincare product, but the majority of their followers are primarily interested in recipes, you’re not going to see the most ROI. Sure, you’re reaching a lot of people, but are they the right people?  

Boosts SEO and Visibility  
Influencer marketing is also an important tool in building your brand’s organic search performance. Being included in influencers’ blogs, social channels and link-in-bio content increases the number of valuable backlinks your brand has online. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the higher up your brand will appear in search results.  

With brands that have a strong local presence, like a hotel in a specific city, these backlinks will improve local SEO as well. So, when people are searching on Instagram and TikTok – these platforms are both now the preferred search engines over Google for Gen Z when seeking local results – for the top hotel to stay at in the city they’re visiting, the influencers’ content highlighting your hotel will show up first.  

Combining these influencer efforts in tandem with public relations and a larger overarching marketing strategy will ensure you’re improving SEO on all fronts and will help elevate your organic visibility and credibility.  

Measuring Results and ROI 
It may seem counterintuitive, but the first step in monitoring partnership results is setting clear goals at the very beginning. It's important to determine what you’d like the outcome of your influencer efforts to be from the start, as this will guide your strategy throughout the course of the partnership. Do you want to build brand awareness? Drive website traffic? Increase sales for a specific product or experience offering? Once you have these goals established, you can create a step-by-step strategy to achieve them over a set period of time, while continuously refining your influencer program and partnerships. 

At the end of your campaign, take time to review metrics on each piece of content from each influencer, looking at the number of likes, comments, shares, saves and the sentiment of comments. Consider providing influencers with unique UTM links or promotional codes as well for even deeper data points to measure the partnership’s performance. Analyzing the way the content performed will help you recognize patterns and improve your process and strategy for the future.  

From curating authentic content, reaching niche target audiences and driving sales to boosting SEO and delivering strong ROI, influencer marketing is an essential part of the industry today. Whether you’re launching a new product, entering a new market or simply looking to deepen your brand’s connection with customers, the right influencer partnerships can take you further, faster. 

If you’re ready to take the next step to begin working with influencers, connect with our expert team at info@crowepr.com.