Influencers On Social Media Act As A Crucial Form Of Subconscious Marketing

In marketing, consumer voice is a very crucial voice and in today’s marketplace, social media is one of the gigantic megaphones that projects consumer choice and preferences. Social media has substantially altered the rules of the game in as far as consumers and brands are concerned since it permits peer testimonials to acts a crucial role in influencing purchasing decisions. Underscoring the prominence of peer testimonials as well as their social media amplification, influencer marketing has gained foothold in today’s marketing realm. This scenario is particularly true given the popularity of influencers in the millennial generations. Consequently, many companies are increasingly tapping into this resource in order to gain competitive edge, increase profitability and grow (Fastenau, 2018). Fitbit is one such company that has underlined the importance of social media influencers in its attempt to becoming more visible in the market. Fitbit is brand that specializes in the production of fitness trackers. Fitbit is designed to track an individual’s day-to-day activities such as exercise, sleep, weight, activity and food with an objective of helping one to be fit.

Fitbit has adopted a bilateral strategy to its online consumer care. The company’s strategy focuses on both social communities and platforms, although there is a central reporting department for both groups. In both strategies, Fitbit gives prevalence to consumer voices. The company’s social media approach has integrated a system that gathers all consumer feedback and these voices are used to develop new product lines and services. Fitbit uses community media as a tool to organize data around trending issues and also to troubleshoot as well as collect information from consumers who may be facing certain challenges that can give the company’s engineering team useful feedback. Reports on the products are shared with the engineering teams on a weekly basis in order for them to integrate them in future products.

Influencer Impact

Influencers on social media act as a crucial form of subconsciousmarketing. For years, advertisers and brands have been trying to shape customer behavior, thoughts and attitudes. O’Brien (2018) argues that online influencers are increasingly gaining prominence in online marketplace today. Fitbit uses Kingback as its key influencer. Kingback is a widely known online influencer who uses his creativity to integrate product adverts into his videos. Kingback has a huge following on Instagram and Twitter of 15 million and 2 million respectively. This huge following allows them to be able to access a wide range of prospective customers and allow the company to create more awareness about its product range. Influencer marking is critical to any company that hopes to achieve prominence in the market for three key reasons: it creates superior content; allows the product to earn credibility as well as expose the product through the influencer’s network. Kingback allows Fitbit to increase awareness for its health products and also enable the company to build a strong relationship with the influencer that can lead to future benefits. Notable, influencers build their repute through engaging with other influential players in the market. Through Kingback, Fitbit is able to establish an experience that enables other influencers within Kingback’s network and this will give the company the chance to create more alliances that allows its product information to be shared by a number of influencers on social media. In addition, Kingback allows Fitbit a chance for its product range to be shared through the influencer’s Instagram and Twitter accounts and this can help attract potential new consumers to the company. Similarly, through the influencer, Fitbit is able to get feedback on the trajectory that the business should go. Further, Kingback furnishes Fitbit with relevant information with respect to emerging trends in the market as well as the needs of the consumers. This is critical because it allows the company to develop trendy products that meets the ever-changing customer needs.

Opting in and Participation

Arguably, there are various channels on social media ranging from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat to LinkedIn among others. These channels provide a salient ecosystem for influencers on social media to create a significant following that can help them conduct marketing for their clients’ products and services. Despite the fact that there is a wide range of such channels not all are suitable for conducting online marketing. Against this background, Fitbit opted to use Kingback because he has a huge presence on two key social media channels – Instagram and Twitter. In addition, Kingback has some substantial followers on Facebook. These three channels are critical to the online strategy being pursued by Fitbit. Instagram is a perfect choice to Fitbit’s product line for a number of reasons including increasing the company’s brand awareness, driving sales as well as growing the base of followers. These aspects are vital towards driving the company’s online sales and ultimately lead to enhanced online presence leading to competitive edge over rivals.In addition, Instagram offers the best platform for Fitbit through its Kingback influencer to reach new consumers quickly. This is because Instagram is rated as the best performing network for social interaction. Twitter is another critical channel that is being used Fitbit’s influencer Kingback. Twitter is a perfect platform for influencer form of marketing because it allows room to create relations with influential, targeted brands or people(Forbes Agency Council, 2017). Twitter allows a company a number of benefits such as increasing product reach; allowing the company to know its audience, earning trust, informing the content to be posted as well as paving room for new connections. Building a strong relationship with Kingback enables Fitbit’s product range to be spread through twitter. Each time Kingback tweets or retweets, Fitbit increases its exposure and reach. Similarly, Twitter paves room for the company to gain useful insights with respect to the behavior patterns of its consumers and as a result tailor its product in order to meet market expectations and needs. Facebook is another critical platform through which Fitbit can be able to amplify its market presence. This can be achieved through Kingback’s posts on the platform. Facebook allows pave room for influencers like Kingback to tag brands such as Fitbit in their contents and as such this give room for the platform to amplify the brand content and heighten awareness to existing and new customers.

Mobile

There is a trust crisis that is being experienced by influencer marketing in the current marketplace. Attention has been raised around concerns including disclosure challenges, perceived spurious as well as follower buys. These aspects have rocked the trust of between brands and their respective influencers. In this respect, new technologies to alter the effects of the aforementioned issues is become indispensible. The rise of new technologies that concentrate on data is likely to help brands to locate as well as negotiate with popular influencers on social channels(Hughes, 2006). One of such technologies that Fitbit can use is the discovery tool that is powered by artificial intelligence in order to analyze the trustworthiness of its influencer – Kingback. In addition, technologies such as virtual reality can be applied by Fitbit influencer in order to raise market penetration and enhance product visibility. It is against this background of enhanced visibility and penetration that brands are shifting from using conventional advertising channels to market influencers. Mobile technologies such as Tribe, Octoly and others offer a direct link between companies and their respective influencers. It is now possible for Fitbit to use its Kingback influencer in order to engage with millions of prospective consumers available on the influencer’s channels. By integrating new technological developments in the Kingback’s online strategies, Fitbit is able to maximize the spread of its product line to its prospective consumers as well as allow new users to know about the product. People are likely to purchase products that they know, therefore increasing product awareness through a wide network reach that is provided by an influencer is crucial to paving way for a company to build its brand image and sustain market competition.

Tools

Undeniable, social media offers the most unique opportunities for corporations of all kinds to gain competitive edge over rivals and be able to reach a substantial group of prospective consumers. Having presence on key social platforms from Twitter to Instagram, is a prerequisite for any firm that hopes to become a market leader(Montenegro, 2018). Nonetheless, social networks can overwhelm the company if proper tools are not in place. Having the right social networks management tools is critical to the success of Fitbit online strategy. It is against this thinking that Fitbit uses a number of tools to monitor its online campaigns – HootSuite, Hubspot and Buffer. HootSuite is the most convenient tool because it allows the company to easily monitor multiple accounts. In addition, HootSuite makes it easy for Fitbit to add other accounts, schedule posts and add managers of accounts across all key networks. Hubspot is another critical tool used by Fitbit. Hubspot allows Fitbit to monitor as well as publish information to social networks. This allows the company to monitor which platform commands the highest number of engagements and if such engagements result in enhanced sales. Buffer is the final tool used by Fitbit to monitor its social network posts across all the preferred channels. Buffer allows the brand to customize its posts to suit the multiple accounts being posted to. Additionally, Buffer shares the brands information at the most suitable times across the day as well as monitors links in order to allow the brand to track the information that attract the highest level of traffic.

Rules of Engagement

In today’s fluid marketplace, it is almost impossible to shade away criticism. The high number of review websites makes it paramount for any brand to respond to criticism. Peer recommendations implies that negative feedback should not be taken lightly. This is because harsh comment scan circulate across the globe. If harsh criticisms are leveled against the Fitbit products, the company takes a keen interest in responding in a constructive manner. This is not only a good consumer service strategy, but it gives confidence to all viewers who hits on such comments and now that the company attempted to resolve these negative criticisms. The company underscores the fact that it is dangerous to leave such comments because it reinforces the criticism (Goof, 2017).

Measurement

To measure the success of a brand begins with the business’ primary goals as well as what it aims to achieve. For a number of social networks, objectives rotate around enhanced engagement, response times, new followers as well as thoroughly listening to online conversations. Some of the social network measures that Fitbit uses include: tracking the growth of followers and identifying the most convenient engagement times. With the respect to the growth of followers, Fitbit counts the total number of followers, pages likes and fans to determine the number of unique visitors to its business and also find out how many people are interested in the venture. In essence, a business should strive to continuously expand its online influence. As a result, the company endeavors to share its content in the most engaging and enticing manner in order to attract additional fans. With regards to identifying the optimal engagement times Fitbit underlines the significance engaging its consumers at the most appropriate time. This helps the company to tailor its strategy in order to post the information at the right time and the most appropriate periods of the week.