Influencer marketing can be an amazing way to boost sales, build a community and enhance the perception of your brand amongst your target audience. However, knowing when you should use influencer marketing is of utmost importance, as it's especially useful when targeting specific goals.

Here, we take a look at when influencer marketing will benefit your brand…

When your ads aren’t getting the results they deserve

You may have found that your organic content isn’t performing well, so decided to opt for paid ads instead. However, in doing that you may have realised that you've been spending lots of money and not really seeing results.

The reason for this could be ad blockers - blockers that literally block your ad content so they never even reach your target audience. Secondly, some consumers are experiencing ad fatigue, becoming tired of ads due to the large quantity they are being delivered, and when they see paid social ads on their feed it can be a huge turn-off.

Influencer marketing sidesteps this issue, by working with authentic creators to advertise products and services in a genuine way that doesn’t feel so much like an ad. As the people who then view the ad will usually have chosen to follow that creator, the ad is not being forced under their noses. Creators are able to engage an audience and avoid ad blockers, the result being that the creators are able to reach the right people with content that is authentic.

When you want to build a community

There’s no better way to build a community for your brand than by working with creators to reach your target audience. When you find the right creators who connect with your audience, it can be a great way to reach out to people who are genuinely interested in what you’re offering.

These creators already have an engaged niche audience who are interested in their content and trusts their recommendations. By having a creator introduce your brand to that community, the brand is able to piggyback off the creator’s success.

The reason that creators are so great at creating communities is that they bring together groups of people who have a shared interest. When these interests are aligned with what your brand does, it can be a great way to harness a ready-made community and grow your own.

When you need some creative direction

Working with a content creator isn’t always just about getting them to post what you ask. Often, brands will use creators throughout the whole process to spark ideas and figure out how to engage the target audience in the best way. After all, these guys know exactly what their followers want and can help you create content that really speaks to them. It’s in both of the brand and the creator's interest to produce the best content possible, and often creators are worth their weight in gold for the campaign creative direction and input they can provide during the creative process.

But this doesn’t only apply to the campaign process. Many brands are now introducing creators into the even earlier stages of the process, such as working with them to design products. Involving creators in the product design process allows brands to benefit from the constant dialogue creators have with their followers around current demands and trends, while they can also ask their followers to provide feedback on products. They also know their audience very well. For brands, bringing a creator whose follower demographics match their target audience into the design process enables them to produce products that are guaranteed to be favourites among their desired audience.

When you have a new product or service on offer

It can be very hard to take a product to market in a way that doesn't force the brand on the consumer. However, creators can make this easy for your brand. Their ability to bring a product to people’s attention in a way that is genuinely helpful to the consumer makes influencer marketing stand out.

If you have a new product or service coming out, influencer marketing can offer the perfect opportunity to raise awareness and potentially boost sales. Using an influencer marketing platform that gives you real-time insights can also be incredibly helpful when using influencer marketing for lead conversion. This way, you can see which creators are performing well, getting engagement and leading people to their basket and adjust your spending accordingly.

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