Influencer vs Blogger (and what they both mean for your brand)

Are you lost in a sea of brand-new social media terminology, and don’t know where to start? Are you perhaps looking for some guidance on the best possible partners to help you build your brand? No matter what you need, the Zebra 360 team are here to help you make the very best of your brand partnerships, building the brand identity you want the best way, every step of the way.

Let’s talk Influencers vs blogger, and what they both mean for your brand!

It’s a war out there… only no, it isn’t

Sometimes, you may leave your digital research more confused than you started. Some will decry Influencers and deny they could have any impact on your brand, while others will claim Bloggers are the waste of time for an aspiring brand. Whom should you be looking to use?

The truth is, fortunately, a lot simpler – they both can offer you and your brand great value. Remember, these aren’t idle partnerships you’re looking for- you’re searching for real, legitimate brand consumers who use and enjoy your brand, whether they are being paid to try it or not. Every time other people are discussing your product or service, it makes your brand more real to others. It positions you as relatable, user-friendly and, of course, authentic.

This means that, while influencers and bloggers are slightly different types of people, they both can offer very real, very worthwhile benefits to your brand. They work hand-in-hand together with you to help create an amazing environment for brand building. The idea that we, as consumers and as people, like to see ‘real life’ inspiration to help us anchor our ideals is hardly a new one. We all have role models, inspiration boards and future dreams tucked away in the dusty corners of our minds. Seeing people who model those ideals for us is not only inspirational and aspirational, but it makes the brands they consume ‘more real’ in our own eyes too. And therein lies the power of both influencers and bloggers, which you can in turn harness for your brand.

What is an ‘Influencer’, anyway?

Perhaps the easiest way to think of it is that influencers are social media ‘celebrities’. They typically have built a large following for themselves on ‘micro-blogging’ platforms like Instagram and Twitter rather than through the use of personal blogs and SEO-purposed websites. As with most ‘celebrity’ status people, we don’t often hear their ‘inner voice’ or true opinion so much as a carefully created and curated persona. They will engage with brands they believe in, typically through trade exchange or payment for product placement.

Your average influencer has a highly curated, gorgeous to behold presence on platforms like Instagram. This is, possibly, the logical digital evolution of the 1940’s Hollywood style icon, where what they wear, style with, use and do becomes aspirational material for their fans. Your brand becomes more ‘real’, more ‘authentic’, because inspirational people are using it- therefore your brand must be worth using in the mind of the beholder.

Your relationship with them will likely net you one or two carefully crafted photos in your location or using your product, as your partnership with them will involve maintaining their own celebrity brand as well as boosting yours. Captions and commentary won’t focus on your brand as much as it will on maintaining a ‘cool’ and socially relevant vibe. The content may not always seem ‘meaningful’ in a deep sense, as the Influencer is more about stimulating a sense of longing and aspiration in their followers- but therein lies their real power for your brand, after all. They are unlikely to do much for your Google presence, but the boost to your ‘in your face’ brand presence among their followers can be immense.

So what does a Blogger do for my brand, then?

Bloggers are online writers who spend more time getting in-depth with their topics. These can vary, or be unified around a central theme, depending on the specific blog niche. They will typically share their opinions on products and services they use- sometimes paid for or solicited, sometimes not. Herein lies one of their biggest potential values- free from the shackles of their own curated celebrity persona, the Blogger is freer to be outspoken and utterly true to them. Whether or not this is the right option for your brand is the question.

Your average Blogger will have an SEO driven, online platform alongside their social media presence. Both their social media and their blog will be regularly updated, and their voice is one which is heard by many. While Bloggers sometimes make the transition to Influencer [or wear both hats at once], it’s rare to see an Influencer become a Blogger.

In your relationship with a Blogger, you will likely get a keyword-packed article spanning anything from 350 words to 1500 and beyond. Unlike with influencers, this can give you a boost in the eyes of Google and other SEO-focused marketing niches as well as among their audience, but that audience can be slightly less visibly consuming content and aspiration-driven then for the Influencer. You’ll probably net 5-10 pictures for the blog, and while some Bloggers will add themselves to a picture or two, it’s more likely to be about the topic at hand then themselves consuming it.

Which will work best for my brand?

At the end of the day, both Bloggers and Influencers lend you some of their established brand presence to boost yours, in return for helping keep fresh, relevant content flowing (Bloggers) or continuing to help them stay on-trend, meaningful and aspirational for their fans (Influencers). Both these positions have immense value for your brand, and they work best as a cohesive, brand-building holistic whole. Your new potential client may see and want your brand because their favourite Influencer used it, but they will likely also use the Blogger’s in-depth opinions to help drive the final purchase. So don’t be shackled by an either/or mentality. Both offer a brand great opportunities for ‘on the ground’ brand-building and boosted visibility, and the right brand partnerships for you will typically involve a mix of approaches.

Do you need help getting your brand where you want it to be? Are you keen to reach out to Influencers and Bloggers who are the right match for you? Zebra 360 Online Marketing is here to help you build the brand partnerships of your dreams, so why not get in touch with our team today?