Influencer marketing has exploded in recent years, and for a good reason: it works. Every influencer tier delivers impressive results for brands that take advantage of this marketing strategy. Social media expert Dylan Vanas, who himself runs a multi-million dollar marketing consulting agency, explains why influencer marketing has become vital to the success of many brands.

There are billions of people on major social media platforms like Instagram. On Instagram in particular, influencers enjoy exceptional popularity due to how the platform is designed. Someone who has a large and engaged social media following has the power to leverage that following and influence people to buy a product or service. At the very least, they can increase the brand awareness and social media presence of a brand that collaborates with an influencer.

Getting a brand in front of its target audience is becoming increasingly more challenging. This is due to the fact that social media platforms are highly saturated at this point. While you may have the potential to reach billions of people, there is far too much other content grasping at peoples’ attention for yours to ever get in front of most of them. Teaming up with a social media influencer is one way to work around that.

Imagine having a million people instantly know about your brand. That is possible when a mega influencer spreads the word about it. Speaking directly to their audience, an influencer who has a dedicated fanbase will be able to successfully persuade a sizable segment of them to take action. The return on investment on what it costs to have an influencer promote a brand is several-fold, which is why this has become an incredibly popular marketing strategy used by businesses today.

Dylan sees influencer marketing as being dependent on a few different factors. One of them is the need to select an influencer in your specific niche. Otherwise, you will be wasting your money. Another factor is doing your research when considering picking a particular influencer to collaborate with. That is because the follower count alone will not tell the entire story of an influencer. You should also look at how many likes and comments they receive. You can use tools like SocialBlade that will give you engagement rates and other helpful stats that show how good of an investment you are making will be.

Influencer marketing should definitely be one of the tools you use in your marketing campaigns. However, it definitely should not be the primary one. For this strategy to work, you need to understand what your goals are and do your own research. When you do that, as well as follow the rest of Dylan’s tips, you will be seeing an impressive ROI and enjoy a greater social media presence for your brand.