Influencer marketing has become increasingly common and viable over the last few years thanks to the rise of social media and the internet. In fact, many teens believe that influencers are more trusted than celebrities and other experts, which means influencer marketing will only continue to grow along with social media, as more and more people become influencers.
Whereas a company used to post flyers or have ads on the radio for their marketing, those methods have largely given way to social media advertising and influencer marketing. While traditional markets can be successful and definitely are for many companies, they often pale into comparison to the results that can be possible with influencer marketing.
The shift in influencer marketing scene
Influencer marketing can work in many different ways and has turned people who used to be regular consumers, into influencers whose choices and/or recommendations are huge for companies. Some of these influencers have millions of people watching their every recommendation and a simple Instagram post or tweet about a product or company can net them thousands of dollars, depending on the size of their following or their reach.
However, the big time influencer marketing campaigns aren’t the only type of influencer marketing out there. One area of influencer marketing that is seemingly taking off and having everyone participating are online reviews. These reviews exist for almost anything and everything you could possibly imagine, and have helped millions and millions of people make informed purchasing decisions.
There is a good chance you have looked for online reviews at some point to make or justify a purchase of a product or a service. While some purchases aren’t that big, others you don’t want to do without doing some research of reviews. Auto shipping reviews are a good example as shipping your car is a huge choice that you don’t want to go into blindly.
Why online reviews matter
Online reviews are instrumental in the success of certain businesses and different sites and industries definitely have people that at one point would have just been consumers, but are now transformed into influencers simply due to their knowledge or expertise about a topic, industry, product or service.
Perhaps the biggest reason for online reviews turning regular consumers into influencers is the fact that anyone can participate in these reviews and become an expert or influencer. There are no rules and no application process, and if you leave good reviews in a certain area (such as cars or car-related-services), you will quickly begin to grow a “fanbase”, so to speak, of people who will pay attention to the things you rate highly and the things you don’t.
Conclusion
In conclusion, don’t be surprised to see influencer marketing continue to grow and soon become more in all different types of industries. More and more people will look to become influencers in their chosen industry or space, as long as the benefits for influencers are still around. Nowadays, anyone with a Twitter or Instagram account can be an influencer and help companies of all kinds sell products or services.