Influencer Marketing vs. PPC

1. What is an influencer?

An influencer holds sway over a niche market, industry, or specific group of followers using their specialized (or perceived) knowledge to become an authority on a subject. Almost any business can find an influencer with a large following in their target audience. As a result, they can assist you in building your own authority by tying your little red wagon to their brand. There are different types of influencers that determine the number of people and type of audience they attract:

• Celebrities such as artists, athletes, and pop culture stars.
• Industry experts and thought leaders
• Micro-influencers with an impact specifically on social media
• Bloggers and content creators

While smaller businesses are unlikely to afford paid advertising for the major celebrities and industry experts, many influencers pride themselves on discovering niche experts and boutique brands for their followers. Most influencer marketing is tied to social media platforms, and there are different opportunities available for companies who wish to work with an influencer as part of their marketing strategy. If you want a more affordable option, bloggers and content creators are an option.

2. The benefits of influencer marketing

The main benefit of influencer marketing is that you can leverage their popularity and audience to drive sales. A familiar face linked to knowledge is a powerful marketing tool. It isn’t much different from old-school celebrity endorsements.

People who associate celebrity with knowledge and good taste are easily swayed to use the same brands and products to establish themselves as trendsetters. The most likely channels you’ll find influencer marketing opportunities are TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. Influencers present your products in a more authentic way as very few will agree to market a brand they don’t believe in.

Their reputations are at stake, which is why followers are more inclined to give influencer-recommended products a try. One of the big benefits of influencer marketing is that it is immune to ad blockers because ads are built organically into the influencer’s content. In fact, this is one of the reasons people prefer them, as they don’t disrupt their social media scrolling.

Also, if you are confident your products are unique and high-quality, you can try sending free products to influencers. If they like them, they might mention it on their channels for free. On the downside, they might hate them and mention that fact on their channels instead.

3. How does influencer marketing differ from PPC?

PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising is an excellent way to boost SEO and spread brand awareness. These ads are not organic and appear in feeds on social media or via search engines. One of the benefits of PPC is that you only pay when someone clicks on the ad. As a result, it is a more affordable option than influencer marketing. You can also track PPC in real time, telling you exactly how many clicks you generate, where the clicks go, and where the clicks come from.

Which one works best for you depends on your goals and budget. The main difference between influencer marketing and PPC is that one is organic, while the other is clearly an ad. If you want more sales, influencer marketing reaches an entire community of like-minded people more likely to be swayed by what the influencer has to say. If you want a cost-effective solution to boost your SEO, then PPC works well.

4. Using influencers and PPC together

The combination of influencer marketing and PPC can be highly effective at reaching a broader audience, both sharing the types of personas that align with your ideal customer. On the one hand, you appeal to people with a sense of community who don’t respond to ads that disrupt their social media scrolling time. These are the people who trust personalities to tell them what products to buy as opposed to listening to the brands themselves.

On the other hand, PPC enables you to reach people actively searching for your products, looking for brands to trust. A boost to your SEO achieves optimized search results with higher rankings enabling these customers to find you. The combination enables you to engage both audiences using their preferred way to discover new brands.