What is an influencer? And do they work to promote your venue?

For as long as people have been buying things, people have been influenced by the opinions of others on what to buy. Whether it’s their peers, notable community members, public figures, or celebrities, people look to those they respect – or want to emulate – when it comes to their purchasing power. It’s human nature to respect the opinions of those we trust, and we tend to shop, dine, and live accordingly.

Influencers can be a powerful tool in increasing your business’s profile and popularity with your target market, and can grow your engagement with potential customers in an organic and cost-effective way that generates a significant ROI.

In the hospitality industry, collaborating with influencers is an increasingly common marketing strategy that is quite controversial – some say influencers freeloaders who need to get a real job.

But, when managed intelligently and strategically, this method of marketing can deliver real results for businesses small or large.

If you’re not sure where to start, we’ll break it down for you.

What is an “influencer”?

In the most simple terms, an influencer is a trendsetter.

While the term itself may have only emerged in the last decade, the concept of using influential people to further a product’s reach, and create trust with the consumer, is a tale as old as time. When Coca Cola first decided to dress Santa Claus in their flagship colours and hand him an icy bottle, the rise of the influencer began. Santa Claus may not be a real person (but you didn’t hear that from us!), but he was an easily recognisable face that was loved and trusted, and that love and trust was projected onto Coca Cola in the eyes of the consumer. By the jazz age, the rise of cinema and recorded music created a generation of celebrities who now had global reach and were quickly tapped by clever marketing companies to put their name on everything from face creams to cough remedies.

Celebrity endorsements are still hugely popular and incredibly lucrative today, but the rise of social media has allowed everyday people to build a name for themselves online through carefully curated self-branding, engaging content creation, and collaborations, to build a loyal network of followers who trust their opinions.

Instagram is, primarily, the home of influencer culture. While Facebook and Twitter do provide a platform for influencers, Instagram is considered the gold standard – especially as far as foodies are concerned. Being a platform that is primarily image-based, as opposed to the short, text-based interactions of Twitter and the conversational nature of Facebook, Instagram is the ideal online space for the gastronomically inclined to share their pictures with likeminded foodies. The addition of Instagram utilising hashtags to make posts discoverable and aggregator friendly is an added bonus for hospitality venues trying to grow their reach and engagement through influencer collaborations.

The shift away from celebrities and toward social media influencers in marketing has seen the latter industry boom in recent years and, according to Business Insider, is on track to be worth $15 billion dollars by 2022. The prevalence of social media use, particularly among Millennials, has created a culture where peer-to-peer recommendations and a preference for authenticity take precedence over celebrity endorsements, with Google Consumer Insights finding that 70% of consumers report they relate to social media influencers more than they do to celebrities.

Collaborating with influencers

With this in mind, collaborating with an influencer can be a great way to further your business’s engagement and consumer reach.

While it’s important for venues to have a strong online presence, a beautifully curated social media account full of gorgeous images and snappy captions, but with only a handful of followers, is not going to build your brand’s profile and bring in new customers.

The right influencer can open up your business to a wider audience of potential customers who have already expressed an interest in food and dining.

So what should you look for when considering a collaboration with an influencer? Here are some things to consider:

Is it a natural fit?

Do you, and your company’s, values align with the influencers? Collaborating with an influencer implies a mutual endorsement from a public perspective, so ensure that the influencer’s values and conduct align with your own. Once you’ve engaged an influencer’s services, they are representing your brand. Consider them as you would a partner. Are you happy with this person representing your brand publicly, to tens – maybe even hundreds – of thousands of followers.

Think also of the sort of audience you’re reaching by collaborating with an influencer: are they reaching the people that, realistically, could become potential customers of yours? While a vegan influencer may have 70,000+ followers, are they the target market for your restaurant that primarily focuses on sustainable, locally farmed beef? When seeking out an influencer to work with, find the foodies that visit and promote venues that share a common target group as your venue. They are the people who will want to visit your venue, but maybe just aren’t aware of it yet.

Are their followers engaged?

It should seem like the more followers an influencer has, the more people they are reaching and the more engagement they’ll be getting. But that’s not actually the case, for the most part. According to Social Media Today, micro-influencers have a higher engagement rate than macro-influencers, finding that accounts with 1,000-10,000 followers averaged an 8% like rate, compared to accounts with 10,000+ followers averaging a 2.5% like rate. This is, of course, not a hard and fast rule, and different influencers will have different engagement outcomes based on the quality and frequency of their content, as well as their own proactive level of engagement with their audience. Online tools such as phlanx.com – a free calculator that measures the engagement rate of any Instagram or Facebook account, while also providing users with benchmarks to rate against – can be used to assess whether or not a particular influencer will be an effective partner to work with.

Are They producing quality content?

As with any form of visual marketing, you want to work with an influencer who is creating content that is engaging, eye-catching, interesting, or informative. When looking at a prospective collaborators social media account, consider if they are creating content that you would be happy to have on your website.

Working with influencers is a great way to gather content for your own use, with consent from the creator. If an influencer is taking stunning photos that make delicious dishes leap out from the feed, engaging them to promote your own dishes with equally sumptuous images is creating content you can capitalise on. Sharing images, with consent and attribution, to your own social media feed and stories is an easy way to amass high-quality content to share with your own audience. Linking your Instagram or Facebook to a gallery on your website allows you to further your reach to customers who may not be using social media as well, and encouraging them to view your socials in addition to your main website.

While many influencers are primarily image-based, there is a significant number who also maintain blogs or independent websites in addition to their social media accounts, allowing for longer-form pieces and reviews. Connecting with these influencers can also provide you with a plethora of sources to use for testimonials that can engage your website visitors.

Spend some time visiting influencer pages, and relevant hashtags to find those content creators that jump out to you as producers of high-quality content. These will be the influencers that are also drawing in your potential customer base.

Where are they and their audience located?

The international nature of social media means that an influencer’s follower base could be located anywhere in the world. While it’s common for local social media users to follow local influencers – especially where dining is concerned – it’s not unheard of for an influencer to have a significant number of followers globally. Sure, there’s value to getting your name out far and wide, but if that doesn’t translate to actual customers visiting your Sydney or Melbourne based venue, then it’s not a cost-effective way to market your business.

Before collaborating, ask the influencer where their primary follower base is. Instagram and Facebook users are able to view this information in their “insights”. It’s not an exact science, but it will give you an idea of whether or not they’ll be reaching people who are actually likely to be potential customers.

Do they work?

Milky lane started by creating dishes that photographed well. Their burgers and shakes are designed for Instagram. Legend has it that Snoop Dog posted one of their burgers on Instagram and their following went bananas. Concrete Jungle employed different influencers to run their social media for 3 month periods. This grew their social media massively and also gave them great content.

If you’re considering working with influencers, particularly if you’re running a newly established business or are working with a tight budget, it can be easy to balk at the idea of laying out an expense with a seemingly nebulous outcome. However, consumer research studies have shown that the use of influencers does show a significant ROI for businesses, with influencer analytics group Tomoson finding that companies that engaged the services of influencers saw a return of $6.50 for every $1 spent. The same study also found that marketers rate influence marketing as the fastest-growing online customer acquisition channel.

When working with influencers make sure you are getting value. Ask that they give you their images, make sure they check-in and post on their feed. Not just their stories which last less than 24hours. If an influencer approaches you for a free feed make sure you are getting your value from the transaction.

Consider asking them for:
Check into the venue
A review of the venue
Stories
Minimum amount of posts
Plus, like and share something from the venue or posted about the venue

Considering also that Digital Marketing Institute found that 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations and that 40% of consumers have actively made purchases after seeing something on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and it’s clear to see that collaborations with influencers can be an effective and profitable avenue for marketing your venue.