Bloggers are playing an increasingly important role for companies and have become significant influencers. No wonder, because in Austria alone, according to the current Blogheim Ranking, all Austrian blogs together have over 10.6 million fans on Facebook, 4.6 million Instagram followers, 1.02 million Twitter followers, 480,000 YouTube subscribers and 294,000 Pinterest followers. This means that Austrian bloggers reach an impressive number of people every day and are therefore significant opinion leaders when it comes to the reputation of a brand.
Opinion leaders as trusted advisors
The opinions of so-called influencers play an important role in purchasing decisions in particular, with over 80% of purchasing decisions being influenced by opinion leaders. On the one hand, these are located in the family and friendly environment, but also on social platforms. Its influence should not be underestimated in the digital age, as the figures have already made clear.
The question of trust is another important issue, as many consumers are critical of official advertising messages. In this respect, influencers already enjoy far greater credibility than classic advertising messages from companies.
The SMC Blogger Project
Our Social Media Communications unit has recognized the importance of influencer marketing and is working on building a cooperation network with well-known bloggers from which both sides benefit: on the one hand, the bloggers through interesting corporate cooperations and, on the other hand, the companies through targeted reaching of their target group. This succeeds thanks to the thematic division of the blogger database into different subsections:
Blogger relations in the SMC project is predominantly about building a corporate media relationship with bloggers to get appropriate content or reporting coverage - with added value for customers. A professional approach to influencer marketing can lead to interesting and exciting collaborations and projects - a perfect mix of corporate communications with added value for bloggers and companies.