Influencer Marketing vs Celebrity Endorsement: What You Need to Know

Influencer marketing is an overused term that includes a variety of activities but often gets confused with celebrity endorsement.

Both are strong marketing strategies but are also distinctly different from one another.

Yet on the surface, they appear similar which causes confusion not only among ordinary consumers but also professional digital marketers too.

In order to understand the difference between these two let’s take a look at each separately.

Celebrity endorsement is when a brand leverages a famous person to amplify a particular product or service.

By doing this, the brand taps into “worship” people have for the celebrity in order to push a product or service.

On the other hand, influencer marketing leveraging word-of-mouth by people who have large followings on social platforms and who are often experts in their given industry.

Influencers, unlike celebrities, are not famous for being in movies or television or walking down a fashion runway.

They are ordinary people who’ve built a social following using their blog, video channel or social media feeds.

So, by working with social influencers, a brand makes use of the goodwill and trust the influencer holds with his or her audience.

This is where many get confused.

Both strategies make use of another individual’s image to highlight their product or service.

The only difference is one uses a worldwide renowned personality (celebrity endorsements) while the other uses experts from a given field on social media (influencer marketing).

So let’s take a closer look at these two widely used strategies to get more clarification and to see how they’re used.

Influencers are specialists in their niche

Celebrities often talk about things or endorse products that they know nothing about.

For instance, remember when Oprah endorsed Window’s Surface using her iPad?

Funny right?

But interestingly, people will still engage with an endorsement like that, or even buy the product because they feel comfortable with the celebrity.

While that is easy for the celebrities who have their fame to carry them forward, influences have to work really hard to make their mark in the industry in which they operate.

They’ve built communities around themselves and their interests and have gathered people who believe in them.

Therefore when a brand invites a seasoned app developer to review its newest innovation, the idea is to tap the target market or community the influencer commands.

It’s about community, not just followers

Celebrity endorsements are all about the product being highlighted – making sure its seen in a big way.

However, fans can’t interact with endorsement campaigns. They merely follow along.

Communication with a star or celebrity is a one-way relationship because the celebrity doesn’t interact with his or her followers

However, when it comes to influencer marketing, the influencers interact with his or her followers because that’s what makes it different, interesting and helpful.

Not only do they answer questions followers have about products and services, but they also delve into the details about those topics – all because the followers asked for it.

So, when the influencer publishes sponsored content their community is already interested and likely ready to take action.

Influencers are content creators in their own right

When it comes to celebrity endorsement, the celebrity becomes the face of the brand.

But they don’t do much because the brand develops the content for the celebrity to publish.  Normally, they get photographed with the product.

The words and language they use about the product are not their own.  Those are brand messages and are developed by special copywriters.

Therefore, from the target audience’s point of view, the message is ultimately from the brand, the celebrity is just the face delivering the message.

However, when it comes to influencer marketing, the influencer is the creator of the content.

For instance, if they are bloggers, they write the posts, if they run a YouTube channel, the responsibility of shooting the video, scripting, and editing is theirs.

So, from the very beginning to the very end, it is the influencers creating the content and crafting the message that gets shared.

This is why it has an authenticity that celebrity endorsement usually lacks.

How to choose the right influencer or celebrity

It goes without saying that both of these strategies work.

However, what works for a particular brand depends on a number of factors including what the influencer represents, the content they create, who their audience is and how engaged their followers are.

Therefore, you have to consider those elements before making the decision about who to work with.

But no matter who you choose, it must be the right person and the right audience for your brand.

For example, Julia Robert’s endorsement of Lancôme Cosmetics was a success, because people could relate to the content on a personal level. This is how a celebrity can be leveraged to help a brand reach and resonate with its target market.

It’s safe to say that if a celebrity like Julia Roberts likes and uses certain products, then a portion of her fan base will follow her lead and take action by buying.

It’s similar to influencer marketing – but with a twist.

Influencers should be allowed by the brand to express their opinion and to discuss the brand image in a way that’s unique and idiosyncratic to them.

This ensures their sincerity and authenticity – both crucial elements. If these are met, then the campaign isn’t likely to be successful.

Since people are active on social media a lot, it is important to ensure that your influencer marketing or celebrity endorsements are present there.

While people still watch TV, a huge chunk of the population has gone online.

In addition to that, social media visuals play a big role in ensuring success for influencer marketing as well as celebrity endorsement.

These influencers prefer to create these social media graphics on their own and add their own personal touch to it. This is unlike celebrities who prefer to have the brand handle that for them.

Money Talks

It goes without saying that celebrity endorsements are very expensive.

Many celebrities can ask for a fortune to do even a small campaign. However, this problem is largely mitigated when it comes to influencer marketing.

Instead of hiring Julia Roberts, to talk about a new line of hair colors, the brand can get a number of hairstylist influencers on YouTube or Instagram to talk about the product at length.

In some cases, this works better because having the authority of people who color hair for a living means that those influencers have authority and experience. That will come through when they post about the products.

Thanks to platforms like Instagram, influencers are getting well known within their niches. Some content published by some influencers can even drive demand.

Since online influencers have spent some time making their position strong and solid, people believe them for what they say, and that works beautifully for a brand!

So before deciding to contact an agent about working with a celebrity, take a careful look at your product, who your target market is and your budget.

You may find that influencers are a cost-effective alternative and one you can leverage for a long time to come.

Prince Kapoor is a seasoned Marketing Analyst and Blogger at https://www.viralchilly.com/. With his skills, he helps fellow marketers and brands worldwide.