How to master influencer marketing?

The Internet era has created an endless stream of Internet celebrities, and has also made the Internet celebrity economy an important social imagination. The marketing potential it contains even far exceeds our expectations:

Papi Jiang, who is both beautiful and talented, became popular because of her funny short videos. She sold 22 million RMB for a single advertisement, which is the envy of others.

Chenfan, an internet celebrity economic company founded by Wang Sicong’s ex-girlfriend Xue Li, achieved transaction volume of over 100 million yuan in the first 10 minutes of last year’s Double Eleven.

On the same day, Zhang Dayi 's Ruhnn company successfully broke the 100 million mark in 120 seconds. Not long ago, Ruhnn Holdings also landed on the Nasdaq, ringing the bell for its listing.

There is also the "Lipstick King" Li Jiaqi who has suddenly become popular recently. This dark horse in the short video beauty industry has captured thousands of young girls with his lipstick swatches on Douyin and set a sales record of selling 23,000 products in 5 hours.

Of course, in addition to these top internet celebrities, internet celebrities spread across every corner of the Internet all have their own voice in certain fields . The marketing potential of this group of people should not be underestimated. Their choices influence the choices of their fans, and their recommendations create one hit after another.

Brands may also wonder why netizens would rather trust recommendations from strangers than get the information they want from official advertisements? It is with questions like these that we studied the reasons why influencer marketing is effective, and we hope that everyone can find ways to grow their own brands from it.

In an age of distracted attention, we should break down barriers to communication

When many traditional brands complain about the gradual ineffectiveness of their marketing, they attribute the cause to an objective factor - the distraction of consumer attention . Although this does affect the effectiveness of many advertisements, it is not the fundamental obstacle to the dissemination of information. After all, in traditional advertising theory, brand advertising needs to reach consumers six times or more in a month to change their minds. Even with an advertising budget of over 100 million yuan per year, it may not be possible to achieve such coverage through traditional channels.

But in other words, no matter how scattered or scarce consumers' attention is, as long as it is reached repeatedly within a month, expected benefits can be achieved. Everyone understands this, but the advertising costs for this type of operation are staggeringly high. The emergence of influencer marketing has solved the problem of cost-effectiveness in brand communication. Although most influencers have a limited number of fans, their audience is quite precise, which is an excellent traffic value pool for brands.

Fashion expert and beauty blogger LU Yisi

Internet celebrities will be born on every social networking site, and each social networking site is a communication channel. Instead of focusing on the communication through traditional channels, it is better to take a look at the APP store rankings. Where the crowds flock, the attention will be focused.

Of course, the reason why influencers can attract users’ attention is not just because they choose the “ right channel ”, but because the influencers and the audience are in a position of “ mutual trust ” from the very beginning. Philip Kotler, the father of modern marketing, once mentioned that in today's era, the people who can most influence your opinions and choices are your family, friends and people you care about . People in these positions are more likely to break down communication barriers, and internet celebrities play two or three roles at once. How can this not affect consumers' shopping choices?

The psychology of “planting grass” under the explosion of all categories

Under the special marketing method of influencer marketing, consumers' desire to buy and their decision to buy also have their own names, called "planting grass" and "pulling grass" . "Planting grass" is a very popular internet term nowadays, which mostly refers to "promoting the excellent quality of a certain product to induce people to buy it." After consumers have an itchy desire to buy, they can't help but buy, buy, buy, and pull out this tempting grass.

Even if you are a very rational consumer, you cannot escape the experience of being " inspired " by others. When there are too many choices to make intuitive judgments, other people's suggestions become the main factor influencing decision-making. Just like when someone recommends a restaurant that is delicious or a brand of daily necessities that is of good quality, you can’t help but try it…

The channels for external promotion have also evolved from recommendations from acquaintances to reviews from internet celebrities and even social media sharing. For modern people in social circles, almost every day they are switching between "planting and pulling", especially when all categories are exploding. It is difficult for us to judge one by one which product is the most suitable for us. " Asking for recommendations " has become a daily routine for many consumers when they encounter a new problem. Many people have also analyzed why people are so easily "planted"? To sum up, there are probably the following points:

1. Humans are good at imitating

French sociologist Tarde mentioned three laws of imitation in his book "The Law of Imitation": the rate of decline, the law of geometric series, and the law of inside first and outside later . These three laws of imitation happen to coincide with the various elements in the cycle of "planting grass" and "pulling grass".

If a fan likes the outfit of a fashion blogger, he will definitely buy the same clothes frequently, hoping to be as radiant as his idol. If this kind of imitation continues, it will not only be in the field of beauty and clothing, but even the daily necessities and snacks of Internet celebrities will become the objects of his imitation consumption. Of course, the fundamental reason for this behavior is that the internet celebrity is in a familiar field and is someone that one recognizes.

2. Good emotions promote user purchases

This seemingly rational behavior of relying on other people's reviews and recommendations is often driven by emotions . Generally speaking, consumers first form cognition, then develop emotions, and finally make consumption. But in certain emotions, consumers are likely to complete purchases directly because of the emotional experience.

To give a very simple example, when a family is in a tourist attraction, although the prices of grilled sausages, corn and sweet potatoes are higher than the original prices, people still buy them in an endless stream. The main reason is that people are happy when they are out playing and don’t care too much about the price-performance ratio. Internet celebrities often appear in social software used for entertainment. Consumers are already in a relaxed and happy atmosphere. This positive emotion can be easily transferred to the product, making them willing to pay for it.

Focus on niche circles and don’t please all users

In the marketing activities of many traditional brands, breaking the user circle has become the criterion for judging cases. From this point of view, Internet celebrity marketing is taking a completely opposite path. After all, few brands dare to guarantee that their products are completely saturated in a certain circle and that they must seek growth by breaking through the circle. More brands hope to find growth in other circles.

With so many brands competing against each other, are there really not enough consumers in a certain circle? In fact, not necessarily. Many times we only focus on mainstream consumers and their needs, but ignore the niche circles that seem scattered but actually have a huge total volume. If you want to please this group of consumers, don’t think about taking all of them into consideration, and don’t think about catching them all in one fell swoop through a “universal” communication method.

Especially for brands that do not have such strong competition in the mainstream market, the probability of success will be much greater if they start with a niche group of people. After all, big brands don’t have much focus in these places and their competitiveness is relatively weak. The most obvious manifestation of the communication effect is that some products that are unfamiliar to us but have a good reputation will appear on the rankings of hot-selling and internet celebrity products.

Of course, the most important point is that when a product becomes a recognized good product in a circle, it can create a unique sense of existence and belonging for newcomers to the circle. For them, being able to buy is a sign of being “knowledgeable” and is a direct proof that they are involved in a certain circle.

Conclusion:

From " Sister Furong " who became popular on the Tsinghua University and Peking University Weiming Forum in 2004, to " Sister Feng " who distributed marriage flyers in Shanghai in 2009, to the anchors, KOLs, and UP hosts who are now flourishing on major social platforms... The rise of Internet celebrities has only been a short period of more than a decade, and the road to Internet celebrity marketing is even shorter.

Like any new marketing method, its popularity not only satisfies consumers' psychological motivations, but also reflects specific social relations and conforms to the popular culture that consumers like today. Therefore, we need to have constant insight and keep abreast of new trends in order to remain invincible in the competition.

Source: Marketing Strategy (lanhaiyingxiao)