Digital Influencers are revolutionizing the sale concept.

With world digitalizing so fast, there is also a revolution in sales and marketing strategies, "Digital Influencers" are the new Sales Team. But first, let me tell you who are "Digital Influencers" and how they influence the users’ choice.

            So the Digital Influencers are the personalities who have established credibility in the social media industry. With access to millions of fans, they have an influence that can persuade others to change their motives, opinions, especially influencing their buying decisions and action that people take in the market.

Millennials transforming the digital market 

In an interview with “Brian Freeman," the CEO and founder of Heartbeat, I came to understand how the digital influencers are becoming the new sales team, turning millionaires into billionaires. To learn more about how influencer marketing and influencer sales strategies have transformed the digital marketing, Brian’s idea of utilizing digital influencers to get more audience engagement and increased sales is the crucial concept. Before Bumble, Brian started "Wildfire" in 2013

, which was the first-ever female-focused dating app. He allowed the influencers to post about his brand on their IG accounts, which resulted in a spike of traffic towards the app! Before getting into influencer-marketing and consumer-brand relationships, Brian categorized influencers into Nano-influencers( having an audience that is mostly organic), Micro-influencers(with 5K to 100K followers) and Macro-influencers( celebrities e.tc) based upon their role on Instagram and the volume of their followers. In 2014, Facebook ad campaigns were very restricted as they didn’t want to make it a messy ad place. Brain took another way of getting traffic by letting people post on their Instagram about the specific brand. He shared his strategy of “ Marketplace model,"  which  surpassed google ads strategy. 

Instagram is the new Facebook 

 As per the reports, Instagram is the new behemoth of Marketing and Sales Strategy, hitting 8 Billion Dollars by 2020 with B2B companies lagging . Everybody is on IG.

 Millions of influencers posting on their Instagram on the brand's behalf are what making IG the biggest b2b platform. Brian freeman further shared that Facebook prices on a" bidding model," the more people spending the money, the higher the cost. When it comes to Google, It has got millions of impressions to show as the ads show up in the search results. But in IG, ads show up in the middle of everything you are trying to see. 

How to get your b2b model prepared for the upcoming revolutionized digital trends?

Brian shared how influencers are acting as the front-line sellers and how b2b companies can incorporate the digital influencers for increased revenue, decreased cost on ads, and the large volume of traffic. To fill up this lag, many b2b brands are now collaborating with Digital Influencers to boost sales and marketing strategies. The frequently asked question, what exactly are digital influencers. Brian freeman gave me the answer according to the b2b perspective. Anybody who creates content on Instagram on behalf of brands is an "Influencer." The best way possible to work with influencers is to tell them clearly what you want as a target and let them become the creative director for their audience. Influencers, whether nano or micro,  are directly connected to the audience and can bring you  feedback, which is essential for the improvement of your product without spending billions on the advertisement. This is the way influencers can bring value to the business.

How effective is digital influencer marketing?

The competition among the b2b brands is exceptionally significant. According to Adobe, the future of b2b brands is digital. It has been estimated that the collaboration of b2b brands and digital influencers drive five times more revenue than any other brand strategies.

 Just take an example of "Shopify" which does the business of 42 billion dollars, and the Shopify+ customers generate 80% of that income, what companies do on Shopify to advertise their products is the use of Digital Influencers, and for every sale they make, they cut a portion of it and give them to their Influencers thus they are running an affiliate business together. But you need to be aware of your audience, what they want, like if you spend 10,000$ and make ten sales whereas if you choose your influencer wisely, you can make thousands of sales with the same investment, there are several variables which are influencing this “affiliate business model." It's always better to work out everything with your Digital influencer and hear them out and don't treat them as your workers. Always look for your audience's feedback.

Way to collaborate with Digital Influencers

            So, let me illustrate different ways the collaboration of B2B Brands with Digital Influencers:

Ø Collaborating with the Influencers and co-creating the content:

Rather than spending billions of dollars on advertising, it is better to collaborate with a digital influencer, reach out to the influencers and then let them come forward to speak for your brand; it's always better to let them create the content for you. It's still better to reach those influencers who are already connected to your brand; for this purpose, you can use tools called “Followerwonk” and “Buzzsomo” and reach out to your influencers in one click!

Ø Doing Case Studies:

Sharing the content of an influencer is always in the interest of the influencer himself, therefore always tag those influencers in your tweets whenever you share your product information, but keep in mind that the targeted influencers should be your clients!

Ø Video becomes tables-stakes:

Video Content always played a significant role in the marketing strategy. But you might need to empty your pockets as these videos content usually requires Big budget as compared to the blogs and articles. 

One of the easiest ways for video content marketing is to choose an influencer brand and make them live-stream your product and then keep sharing their story. Or another way is to record a brief Q&A session and upload it on all social media platforms.

Ø Turning loyal, influential clients to brand ambassadors:

One of the most important steps, so I will put more emphasis on this one. You might be thinking it is easy to reward this prestigious rank of brand ambassador to any popular influencers, and they will accept it? Trust me; it's not! You will be ignored 100s of times, but no worries try over and over again, here are few tips for you to attract those influencers and make them promote your brand: 

ü Organize parties and significant events:

Give your influencers the exposure they desire; the more events you organize for them, the more they will be attracted to you; you are giving them the audience they need!

ü Award your loyal Customers to win their hearts:

Being rewarded for something makes you feel special, right? That's what you got to do, award your loyal influencers, make them stand out of all other clients, and they will surely put a "Thanks Tweet" for your brand, thus boosting your marketing strategy!

ü Give them exclusive access to your brand and make your influencers feel special

Make them feel unique, make them the VIP of your brand, give them access to your exclusive Facebook closed groups to make them feel how close they are to you.

ü Don’t forget to support your influencers on social media:

With too much attention you give them on social media, they will surely notice you; social media is the hive of these digital influencers, so don't forget to show them your support on social media.

ü Never forget to greet your influencers on their special life occasions:

That’s right, everyone feels happy and develop a soft corner for you in their heart whenever you greet them their birthday or some anniversary or sympathize with them on any tragedy, make them feel you care about them, and they will surely care about you!   

 I have nearly explained all the strategies that b2b brands can utilize while collaborating with digital influencers. But let’s discuss the future of this new revolutionized strategy.

How to choose the right influencer?

Brian freeman shared some essential tips while looking out for the right digital influencer for carrying on your desired brand campaign.

·      Micro or Nano influencer based on your target!

·      Quality of content, whether it is engaging enough to draw the audience's attention.

·      Their past campaigns.

·      The way they tell the story of your brand.

·      How active they are daily. 

Future of B2B Brands and Digital Influencers:

No doubt, Social media has become the ultimate power to influence the minds and opinions of potential customers. Today millions of people follow their famous Instagram influencers, you might not believe it, but  many youngsters dream of being influencers, because it's the future trend, B2B brand have already carved their path to success, now its time for Digital influencers and with the collaboration of these two, will create a new era of marketing and sales strategy, Making this strategy to be accessible for almost all the brands, and in that way earning the credibility and also the trust of their customers, thus obtaining a boost in their sales and revenue!