Marketing has taken a new turn since the arrival of the web. Now, any marketing strategy inevitably requires the integration of these digital social networks. Therefore, the purchase of space is increasingly replaced by online sponsorship.
60% of consumers research social media or blogs before making a purchase (Schiffelholz, 2020). For these reasons, if however, during this research, the consumer realizes that the preferred personality, the one he follows on a daily basis, talks regarding the product or uses a service, it is very likely that he will be automatically “seduced by its contents and that he trusts him for his purchase. Moreover, 80% of consumers following an influencer, buy a product or service following recommendations made by it.
Marketing et marketing d’influence
Above all, remember that the role of marketing has always been to influence. As a result, it creates “value for customers, in order to create economic value for companies.”
If we go further, in the 1970s, to l’American Marketing Association (AMA)“marketing is the planning and implementation of the development, pricing, promotion and distribution of an idea, good or service for a mutually satisfying exchange for both organizations and the individuals.”
And yet, a few years earlier, the AMA defined marketing as “the performance of business activities intended for and associated with the dissemination of goods and services from producers to consumers or users.”
With its various evolutions, today the dominant marketing space is the web. Therefore, influencer marketing is driven by social media which are defined by the Mercator as “websites and mobile applications that allow users to build a network of friends or relations, which promote social interactions between individuals, groups of individuals or organizations”.
In effect, studies have shown that the information shared by Internet users on social networks is considered reliable for most users, unlike that disseminated through traditional media (Karakaya and Ganim Bames, 2010). Then you will understand why influencer marketing is appreciated by brands, companies…
When we talk regarding influence marketing, it “is regarding all the methods that aim to use the power of prescription or recommendation of influencers. An influencer can act in a purely editorial context. He will then spontaneously offer a review or on the contrary will highlight a product without any link with an advertiser. These statements are, in this case, purely freedom of expression and therefore remain outside the scope of regulations. The advertiser may also, outside of any formal collaboration, send products to the influencer or invite him to benefit from services. It is up to him or her to decide if they want to promote it on their profile, or in their videos.”
Characteristics of influencers
We have classic influencers and virtual influencers.
Classic influencers
Influencers followed by thousands and millions of Internet users have a certain capacity for persuasion that they exert on these fans who scrutinize their accounts on a daily basis. As a result, influencers can make these thousands of people feel, think or act. “Both influence and manipulation use emotion and cognitive biases.”
The influencer?
According to the Larousse dictionaryan influencer is a “person who, due to his popularity and his expertise in a given field (fashion, for example), is able to influence the consumption practices of Internet users through the ideas he disseminates on a blog. or any other interactive medium (forum, social network, etc.).”
As for Robertit is a “person who influences opinion, consumption by his audience on social networks.”
If we take the professional regulatory authority whose mission is “to act in favor of fair, truthful and healthy in the interest of professionals, consumers, the general public, citizens.”, we have a more precise and detailed definition:
“An influencer (blogger, vlogger, etc.) is an individual expressing a point of view or giving advice, in a specific area and according to a style or treatment that is specific to him and that his audience identifies. An influencer can act in a purely editorial context or in collaboration with a brand for the publication of content (product placement, participation in the production of content, distribution of content, etc.).”
Thus, in France, this regulatory body maintains that “the existence of a commercial collaboration between an influencer and an advertiser for the publication of content must, in all cases, be brought to the attention of the influencer by the audience.”
The fields of activity of these influencers are multiple. As a result, as Alain Hazan and Gaëlle Loinger-Benamran (2022) point out, we have, in addition to influencers for communication (lifestyle), travel, sport, culture, music, science and medicine, etc.
– influencers food who, in the same way as a professional gastronomic critic, will make it possible to increase the notoriety of a place by becoming the showcase of an establishment during a meal;
– influencers businessintervening on specialized networks and dispensing advice in their sphere of expertise;
– political influencerswhich are increasingly visible and use social networks to federate communities around a person, a party or a project.
The same authors give us characteristics on the different types of influencers with a categorization according to the number of subscribers.
We have :
Micro-influencers: Ils “are considered social addicts, with their own editorial line (Fueyo and Decaudin, 2017). They are recognized above all for the quality of their audience, transparency vis-à-vis their community and their ability to engage it, as is the case for nanos. However, micro-influencers cannot always claim salary compensation, brands prefer to send them products for free.”
Nano-influencers: They have a few hundred or thousands of subscribers. “Nano-influencers can be defined as regular and passionate consumers who aim to share their passion with their followers5. They are very committed and recommend products or services without being paid. The brands then send them products for free, so that they can test them and tell their community regarding them (Fueyo and Decaudin, 2017).”
The macro-influencers: Mega or macro influencers are professionals in their field and generate high-quality content that is done with expertise. The posts they publish are more often sponsored* by brands than those of lower influencer categories (Fueyo and Decaudin, 2017).
Mid-tier influencers: These are the influencers who “begin to be known, so they have less time to devote to their subscribers, as a result they lose the proximity they had established with their community, in favor of notoriety. Their work is finally being rightly recognized and have multiple opportunities appearing”.
The all-star influencers: These “influencers (also called mega-influencers) are the elites of social networks, they represent only 0.33% of influencers on Instagram. They have a very heterogeneous audience: their subscribers come from different backgrounds and localities, they have varied passions, can be of disparate ages… Morgane Chevalier (2021) thus recalls that their relationship with their subscribers is very distant, they do not can only answer a small part given that they have over two million followers.
Virtual influencers
Virtual influencers are just avatars, created by developers, they employ such precision that many users don’t even notice that they are unreal. These influencers are therefore fictitious but behave like real individuals. They have an active life, friends and they are often committed personalities (M. Chevalier 2021).
Although in Europe and Africa they are in their infancy, virtual influencers have been widely used in the United States for a few years.
Companies are interested in these influencers thanks to the buzz effect which widens audiences. “Using a virtual influencer allows you to open up to a large audience, especially if the target audience is the community of young girls aged 18 to 24. Indeed, this represents 32.1% of the total audience of virtual influencers.”
In addition to the fact that they are less expensive compared to the classics, companies are betting on them because they have generated a higher engagement rate than real influencers.
“The gap is especially very significant with regard to nano-influencers: the virtual ones have an engagement rate of 12.2%, while their real colleagues only manage to engage 5.08% of their community. The bigger the community, the smaller the gap, but virtual influencers stay ahead.”
In addition, virtual influencers are more reliable in managing bad buzz that can be linked to the present or the past with a real influencer. The virtual posts content that is very faithful to what the brand wants. There will be almost no controversy. Finally, with them, no more language barriers, because they are multilingual.
The downside with these virtual influencers is that they cannot upgrade to ambassador status which is also very important for a brand. Indeed, having an ambassador pays a lot for a company because it is more credibility.
Types of contracts in influencer marketing
In the context of contracts between an influencer and a company or a brand, the authors Alain Hazan and Gaëlle Loinger-Benamran (2022) point out:
The muse contract: the objective is to associate the image of a personality with a brand in the mind of the public, and this, in a lasting way. The image is understood in a broad way, namely the image of the person, his name, his signature, even certain aspects of his private life. This contract includes various obligations, such as participation in shooting sessions (as a model or artist) or events as a brand ambassador, wearing brand products, etc. ;
The partnership contract : The objective here is to associate the image of a personality with a brand, in the mind of the public, without the exclusivity and the lasting character of the muse contract;
The red carpet contract : Its aim is to associate a personality with a brand, in the mind of the public, on the specific occasion of an event with strong media coverage, such as a stair climb or an award ceremony. The personality in question has no other obligations than to wear the brand’s products. The shots and the media coverage will be done by external photographers over whom the advertiser has no control;
The endorsement contract : In this case, the brand is associated with the image of a personality, by an incarnation of the brand through merchandising operations, promotional operations, participation in events, etc.
