Marketing is tricky. It focuses on generating revenue, and its science is cold and precise. However, a successful marketing campaign also involves subtle psychological factors.

Consumers are continually exposed to media and visual material, which quickly becomes overwhelming. They must make regular decisions about who and what to believe.

Enter influencers. According to MuseFind, 92 percent of consumers trust influencers more than standard advertising or celebrity endorsements.

Companies are paying attention. Bloomberg found businesses spend an average of $255 million on influencer marketing campaigns every month.

The enormous popularity of influencer marketing is directly related to the rise of social media.

What Influencers Are

The exact definition of what an influencer is depends upon whether you are in Europe and Britain or America.

Influencers are social media personalities who form tribes of people who follow them. In Europe and Britain, influencers are often defined by having a paid contract to endorse a brand.

while in America, they are merely online personalities that users follow and “like.”

Influencers attract followers with similar interests to their published content. Often, influencers focus on a specific niche such as gluten-free products or physical fitness and are considered experts in that area.

They create a social identity and share content about products and brands they personally like.

When influencers choose to promote specific brands and show themselves using these products or services in some way, they provide social proof of these brands’ reliability and usefulness to their social group.

A creative social media influencer can inspire confidence among consumers and garner thousands of interested followers who, in turn, may have their own audiences.

Today’s marketers find this phenomenon of influencers’ perceived power irresistible.

Emotions and Consumer Actions

Even though many consumers think they are making purchasing decisions based upon analysis, the truth is they are often basing their purchases on emotions.

In an article in Psychology Today, Antonio Damasio, a professor in neurology at the University of South California, said emotions are integral to almost every decision humans make, including buying.

  • People connect specific emotions to past experiences.
  • They use these emotions to give meaning to current experiences.
  • They make decisions based on these emotions.

This pattern creates an intricate web of ever-evolving emotional purchase decisions, and consumers respond well to positive emotional stimuli.

If an influencer post leaves social media users with positive emotions and good feelings, they are quite likely to purchase those brands or products touted.

For influencer campaigns to be successful, influencers’ audiences must be engaged with them. Do not write off potential partnerships due to smaller audience size.

Influencers with smaller followings may have better, more active, and highly personal relationships with those followers than does someone with a huge group filled with lukewarm followers and even bots.

3 Tips to Leverage Positive Emotions from Influencer Marketing

Consumers turn to influencers who share similar interests to cut through media noise. With creative marketing campaigns, influencers can lend positive emotions to products and services, improving your chances of gaining upbeat brand awareness and even earning more sales. Consumers trust influencers.

Here are some ways you can tap into this relationship and the optimistic feelings it engenders.

Reward Influencers

Let influencers know you appreciate them by giving gifts. These rewards could be special offers and discounts, or you might mention them in your blog and social media channels.

Tell stories

People like a good story. Compelling narratives help consumers form emotional bonds with your brand. Stories tell people there is more to your product or service than meets the eye, and influencers are a great way to do this. They can describe how your brand makes their lives better or more meaningful.

Release control

Influencers have already garnered an audience of people who like what they publish, so when you partner with them, give them creative control.

While marketing tactics can be analyzed and studied, perhaps the most significant factor in successful marketing campaigns is not so quantitative.

Psychology plays a huge role in consumer buying choices, and the rise of influencers on social media channels demonstrates how important this subtle factor is.

Consumers trust influencers more than companies. If you can work with influencers to create positive feelings about your brand, you have a good chance of increasing revenue.