Are influencer marketing and network marketing different? Or is there any crossover, and would it be possible to engage in both? For example, network marketing (or MLM) and influencer marketing might be two separate but closely related marketing concepts.

There are several similarities between network marketing and influencer marketing. First, they both involve moving off goods, products, and services to consumers by leveraging a lot on word-of-mouth advertising. 

These concepts also rely on direct contact to inspire and entice their target demography into purchasing their wares. In recent times, many MLM firms have been taking advantage of the rapid growth of influencer marketing to increase their level of success. 

If you’ve also wondered how network marketing began to evolve into influencer marketing, this blog post is just for you.

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What is Multi-Level Marketing And Its Types?

According to Investopedia, network marketing or multi-level marketing (MLM) refers to a method used to sell services and items by most companies into direct sales. These firms incentivize their members to bring new members to the company. They also motivate them to market and advertise the firm’s goods and services to as many people as possible.

While MLM is not illegal at all, one of its main varieties, called the pyramid scheme, is considered a significant financial crime in many countries worldwide. Pyramid schemes are deemed illegal because they involve baiting members with promises of financial rewards if they bring in other people. This system uses money from old members to pay newer members and is always never sustainable in the long run.

MLM has three major types and definitions, including binary definitions, breakaway definitions, and unilevel definitions.

Other types of MLM you may encounter include business models that raise income through:

• Selling a service
• Selling exclusive or multi-level memberships
• Selling products 

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What Does Influencer Marketing Mean?

Influencer marketing is a hot buzzword in business—and for a good reason. The most highly-skilled individuals in the world significantly influence what is bought and sold in modern society. 

According to research, 38% of consumers indicate that content and recommendations from their favorite influencers directly impacted their purchasing decisions. 

The concept of subtly getting consumers to favor a particular product or service is almost as old as time itself. Everyone has been an influencer of sorts at one point or the other. Most times, this is even done without knowing.

Wikipedia describes influencer marketing as a type of marketing where renowned organizations or famous people influence consumers to patronize their endorsed brands, products, or services. This type of marketing via social media where these influencers subconsciously program people to favor particular brands due to their expertise and renowned knowledge.

Forbes also reveals that one of the earliest known influencer marketing arrangements recorded was when Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, had a custom-made cream-colored tea set. The tea set was made in 1765 by Wedgwood, and he was subsequently hired as “Her Majesty’s Potter.” Gladiators in ancient Rome were also known to have been influencer marketers as they had products they endorsed back then.

Does Network Marketing And Influencer Marketing Have Anything In Common?

Yes, there are a couple of common similarities between influencer marketing and network marketing. These similarities between both business models are significant and also quite noteworthy. Below are a few things they have in common: 

1. MLMs and influencer marketers need a social media marketing understanding to thrive in the business. Almost everything about our world and even day-to-day living has gone digital already, and the only way to keep up is to shape up and adapt.

Both business models must know how social media marketing works to adequately network and even exercise any influence over consumers. In addition, almost all of their target demography can be effortlessly reached via social media, so they must also have an excellent content optimization strategy.  

2. Influencer marketing and multi-level marketing businesses must also have a clearly stated market niche. These are your target demography or the specific set of consumers that your products and services are supposed to cater to directly.

Without a clear definition, it would be hard for any business model to profit in the direct-selling industry. Clearly, defining your niche saves you from the fruitless hassle of trying to please everybody. It also protects your firm from incurring avoidable expenses and wasting valuable time.

Make it a priority to understand the online habits of the consumers you’re targeting. Don’t ever try to serve or be wanted by everybody because, the truth is, you can’t ever succeed at that. Instead, be on the lookout for those who believe in your shared values. You should always want to be linked with your brand and those who genuinely need your products and services.

3. Both business brands also need to always maintain an excellent image for their brands. Image is everything, as the famous saying goes. If nobody trusts the integrity of your brand or name, you might as well just quit trying to sell anything to them for good.

You can build trust with your consumers by always keeping your end of the bargain and delivering as promised on all products and services. Don’t ever be caught saying one thing and offering another. 

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Is MLM Merging With Influencer Marketing?

MLM has been evolving into influencer marketing because many networking companies are now hiring influencers to reach more people. According to recent surveys in the United States of America, traditional marketers’ demand for influencer marketing is expected to shoot up by over 72.5% by 2022. 

This is because marketing through influencers is fast becoming a much more efficient means of marketing for many companies today. Influencer marketing is one of the best ways to create awareness about a brand and get people to patronize it. This is why traditional multi-level marketers explore the vast possibilities available to their businesses through influencer marketing.

Conclusion

No matter how much any business owner tries to ignore digitalization, the fact remains that it has disrupted our ways of life in virtually every sphere. Therefore, for any MLM to continue to thrive in this present age, it must ultimately evolve or merge with influencer marketing. Failure or refusal to do this is simply tantamount to unnecessary business suicide.

Whether you have an influencer model, a traditional MLM model, or a mix, DirectScale (now an Exigo company) is built to handle your needs. Take your business to the next level with the most powerful network marketing platform. Learn more on a short call!

Request Free Demo from DirectScale

The post Network Marketing vs. Influencer Marketing: The Key Similarities and Differences appeared first on Social Commerce.

Influencer-based campaigns can be very successful for companies, as businesses are making an average of $5.20 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing. Anyone in the fashion business can especially benefit from this type of marketing, as social media is filled with fashion influencers.

If you’re looking to make your own campaign, you can find inspiration in these examples of successful fashion influencer marketing campaigns.

Lil Miquela for Prada Fall ‘18

Lil Miquela is a computer-generated virtual influencer who was based on a 19-year-old from Los Angeles and currently boasts over 600k Instagram followers.

Prada partnered with her to promote their Fall 2018 collection through Instagram Stories via animated GIFs. These GIFs were inspired by Prada’s current collection, but also gave nods to some old-fashioned pieces such as the SS11 banana print and the SS10 flame shoe.

Miquela announced this partnership alongside Prada’s Milan Fashion Week runway show by posting a series of short Instagram videos that featured the GIF. The posts were paired with a caption that read “Go off!! #pradagifs are live in stories! Start posting and tag me.”

When users went over to Prada’s account, they were given a mini-tour of the show space by the CGI avatar

H&M

H&M is a fashion brand with one of the largest Instagram followings because they know how to get influencer marketing right. They only partner with influencers who reflect the style of their brand themselves and whose followers will most likely take inspiration from their posts.

The company did just that when they partnered with the model Ela Velden and fashion blogger Julie Sariñana for their fall 2017 catalog. In fact, Sariñana enjoyed the partnership and loved H&M’s clothing so much that she posted pictures of herself wearing them on her own Instagram account.

Revolve

Revolve took fashion influencer marketing to the next level in order to improve the visibility of their clothing brand and made a somewhat non-traditional advertising campaign. The brand invited key opinion leaders to travel the world and promote their clothing at the same time.

These people would go to parties wearing Revolve outfits, get photographed in them, and then later post those pictures on their social media accounts using the #RevolveAroundTheWorld hashtag.

Not only that, but Revolve also rented a huge villa during the extremely popular Coachella festival and invited influencers that were popular among Millennials. After several Snapchat stories and Instagram posts, the hashtag blew up and was used over 6,000 times during just one weekend.

The end result was more than successful, as the brand made over 3 billion impressions and significant growth in sales.

Daniel Wellington

Daniel Wellington is an impressive example on this list because the brand’s only type of marketing is fashion influencer marketing. This watch manufacturer managed to build brand recognition around a careful selection of influencers and a fixed hashtag structure.

Some of their regular tags such as #DanielWellington and #DWPickoftheDay are very popular among Instagram’s fashion-related tags. They also incorporated sponsored posts from influences into their campaign, which led to engaging and rewarding content followers could trust and relate to.

Since the people they partner with only post genuine images without too much photoshop, Daniel Wellington comes off as a community-respected brand that knows the value of their products.

Brandy Melville

Brandy Melville is a fashion label whose target audience consists mostly of teenage girls. Seeing as how Instagram is the most popular traditional social network among U.S. teens, it’s no wonder why they used this social media platform for their marketing campaigns.

The brand worked with influencers who have a following that consists mostly of teenagers and posted pictures that celebrated free-spirited millennials. Ultimately, the campaign proved to be a huge success and during one month, they acquired 53,000 new followers, their fan base expanding to 3.3 million.

Not only that, but they also managed to set the record for most likes on Instagram in March of 2016 with 9.3 million likes.

Zara

Zara is a high-street retailer that wanted to show their items can be both stylish and accessible at the same time, so they launched the #iamdenim campaign. For this campaign, they partnered with popular fashion influencers to get their message across and they did this with regular Instagram take-overs.

One of the influencers they partnered with was Teesh Rosa who created raw and honest content around their pieces. This way, Zara managed to show that their jeans and denim jackets are fashionable and well-liked by popular influencers, but also that they are for everyday people to wear in everyday situations.

By putting an emphasis on accessibility, this campaign brought Zara 4.6 million new followers in just eight months.

Fashion Nova

Fashion Nova’s strategy for their marketing campaign was to pair up with as many influencers as they could. However, they didn’t sacrifice quality, but they partnered with almost every fashion blogger with a significant following.

Not only that, but they also formed partnerships with many influential celebrities, including Kylie Jenner, Amber Rose, and Cardi B. This type of no-holds-barred marketing approach may be ambitious and it certainly isn’t affordable, but it shows results.

In just three years, Fashion Nova managed to increase its sales significantly and reach six million followers on social media.

Yeezy

Getting recognition and attention for a product before it’s even released can be a challenge, but Yeezy managed to do this with carefully thought out fashion influencer marketing. Before the shoe was even released, the brand carefully selected a small number of influencers to be their representatives.

Adidas decided to collaborate with Kanye West and this saw the launch of the Yeezy Boost campaign. Instead of sending boxes of shoes to a variety of popular influencers, Yeezy decided to show exclusivity and that not everyone can get these shoes easily.

This made customers realize that Yeezys weren’t average Adidas shoes, so the waiting list to purchase these shoes was endless. Adidas managed to establish Yeezys as a sought-after product, and influencers who managed to get their own pair posted pictures of them without any monetary compensation.

Forever 21

Forever 21 decided to engage social media audiences with a fashion influencer marketing campaign that doesn’t revolve around a classic photoshoot. The brand partnered with established influencers who were known for having great communication with their followers to create a unique campaign.

Instead of taking pictures where they would show off clothing from Forever 21 in traditional poses, influencers created content that revolved around the process of trying these clothes on. They later provided both positive and negative feedback, both of which the brand welcomed and didn’t edit.

These efforts proved to be successful, and 21 was able to show off their new collection while also creating an atmosphere of shopping with a close friend.

Coach

Many brands are under the impression that this type of marketing only works for companies that are trying to target a younger audience. However, a high-end brand Coach still managed to create an amazing fashion influencer marketing campaign on Instagram by partnering with Selena Gomez.

In 2016, this actress and singer became a brand ambassador for the company and their collaboration paid off for the brand. Reportedly, this campaign cost Coach less than 25 cents per impression.

Marc Jacobs

Marc Jacobs is a world-famous fashion designer who took a different approach to influencer marketing. Instead of finding another famous person to represent his brand, Marc decided to do it himself and started the #CastMeMarc campaign to find new faces for the upcoming campaign.

The only thing aspiring models had to do to be entered for consideration was to tag a photo of themselves on Instagram with this caption. Unsurprisingly, the campaign was an instant hit and spread like wildfire while Marc Jacobs managed to find new faces for their upcoming fashion season.

Another positive outcome that came out of the campaign was that Marc Jacobs created a real sense of agency and engagement, and #CastMeMarc was named Marketing Week’s campaign of the year.

Final thoughts

There are many different ways you can engage fashion influencers to promote your brand. As social media marketing keeps evolving, it’s becoming more obvious that it’s not enough to have regular sponsored posts. If you truly want to stand out, you need to be unique.

To ensure your campaign is successful, you need to implement all the best practices. This means you need to know where to find the right influencers, go high if your budget allows it, but still put more focus on quality over quantity, keep it visual, and encourage and enforce disclosure.

The post Fashion Influencer Marketing: 11 Stylish Brands Doing It Right appeared first on Social Commerce.

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It’s more than obvious that social media networks hold immense power in the world of business. Customers and prospects spend a lot of their time on these platforms, socializing, commenting, liking, and sharing.  

For a start, you should know that:

• Facebook shares have a huge impact on Google search rankings. 
• 53% of people recommend companies and products on Twitter. 
• The average user spends 89 minutes per month on Pinterest. 

And did you know that 5 million images are uploaded to Instagram every day?

It’s clear that you need to make the most out of social media platforms if your goal is to generate more sales and boost revenue in your business. Take a look below at six effective strategies that will help you increase revenue through social media.

Drive Referrals to Your Website

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Referrals need to be among top priorities when building and promoting social media content. 

It’s very simple – you can’t drive or track conversions with no referrals. On top of that, you need to make sure that the landing page you drive referrals to is optimized for conversion. 

Here are some tips that can help you drive referral traffic:

• Include links to your products or services in your social media posts. Customers usually don’t like to browse through the entire website to find a product. Help them buy from you by adding a specific link.
• Comment on your audience’s posts and answer their questions. Engaging with your customers builds trust and shows that you care. Plus, you can always add a link or two to your comments.
• Share your content in Facebook groups, but don’t spam. If group admins allow you to sell products in their groups, then include a referral link.
• Reach out to influencers. Social media influencers can be a great source of referral traffic, just make sure to find the right ones. 

Generate Leads Through Social Media

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When driving referral traffic from social media, you should focus on turning those individuals into leads instead of trying to convert them directly there. If you run a business with a typically long sales cycle, it would be especially wise to put this tip into practice. 

Every collected lead from social media networks can easily go into your regular sales funnel. 

And when it comes to the contact collection process, try directing social media traffic to a page that collects emails for an opt-in to your newsletter or a giveaway. 

It’s worth noting that you will need an email capture tool to collect emails from social media visitors. You won’t have a hard time finding a good tool of this kind, since there are many such tools online. Setting up a basic form that feeds into your CRM pays huge dividends in the long run.

Build Relationships

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Engagement is one of the most impactful marketing tactics that can get you more sales leads. When you connect the dots, it’s quite clear that social media makes it easier than ever to interface with your audience in real-time. 

Once you establish a presence on various networks, you will need to connect with your current and potential consumers by getting involved in discussions that are happening online, commenting on customers’ posts, answering your audience’s questions, and so on.

You should reply to both good and bad reviews. Never ignore or try to delete someone’s review if it’s negative. Instead, ask your customers what you can do to make things better and fix the issue. It shows that you’re approachable, that you care, and that you’re a customer-centric brand.

Don’t forget to respond to messages that arrive in your inbox or Direct Messages. There are a lot of businesses that never check their social media DMs, but those who do really earn extra points with customers. 

When you develop a relationship with your consumers, you will not only win their respect, but you will also better understand their needs and expectations. And critically, you will also find ways to sell your products without coming off as too pushy. 

Remember: Social media networks are all about meaningful connections that lead to strong, mutually-beneficial relationships. 

Give Customers a Reason to Buy

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It doesn’t matter if you are in a service-based or product-based industry, you can always boost revenue by encouraging customers to make purchases more often. 

For service industries, this may include promoting add-on services, upgrades, or premium offers. On the other hand, for product industries, this often means encouraging customers to come back more often. 

But how can your social media support loyalty and upselling?

Well, for a start, you can offer special deals and exclusives to your social media followers based on the level of customer engagement or the frequency of purchase.

For instance, if you are a software company, you could offer exclusive discounts to your user conference for social media followers based on the number of software licenses they are using. 

On the other hand, if you are a product company, you could offer coupons for social media followers that provide a discount on their fourth or fifth purchase. 

Another strategy is to get your customers to spend more on each purchase. Let’s say that your average transaction is $35 and the goal is to get your customers to spend $50 each. Try giving an exclusive deal like free shipping for purchases over $50 to social media fans and followers. Consumers are loss-averse: If you give them an opportunity to earn something like free shipping, even if they end up spending more in total, they don’t want to lose it.

Can the same approach work in service industries? You betcha. Service industries can look to promote package deals for their services that bundle offers together or reward loyalty for repeat purchases.

If you have a significant online following, you can use your social pages to drive awareness of the offers with a clear CTA.

Get Reviews

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There’s no doubt that satisfied and happy customers only bring in more happy customers. It’s a concept as old as selling, but the medium has changed. 

According to the latest research from Yotpo, sharing customer reviews generated 40% higher conversion rates on Facebook, 8.4 times higher for Twitter, and 5.3 times higher for LinkedIn. 

The concept of sharing good reviews is intuitive; when people hear about you, they research your reputation online, and they’re bound to end up reading customer reviews. Be sure that when someone starts looking for your company online, they like what they see. 

At the same time, do not shy away from seeking feedback. Yes, the process may be a bit painful, but without reviews, your brand remains a secret you wish people wouldn’t keep.

Not sure how to go about generating reviews? Consider sending a review request link in order confirmation emails. Or, if you are new, try emailing your network and asking for a boost. After all, people love to be a part of a success story.

Educate Your Followers

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People are always on the lookout for new information. Always keep your page active by posting relevant and consistent content about your brand to educate customers and prospects.

The content you push should not be overly promotional since people are skeptical of ads. Address the struggles your prospects are facing and show how your business can add value to their lives. 

Post content that improves the lives of consumers, and make sure that whatever you’re presenting is clear, informative, interesting, and easy to read. 

If you manage to push valuable content on a regular basis, you will become an authority in the eyes of your followership. But to get there, you have to be authentic, your content has to be meaningful, and original. 

And when promoting your content on social media pages, always ensure that it has something to do with your products or services. 

For instance, if you want to let customers know of the other types of your services or products, you can feature a product or service of the week, thus promoting premium services and explaining why customers should care about them.

Final Thoughts

Social media networks are powerful tools that can help you market your brand above and beyond the tried-and-true channels of promoting your business and boost revenue.

When you use different social media platforms, you can significantly boost your sales without investing much money. But to reap maximum results, you need to be active, consistent, and authentic. 

Don’t forget to measure the results, too! It’s important to measure a control group, so you can compare these metrics for social media and non-social media customers, which will help you see how social media is aiding other channels you are using.

Last but not least, we recommend exploring other online marketing channels, such as PPC or SEO, to improve your revenue. I recommend reaching out to an seo agency specializing in a niche like b2b agency or best youtube seo agency..

The post 6 Smart Ways to Boost Revenue with Social Media appeared first on Social Commerce.

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Most influencers have social media to thank for their popularity and authority status in the eyes of so many followers. These famous individuals have the power to change behavior through social media. And that behavior often involves buying a product or service. 

After all, the influencer marketing industry has ballooned to $10 billion for a reason. That’s precisely why businesses across the globe are building relationships with influencers who can help them with social selling. 

How Influencer Marketing and Social Selling Go Hand in Hand

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Many industries leverage influencers regularly to promote their products. But why does influencer marketing look so different than the celebrity endorsements of days gone by? The answer lies in a cultural shift fueled by social media.

Demographics

As baby boomers retire, millennial consumers are slowly becoming the most powerful consumer group globally. Correspondingly, the biggest target market for influencers and influencer marketing, in general, is millennial consumers. 

According to a study by LaunchMetrics, millennials focus 76.4% of all influencer strategies. And when you consider that 90.4% of millennials use social media, the model makes sense. Millennials are often reluctant to trust what brands say in ad campaigns. Instead, they would much rather trust a popular figure on social media and then make a purchasing decision.

It’s worth noting that Gen Z is also maturing and joining the economy. Therefore, the companies that survive the consumer transformation will be the ones that cater to these two groups. 

Platforms & Perks

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have millions to billions of users. But if a marketer wants to take advantage of these individual online communities, they must be aware that each platform is a different story. 

For instance, Instagram is an image-centric social platform, making it great for the fitness and clothing industries. Influencers can present new clothing garments through photos or videos, and fitness enthusiasts and bodybuilders can show off their bodies, explaining their diets and routines using visually-driven content.  

3 Reasons Why Companies Work with Influencers

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More and more brands today are deciding to work with influencers. Let’s look at why so many companies want to leverage an influencer’s follower base to sell their products. 

Influencer Marketing is not Pushy

Many experts claim that this is the most significant benefit of this marketing method. This kind of marketing is radically different from traditional marketing methods because it doesn’t feel pushy to consumers. 

Followers on social media willingly follow influencers and look forward to their posts. Content influencers share isn’t spam; followers actively seek their advice and recommendations. 

And even when influencers post sponsored content that is clearly designed to generate revenue for a particular company, followers don’t mind as much.  

Influencers like Nichole Ciotti, whose claim to fame started with a popular set of photo filters, promote various brands. But, like Ralph Lauren and Abercrombie, her clothing sponsors are already popular with her audience, and those followers appreciate curated recommendations. 

Social Influencer Marketing is Credible

The most popular influencers had to spend a lot of time and effort in winning the trust of their followers. As a result, most of them seem true both to themselves and their audience. 

Such a feat cannot be achieved throughout a single night. To be viewed as a credible source or an authority, that individual has to be consistent and authentic. In addition, their story has to be engaging enough to attract followers. 

Once that kind of trust is established, everything becomes more accessible. And companies have recognized that. 

Brands have to spend years to gain this kind of trust, so they turn to influencers who have already made that investment to work their magic on social media platforms. And it works. One study by Twitter revealed that consumers rely on influencers almost as much as their friends. 

In fact, a whopping 40% of consumers have claimed that they have made a purchase based on an influencer’s tweet.   

Good for Brand Awareness

Influencer marketing can expand your reach online and position you as a modern, engaging brand. As a result, social users will start noticing you more often. They will learn more about your brand, about your story, and ultimately, about what you offer.

However, the key to reaping influencer marketing results is to provide valuable content that adds to their social media presence. 

Everyone gets something out of the campaign by ensuring value for the company, the influencer, and the audience.

Influencer Marketing Case Studies

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Finally, let’s look at the examples where businesses have found the perfect formula for influencer marketing. 

Fiji Water

Fiji Water used the face of Danielle Bernstein to spark more interest in their message. 

Bernstein runs a trendy blog called ‘We Wore What.’ Fiji joined forces with her on Instagram to spread awareness about the importance of water for human health. 

Bernstein appeared in short videos that promoted the significance of water for staying healthy and fit. Her followers were quick to respond, and soon enough, we’re drinking more water to stay healthy, all while Berstein and Fiji made more sales. 

Subaru

This car giant has been experiencing significant growth during the past few years, and influencer marketing played an essential role in this growth. As a result, Subaru’s sales increased by 10% in 2016 alone.

Their influencer marketing campaign, called ‘Meet an Owner,’ was a significant success, improving brand awareness and brand sentiment.  

A total of 20 influencers were contacted for this campaign across various categories ranging from fitness to art to generate a broad appeal of relatable ambassadors. 

GOODFOODS

GOODFOODS had the goal of raising brand awareness for their natural guacamole and dips and eventually driving sales.

GOODFOODS assembled a team of 60 influencers with expertise in food, parenting, lifestyle, and home goods to accomplish their goal. These individuals had to create original recipes and stories that featured products from GOODFOODS.

The influencers created more than 2,000 pieces of content, ranging from blog posts and recipes to photos and videos. The campaign, which was a resounding success, had 32 million potential impressions, 71,000 engagements and returned a conversion rate of 34.2%.

Wrap-up

Image by Thomas Ulrich from Pixabay

Novelties and shifts in the digital landscape are the new norms. And all ambitious companies who want to stay at the top have to keep up with those trends. 

Though strategies constantly change, influencer marketing is here to stay (just like social media platforms). As long as you work closely with influencers who have a trusted reputation, relevant appeal, and a community of loyal followers, influencer marketing can be your new secret to success.

The post Understanding the Relationship Between Influencer Marketing and Social Selling appeared first on Social Commerce.