Influencer marketing creates word of mouth advertising with the help of people who are trusted in certain circles. With the help of this strategy, the influencers are building up the image of the brand in the minds of their followers.
Whereas celebrity endorsement attaches the fame of a celebrity to a brand or product or service. With the help of this strategy, the brand gets people who the people follow a lot and they are associated with the brand’s product so the people following them wants to buy it.
Both of these strategies use influencers who are well known people and thus influence the target market. Both the influencers and celebrities influence their target market very differently.
Celebrity endorsement are meant to be seen, heard but are not interacted with. Here the communication is just one way with the followers and is meant to reach as many people as possible. But in case of influencers, they are constantly in a two way communication with their followers.
The influencers answers to their followers and go into details on points of interest with the community members. The influencer creates content and blogs which is a part of the ongoing conversation in which the community is interested in.
In case of a celebrity endorsement, the celebrity is the face of a brand message. The brand sends the message to the target market with the help of a celebrity. But in case of influencer marketing, the message is being created by the influencer. The post and blogs are written by the influencers which gives credibility and authenticity to them which is lacking in celebrity endorsement.
Influencer marketing is a mixture of old as well as new marketing tools. It includes the idea of celebrity endorsement and this idea is then placed into a modern day content driven marketing campaign. Influencer marketing involves campaigns which are collaborations between brands and influencers.
There is a fine line between influencer marketing and celebrity endorsement. There are also certain aspects of both these strategies which are mixed and matched.
It is important to know whether influencer marketing is good for a particular brand. To be a good option for influencer marketing the product should have a mass appeal, that is the product should get attention from people. General products and services have better success on social media as well as influencer marketing.
The influencers should have a higher rate of engagement as it is helpful. Engagement is the number of interactions an influencer’s social media post has and the audience that they are serving. Selecting influencers with large number of followers will help the products or services of the brand to reach a large audience.
In celebrity endorsement, the positive image of the celebrity is used to promote the product and the brand. Also the celebrity have the potential to reach a large number of prospective customers. Therefore it is important to choose a reliable and trustworthy celebrity to endorse a product or a brand.
Influencer marketing is becoming important because the influencer economy is shifting more towards streamlined solutions buy using tools like influencer networks. It helps in attracting new customers, increasing repeat purchases and revenue, driving customer loyalty and maximizing customer lifetime revenue.
Celebrity endorsement can build brand equity. It is also used as an advertising strategy by using the celebrity status and image to promote a particular brand and differentiate it. It helps the brand to stand out over a brand that does not uses celebrity endorsement.
Now-a-days, content creators have the power to drive business growth and deliver authenticity that engages with the audiences. The landscape of marketing has changed now because brands do not have a center stage now, the consumers have it.
Celebrity endorsement is also important because it increases attention to the product and the brand. It helps in repositioning of the brand and introduces it to the new market.
The reputation of influencers is extremely important when influencing the customers. The influencers with higher credibility has more influence on consumers. Hence it is important to know the relationship between the consumers’ belief on influencers and the perceived usefulness on consumers’ attitude in influencer’s endorsement.
Celebrity endorsement benefits companies in various ways like it helps in direct sales, creating awareness of the brand, increased trust in the brand and also increases loyalty. Hence, both influencer marketing and celebrity endorsement is important for a particular brand to be successful.