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A decade ago most people purchased the products they required offline, so most businesses spent money on offline marketing. However, increasingly people are spending more time online on social media channels and placing orders online. So, businesses are allocating a part of their marketing budget to social media marketing (SMM). Many businesses who are using SMM would like to use the top influencers for the products and services which they sell, to increase the number of leads and orders they are getting online. Hence these businesses want information on the effectiveness of the influencers in online marketing.
Influence
In social media, the influence of a user usually is measured in terms of the number of followers. Typically the top influencers are often celebrities like popular actors, actresses, sportspersons, politicians, businesspersons, and musicians. There are some celebrities who are also well-known and famous online. These social media influencers will usually have more than one million followers.
There are other celebrities, and experts who may be popular only locally or in a particular niche and have between 10000 – 1 million followers on social media and are considered to be macro-influencers. There are also others with less than 10000 followers, yet have some influence and are considered micro-influencers.
Hiring influencers
To increase sales businesses are hiring the services of the influencers who they feel can influence potential customers. For example, popular fashion and beauty brands will often hire popular actresses and models for promoting their products on social media.
The influencers often have an online marketing agency representing them. And the business hiring the influencer will have to contact the agency to finalize the deal. The business should also consider the social media channel on which the influencer is popular. Many actresses are active on Instagram, while politicians are more active on Twitter.
Compensation
Depending on the marketing budget of the business. It may use different methods to compensate the influencer for endorsing the products and services. Usually, the business will have a deal with the influencer for a specific period of time.
In some cases, the influencer may be paid a fixed amount only for each post while in other cases. I addition to the flat fee, the influencer is also paid based on the results, like sales, leads generated, and app downloads. Businesses should be aware that popular celebrities with more followers are often charging a large amount for promoting brands compared to micro-influencers.
Effectiveness
Another factor that should be considered while choosing an influencer is the effectiveness of lead and order generation. Businesses should be aware that there is some amount of manipulation in social media, and some of the followers may be bots. Hence it is necessary to check how many of the followers are genuine and are actively engaging with the influencer.
Businesses should also be aware that the top influencers will usually charge a higher amount for endorsement. Research indicates that the engagement rate for these online celebrities is usually lower compared to micro-influencers. So if the business cannot afford to spend much on celebrity endorsement, they can consider hiring popular macro and micro-influencers.