We may live in the age of Selfies & overnight YouTube Stars, but very few businesses actively encourage their executives to promote themselves online. Perhaps this is because the technology seems too complicated, there is a concern that popular executives will jump ship or the marketing budget is already tight. Whatever their reason, companies should think again. There are real financially impacting reasons all businesses should encourage & help their executive(s) to become industry influencers.
Here are five…
1) Advertising still works, but for many, its ROI is shrinking. The average American is exposed to as many as 10,000 advertisements each day, yet less than 100 of those messages will actually be noticed by the individual seeing them. This flood of advertising has greatly reduced its value as a marketing tool, and there’s no reason to assume this trend will reverse.
Businesses need to find ways to that cause their current & future clients to actively seek out their company and/or product. Influencers can attract audiences who otherwise might not have heard of your firm.
2) Nielson reports 92% of consumers (world-wide) trust the advice/recommendations from individuals online – even if the consumer does not personally know the source. That trust is even stronger when looking at influencers. In a joint Twitter/Annalect study, approximately 40% of respondents had completed one or more purchases after seeing a product used by an influencer on social media.
Having an executive as a recognized industry Influencer provides businesses with an organic & consumer friendly path to break into the potential consumer’s circle of trust. One that is welcomed as long as the executive provides reliable, relevant & relatable information.
3) The process of creating & maintaining an executive’s status as an influencer provides businesses with unfiltered insights they might only otherwise receive via impersonal and expensive surveys. Follower’s comments & engagements can reveal interests in one product over another, potentially valuable feature requests and trends in their own industry.
4) Influencers can improve your business’s SEO. 25% of search results for the world’s top 20 brands can be directly associated with user generated social-posts. The more attention your executive(s) generate as they develop their own personal brand as an Influencer, the greater the number of mentions your brand will receive. This intern improves your business’ relevant in the eyes of Google & other search engines.
5) Influencers generate higher quality leads. When surveyed, 51% of marketers stated they acquired better customers when utilizing influencer marketing. This can be largely attributed to the fact that followers who engage with influencers are far more likely to have a need for, purchase or recommend the influencer’s services or product.