Influencers and influencer marketing strategies have been known for a long time. Many companies adopt this type of strategy to engage the audience for specific purposes. But let us take a step back, who are influencers?
The influencer is the one who has the task of influencing his community of followers by sharing engaging content to interest and thrill listeners. Influencers can be considered real opinion leaders since they are able to gain the trust and meet the expectations of their audience, influencing their purchasing decisions.
Influencer marketing, in fact, is the form of marketing that exploits the influence that some people have on the purchasing power of others. In other words, brands and companies use the reputation of influencers to communicate and spread promotional messages.
During the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, the Finnish government was the first to unearth this new trend: a new group of influencers, the geninfluencers. This term has been coined by the World's Global Style Network (WGSN) as one of the key trends for this year.
Geninfluencers, which stands for "genuine influencers," are those who talk about themselves and engage in providing advice and tips on specific topics, says Evy Lyons, Vice President of Marketing at Traackr. They are people who can influence with authority and expertise, raising awareness for causes to educate and motivate their followers.
Additionally, geninfluencers are less interested in promoting products, and collaborations with brands are secondary to their overall goals.
For brands and companies, geninfluencers are useful vehicles to share truth, transparency and provide greater clarity to complex topics with the aim of countering misinformation by leveraging those current and important content to spread even to those who do not use traditional media such as TV, radio, and print.
During the pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) reached out to many influencers to promote accurate information about Covid-19 with the goal of breaking down the circulation of fake news. The WHO, since the beginning of the pandemic, has partnered with virtual influencer Knox Frost to encourage donations and share safety updates to younger people.
The main topics concerned by this category of influencers are current events, social and environmental issues, from pollution to gender discrimination. Nowadays these kinds of influencers are expected to growing fast thanks to the many debates on different issues such as vaccines and Zan Law, to name a few.
To find out what's new and what benefits you can get from influencer marketing for your business, contact E-Business Consulting, a digital marketing agency active since 2003.
