Marketing is a vital aspect of any business because if you do not get the word out there about your products and services, you are not going to acquire any customers or make sales.
Influencer marketing is a unique type of marketing out of the numerous types of marketing. It involves partnering with an individual with a large audience and followership on social media to speak about a brand.
This works because the individual has over time built a level of trust and admiration, and their followers take their word at face value. So, whenever this influencer endorses a product or service, they take their word for it.
The influencer creates content either reviewing or offering discounts, just about anything that gets people engaging or talking about the brand.
Also read, Can SMEs Survive, Without Influencer Marketing, On Social Media?
In Africa, influencer marketing is a strong marketing strategy, seeing as internet and mobile penetration has increased significantly in recent years.
One of the common ways businesses use influencer marketing to acquire customers in Africa is the use of influencers with similar target audiences to their products or service.
An example is a sportswear company partnering with a gym and fitness coach to showcase their sportswear on social media.
The audience of this influencer coach are people interested in fitness, gym, and general sport.
Also read, Influencer Marketing Trend: The Danger of open Cheque without Brand knowledge and Passion
This makes them most likely to make purchases and become customers. At some point, they even become free advocates, as they show off their new sportswear on social media too.
Now, influencer marketing isn’t what a brand just wakes up and rushes into. There are strategies to put in place if the desired results of achieving customers and making sales must be achieved.
Below are three best practices of how to use influencer marketing to acquire customers in Africa.
Use authentic and relevant influencers: Not everyone who has a large following on social media is an influencer and not all influencers are good for your brand.
As earlier said, work with an influencer with similar interests and whose audience overlaps with that of the brand.
As much as possible, use influencers a lot of people can relate to, especially one who has a deep sense of how the consumer culture evolves and also understands how to use trends to promote a business.
When starting with influencer marketing, it is advisable to use micro-influencers and then slowly work your way up to mega-influencers.
This way it is easier on the marketing budget and when sales increase, the marketing budget can be increased as well.
Original content is vital: African customers can spot a fake easily, it is therefore important to the brand to ensure that the influencer creates original content no matter what type of content the influencer wants to use.
This content must also be something that resonates with the audience. So when creating content for different countries in Africa, influencers must ensure they localize content for each audience.
Showcase Value: African customers have been known to pay exorbitant prices for products and services they perceive have value. When using influencer marketing. be sure to emphasize the value of the product or service.
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