What You Should Know About Influencer Marketing + How to Stop Impulse Buying

You stayed up way too late the night before scrolling social media. Watching the stories of your favorite instagrammers for hours. The next morning your alarm goes off, and you groggily pick up your phone and check your emails, groaning at the numerous “Order Confirmed!” emails you had forgotten about. What happened? Let’s taker a closer look.

What is Influencer Marketing and how effective is it?

Influencer Marketing is a form of marketing that occurs on social media where an influencer endorses a product to their audience, which typically is trusting of their authority and knowledge in their niche (source.)

And it’s certainly effective. A 2016 study by Tapinfluence and Nielsen examined the ROI (“return on investments”) from a “meatless monday” blog campaign promoting Silk non-dairy beverages in recipes. The results are staggering: they found that influencer marketing can be 11 times as effective as other digital marketing at generating sales.

Why is it so effective?

To examine why it works so well, we need to first look at word of mouth (WOM) marketing. Psychologist Ernest Dichter in 1966 identified that when people identify messages as advertisements, they feel threatened and get defensive (source). People will instead turn to WOM marketing to ask trusted friends or family members for recommendations.

He went further to identify reasons people act on WOM recommendations (source):

1. Authentic passion from the speaker
2. Genuine compassion of the speaker to the listener’s situation or needs
3. Tangible proof that the product is effective
4. Semblance of secrecy to generate idea of scarcity and exclusivity

Today’s application

So let’s take this advice from 1966 and fast forward 50 years to the age of social media. On social media we follow those who are experienced in niches that interest us, or we admire, or are relatable to us in some way. For example, I personally follow several “baby expert” accounts whose expertise ranges from postpartum nurses to baby sleep experts. I can think of scenarios when each of the above reasons were met and led to my action: a purchase.

For the first time in history, people can broadcast their daily lives to hundreds of thousands of followers. You see their faces every day and they become so familiar to the point where you feel like you know them as a friend (another post for another time?)

Now this person you trust or admire or just genuinely like is being paid by a brand to promote their product. It’s easy to see how it’s so effective. Traditional advertisement sources are going away as technology grows. You can fast forward TV ads or pay for premium membership. You can install ad blockers. In some ways companies are having to try harder than ever to get their product out there.

Let me add my disclaimer here. I am not against influencer marketing as a consumer. I discovered my new favorite long sleeved henley shirt from an instagrammer, and I ended up buying 4 colors and I wear them every week. I’m slightly embarrassed to admit my laundry schedule revolves around these shirts. (It’s this one if you’re curious, and yes they are amazing. Also, not sponsored. But that would be nice.) (Now that I linked it I discovered they added a bunch more colors and ALSO IT’S 50% OFF DARN IT!)

Knowledge = power

My goal is to identify those purchases that will bring me joy for a long period of time, versus those that arrive at my door and I can’t remember what I ordered. Also, with this knowledge you can view influencer marketing from a different perspective. You can analyze exactly why you’re feeling the urge to spend from the 4 reasons above, and whether that reason is valid. It may also help you narrow down your instagram feed to those who only share the products they genuinely believe in.

One trick to cut back on excessive spending

Here’s my rule to cut down impulse online shopping (and yes I’m going to use it for the shirt.) Add it to the cart. Add all the things. All the colors. Go crazy. Then look at your total, (laughing out loud is optional), and walk away. Go brush your teeth. Plug in your phone (preferably in another room) and go to sleep. Wait 48 hours. Yes, 2 whole days. If you’re still thinking about the item, and you have the money in your budget, and you’ve decided that it’s something you really want and you’re willing to sacrifice other purchases for it, then buy it. I’m always surprised the next day how little I want something that I was convinced I NEEDED.

Give me your thoughts! How do you feel about social media marketing? Have you purchased anything you regret after being #influenced?