Volume 3, Issue 8 (August, 2014) Online ISSN-2320-0073

Published by: Abhinav Publication

Abhinav International Monthly Refereed Journal of Research in
Management & Technology
INFLUENCER MARKETING- A MARKETING TOOL IN THE
AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Mamta Ranga1
Research Scholar, Department of Commerce, Maharshi Dayanand
University, Rohtak, India
Email : [email protected]

Deepti Sharma2
Research Scholar, Department of Commerce, Maharshi Dayanand
University, Rohtak, India
Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT
Marketing is just not only to make offered a product to customer rather it has become the art of
delivering the experience today. The time has gone where you have to make your individual efforts to
advertise your product, now one can use the knowledge of some popular personalities (Influencers) to
target the mass customers with the use of social media channels like television, Facebook ,twitter,
YouTube etc. where individual reach is not possible. At present, the numbers of internet surfing is
increased as compared to past and now a major part of the population is spending their time on the
social networking sites. So to be flourishing in the market, role of influencer marketing through social
media have increased. The objective of the paper is to throw light on the emerging concept of
Influencer Marketing in the today’s competitive era where marketing of a product is a big challenge
for the industrial world as hundreds of substitutes are available to target the potential buyers in the
market. The researchers reviewed the available literature on the topic from different books and
research papers and secondary data is used from online sources.
Keywords: Customer; Influencer; Influencer Marketing; Market; Social Media

INTRODUCTION
“The future is not about marketing to influencers – it’s about marketing with them. Treating
influencers as an extension of your company – rather than a distribution channel – will result in a
more impactful experience for influencers and consumers alike.” – Emily Garvey
Social media, although a comparatively new phenomenon, is becoming a progressively more
significant part of any business particularly for the marketing purpose. In the age of immense use of
social media with new know-how, it has become must for any business to secure a place in both the
conventional and digital marketplace. What could once be accomplished by a traditional website now
needs to be supplemented by a vigorous and receptive utilization of the tools social media offers.
Influencer marketing is the most vital new approach to marketing. Influencer marketing, also Influence
Marketing) is a type of marketing that has emerged from a diversity of current practices and studies, in
which center is placed on precise key individuals (or types of individual) rather than the target market
as a whole. It identifies the individuals that have influence over prospective buyers, and orients
marketing activities around these influencers. Influencers may be potential buyers themselves, or they
may be third parties. These third parties may be present either in the supply chain (retailers,
manufacturers, etc.) or may be in value-added influencers (such as journalists, academics, industry
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Management & Technology
analysts, professional advisers, and so on. Influencer marketing is the procedure of developing
relationships with influential people that can influence the enormous number of potential buyers which
may not be possible in case of a common person. This marketing technique is used where the seller has
some unique product or service to offer to their potential buyers.
Ford India conducts influencer marketing campaign to endorse new car named Ford Fiesta Power shift
Automatic. The affair was held at the Buddha International Circuit in Greater Noida on March 3.
WPP's global team for Ford and Blog works' social media team executed the event. The path was
modified to create tasks for the drivers that permitted them to find out the key product attributes. The
idea was to offer the consumers a comprehensive test drive with simulations of day-to-day
experiences, such as city-traffic. The event engaged influential businessmen, photographers, bloggers,
writers and fashion designers, so they could portray the car more precisely. In addition, there were
various fun activity corners to maintain the influencers busy while they waited for their turn to test
drive the Ford Fiesta Power shift Automatic. The event invitees, being vigorous social media
participants with a strong online influence, were pouring the social media conversations about their
experience and their feedback on the product.
In today's social web, there are a three main ways an influencer can have a immense impact on your
business:
1. They can write a blog post / article.
2. They can share information in their social media accounts.
3. They can ask or permit to guest post on their site.
4. Or, any combination of, or all of, the above.
The benefit is better than individual efforts. Let's say you (influencer) had 100 followers in your
Twitter account that shared a part of content, and these results in say 20,000 people seeing what they
shared. Now consider the same audience being reached by one influencer. Those 20,000 connections
will be much more reactive to the shared content because of the faith they have in the opinions of the
influencer.

Source: http://moz.com/blog/influencer-marketing-what-it-is-and-why-you-need-to-be-doing-it
The important task in influencer marketing is the selection of influencer and for that the objectives of
the business should keep in mind. The marketer can use already engaged influencer or find new
influencer according to the objectives and the product and service attributes. The idea is to know the
objectives, recognize how the buyer buys and then figure out where influencer content makes the most
sense. Right influencers are must because they will carry trust into the buying process. In Influencer
Marketing, focus is on to the influencers in marketing efforts instead of using the brand as the lead (the
conventional approach). For example - using the influencer on a banner ad instead of the brand
name. In a B2C context, family and friends (inner most circle) are the finest to influence as

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Management & Technology
influencers, advocates are next and then the last three circles of trust for people making decisions are
web ads/online ads, corporate blog posts, media, CEO information, etc In a B2B context it’s a little
different. Because people don't usually look to family and friends except they are a specialist in the
B2B Company’s offering. In this case, Advocates come first and then influencers.

Source:http://aditilitehouse.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/an-introduction-to-influencer-marketing/
Types of Influencer
1) Traditional influencers – These are the individuals that conventional PR agencies and Celebrity
figures in a specific area of subject expertise.
2) Emerging (digital) influencers – These poster-tech bloggers and emerging digital influencers have
recognized a large audience following and drive thought leadership in a specific space. Emerging
digital influencers could also be blogs.
3) Influencers by connection – People who have hundreds of Facebook friends and Twitter followers.
If you represent a brand, you want to court these people to produce brand action.
4) Influencers by topic – People who are opinion leaders for the certain topics. Like if you represent a
brand, you want opinion leaders talking about your products or services.
Influencer marketing includes four main activities:
1. Identifying influencers, and grade them in order of their significance.
2. Marketing to influencers, to increase awareness of the firm within the influencer’s group of
people.
3. Marketing through influencers, using influencers to increase market awareness of the firm
amongst target markets.
4. Marketing with influencers, turning influencers into advocates of the firm.
Role of the “Big Three” of Social Media in Today Business scenario
There are three most important social media outlets that businesses use.

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1. Facebook: Facebook was founded on February 4, 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with his college
roommates and fellow Harvard University students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin
Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. Facebook was introduced as a simple networking device for college
students, mainly planned to allow students to let their friends know where the parties were, and to look
at the pictures from those parties after that. The main method that businesses use to utilize Facebook’s
marketing potential is by creating a “page” for their business, which Facebook users can follow.
Businesses can then use their page to advertise their products, offer deals, and build their brand.
2. Twitter: Like Facebook, Twitter began as a social networking tool- a system for friend to keep in
touches—but has blossomed into a full-scale business marketing tool. Twitter was created in March
2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass and by July 2006, the site was
launched. Twitter uses 140 character “tweets” (short messages) that appear in the homepage of all
users who “follow” the account. Businesses can use these to release news, market their products, and
direct interest to special offers and novel content.
3. Google+: Google+ is a comparatively beginner but is speedily becoming an vital tool for businesses
looking to increase their existence in the world of social media marketing. Google+ has features that
facilitate businesses to exploit its model in the ways Twitter and Facebook are used like for product
marketing, news release, the building of a “follower” base, etc., but also has several facets these others
do not. Google+’s “Promote” option allows to modify the promotional content by creating diverse
groups of followers so that marketer can marketed the product or the services differently to them, and
their “Measure” feature gives businesses an interactive dimension of how their Google+ page is being
used. Google+ also offers a tutorial for businesses which gives guidance on how best to use its
features.
Here are some swift facts about the role social media is presently playing in the business world,
courtesy of the 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report:
1. 94% of all businesses with a marketing department used social media as element of their
marketing platform.
2. Almost 60% of marketers are devoting the equivalent of a full work day to social media
marketing development and maintenance.
3. 43% of people aged 20-29 use more than 10 hours a week on social media sites.
4. 85% of all businesses that have a keen social media platform as part of their marketing
strategy reported an increase in their market coverage.
5. 58% of businesses that have used social media marketing for over 3 years reported an increase
in sales over that period.
Influence of Online Services on Purchases

Source: http://rautrakesh.blogspot.in/
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DISCUSSION
Learning to work the very human dynamics of people on the Internet is a significant marketing
activity. It has always been important to build relationships with influential people. The Internet
basically gives us new mechanisms for doing that. Communication and relationship building is easier
than it has ever been. You can simply get started with social media or blog conversations, and that's
great. More personal connections still have the major impact. Creating incredible content is must, so
make that a key element of plan. Then, add-on that by edifice the precise relationships so that you can
get the world to know about all the cool things you are doing. To be flourishing, it is must to insert
worth to the audience at every step of the way.
For decades, retailers have seen increases in sales when trusted experts or celebrities support their
products or services. Movies that get good quality reviews tend to sell more tickets than those with bad
ones. Actors endorse beauty products, watches, clothing, more. Now, with social media woven into
our daily lives, more and more business buyers and consumers are considering reviews, tweets,
Facebook posts, and blog posts regarding products or services earlier to make a decision to purchase.
Online social influence is powerful endorsement from an esteemed voice can go a long way in raising
awareness.
Social media has leveled the playing field so that it’s not just the Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber of the
world that can influence a crowd of girls to buy a new perfume – at present everybody has the
potential to turn into influencer in his or her own career. Consumers have belief in their friends, family
and advocates more than they trust banner and T.V. ads, and they are more likely to make a purchase
because of their reference. In influencer marketing, marketer has to make a relationship with an
influencer by building awareness, credibility, by creating an emotional connection and loyalty, and
then revolving them into a brand promoter. Because influencers have the talent to do force action,
converting influencers to advocates for brand can be a dominant way to enlarge the awareness level
and support your brand initiatives. Retweets, likes, comments and other interactions on the social web
are all signals of influence.
CONCLUSION
Influencer marketing is a comparatively new term in the marketing. And through various researches, it
comes to know that the number of internet users is increasing day by day as compared to earlier time.
Today, the age is of the internet age and almost everybody is using social networking sites. And this
becomes the new tool for the marketer to influence the target audience through influential
personalities. But to be successful in this, marketer should be kept in mind that people can't be
influenced instantly rather influence is built over the time and it should not completely change from
one day to the next.
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