If you're not familiar with the term, an influencer is someone with strong influence in the world of a particular niche. For example, many fans of the Pokémon games are teenage girls.

By nature, teenage girls are really, really big into Pokémon.

Millennials (people in their early 20s) are also obsessed with Pokémon, especially so if they’ve ever played Pokémon Red or Pokémon Blue.

Unfortunately, these people are particularly small in number. This means that the Pokémon games need to be made in a way that appeals to this relatively small number of people.

As such, it’s now pretty much standard practice for companies to make games that cater to these target audiences.

By embracing this target audience, companies like Nintendo can draw in new fans and continue to generate sales.

Examples of brand-influenced influencer marketing

Let’s look at a few examples of how companies use social media to market their products to specific target audiences.

Puma

Puma markets their products to women around the world. They understand that when it comes to the fashion industry, female customers are really serious about fashion, and their ideal customers are the top influencers and style experts in their respective markets.

When Puma looks for their social media influencers, they look for people that appeal to their target audience. Many of these women have huge followings and are extremely well-known within the fashion industry.

Hulu

Hulu is an online video streaming service that has gone through quite a transformation recently. In addition to creating some of the most popular shows on TV (The Handmaid’s Tale and The Path), they also created a huge advertising campaign around their service.

Many of the commercials were filmed in Amsterdam and other parts of Europe. These ads highlighted the company’s European roots, and they earned a lot of accolades for their marketing campaign.

Apple

Apple’s main focus is on the potential for their smartphones and computers. So when Apple chooses to use influencers for their product marketing, they usually look for fans of Apple’s products.

When they look for their social media influencers, they are looking for people that are using their products. As such, they’ll look for social media personalities who use their products, are extremely active on Twitter, and are also very popular on Instagram.

Perfumania

Perfumania sells its products to consumers and also caters to the retail industry.

Perfumania recognizes that women’s beauty routines are very particular and different depending on who their audience is. So when they choose to promote their products, they look for the most well-known influencers in their market.

These people represent the range of customers that Perfumania caters to and they know which products sell best.

Why brands need influencers

Many people are still confused about why brands need influencers in the first place.

I don’t mean to oversimplify the role of influencers. Every brand works on its own unique method of marketing, and they’ll create their own “MO” for how they create their ads.

Some brands will use sales figures, and others will use surveys or interviews with customers.

But when it comes to influencers, that’s a different story. Brands often use influencers in a variety of different ways.

Some brands will produce commercials that are funny or inspirational. Other brands will produce short videos that poke fun at a specific product.

Some brands will actually go the extra mile and use the most popular influencers to promote their products.

Why do they want influencers?

The best reason to use influencers is they will gain credibility with their audience. Let's say you have a product and you want to sell it on Facebook.

Many times, you will see people make a video about your product. Now, if you look at this video, you will see that the creator has no credibility with the audience.

They may say some things that aren't true. Even worse, they are saying what they want you to say.

For example, if your video is about how much your product will help people, people will assume that because they're in a video, they are supporting you.

For brands, this is a huge problem. When you can't tell if someone is being truthful, you shouldn't put that person on TV.

This is especially true for digital influencers. You can't assume that they will say what is best for you because their marketing company told them to.

The key is to not put anyone on TV unless you know them personally. You want people who actually believe in your product and your message.

All of these methods are just a few ways brands use influencers.

Brands also utilize influencers because they realize that influencers aren’t afraid to talk about their brand. The biggest influencers in the world are often afraid to use their influence for something that may be negative, and influencers on social media have the power to let down their followers.

Some influencers are more than happy to do this.

Why you should be an an influencer

It’s almost 2017, and influencers still get paid to promote products. That’s right – you can still make good money by telling people to buy products and promoting them.

Social media has changed how brands approach influencers in a number of ways, and a lot of companies would not be able to take advantage of this well-known resource.