Did you check Facebook this morning? Of course!
Did you click on a Facebook ad? Nope! And neither did your consumers!
With the exploding popularity and dependence on social media these days, there are more avenues than ever for marketers to reach their consumers. Not all are effective or efficient, however.
Today’s consumers are inundated with advertisements from countless sources, desensitizing them to traditional marketing efforts. How can you set your brand apart from all the noise? By enlisting your brand’s top influencers and engaging in word-of-mouth marketing.
Consider These Stats:
Although Facebook has over 1 billion users, its click-through rate is only .051%. Users reportedly only click on one of every 2,000 Facebook ads they see. Of those who click, only 45% trust the ads they see.- 68% of social media users age 18-34 and 53% of users age 35-44 say they are likely to make a purchase based on a friend’s social media posts.
- Consumers now make more than 50% of brand decisions based on what they see friends post on social media.
- Facebook’s algorithm prioritizes posts from friends and news media over posts from pages, so brand influencers are your best bet for reaching new consumers.
Although Facebook has over 1 billion users, its click-through rate is only .051%. Users reportedly only click on one of every 2,000 Facebook ads they see. Of those who click, only 45% trust the ads they see.Image Source: www.wersm.com
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Here are the top 5 reasons you should be using influence marketing to promote your brand:
1) Loyalty & Trust Create Brand Advocates
Sure, consumers may have heard of you, but compare the 69% of consumers who trust branded websites to the 84% who trust word-of-mouth recommendations from people they know.
By having your current consumers advocate and create content to deliver your brand message, others witnessing the passion surrounding your brand or product are more inclined to remember your name over the competitor who plastered ads all over their social media feed.
2) Peer Recommendations Drive Sales
Consumer to consumer word of mouth = 2x more sales than paid advertising. You read that right… two times the sales! Considering reason #1 above, this is no surprise – the more potential consumers who know and trust your brand, the greater the likelihood that they’ll end up making purchases.
3) Customer Retention
Referred customers have a 37% higher retention rate than non-referred customers. This means a few things for you:
- Your consumer base becomes far more loyal than if you had simply advertised your brand to the general population.
- You save big money: It didn’t take a paid ad to earn their spending power, and you won’t have to spend to maintain it.
- You’ve gained yet another brand advocate who can then be incentivized to promote!
4) Targeting & Reach
Traditional advertisements have expansive reach, but limited targeting filters mean you’re essentially paying to promote your brand to people might not fit your consumer audience or demographic. On the other hand, the targeted reach of having your most loyal brand influencers promote for you and about you to their friends and family increases the probability that your name is reaching the right consumer pool.
5) Search Engine Impact
Twenty-five percent of search results for the world’s 20 largest brands are links to user-generated social media content. In other words, the content created by brand influencers boosts your results on search engines. And here it comes full circle: 51% of American consumers trust user-generated content over information on a company website. Did you ever think your website would be less vital to the promotion of your brand than what your fans are saying on Facebook?
