How Brands Can Build Successful Relationships With Influencers

Consumers are reluctant to trust online brand messaging: up to 25.2% of U.S. Internet users blocked ads on their devices in 2018. Instead, they turn to social media influencers: individuals who distinguish themselves through their personal style and their ability to attract a large audience. What influencers wear, where they travel, and who they listen to intrigue and inspire their followers. Increasingly, therefore, marketers look for opportunities to connect with their customers by inserting their products and brands into influencers’ dialogues with followers. Marketers often treat social media as a low-cost advertising channel. From this perspective, an influencer simply executes the upstream part of a company’s brand strategy, driving sales by creating visibility through product placement on social networks. Brands select influencers on the basis of their audience size and negotiate each contract on a “per campaign” basis. Read more at Harvard Business Review.