Influencers. Influencers as far as the eyes can scroll. They’re on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and probably anywhere else you can think of. Nearly everyone who uses social media knows who or what they are.
Over the past decade and with the rise of social media, influencer marketing has become a household strategy for uplifting businesses. After the influencer industry made $13 billion in 2021 alone, it should come as no surprise that 63% of marketers plan to increase their influencer marketing budget. Luckily for local or small businesses, influencer marketing is no longer just for big brands, thanks to the large pool of influencers currently available.
Simply put, influencer marketing is a form of online marketing. It takes the age-old idea of “celebrity” endorsements and places it into a more modern marketing campaign.
Though influencers certainly do not have the status of celebrities, they do have the power to affect the purchasing decisions of others because of their audience on social media platforms.
This power is especially true for micro-influencers or local influencers.
Local influencers focus their audience on the region they live in. Local or micro-influencers typically have under 100,000 followers, unlike national or macro-influencers.
Though local influencers have lower follower counts and seemingly less reach than macro-influencers, their followers are actually more engaged and more willing to try the products and services their favorite local influencers recommend. Simply put, local influencers are more likely to turn their followers into your customers.
Micro-influencers have become so valuable to businesses that experts at Forbes predict that smaller businesses will decide to work with them moving forward. Because of this, they see the impact of local influencers growing in 2022. With businesses electing to use local influencers, that means they will be bringing in their audience of highly engaged and focused followers with them in a way to be lucrative to businesses.
If you own a small business or cater primarily to your local region, it can be very beneficial to enlist the services of local influencers.
But if you’re still not convinced, here are four reasons to explore local influencer marketing:
- Trust
Local influencers use their platform to build trust and authority among their followers and the market they reside in. Because of the trust and relatability that they produce to their followers, when a local influencer recommends your product, they transfer their trust and relatability to your business. Local influencers’ brands are more focused and oriented on chosen markets. This focus is successful because they craft their content to their focused market, which is much more relevant to their audience, which typically translates into conversion.
2. Cost-effectiveness
Local influencers are a great resource for your business not only because of their, well, influence but because they are very cost-effective. Simply put, local influencers charge less than macro-influencers. But because of their more loyal following, their effectiveness at driving consumption will give you a favorable ROI. Local influencers can also help a campaign’s advertising cost per action stay low while still expanding its reach.
3. Local SEO & Engagement
Every business needs a steady flow of content to help boost its SEO and engagement. Because of this, influencers have become a great resource for boosting a business’s online presence. Working with influencers is a great way to improve the quality of your link profile, which has a big impact on your search ranking. So, when influencers do their job and create content and link to you, this generates a high-quality backlink for your site, which will increase your SEO and engagement.
4. Access to new audiences
One of the benefits of local influencers is in the name. They’re local and live in the same area. They’ve also figured this social media thing out. By partnering with a local influencer, your business and brand will take on their following. Maybe some of their followers have heard of you, but they probably have not. This is advantageous because you’re tapping into potential customers in your market through a source they already like and trust.
If you’re not sure where to start finding local influencers to help grow your brand, email us at sd@sdamktg.com.