How ethnic influencers help you to reach new audiences

Influencer marketing has taken the marketing world by storm. With an influencer for every brand, it is surprising to hear that 68% of marketers consider finding relevant influencers their most significant influencer marketing challenge. Within this post, GottaBe! Ethnic will discuss the importance of including ethnic influencers in your social media strategy and share our top tips for successfully engaging influencers in your campaign.

Why should I incorporate influencer marketing into my marketing strategy?

Consumers look to influencers for recommendations and follow people they can relate with. By not including ethnic influencers in your social media marketing strategy, you are missing the opportunity to connect with ethnic audiences who, of course, we know, have an untapped spending power of over £300 bn. 

Not only are you missing these groups completely, but you are not reaching your audience’s potential. There will be a range of demographics within each target audience, and by including a range of influencers that represent your audience, your brand’s reach will be much more expansive. Hence your brand will see a higher financial return as consumers are more likely to convert after seeing an influencer; they admire promoting your product. 

Ethnic influencers may not have the total following the mainstream equals do, but this should not always be seen as less impactful. The quality of the connection seen between micro-influencers and ethnic influencers compared to macro often sees a high ROI as they are more connected with their audience as are more interactive. There have been many studies that have now proven that the number of followers and influencer has should not determine their reach but their engagement rate, which is often very high for ethnic influencers as they represent a smaller community. 

How can ethnic influencers help your brand reach new audiences?

Influencers act as a tester for consumers, they are a trusted source of information/opinion. Due to the nature of their work influencers are seen as experts in what they do and therefore audiences trust their referrals equally/ if not more than they would a friend or family member. They often do blind reaction videos/in-depth posts. For ethnic audiences who are unsure about mainstream products, it is the perfect opportunity to research before making a secure purchase. Consumers trust whom they know, and influencers build bonds with their followers, meaning their recommendations are taken seriously. Influencers tend to have a high return CTR following content, so they present the perfect opportunity to raise brand awareness. 

When an influencer promotes a product, it shows consumers that the product or service is suitable for them. As well as signalling to the ethnic or minority group your brand cares about their needs. “Brands need to convince audiences that they are serious about [catering to] a diverse customer base,” says Natasha Ndlovu, a fashion influencer based in London. “You can’t do that by using a Black influencer once a year and calling it a day.”

A consistent approach to your influencer marketing by including a range of ethnic influencers will see your brand recall continue to grow as you prove what you say is true to consumers. 

Including ethnic influencers in your marketing strategy promotes brand purpose. Therefore, your consumers’ likeliness to share word-of-mouth referrals and have brand recall is much higher. 

Tips for successfully engaging influencers in your campaign

Equal pay

Your brand should be paying each influencer based on their engagement, followers, and deliverables. Shockingly there have been many reports of ethnic influencers being underpaid compared to white influencers, with some facing over a £10,000 difference in price per campaign. As with any industry, influencers should be paid fairly for their work, which should be equal across the board. A recent study by MSL reported that the pay gap between white influencers and those who are Black, Indigenous, and people of colour, was 29%. Between white and Black influencers, that gap widened to 35%. 

To ensure your ethnic marketing is authentic in its approach, your brand should value an ethnic influencer as much as their white counterparts. To promote equality, your brand needs to showcase this throughout the organisation, and this must start from the first point of contact. 

Ethnic influencers often have a higher conversion rate due to their targeted content. Our research shows that only 1 in 5 brands reach ethnic audiences, there is a massive opportunity for your brand to tap into an ethnic market, and influencer marketing is a great place to start! 

Build relationships

Influencers spend a lot of time and effort building trust with their followers, making them so successful. For your brand to utilise an influencer to get the best results, the best thing you can do is to spend time building a relationship with influencers. By building a bond with the influencers, your brand will create more authentic connections that will be seen through your partnership. Your brand may also get the influencer to exclusively promote your product, ensuring your reach is more directed and authorised. 

To find out more on the power of ethnic influencers and the different types of influencers available to your brand.  

Trust 

Influencer marketing is not like other marketing strategies because your brand must allow the content creators to deliver your product but in line with their branding. This may seem scary as your brand must withhold its usual standards, hence why it is essential to build good relationships with influencers to ensure you can freely collaborate on a campaign with the knowledge that you will be able to create campaigns that align with both of your brandings. 

What influencers put on their social media reflects on your brand, so it must be checked by your brand team and approved. But there must be a level of communication open between both brand and influencer. When paying a creator to share content on their page, it must be fitting to the campaign and will need to align with their usual content and branding for it to engage their followers. So, there must be a compromise to ensure the content is effective for both parties. 

Don’t just take it from us 

GottaBe! spoke to a range of ethnic influencers on the topic and here is what they had to say:

Are mainstream brands doing enough to reach ethnic audiences?

“It is definitely something becoming very popular amongst mainstream brands. But do I think they are doing enough? Enough yes. But consistency probably not. it is very good to see brands celebrating those occasions throughout the year but for some brands you kind of see them muting their use of mixed-race influencers and things like that, so you do kind of see a spur but then at the same time. I do kind of feel some of the audience members feel a bit alienated or targeted just for sales.” – Zahra Rosea (zahrarosea) Macro influencer 

How to target the Polish community?

“Engage with us in the polish language. It is not a matter of us understanding the English language or not. It’s a matter or fact that our native language is closer to our hearts and our emotions, and it is not a secret that when it comes to buying, we are driven by our emotions” Ewa

GottaBe! have a database of influencers and can help your brand connect with influencers from various industries with whom we have built relationships. If your brand has never run an influencer marketing campaign or is experienced in influencer marketing, then our multicultural marketers can guide you to ensure you can widen the reach to maximise your potential.

We are always happy to chat. Call us on +44 2380 634283 or email us at hello@gottabemarketing.co.uk alternatively, you can contact us here.