We are constantly interacting with individuals in our social life. Individuals who are interacting affect each other in decision-making processes, whether they are aware of it or not. Thanks to digitalization, these interactions are experienced by eliminating the necessity of spatiality. The customer’s digitalization journey also directs the digitalization of the brands’ marketing activities.
First of all, what is influencer marketing and why is it more preferred now?
Word-of-mouth marketing has changed and evolved into a new area in which consumers will participate online. For this reason, social media channels have become a very important tool that businesses use today to increase brand awareness. In particular, brands use the influencer marketing strategy a lot to promote products. Influencer marketing strategy; It is an online marketing strategy in which people with high followers on social media try to increase sales and brand awareness by getting advice about products. If you are a marketing professional, you may already know this part.
In this article, I will examine the relationship between influencer marketing and communication and discuss the positive and negative effects of communication on influencer marketing. I will also make a few predictions about how the effects of communication in influencer marketing will change in the future.
What can the communication method used in influencer marketing cause?
Communication is of great importance for influencer marketing. In this type of interaction-oriented marketing, brands should pay attention to matching their own identities with the influencer. One of the positive effects of communication in influencer marketing is the ability of influencers to establish strong relationships with their followers. Influencers advertise products and services by communicating directly with their followers. I can say that direct communication benefits from reaching the target audience more easily. Through communication, influencers can attract the attention of followers, and thus products can reach a wider audience. In general, brands use these powerful people to deconstruct the gray zone between companies and consumers and to communicate marketers’ messages more efficiently and reliably.
Another positive effect of communication is the ability of influencers to create original and interesting content. Influencers promote brands’ products with their styles and experiences. This allows brands to reach their target audience more naturally. Influencers need to create content that will attract the attention of their followers because they don’t want to lose their followers. This requires the ability to understand the interests of their followers, and at the same time requires the ability to communicate in a friendly and natural way.
Since influencers build a strong bond with their followers, brands can reach their target audience more effectively by connecting to this bond. It is a very important point that established communication is transparent. Because being able to communicate honestly and openly with your followers increases trustworthiness. This is the key both for the identity of the influencer and for the sales of brands.
What can cause negative effects in influencer marketing?
Although communication is a powerful tool in influencer marketing, its communication can also have negative effects. With the misdirection of communication, influencers can make misleading comments about products. This causes followers to choose the wrong product, and trust in the brand decreases. It can negatively affect brand loyalty very badly. For example, if an influencer advertises a makeup product without trying it or testing it on her skin, and the product gives unexpected results to users, the influencer may lose her reputation. The authenticity and sincerity of the comments are questionable. Followers need to get real opinions about the product because misdirections can create serious crisis scenarios.
A different negative effect may be that the influencer often constantly promotes a product. Impulse buying is usually triggered by external circumstances when people are interested in a product or service. When a product’s communication is made too often due to brand collaboration, followers may feel under pressure to buy that product. Decisions made under duress may not be compatible with our real wishes and preferences. Therefore, brands need to consider the communication factor when using influencer marketing. Brands can collaborate more with influencers to enable influencers to interact directly with their followers and encourage followers to share their real experiences. In addition, brands need to follow ethical rules in their agreements with influencers, to avoid misleading promotions and to test products.
The future of influencer marketing
Although it seems that influencer communication will grow even more in the future, the future of influencer marketing may also face transparency and ethical problems. Because consumers are now much more dominant and aware of the digital world. They place great emphasis to transparency and accuracy. In addition, increasing competition in influencer marketing may cause influencers to try all kinds of ways to increase the sale of products. This can also lead to ethical problems and transparency problems. It is not possible to say for sure whether influencer marketing will decrease in the future because i anticipate that artificial intelligence and other technological developments will change the effects of communication in influencer marketing, but it is not easy to predict how this change will happen from now.
Sources:
Aksu, H. (2018). DİJİTOPYA – Dijital Dönüşüm Yolculuk Rehberi (2nd ed., p. 81). Pusula.
ALIŞVERİŞ SONRASI PİŞMANLIK DAVRANIŞI ARASINDAKİ İLİŞKİNİN İNCELENMESİ . Bingöl Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi , (24) , 589-606 . DOI: 10.29029/busbed.1115689
Ceyhan, A. İ. (2021). Dijital Pazarlama İletişimi Kitap Ahmet İlkay Ceyhan. Dijital Pazarlama İletişimi.
Tor Kadioglu, Cansu. (2021). Dijital Pazarlamada Güncel Araştırmalar.
Aydın, İ. (2021). Nüfuz Pazarlamasında (Influencer Marketing) Nüfuzluya Güvenin Marka Değeri, Marka Aşkı ve Satın Alma Niyeti Üzerindeki Etkisinin Araştırılması . JOEEP: Journal of Emerging Economies and Policy , 6 (2) , 213-225 . Retrieved from https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/joeep/issue/60720/979023
Beyaz, R. (2022). INFLUENCER GÜVENİLİRLİĞİ