Millennials require an entirely new approach when it comes to advertising since they are incredibly adept at filtering out everything except what they want. They can easily tune out any traditional advertising that doesn’t seem genuine or is too commercial. It’s time to look towards new ways of getting your message across so you will be heard by your students. Millennials more than any other generation look to their peers for brand and product recommendations, which is why influencer marketing will be huge in 2017.
What is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing focuses on using key leaders to drive a message to a target market by using individuals to get the word out through their personal social channels. Instead of marketing directly to your students, an influencer gets the word out for you by informing and inspiring their followers.
94% of those who used influencer marketing believe the tactic to be effective. However, Determining the ROI of influencer marketing is a top challenge since the messaging is through personal profiles. The goal of influencer marketing is creating authentic content that drives engagement and traffic to your website through posts on popular platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Why it Works
Influencers hold their audience’s attention because they are promoting products while staying true to their unique voice and story. They are the leaders in a specific niche or market and their opinions are highly valuable to their followers. Influencers successfully integrate their branded campaigns into their unique stories, treating every post with care.
Influencers have created and adhere to their own personal branding, so picking an influencer that targets the right kind of consumer is key. Influencer marketing is about making the right impression on your students through people they trust.
Using Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing can help captivate your students online even if you struggle with maintaining your own social media sites. Since influencers use their own personal profiles, it can be faster and easier to reach a more targeted portion of your students that would be interested in the specific products you want to promote. By engaging with your students you can find influencers right on campus that have a large social media following. Influencer marketing promotes a more genuine message than traditional advertising and encourages peer-to-peer engagement.
Sources: adweek.com, forbes.com, tapinfluence.com
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