Influencer Collaborations Beyond Instagram: Exploring New Platforms and Channels
Whenever we think or hear Influencer Marketing, the first thing that pops is Instagram. For the longest time, influencer marketing have been associated with Instagram platform. With more than 2.35 billion active users worldwide, Instagram offers a vast reach and diverse content formats that include images, videos, and stories. Its ever-growing influencer community has molded the landscape of influencer marketing. By embracing the emerging platforms, brands need to stay ahead of the curve and connect with their audiences in new, innovative ways.
Even in today’s time, nearly after 24 years in the digital wave, influencer marketing is still an emerging sector. Various influencers from varied niche are active and thriving on various social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and many more. As a brand, it can be quite overwhelming and equally scary to find the best influencer for your business who aligns with your business goals. It is important to note that before you choose influencers, you must choose the right platform. But how would you choose the perfect platform for your business?
You need to have a solid understanding of where your target audience is most active and depending on that, you can choose an influencer who is active on that platform and can help you reach out to your target audience.
But which is the best platform for influencer marketing? Let’s take a closer look into some of the most popular social media channels for influencer marketing besides Instagram:
YouTube
YouTube is a great platform to move from static to interactive video content and hook your viewers. Video content is at its peak today, as videos conveys complex messages easily and quickly. Rather than reading about your business, people would enjoy to ‘see’ it. YouTube has a wider audience, and people can watch all sorts of content. On YouTube, you can find influencers from different genres, like tech brands, community speakers, vloggers, gamers, fashion and lifestyle influencers, financial influencers and more. The list just goes on.
Another popular social media platform for influencer marketing is Facebook, which has more than 2.91 billion users globally. You won’t find a person in today’s world who isn’t on Facebook. As long as the influencer you’ve chosen to work with has built a decent community on Facebook, you can always rely on them to promote your services and products to your target audiences and engage with them on a personal level.
Did you ever wonder on how effective LinkedIn can be for influencer marketing? With the creator economy emerging every day, there are multiple influencers you can spot on LinkedIn who can help you scale your product/service from 0 to 1 in a blink of an eye.
LinkedIn is a crucial platform to get started, especially if your business is in the ed-tech or technical domain. However, irrespective of the genre of your business, you can connect with the respective influencers on LinkedIn who can help your product/service reach out to the masses and engage with them.
Hashtags have always been in trend, every other day on Twitter. Ever wonder what would happen if a hashtag related to your business starts trending? That would be a true blessing for your business. This kind of marketing creators are active on Twitter too. As a result, it can help your business flourish.
These are some of the most popular social media platform you might already know. But, let’s dig deeper into more platforms you can leverage to ace your influencer marketing game for your business.
Clubhouse
Clubhouse is an audio-based social networking app, launched in April 2020 but gained tremendous popularity due to its invite-only model. It allows users to join virtual rooms where they can listen or participate in live conversations on various topics with different people ranging from technology to business to wellness and grow their circle. It’s a great place to meet like-minded people who share the same love you do!
The exclusivity factor has helped clubhouse gain popularity among high-profile individuals such as Elon Musk and Oprah Winfrey, making it a hub for networking and knowledge-sharing. Brands, Businesses can leverage this platform by hosting rooms related to their industry or products/services and collaborate with influencers who have a significant following on clubhouse and share your interest and business goals.
Twitch
Twitch was originally launched as a live-streaming platform for gamers to connect with one another and share experiences, but, twitch has now expanded its reach to include other categories of content like music, talk shows, and even food recipes. It has more than 30 million active daily users globally and is a popular platform for live-streaming events.
Brands and businesses alike can use twitch for influencer marketing by partnering with gamers or streamers who have a dedicated fan base.
Final Words
In today’s fast-paced digital world, it is essential for brands to stay ahead of the every changing trends in the digital industry in terms of their social media presence. While Instagram may be the go-to platform for many, exploring emerging social media platforms can open up new windows of opportunities for your brand growth and audience engagement. By unlocking the power of these platforms and keeping an eye on future rising platforms, brands can continue to reach and connect deeply with their target audience in innovative ways.
360-degree Digital Marketing Vs Traditional Marketing: What is the difference and what should you choose?
Traditional Marketing and Digital Marketing are two very different approaches to marketing that aim at achieving the same goals i.e., promoting products and services, and reaching the target audience. Traditional Marketing is a marketing approach that uses conventional, traditional methods to promote goods and services. However, Digital Marketing uses online platforms and the latest digital technologies to promote products and services.
What is Traditional Marketing?
Traditional Marketing, as the name suggests is a form of marketing that uses conventional/traditional methods/offline media to reach your potential audience. Traditional Marketing uses offline channels such as television, direct mail, radio, telemarketing, flyers, and billboards. This is a one-way communication marketing approach and allows businesses to broadcast their message to a large audience with no or less interaction from the target audience. These marketing materials are usually placed/displayed in locations where their target audience is more likely to see, hear, or engage with them.
Some common traditional marketing methods include –
- Tv commercials
- Radio Commercials
- Magazines
- Newspapers
- Billboards
- Flyers and posters
- Tele-marketing
- Direct mailers, coupons
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital Marketing is a modern form of marketing that uses online platforms and the latest digital technologies to reach the target audience. With digital Marketing, the organisation leverages social media, the power of the internet, search engines, mobile apps, email, and other digital channels. This is a two-way communication marketing approach and allows the organisation and its target audience to interact with each other, engage, and provide feedback and/or suggestions. Digital Marketing offers businesses numerous tools and techniques to target specific audiences, measure campaign performance, and optimise their strategies.
Digital marketing is the promotion of products/services over the Internet through numerous digital mediums. Some popular digital marketing methods include –
- Email Marketing
- Social Media Campaigns
- Search Engines Ads
- SEO
- Affiliate Marketing
- Influencer Marketing
- Websites
Key Differences Between Digital Marketing vs Traditional Marketing
1. Target Audience
Younger people are primarily engaged with social media and digital apps, making them easier to reach through digital marketing. In contrast, traditional marketing methods like newspapers, radio, and television are more effective for older audiences. If your target audience is young, digital marketing is essential since Gen Z spends most of their time online. However, if your audience is older and not as active on digital platforms, traditional marketing might be a better focus.
2. Consumer interaction
Traditional marketing may have a more personal approach since the interaction with the consumer is more direct via telecalling or cold calling but at the same time through TV/radio/newspaper there is no interaction at all. When it comes to digital marketing, the physical presence of the marketer is not required, all your work is done online. The interaction is mainly online in the form of comments, replies, queries etc.
3. Costs
Traditional marketing is more expensive since there is printing involved, radio and television ads, etc., and it is harder to scale and also get the desired slot on radio or television. Online marketing is more affordable as one can set up the costs of the campaign as per their budget.
4. Speed of Results
It can take weeks or even months to track results when it comes to traditional marketing since you have to rely on someone else to get those results. With digital marketing, it is much easier to track results with real-time results with the use of reports and web analytics businesses can have at their fingertips. There are more metrics available as well such as views, click-through rate, ROAS, etc.
5. Strategy
As traditional marketing efforts do not have real-time results, it takes longer to create strategies with limited data available. Strategy improvisation is much easier for digital marketing campaigns as the results are easily available and changes can be done easily.
6. Sustainability
Traditional marketing heavily depends on hard copies (magazines, newspapers, flyers etc.) describing the product or service, displayed in public areas like billboards, and hoardings. On the other hand, digital platforms provide product/ service information in softcopy format on their website, social media platforms, ad campaigns etc. This is accessible to the user at any point in time and also is good for the environment.
7. Feedback
It is easier to track and analyze the feedback of a particular campaign through digital marketing as there is an open line of communication involved in the process. In traditional marketing, marketers simply pray they don’t get negative feedback. This is why most of their time and energy is spent on focus groups and market research. It is easier to fix a glitch in digital marketing as compared to traditional marketing.
What should you choose?
So, what’s our verdict – digital marketing or traditional marketing? It all boils down to who your target audience is. Your audience could also enjoy a mix of both strategies which have their own set of pros and cons. Once you have identified what kind of data both traditional and digital campaigns consume the most, then you can start building your winning strategy.
Digital Marketing is the need of the hour, especially with the ongoing growing digital world.
If your product or service caters to a younger audience, then you definitely should go all out and focus on digital marketing. It is great for small businesses as well to kick-start their presence and build brand value initially as it is inexpensive and has a high reach and engagement.
ROI or the returns on investment is every marketer’s concern. When it comes to digital marketing vs traditional marketing return on investment, digital marketing offers better ROI if your audience is bigger as it helps reach a wider audience with less investment whereas, with traditional marketing, the cost of reaching a wider audience is way too high. But if you are a brand with deep pockets, traditional marketing is a good choice as it might get you more eyeballs and impact making you a household name. The best strategy for most of businesses would be to have a mix of digital marketing and traditional marketing depending on their target audience and budget they have.
Whatsapp Marketing – Why it must be a part of your overall marketing strategy and what are the right steps to execute it?
In today’s ever-changing digital world, reaching your target audience and building a strong connection can be challenging. Many Digital Marketing Agencies focus on traditional social media platforms, but there’s a hidden gem that can be a game-changer for engagement: WhatsApp. WhatsApp has over two billion monthly users and offers an opportunity to connect with your customers on a more personal level which enhances your brand image. But how can you leverage this platform to keep your audience hooked? Continue reading this blog to get through the steps of creating a winning WhatsApp marketing strategy.
Why to Use WhatsApp Marketing?
Here are a few reasons why WhatsApp marketing should be on your go-to list:
High Engagement Rates: People tend to be more responsive to messages on WhatsApp compared to emails, calls, or social media posts. With a higher open rate and click-through rate, your brand stands a greater chance of capturing your audience’s attention.
Direct Communication: WhatsApp fosters a more direct and personal connection with your potential customers. You can have real-time conversations, provide answers to their questions, and provide personalized support, all within the app.
Rich Media Content: Share engaging content like images, videos, GIFs, memes, and even voice notes to keep your audience interested and hooked. This adds variety and makes your messages more interactive for the audience.
Build Loyalty: By providing valuable information and insights, exclusive offers, and responsive customer service, you can build trust and loyalty with your audience, turning them into your brand advocates.
How to Keep Your Audience Engaged?
Now that you have an audience, how do you keep them engaged?
Valuable Content is the King: Don’t just bombard your audience with promotional messages and instil the fear of missing out on them. Share informative and engaging content that adds value to their lives and also gets them educated on your products/services. This may include the latest news in the industry, product tutorials, how-to guides, or even user-generated content.
Be Conversational: WhatsApp is a two-way road. Boost engagement by asking questions, hosting polls, or even running contests. Respond to their messages promptly to build rapport and create a sense of community.
Variety is Key: Don’t use plain text messages and think your audience will be hooked. Use multimedia content like images, videos, and voice notes to keep your audience interested. Educate them on your products, and how to use them, and also provide them with some fun facts about your products.
Timing is Everything: Don’t overwhelm your audience with a lot of content. Schedule your messages strategically and avoid sending them at inconvenient times like late in the night or very early morning. Understand your customer base and analyse their timings.
Creating a Winning WhatsApp Marketing Strategy
Here’s a quick summary to help you start and win the WhatsApp game!
Define your goals: Ask yourself what you want to achieve with your WhatsApp marketing strategy. Do you want increased brand awareness, want to drive sales, or improve customer service?
Find the target audience: Whom you are targeting as your audience? Know what they need and like. This will help you to customize your content and messages for them.
Create engaging content: Focus on providing value and keeping your audience interested and engaged.
Conclusion
WhatsApp marketing offers a powerful way for businesses to connect with their target audience on a deeper, personal level. By providing valuable content, fostering two-way communication, and utilizing the platform’s features efficiently, you can create a thriving community around your brand.
