Should small businesses try influencer marketing?
No, small businesses should not try. It is like shooting in the dark.
No, small businesses should not try. It is like shooting in the dark.
Who is a social media influencer?
A person with a large social media following is an influencer. Someone having more than 1 lakh followers or more on Twitter, Instagram, Youtube etc. can easily influence their followers.
Influencers post reviews about the products, services or trends. Rati is a fashion blogger and influencer with nearly 70 lakhs likes on Facebook.
Brands and businesses want to use influencer’s popularity on social media to sell their products. Either brands want influencers to directly talk about their products, or they can place the products for visibility.
Brands pay lump sum to influencers. They also pay commission on sales of the products or both.
But, why is it not a good idea to hire influencers?
Wired says that Influencers mislead. They do not disclose their fees from the businesses and the brands.
They also take money from the rival brands to post negative reviews. So, beware before approaching an influencer.
Also, most social media strategy sucks. — Bob Hoffman.
Brand building or business building is 80% strategy and 20% tactics. Social media is 100 percent tactics without strategy.
How should businesses use social media?
Social media is a real phenomenon, but it doesn’t work with a post here and a post there. It’s not a magic wand.
If you want to read one thing about how small businesses should use digital, read this essay by Samuel J Scott. He describes how integrated marketing plan will save the brand.
Dig more: Social media marketing’ is completely useless — but it could be a lot better.