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If your brand is considering branching into influencer marketing, it’s important that you understand the difference between using influencers and endorsing celebrities. Celebrity endorsement is a form of brand advertising which involves a celebrity using their fame to promote a product or service. Celebrity endorsement is traditionally recognised for building credibility, since fans trust the product their favourite celebrity has attached themselves to. It is also thought to make a brand stand out from its competition and reach new markets.
By contrast, influencer marketing also uses key content creators – ‘influencers’ – to drive engagement around a brand’s product or message. An influencer is a social media user with a large following, generally anywhere from a few hundred to several million followers. This person is not usually famous for much other than being known for their content. Whereas a celebrity is typically only attached to a brand, influencers generate their own content, skilled in targeting a particular topic, discussion, or niche area. In doing so, they generate a highly engaged and loyal digital audience.
In recent years, brands have been moving away from celebrity endorsement and towards influencer marketing. Here we explain why.
Why is celebrity endorsement waning?
First and foremost, celebrity endorsements are incredibly expensive. Pepsi famously paid $50 million for a contract with Beyoncé. On the subject of Pepsi, their company proves that celebrity endorsements can be high-risk. In 2017, Kendall Jenner’s ill-fated and deemed racially insensitive efforts for the soda company were highly slated in the press. Whilst it’s often assumed that all publicity is good publicity, you’re probably not at Pepsi’s level. It’s important to judge whether your brand could survive a scandal, even on a smaller scale. Celebrities can also be guilty of overshadowing your brand, and they may even endorse too many products – meaning yours becomes lost in the mix.
Why is influencer marketing different?
The shift towards influencer marketing has occurred because consumers are demanding more authentic relationships. Well-structured influencer marketing campaigns have been proven to yield a larger and more organic conversation around your brand, at a much lower cost. Consumers are becoming tired of excessive celebrity endorsement, taking to commenting on social media when they feel enough is enough. The view that celebrities will sell anything is becoming more common, with audiences preferring content creators’ style of promotion. Millennials in particular are thought to be more likely to trust YouTubers, bloggers, and social media stars, rather than traditional celebrities.
Content creators, or influencers, are great at building up communities of individuals who support them fiercely, even if they’re advertising or promoting a product.
Where do I begin? If you’re looking to branch into influencer marketing without too much hassle, get a head start by using a social marketing agency. Influencer agency UK Socially Powerful, for example, are highly experienced in navigating social media platforms and securing top-quality, vetted influencers. They use your company’s targets and goals to create an influencer marketing campaign that really works.
