How Influencers Affect Consumer Behavior

What is consumer behavior?

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What exactly is consumer behavior? It’s pretty simple! Whenever you make a decision such as choosing your clothes in the morning, deciding on which transport you’ll be taking to go to work, or which food or restaurant you’ll decide to go to for a night out with your friends. All these decisions depend on different factors such as situational, personal, psychological, and social factors. But more importantly, you are making a decision depending on different needs. 

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In other words, consumer behavior is about analyzing this process people go through when deciding on the use or choice of a product or service. Why are you listening to Spotify instead of another service, which scooter brand will you take when moving to the city, etc. 

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Studying consumer behavior is essential when planning a marketing strategy as it is what defines the needs of your target market and niche audience. By analyzing these needs and expectations, a brand is then able to answer them with its solution. However, since the booming of influencer marketing, consumer behaviors have gone through a huge evolution!

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The impact of influencers on consumer behavior

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Advertising has always adapted to our lifestyles, to society, and with the rise of social networks, it has taken the lead to reach more and more customers. For several years now, these ads have focused on the principle of "ambassadors" who are in fact influencers, and whose product placements make the advertisers' sales take off. 

Where before, we were mostly confronted with "all public" ads: on the TV, in the subways... and that didn't specifically target us, these new ads come to seek customers who are more likely to be interested in their products by soliciting influencers who are in the same line as what they sell. Moreover, by optimizing influencer marketing campaigns, brands have also seen their business evolve. Let’s take a look at a few figures that show how influencers play a major role in the way we consume today.

📈Online shopping represents 14.1% of our consumption, a figure that is expected to reach 22% by 2023. This online shopping market is dominated by Generation Z, which accounts for 40% of consumer purchases. Since shipping has become a regular service, it has made online shopping an easy choice for customers. No need to go to the store, you have access to worldwide stores from your computer, you can check every model and price from your couch, and of course, you can purchase an article at any time of the day.

🛒 92% of Instagram users have already made an online purchase after seeing an ad on Instagram. This means the impact of online advertisements on social media has taken commercial content to another level! 

🗣71% of consumers are more likely to buy a product online if it has been recommended by others, hence the fundamental role that influencers play in the consumer industry. An important factor that has always been decisive in the consumer behavior process is trust. Thus influencers are the actors that provide this trust by trying the product and services first and then providing reviews and their opinion. 

📲 25% of the population has already discovered a brand/product through social media. These platforms are popular for a reason! Social media provides visibility, and engagement and can boost your sales with influencers. They are a communication channel with immense potential as they can share your brand, products, and influencer campaigns with millions of users.

These statistics show more than ever the power that social media networks have on our purchasing decisions, and consequently, how influencers become a channel for advertisers.

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Strengthen your customer relationships

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Now that we have seen the impact of influencer marketing on customer behavior regarding the increase of online shopping with e-shops on social media and influencer campaigns, what about relationships? If every customer starts shopping online and limits the interactions with the brand, how can you strengthen your customer relationships? 

That is when the brand identity on social media comes into play. Firstly, which social media for your influencer partnerships? This will have a big impact on your customer relationship. Working with influencers isn’t only about creating content and showing your product so users buy it. It is also about building a community by interacting with your followers, answering comments, showing interest in your followers, and so on. If users feel a sense of belonging to your brand, they will purchase, however, if they feel a sense of proximity, then they will share feedback. And that is precious information!

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Once the user comments or shares your influencer campaign on their social media, tries to interact with the influencer and so on, you can strengthen your customer relationships. The idea is to answer any questions, doubts, or share special promo codes, etc. with posts, comments or while doing live shopping, so the customer feels special. Small gestures like this show how your brand is committed to its community and prioritizes authenticity, which is one of the strongest features to differentiate yourself from your competitors!

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