What does influencer marketing mean?

The Philippines is a very personality or even celebrity-driven country and the biggest users of social media in the world. It's no surprise that we have a surge of influencers that has become a part of local brands' main (if not the only) campaign strategy.

What is it?

Influencer marketing is an endorsement of a product or service made by individuals with a significant amount of niche social clout. Niche being the keyword here. It identifies the individuals that have influence over potential buyers and orients marketing activities around them.

Now, Celebrity branding/endorsement, on the other hand, is a form of advertising campaign or marketing strategy used by brands, companies, or non-profit organizations which involves celebrities or a well-known person using their social status or their fame to help promote a product, service or raise social awareness for a cause or advocacy.

However, sometimes those lines separating celebrity and influencer can also become blurred.

Why do it?

Because. Word. Of. Mouth. Has moved into the internet, mobile & social platforms. Consumers are tired of paid advertisement-interruptions. Customers want to engage and interact with brands instead of being talked to. Customers want to be informed, entertained, and delighted by brands instead of just being asked to buy something.

This is where “Influencers” step-in. Because they have the “pulse” of their audience, almost anything they say is treated as reliable and worthwhile information.

Who is doing it?

Brands both large and small are investing in influencer marketing. To see for yourself, type #sponsored into Instagram. You’ll find a lot of posts ranging to different industries and companies.

How can I get involved?

Seeking out influencers isn’t difficult. But searching for that “Right Fit” to your brand is somewhat difficult but of course not impossible. If you want a template, the “Celebrity Endorser” selection-criteria or due-diligence can be used here as well.

To find the “right fit” requires common sense. You are not going to ask someone influential in lifestyle to endorse something that’s very technical. Check their background, understanding or “skin-in-the-game”.

You want someone who’s not only relevant and relatively influential but also someone who can drive organic action. Expect their pricing to vary according to their following, the amount of posts you’re interested in and the amount of content you ask to create vs. what you provide them to utilize.

But beware..

Numbers aren’t everything! Just a heads-up, there are fraudsters out there! If the influencer isn’t influential with individuals that might be interested in your product or service, they provide no value to you, regardless of the size of their audience.

Diversified approach

If you want to reach out to a wider audience, then do consider ‘content creator groups’. I am actually part of one, namely the Cebu Content Creators (@CebuContentCreators in Instagram & facebook) which has members that have different niches (from lifestyle to tech, business, YouTubers, podcasters, bloggers and the like). We have a track record of projects, brand collabs that we’ve done in the past.

The biggest gathering of influencers and content creators in Cebu

Some of our members will be joining the #BaiConInFest happening on October 25-26 at #SMSeasideCityCebu Sky Hall! Perhaps you will find the influencer or content-creator-group that you want to work with there!

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