What good are influencers?

On 25.4. met the Marketing Natives at the Impact Hub, Viadukt for a round of talks on influencer marketing. The speakers were Adrian Seitz (Head of Social Media Zurich Tourism), Naomi Meran (Project Manager Nemuk) and Boris Baldinger (Business Photographer Boris Baldinger Photography). The three have recently founded the agency Meetmaker which brings companies and influencers together. They showed how important influencer marketing is and where the opportunities lie for both parties.More than gifts"Influencers are more than banner ads and reach. And with this marketing method, you can showcase more than just sponsored weekend trips, goodie bags and restaurant visits," said Naomi Meran. A company benefits from a person's authentic content with emotion and their backstory. Another plus is that an influencer is often part of the target audience. Ideally, a fan. Because an influencer must fit the brand, the company and its values. If the influencer is also a fan, loyalty is certain.Influencers have their own styleAnyone who relies on influencers must be aware that they cannot "buy" them. Influencers have their own tonality and bring authenticity. They have new ideas that companies would not have come up with internally, and they have the talent for qualitative and creative content. For them, the focus is on experience and not on money. One example from Germany is Julien Bam. Known as a break dancer, he has created a community of over 3.5 million. Today, he advertises for Fanta, for example:

Old method new platformBut the concept is not new. Even in the past, marketing relied on so-called opinion leaders. One of the most successful was the Marlboro man, who presented not only the product but also the lifestyle. In Switzerland, these are DJ Bobo with Energy Drink and or Roger Federer. But influencers are relied on above all in social media, because there the challenge is to stand out, achieve a high reach and position oneself. The most popular platforms here are Instagram and YouTube. Although Snapchat is used most by digital natives, the Meetmaker founders do not yet see any potential there.This is how expensive an influencer isFinding an influencer is not a difficult task. We all have an opinion, can influence others and have relationships. Therefore, all a company needs to do in its search is to check its network and maintain its relationship management. Many marketers are still under the belief that it is the follower count that matters. The more followers someone has, the more influential they are. "That's not entirely true," Adrian Seitz pointed out at the event, "for example, if an influencer has only 5000 followers but 3000 likes on a post, that proves a greater influence." The price of influencers also cannot be said across the board. Many charge 300 francs for a picture post on Instagram and around 1000 francs for a blog entry. The effort involved has to be taken into account. A cooking post, for example, involves a lot of preparation and is correspondingly more expensive than quickly holding a product in front of the camera.Influencer marketing in its infancyThe range in influencer marketing is therefore wide. There are hardly any guidelines and communication between the parties is time-consuming. Successful influencers are therefore represented by agencies that take care of the conditions and billing.At the Marketing Natives event, the skepticism was clearly noticeable. Is this really serious? Aren't influencers too idiosyncratic? This advertising tool is still only a dream of the future. SBB's current campaign for its Gleis 7 subscription shows just how great the potential of influencer marketing is.SBB relies on influencersTo educate young people on track7.ch SBB relied on influencer marketing with Swiss YouTubers. Namely, Maanuli, Zinus and Cubanito. Together, they have around 422,000 subscribers, most of whom are young people - the ideal target group for Gleis 7. In the campaign, the YouTubers draw attention to the platform, which now also offers the "Adventure Battle" in addition to ideas on travel and leisure.

A YouTube fightIn the Adventure Battle, three YouTubers each produce a video on a topic and compete against each other. They call on their audience to vote for them and thus increase the traffic on gleis7.ch. To vote for your favorite, you need a Gleis7 account. Users then have the chance to win various prizes - including tickets to an event at the end of the year.By picking up its target group where it is and because influencer marketing is relatively new, SBB has been able to demonstrate astonishing success.According to the company, user numbers on gleis7.ch doubled in the first few weeks.