5 Points to Consider When Choosing Influencer Marketing vs. Paid Social

Launching a brand? Choosing between influencer marketing and paid social can be tricky. This guide helps you navigate this decision by considering factors like goals, audience, resources, and storytelling. Often, the best approach is a blend of both!

The entrepreneurial spirit thrives on innovation, and with each new brand launch comes the critical question: how do I reach my target audience and stand out in the crowded online landscape? Two popular marketing strategies vie for attention: influencer marketing and paid social (paid media, PPC - she is known by many names). Both hold immense potential, but the optimal choice hinges on your unique brand story, goals, and resources.

This article dives into the key considerations for each approach, empowering you to navigate this crucial decision with clarity and maximize your chances of success.

1. Know Your Brand, Know Your Audience:

Before embarking on any marketing journey, it's imperative to understand your brand's core identity and target audience. What makes your brand unique? Who are you trying to reach, and what are their needs and preferences? This is something you’ll need to know whichever marketing path you choose.

• Paid Social: If you know your target audience and buyer persona well, paid social advertising on platforms such as Meta, Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest offers precise audience targeting capabilities based on demographics, interests, and online behavior. This laser focus ensures your message resonates with potential customers most likely to convert, maximizing your return on ad spend (ROAS).

• Influencer Marketing: While influencer audiences are often built around specific themes or personalities, they may not always perfectly align with your target demographic. Researching and collaborating with the right influencers can bridge this gap, but it necessitates a deeper understanding of influencer communities and their audience demographics. This can often be time consuming and not as intuitive as identifying matched interested in a list.

2. Setting Goals & Measuring Success:

Having clearly defined goals provides the roadmap for your marketing strategy. Are you aiming for immediate brand awareness and sales growth (paid social might be a better fit), or are you focused on building long-term brand loyalty and engagement (influencer marketing could be a good option)?

• Paid Social: Paid social offers quantifiable data and insights through many analytics tools, allowing you to track metrics like impressions, reach, clicks, add to carts, newsletter sign ups, and (most importantly) conversions. This data helps you optimize your campaigns in real-time for maximum efficiency and ROAS. It allows for immediate and consistent learnings as you test content, interest groups, demographics, and more.

• Influencer Marketing: Measuring the success of influencer campaigns can be more nuanced. While engagement metrics like likes, shares, and comments offer some insights, tracking brand mentions, website traffic, and conversions requires more sophisticated tools and collaboration with the influencer. More seasoned influencers might be able to sling some affiliate links for your brand, but this would require a heavier technical lift on your end to either provide them a unique page or link to track their audience’s contribution to your business.

3. Budget & Resources:

Marketing strategies need to be realistic with available resources. Consider your budget and the time and personnel you can dedicate to each approach.

• Paid Social: While ad platforms offer cost-effective options with low CPMs, even a small campaign requires ongoing investment and campaign management. If you don’t set up tracking, targeting, campaign objectives, or ads properly, you might as well be flushing money down the toilet. And if you don’t start with a big enough budget to get out of Learning Phase (every social platform has some form of a Learning Phase where minimum heuristics need to be met for the platform’s respective algorithm to thrive), you won’t get anywhere. If you don’t become ROI positive quickly enough, you’re literally bleeding cash, which also hurts small businesses just starting out.

• Influencer Marketing: Collaborating with influencers can be cost-effective, but the time and effort required for research, outreach, negotiation, and campaign management should be factored in. You need to spend time getting to know influencers’ audiences and their personal values to make sure they’re a good match for your brand. While some micro-influencers will accept product or smaller compensation packages, you’ll need to discuss what is fair for the both of you. Don’t forget the influencer and media contracts you’ll need to have prepared for each partnership.

4. Building Brand Identity & Storytelling:

Creating a compelling brand narrative is crucial for connecting with your audience. Regardless of the chosen method, ensure your brand identity shines through consistently.

• Paid Social: Develop creative ad copy and visuals that resonate with your target audience and effectively communicate your brand story. Think about the full funnel and make sure you have appropriate targeting and content for each step of the consumer journey.

• Influencer Marketing: Partner with influencers who genuinely align with your brand values and can authentically integrate your product or service into their content. Their storytelling ability plays a crucial role in influencing the audience. Just remember that influencers are human and that you need to do your due diligence to protect your brand from any unnecessary risk.

5. The Power of Combining Strategies:

Often, the most effective approach is a synergistic blend of paid and organic efforts. Paid social can provide a quick launchpad for brand awareness and initial sales, while organic methods like influencer marketing can nurture long-term engagement and loyalty.

The Final Decision:

Choosing between influencer marketing and paid social is not a one-size-fits-all solution. This guide equips you with the key factors to consider and weigh based on your unique brand journey. Ultimately, the best approach aligns not only with your goals and resources but also with your brand's authentic voice and the story you want to tell the world.

Remember, a well-crafted strategy, combined with a clear understanding of your target audience and the chosen communication channels, is the recipe for successful brand launches in today's dynamic marketplace.

If you think you need any help with that, reach out today!