Influencer Marketing: To Influence Or Not To Influence

Influencer marketing; A growing ‘career’, or simply ‘bn bater bis’? Let’s be honest, the topic of influencer marketing is a controversial debate in Mauritius. Why am I saying this? Well, many people tend to criticize or <pren nisa> about it, by qualifying influencers as < prend Zafer preT zot glaC>, or <zot gagn zt pou grandiose> among other expressions that can be read under an article on l’express on Facebook. Am pretty sure that you have certain questions about influencers in Mauritius, and what they do. After all, it is perfectly comprehensible. Over the past years, we have witnessed a real growth in influencer marketing, and today, more businesses are partnering with influencers to enhance their online marketing strategy. But why is this the case?  Are influencers really ‘influencing’ people’s actions and decisions? What is the role of an influencer? How far can we measure the true influence of an influencer? Yes, I know I am bringing some philosophical questions about influencer marketing.

So does having 10,000 people who follow you make you an influencer? Well having followers only (yep even if they are thousands) does not suffice. However, having a good engagement rate is holy bread! Engagement is one of the most important KPIs of influencer marketing. To clear this up, engagement relies on an audience’s level of interaction with an influencer’s content through actions such as likes, comments, or shares. Collaborating with Influences is not recommended for every business, and that’s perfectly fine. Influencer marketing should be icing on the cake, the <satini on badia> and not the <badia>itself see what i mean?.  Well ok, influencer marketing might be a confusing term, and its ‘use’ is a mystery for many. For that purpose, I will explain in this blog what is influencer marketing, what is the role of influencers, how to choose the right influencer, and how it can help businesses. As a bonus, I have added a list of +20 most reputed influencers in Mauritius. So keep reading!

 

What is influencer marketing?

So, Is it just about wearing branded clothes? Or, perhaps it’s being photographed in nice places? Oh wait, maybe it’s just showcasing a luxury lifestyle that us ordinary people <les petite gens> will drool in front of! Well, these tend to be the instant thoughts of some people when hearing about influencer marketing. But let’s bring out a definition by an expert in the field – Adarsh Gujahdhur founder of konekTwa an influencer marketing platform in Mauritius. According to him, ‘influencer marketing is a marketing tool whereby brands make use of the potential and credibility of local social media content creators in such a way that these content creators convey the brand message to the audience on social media platforms by promoting the brand philosophy.’. 

To make it simple; Imagine having a crush on someone. And I mean like you really like that person. Good news; that person likes you too… Yea!  So you’ll probably find yourself trying your best to seduce that person by looking appealing, or by showing them that you are funny, loyal, caring; you know, showing off your best facets only (for now ;))!  You might also start doing some romantic actions such as buying flowers or inviting them for lunch etc… Let’s make it clear, no I am not giving a lesson of the type ‘ how to seduce your crush in 10 lessons’! Be patient,  you’ll see where I intend to lead you.  Now imagine (yes I like to imagine a lot 😉  that someone; a relative or anybody speaks highly of you to your crush. This person enthusiastically talks about you, your good qualities, and the reasons why you could be the ideal partner to your crush. Amazing right?

I can already see some responses to this analogy. ‘Yes, but how is it comparable with influencer marketing…’Well, influencer marketing is also about recommending; and endorsing, businesses’ products, or services by putting forward favorable personal experiences or opinions about this product or service. Businesses want to seduce their customers (it’s just an expression), and what’s the best way to do so than being recommended by people that customers trust and are inspired by. Considering that 70% of millennials rely on the recommendations of influencers before making a purchase (src here), it is undeniable that people tend to trust personal recommendations more especially when they can relate to them.  

 

What is the role of influencers?

So is influencer marketing a new sector, and can it be considered a real profession? And by profession, I mean a paid one. Well, it seems to be the case. Influencers actually do earn a living with this profession. The more followers, the more brands are interested.  But having followers only is not enough, else, everyone will call themselves influencers, right? Influencer marketing can only be successful if the audience engages with the posts, and if the content is <mari seryer>, you see what I mean?! Influencers must generate a minimum of 10% engagement rate. For example, if an influencer has 100,000 followers, and has an average engagement rate of 10%, approximately 10,000 people will like or comment on the post. Yes yes, there’s even a formula for that.

Generally, businesses collaborate with influencers for 2 main reasons; to raise brand awareness, and to increase sales. In scenario 1, influencers essentially convey messages that aim at increasing brand awareness to familiarize customers with brand-specific characteristics and images. The role of the influencer here is to humanize the brand and represent it on a personal level so that the brand gets closer to customers. Influencers have certain notoriety on social media (yes they do) and are followed by a community; this is the perfect recipe for businesses. When influencers recommend products or services, this creates brand awareness and exposure, making the brand go notice rapidly.

On the other hand, for the purpose of selling a brand’s product or service, the role of an influencer is to adopt a sales approach and push the products/service by using promo codes or links to generate traffic to the website. In both cases, the role of the influencer is to create content that affects the opinion and purchasing decision of the audience. 

Can influencers’ influence be measured?  Yes, it’s possible! In marketing, KPI’s (key performance indicators) are valuable indicators that help businesses to measure their different marketing efforts. Tell me something…were you thinking that influencer marketing is all about ‘marketing and influencing’ and that’s all? No, my friend! It is equally important for businesses to track those influencers’ performance to determine the success (or not) of their work. For example, when promoting a product with the aim of motivating customers to buy it, influencers generally have a unique code to enable users to buy this product – this way, brands can track how far this code has been used by customers to determine if this influencer has successfully achieved the brand’s goal. 

 

How to choose the right influencer?

Before talking about how to select the right influencer, let’s make it clear – Influencer marketing is not suitable for every business. Relying on influencer marketing only as a marketing tactic is not advised. Businesses need to already have an established online marketing strategy be it SEO (search engine optimization), SEM (search engine marketing), google ads, or social media boost. Only then, influencer marketing can be adopted as a marketing tool. It should complement businesses’ existing strategy and be added at the top. You know It should be the icing on the cake, an extra enhancement, <un ti chatini lor badia>.

Influencer marketing is a double-edged sword. Yep. While it might boost businesses’ digital strategy, it might also cause damage if not used properly. Businesses should not forget that it took them years and hard work to build their credibility (Rome was not built in one day), and nurture their audience. Influencers might be super excited to collaborate with a brand (which is comprehensible), but businesses should be wise about who they will collaborate with. 

Let’s be honest, it is quite easy to find an influencer today, there are actually a few on the market, and just like when you go to the Bazar, you have a wide choice. Well, it’s quite the same thing for influencers. And just like at the Bazar though, the choice is wide, quality is not present at every stand! So finding the right influencer with the right audience is not that easy. The ideal influencer should above all correspond to the business philosophy and should be aligned to the business identity. To help you better choose an influencer, here are some quick tricks: 

  • Identify if the influencer field correspond to your brand product/service;
  • Assess influencer level of knowledge of the market;
  • Understand the influencer relationship with the audience;
  • Examine influencer level of engagement (10% minimum);
  • Evaluate influencers expertise on their topic;
  • Determine if influencer matches with the brand’s philosophy and identity

 

Whether you like it or not, influencer marketing is not about to disappear anytime soon, it is only getting more popular. But how can it benefit businesses?; the famous question! 

Why do you think people follow influencers on social media? Simply because they feel connected to that influencer,  and trust their belief and recommendations. So there is no better way for businesses to build credibility and establish trust than with influencer marketing. If influencers recommend a specific product or service, people are more likely to be ‘influenced’ as they trust that person. This is definitely one of the biggest benefits of influencer marketing; to help businesses build brand credibility and trust.  

Influencers are generally specialized in one field; some are in the beauty industry, while others are experts in cooking or even in fitness among many other fields.  To follow those influencers people must have an interest in that particular sector (normally).  An influencer whose specialty is cooking will most probably have a community that is composed of people who either love cooking, who love eating, or people who simply want to learn about cooking (yes). This is undoubtedly one of the biggest advantages of influencer marketing (not about the food) no. My point is influencer marketing enables businesses to reach the audience that they want to based on the nature of their product or service. What could be better? As a business, you know that it can be a real struggle sometimes to reach the right people, so influencer marketing could give <un ti coud main>.

I don’t want to be that pestering person who writes lengthy blogs, not my type. I have in this blog try to resolve one of the biggest mysteries of modern time; influencer marketing! As promised, here is a list of the most reputed influencers in Mauritius. Download it and make good use of it. 

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