While influencer marketing might be the marketing trend du jour, companies should proceed with caution.
(Ontario, Canada) September 5, 2017—A June, 2017 study on the Instagram platform showed that influencers are causing brand engagement with prospects at levels which greatly exceed companies’ own posts.1 JetBlue averaged 2,363 engagements from its own posts, compared to influencer posts, which made an average of 241,226 engagements—100 times the engagement level of JetBlue’s own efforts. Postmates had influencer engagements numbering nearly 27,000, while the company’s own numbered fewer than 1,000. Similar trends have been seen throughout the online world, and Clickback, a software as a service (SaaS) company, warns advertisers to proceed with caution.
Given these statistics, it’s not surprising that this year, 84% of professional marketers have the goal to have a good influencer marketing plan.2 As with any trend showing such incredible numbers, many companies are diving in, despite the plan having some major potential weaknesses.
For many years, companies have seen paid celebrity endorsements, and influencer marketing is the same thing—paid advertising with celebrity endorsement. The lifespan of such campaigns is short, and influencers only push the brand as long as the brand is paying the influencers.3 Also, while the campaign is in progress, the influencer is certainly not going to be creating every bit of content for that brand. and followers will not always be connecting to every bit of content that they create.
Another important point is that while influencers are trusted by their respective communities, this doesn’t necessarily mean such trust will automatically transfer to a brand being recommended by that influencer. Influencers or not, people are going to make their own decisions, and brands need to earn their own trust.3
“While it’s certainly true that influencer marketing is a trend to watch, anyone engaging in it should be prudent,” said Kyle Tkachuk, CEO of Clickback. “It’s especially important to continue to retain control of your own brand, for no one knows it like you do. It only takes one miscommunicated sentence to throw your potential buyers off.”
Tkachuk added that any company seeking to expand revenue growth should ensure it sticks to marketing actions that have been consistently proven workable, even while exploring new options. These would include a robust mix of both inbound and outbound activities. One reliable outbound activity is that of capturing web visitors to a company’s site—a vital activity, given that 96% of web visitors are normally lost simply because they don’t fill out a form. Clickback offers a highly effective solution for this.
About Clickback
Founded in 1996, Clickback Inc. is a software as a service (SaaS) company that helps thousands of marketing and sales professionals accelerate their lead growth using cloud-based B2B lead generation products. Clickback is one of the world’s first SaaS companies to offer an email lead generation product (Clickback MAIL) that provides a safe and proven method of securing profitable B2B leads to mid-market and enterprise companies. In late 2016, the company launched their second B2B lead generation product (Clickback WEB), which is software that can identify the companies who came to a website but didn’t make contact with the business (like having caller display for your website). Since launching, Clickback WEB has recovered 743,680 leads for its users. For more information on Clickback or its software products visit Our Website .
Works Cited
- “Here’s Why Influencers Are Making Bank.” EMarketer, 9 Aug. 2017, www.emarketer.com/Article/Heres-Why-Influencers-Making-Bank/1016307.
- Olenski, Steve. “The Importance Of Influencer Marketing For B2B Marketers.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 10 Aug. 2017, www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2017/08/10/the-importance-of-influencer-marketing-for-b2b-marketers/#30c389a44871.
