Local Influencers That Are Right For Your Business

Local Influencers That Are Right For Your Business

Jun 22, 2022 | Uncategorized

Influencer marketing is a 6.5 billion dollar industry and the best marketing tool for businesses today. As this online marketing strategy evolves, businesses are foregoing celebrity endorsements. Instead, they are choosing to collaborate with local influencers in their community. Here’s why.

Increases brand awareness

First and foremost, local influencers bring the names of businesses to the attention of people who were previously unaware of their existence.

Obviously, all types of influencers do this. Local influencers are simply more effective and successful for businesses in specific geographic areas.

Plus local businesses can turn their favorite customers into their own personal influencers for fairly low cost. This is accomplished through offering small incentives, like food & drink or merchandise.

Increased Engagement

Local influencers tend to have a deeper, more genuine connection with their followers than macro and celebrity influencers. They are more likely to know and connect with their followers on a more personal level.

Influencers with 100k or fewer followers tend to make time for thoughtful responses and engagement.

According to research, influencers with 1,000 followers have the highest engagement ratio. Don’t count them out! The ratio of engagement to followers is more important than the number of followers.

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri is considering removing 'likes' from the social media platform entirely. “We want people to worry a little bit less about how many likes they’re getting on Instagram and spend a bit more time connecting with the people that they care about.”

This potential evolution will make engagement an even more potent tool in the world of influencers.

Local Influencers Are Less Expensive

Contrary to what you may think, local influencers do not need to be paid thousands of dollars to endorse your business. Many people are willing to be influencers in exchange for smaller incentives.

“When I post a photo for taco Tuesday, I get free queso? Please sign me up!” Give people the opportunity to try your product and share it with their friends and family. This is a great way to generate repeat business. It's a win-win situation!

Influencers gain credibility for their recommendation, businesses gain new customers, and both gain exposure.

Local Influencers Increase New Followers

Local influencers are ideal for small businesses because the majority of their followers will live in the same area who have never heard of your brand. This means an influencer collaboration will allow you to reach a larger market of people who are close to your business!

No matter how fantastic a local pizza joint is, it's unlikely that someone will fly across the country to try it. More likely, they’ll try it while they’re already in town. Unless they really love pizza, have a lot of spare cash, and are dying to go on a world's best pizza tour. I mean, never say never, right?

But, if someone is scrolling through Instagram and sees a friend’s rave review, they may decide to head there on their next night out. Visitors from out of town will also see great reviews about your pizza while searching for food locally. They would be more likely to want to try it themselves!

Enhances Authenticity

Marketing professionals have long recognized that word-of-mouth is the most effective form of marketing. Local influencers do this without making it appear as if the company is bragging about itself.

It's not salesy or gimmicky; it's just a person sharing something they enjoy with the people in their network. People are much more likely to respond a sponsored to this than to a post from a business page or influencer with a million followers.

At HowTo.agency, Jay Vics uses TikTok to authentically engage with his audience.

Generates Fresh Content

Giving up some control and allowing an influencer to create their own content promoting your business accomplishes two important things.

#1: It reduces the workload on marketing campaigns. The business can provide guidelines (such as their unique hashtag) or suggestions, but the influencer knows how to best communicate with their audience. After all, they are the ones who are most familiar with them.

#2: Allowing local influencers to create their own content provides the business with new insight into the voice of the target audience. Pay attention to what influencers say and how their followers respond. It’s an excellent way to learn about your target audience!

Followers Can Trust You

When it comes to influencer marketing, savvy consumers are wary of celebrity endorsements.

Have you ever seen a celebrity in a skincare commercial claim that their secret to looking young is some miraculous anti-aging eye cream? Most people might laugh at these commercials and dismiss them. But, if a friend recommends a new restaurant that just opened up in town, they may be much more likely to try it!

Local influencers' human aspect is the future of internet marketing. Consider the importance of quality above quantity. Even if they don't have a large number of followers, they have a significantly better chance of reaching your target demographic.

Where Can I find Local Influencers?

Some of the most effective methods include:

1. Look at your current social media following

Whether or not your business has a strong social presence, you may be shocked to find that some local influencers are already following you on social media. Check if they match your brand and are relevant to your product or service. They may be someone with whom you should explore forming a connection!

2. Research local hashtags for your area

A local hashtag search on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms is a wonderful approach to locate relevant local or micro-influencers. Of course, you can use Google to perform a local hashtag search and see what results it returns. You may also utilize the hashtag to see popular posts that include it. This may lead you to trending material generated by the local influencers you're looking for.

3. Find out who’s talking about your business – the good and the bad

It's far easier to locate and work with influencers if they already know about your business – and are likely delighted with your product or service since they're already talking about it. The rationale is simple: they're more inclined to promote your brand with enthusiasm.

4. Or use online tools like: Local Influence or Insense

What does it cost?

Prices and fees vary widely, from the micro-est of micro local influencers who are happy to trade a post for products & merchandise from more established influencers depending on their followers you can expect to pay $.01 to $.025 per follower or more. If you use tools or an agency that cost can go up even more.

Wrapping Up

No matter how many followers they have, local influencers can help you. Use them to grow your business's social reach, improve your brand image, engage your audience, and attract new consumers. So, what do you have to lose? Now you’re armed with the information you need to pick the right local influencer for your business!

Now, you’re using the power of local influencers to target your audience. Look into other ways you can uniquely and effectively promote your business! We want to help. Reach out today to book your time on the Meet the Experts podcast. No one knows your business better than you, so get your name out there!

Digital Marketing 2022: The Future of Marketing

Digital Marketing 2022: The Future of Marketing

Feb 4, 2022 | Content Marketing, Digital Marketing

digital marketing artwork on brown wooden surface

Digital Marketing in 2022

November through to January is one of the most exciting times for anyone who does digital marketing. It's the time when budgets are drawn up and the new marketing strategy is solidified.

As a small business owner, you don't have a team of marketers working on your behalf to formulate a winning digital marketing strategy to ensure your marketing efforts are a success. Because of this, it can be intimidating to plan your marketing strategies for this year.

But don't worry, because we've spent our time looking at all the data that matters to identify key digital marketing trends for 2022.

We've identified the best digital marketing trends that are working right now to generate leads and grow your business today, and through 2022.

What Are the Trends of the Future?

Fortunately for business owners, digital marketing has never been more important and there is no shortage of strategies to choose from. This year alone we've seen content marketing become increasingly popular as well as social media advertising adopt a new strategy called paid-social media advertising which enables brands not only to advertise their products but also connect with audiences on different platforms like Facebook or Instagram without paying extra fees by using an algorithm so they can target potential customers based off interests relevant just what he/she might need at any given moment!

In 2021, content marketing was one of the leading forms of marketing used by businesses. Brands with a blog generated over 67% more leads than ones without a blog, and the revenue for content marketing will exceed $300 billion in 2022.

Social media marketing has also skyrocketed, with 54% of social media users using these platforms to research products. Marketing professionals have prioritized social media in 2021 because of its high time investment. The average user spends just under 3 hours per day consuming these networks; Which makes it clear that this platform will be important for brands looking to promote themselves online going forward.

Digital marketing is especially useful for small business owners. It’s cost-effective, has an extensive reach, and is instrumental for building brand awareness and trust.

But we know it can be overwhelming to develop your digital marketing strategy as a small business owner – especially if you don’t have much experience with digital marketing.

So with that in mind, we've put together a list of key trends that you need to know about in 2022. We’re sure it will keep your business profiting all year long!

Here are some of the key digital marketing trends you need to follow in 2022:

Influencer Marketing

In 2021, influencer marketing is worth over $13 billion. We live in a time where consumers trust sales influencers' recommendations over traditional celebrities, with 49% of consumers using influencer recommendations to influence purchasing decisions this year. For teens and younger demographics, this number is even higher; Over 70% of teenagers rely on influencer recommendations for purchases.

Social commerce is more powerful than ever before thanks to the power of influencers. Social commerce allows you to use influencers and micro-influencers to sell products directly to new customers on social media networks.

Influencer marketing is a significant trend in digital marketing strategy that will continue to boom in 2022. The rise of micro and nano-influencers means that small businesses can capitalize on this exciting marketing; There is a high return on investment on influencer marketing expenditure. For each $1 invested, businesses can make up to $6.50 ROI on influencer marketing.

influencer woman in black long sleeve shirt holding white smartphone -- she is implementing digital marketing

Conversational Marketing is “IN”

Conversational marketing refers to the use of chatbots and live chats for marketing purposes. Able to provide users with instant access to customer support, conversational marketing makes your business accessible to customers 24/7.

Conversational marketing is a powerful marketing automation tool that leading brands utilize. This aids with data collection, qualify leads and provide premier customer experience services.

The best part about conversational marketing is it’s fully automated. It literally works for you in your sleep and can be set up fairly easily.

Facebook, WordPress & Wix all offer chatbot artificial intelligence tools that small businesses can use today.

The Power of Short-Form Video

Short-form video is skyrocketing in popularity. The growth of social media channels such as TikTok and Instagram Reels has caused short-form videos to become a booming digital marketing trend. It's important to incorporate short-form video into your digital marketing strategy.

Short, snappy, and to-the-point, short-form video marketing allows you to share key marketing messages in 15 seconds. These marketing messages are memorable, engaging, and resonate with consumers. Expenditure on short-form video is predicted to rise in 2022, and many leading marketers are investing more into it this new year.

Brand Challenges & User-Generated Content

The rise in short-form video marketing gave rise to other digital marketing trends such as brand challenges and user-generated content. Both of these offer prime marketing automation opportunities and allow you to produce interactive content with existing customers.

Interactive content is key to boosting engagement with your digital marketing efforts. Many marketers incorporate brand challenges into their marketing strategy in order to boost the amount of user-generated content created by existing customers.

User-generated content is content that is created by consumers and is key for building brand trust and awareness. Consumers are more likely to trust the content that is created by other consumers, and it requires minimal marketing efforts on your behalf.

Blogs and Website Content Are Still In

Blog and website content is still popular and will continue to be popular through 2022. You can utilize AI tools like Answer the Public to find what your consumers are searching for and develop a content strategy around it.

As of 2021, over 70% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing. Effective content marketing will help you rank higher on Google's search results, which means more targeted traffic for your business!

person using MacBook Pro

Your Email Copy

With an average return on investment of $36 for every $1 spent it's important to include email marketing in your digital marketing strategy.

But your email marketing results are only as good as your email copy. Create engaging email copy to compel your subscribers to click on your email offers and purchase you’re promoting. Once you have a customer email list, you can literally create sales on demand. So make sure you keep your list engaged with content that matters to them.

Wrapping up…

Digital marketing isn’t the future of marketing, it’s right now — and it's more important than ever for small businesses to capitalize on it now.

By implementing any of the digital marketing trends we mentioned above, you can take full advantage of powerful marketing strategies that will vastly improve your ROI digital reach with your audience.

Need help marketing or even creating your content? Book a time to chat with Jay of JVI Mobile Marketing here.

Instagram and Influencer Trends That Can Help Your Business Drive Engagement

Instagram and Influencer Trends That Can Help Your Business Drive Engagement

Dec 1, 2017 | Uncategorized

three gadget of tablet, laptop, and smartphone showing three popular social media apps like facebook, whatsapp, and instagram

Instagram is often overlooked as a social media platform due to its nature being entirely ‘images’ based. However, this fact alone is what makes Instagram very powerful – it allows you to convey much more emotion and to really make a product or a lifestyle look desirable.

Not only that, but Instagram is the second largest social network behind Facebook. That’s a pretty impressive stat, so you really shouldn’t leave it out of your plans!

In 2018, expect more small businesses than ever to jump aboard the Instagram marketing train. The eye-catching format is easy to use, and provides businesses with tools to keep their audiences engaged and informed.

New features and toolsets, like Instagram Stories, have also expanded what the platform can do for small business owners. Thanks to Instagram’s powerful advertising tools, evolving features, and highly active audiences, small businesses can use the platform to make big gains.

To help your business prepare its digital marketing strategy for the year ahead, take note of the following Instagram and influencer marketing trends that have nearly every small business owner saying, “Oh, that’s Insta-worthy!”

More Small Businesses Using Instagram Marketing

Small businesses have driven huge growth on Instagram. This includes growth of both unpaid organic account posts and paid advertising use.

According to Forbes, Instagram now has over 8 million business profiles. The platform saw 500% growth in the number of business accounts in just a few months last year.

Instagram execs credit the majority of this growth to small business users. Setting up an account is easy, and it’s also just as simple to begin using paid advertising tools to promote posts.

Why are small businesses drawn to Instagram? Because huge audiences login every day, often several times a day. There were over 500 million monthly Instagram users and 300 million daily active users around this time last year.

Now, with the advent of features like Instagram Stories, that number has likely soared even higher.

Businesses can therefore use Instagram to get huge reach for their campaigns or fulfill brand awareness goals with just a little bit of effort.

Influencer Marketing Benefits for Small Businesses Stack Up

digital generated devices on desktop, with responsive design influencer marketing profile on screen. all screen graphics are made up.

Big brands aren’t the only ones who use influencers to achieve marketing goals anymore. The ability for social media personalities to drive engagement and direct attention can benefit small businesses, too.

According to a recent study, 94% of marketers from a range of company sizes found that influencer marketing programs are successful.

Because influencers can pique their audience’s interests and motivate action, campaign goals like conversions or product awareness become much easier to achieve. Twitter claims that just under half of social media users trust recommendations and product reviews posted by influencers.

That power likely explains why some business owners found that influencer marketing generates 11 times greater ROI than other digital marketing channels.

Micro-Influencers Take on Huge Importance with Small Audiences

Some influencers with a million plus followers like Michelle Phan have taken on celebrity status. They get invited to red carpet events and appear on mass broadcast TV ads.

As these average people become megastars, a clear distinction emerges between them and other influencers. Marketing experts have begun to split influencer types into multiple categories as a result.

“Macro-influencers” like Phan, Kim Kardashian and King Bach have millions of followers and a huge range of topics they cover. “Micro-influencers” have a small following of a few hundred to a few thousand people but often follow a much more niche focus.

Small businesses have realized that micro-influencers are not only cheaper to work with, but they also drive campaign goals more effectively. Micro-influencers have this power because their audience feels stronger connections and finds the content posted more directly relevant to their interests.

You can see this connection in micro-influencer engagement rates. Influencers with less than 1,000 followers can engage 8% of their audience on average, while influencers 10 million+ followers only get “likes” from 1.6% of their audience, and an even lower frequency of comments and shares.

Put simply: small business owners can work with micro-influencers to connect more authentically to audiences and drive more consistent action.

Instagram Stories and Live Video Make Engagement a Daily Affair

tablet with an instagram photo on the screen

Most brands generally avoid posting on Instagram more than twice a day, except for on special occasions. Their reasons include diminishing returns and a fear of oversaturating their audience.

But, two new Instagram capabilities have begun to change that: stories and live video.

Live video can encourage people to watch content for eight times longer compared to pre-recorded video. Instagram stories displays content that gets deleted after 24 hours similarly sparks our love of authentic experiences and our FOMO (fear of missing out).

Instagram stories provide a fun and unique way to engage followers and drive traffic to your web- site. Many businesses have yet to adopt Instagram Story as part of their marketing strategy.  However, you can be an early adopter and reap the benefits right now.

Instagram might have started as a fun mobile app, but it has turned into an extremely valuable and powerful marketing tool for companies that know how to use it.

If you create a compelling profile, use hashtags appropriately. Take advantage of new options like Instagram Stories. You can use Instagram to build brand awareness and attract new customers.

“Over 200 million people use Instagram Stories each month,” says Entrepreneur, “which is over 50 million more than those who use Snapchat — and Instagram Stories is just one year old! At this rate, nearly half of all Instagram users will be using Stories by the end of 2018.”

Businesses interested in driving attention towards certain campaigns or maintaining more active engagement with audiences can turn to Stories and Live video to accomplish these goals.

Increasing Demand for Brand Safety and Proof of ROI

The double-edged sword to influencer marketing is that some brands worry about influencers staining their reputation.

Video game streamer PewDiePie, who has the largest YouTube subscriber base of any channel, caused waves after repeatedly using extremely offensive language in his content. Brands that collaborated with PewDiePie had to cut their ties and make statements condemning his actions.

Since influencers are not brand employees, business owners invite a bit of risk when they collaborate with them.

The best way to avoid controversy is to look to influencers’ past behaviors. Ask questions before collaborating in any capacity. Make it clear that your relationship is dependent on a positive image for your business.

Similarly, tie any relationships you have with influencers to concrete KPIs, including ROI. It’s always better to start small with a relationship. After that, establish proof of ROI before committing marketing dollars to a true collaboration.

For instance, try sending an influencer a free gift or just a kind request to highlight your latest campaign. If you like what they do with the information, you can work toward more collaborative content or even an endorsement-type relationship.

Trends in Instagram and Influencer Marketing for Small Businesses Can Help Your Brand Take Off Next Year!

Remember, Instagram is not about instant conversions or links. This is about the long-term benefit, so rate your success in terms of likes, follows and comments – not profit.

Likewise, remember that this is a ‘young’ and ‘hip’ crowd. You need to get to know your actual audience, but you should also get to know the Instagram audience more generally. What you’ll find is that Instagram is a place where ‘in your face marketing messages’ don’t go down well. So, don’t do that!


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