Influencer Marketing as it Relates to SEO and Internet Ad Pricing
Sources:
http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/10-reasons-why-influencer-marketing-is-the-next-big-thing/623407
https://www.tapinfluence.com/pricing/
With the spread of social media to large amounts of the population, a growing number of social media celebrities have emerged who have accumulated large followings on platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and Facebook. These social media celebrities are commonly referred to as “influencers” because of the power they have over shaping the preferences of their followers. Influencer marketing involves the placement of a brand or product in an influencer’s post on one of these social media sites. The power of influencer marketing stems from the perceived authenticity of the posts given that the influencers are common people, and the fact that influencer marketing is “native advertising” which means that it doesn’t disrupt the customer experience and feels organic to the customer.
One of the most potent results of influencer marketing is its effect on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO involves the visibility and relevance of a webpage in the unpaid section of search results on search engines such as Google. SEO is important for marketers because it increases awareness of a brand and it helps point potential customers in the direction of their products/website. Influencer marketing can dramatically improve a brand’s SEO as the more people are talking about the brand on social media, the more relevant the brand will be on Google searches. In class, we learned about hubs and authorities and PageRank as methods to form a list of the most relevant search results for the user. These methods work by assembling a list of relevant pages to a search and then returning the most relevant pages in order. According to the article, “user generated social posts account for 25 percent of search results for the world’s top 20 brands” (Adweek). Therefore, as a brand increases its customer awareness through influencer marketing, more people will post about the brand on social media, and it will become more relevant on Google. These influencer posts are considered relevant hubs and the increase in these hubs pointing to the relevant authorities (brand website, product page, etc) is what boosts the brand’s SEO.
Another interesting connection to class is the pricing structure of influencer marketing. In class we learned about advertising on the internet using auctions and charging by impressions or by click. Some influencer marketing companies are abandoning this format in favor of a monthly subscription plan that allows access to the influencer marketplace. Once inside this marketplace, companies can choose with whom they want to place an ad from a list of influencers, and then the influencers are compensated when they place the product in a social media post of some sort. With influencer marketing there is much more data on the number of people who have viewed the post and the number of people who have “liked” the post or otherwise engaged with it, and so pricing can become much more targeted and accurate for the brand, and the influencer can be compensated fairly as well.