This is a guest post by Lydia Yang, a digital marketing consultant/ trainer from Singapore, and the founder of LydiaScapes, an adventure travel and climbing site.

In this hyper digitalized age, as brands and individuals, we are constantly pushed to innovate and stay ahead of the game. With rapidly evolving technological platforms, multiple devices owned per consumer and constant 4G connectivity, this changes one’s consumption and purchasing habits. In view of the recent global epidemic, where people are challenged to work from home productively, the more urgent the need for brands to digitalise and be at the top of their consumers minds. As for consumers, they are getting harder to reach as they are seeking for brands to engage and connect with them authentically and differently.

Taking all this changes into consideration, does it mean we put aside all our former concepts of the typical customer journey and how to make advertising work. Do critical elements like word of mouth, brand loyalty and advocacy still matter? Well, that’s when we introduce this concept of Influencer Marketing.

What is an Influencer

In order to leverage on influencer marketing, you will first need to understand what is an influencer and what is their role. Unlike the misconceived perception of influencers being celebrities or good looking people putting up stunning instagram profiles or youtube videos, an influencer can actually be your everyday ordinary person on the street. They are someone who has a certain type of lifestyle/ level of knowledge/ position and sphere of influence that enables him/ her to have the power and unspoken authority to affect the purchase decisions of others. This can be anyone from a lecturer, a mum or even a homemaker who cooks for his family and the list goes on.

The Power of Influencer marketing to engage with customers

Hence, if you master how to leverage on these individuals to weave your brand into their everyday lives, this can be a great way to make your product more relevant to the lives of their friends, followers and network. For example, a travel insurance product used and recommended by reputable full time digital nomads you follow, will also trigger you to consider buying the same insurance if you trust their recommendations and resonate your lifestyle needs in line with theirs.

However, influencer marketing is not necessarily free of charge. You need careful planning and a clear strategy and budget in order to engage the right influencers or brand advocates who resonate with your product and are also willing to work with you to give your brand visibility. This can sometimes cost a lot of money as some of these individuals who have built their personal brand and credibility over time, will expect some level of payment and barter in exchange for their time and effort invested into promoting your brand.

Ways you can reward your team for advocating your brand among their network

So if influencer marketing is so important and yet potentially costly, is there any way you can get into these conversations and spheres of influence through other means? Well, before you seek external influencers who may not know your brand yet, start with your greatest asset – your team. They are people already working for you and have more vested interest to try your product and talk about it to their loved ones/ network.

One simple start is to put in place an incentive programme for your staff to use and advocate your products. Reward them by providing an upfront staff discount for them and their immediate family. Go further than that and initiate a ‘Friends Rate’ or reward system, where it allows them to also share this discount with their friends/ network, even if they cannot be the one personally buying it for them. Make it as easy as possible for their contacts to also enjoy these perks without too much complication/ procedures, as it will kill off any desire to even attempt it.

Lastly, put in a place a little internal competition/ challenge amongst the team to encourage them to mention and tag/ hashtag your brand on their own social media channels. This helps build your brand social media clout and online brand presence. Remember that you need to incentivize them to do that, with simple rewards/ gestures like shopping vouchers, gift cards or even cash prizes. It will add up to some expenses in your company, but with this

Your team is the best customer service officer

Consumers are willing to make the 1st purchase or keep coming back when they have dedicated service and attention provided to them from the beginning to the end. With your staff being the point of contact and expert assistant while they utilize their discount/ benefit, this ensures that the purchase is made and any concerns/ follow up requests can be made via them. Hence, you need not strain your customer service arm when your own staff is able to address some of these anticipated issues/ questions.

One of the best examples you can see is from a case study of Starbucks and how they leverage on their staff to be their online influencers and advocates to strengthen their brand equity and loyalty. If you put in place these incentives and benefits to your staff, they will start to be more encouraged to sample it, motivated to share the benefits with others and help them make the 1st purchase as well. The more people in their family or close network purchasing their company’s products or services over time, it also brings value to them in the long run.

In conclusion, leveraging your team (no matter how small) to be your biggest online influencer can be the start and most powerful medium and platform to growing your brand’s online presence.

This is a guest post by Lydia Yang, a digital marketing consultant/ trainer from Singapore, and the founder of LydiaScapes, an adventure travel and climbing site.

About Lydia

Lydia Yang is a digital marketing consultant/ trainer from Singapore, and also the founder of LydiaScapes, an adventure travel and climbing site to encourage you to explore and immerse in the world out there.

Before she came out to be an independent digital marketing consultant, she has over eight years of solid experience working for leading multinational corporations in the travel and consumer goods sectors such as Marriott International, Sony Electronics, and 7-Eleven.

In her free time, she loves rock climbing and making soup. You can find out more about her on LinkedIn or through her LydiaScapes Digital Marketing Consultancy Site.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay