Influencer marketing has quickly become a key part of many businesses’ marketing strategies and the ever-evolving industry shows no signs of slowing down. At ChuckJoe, we love to offer both paid and organic influencer marketing services to our natural food brand clients as it helps grow brand awareness, boost social media following, and increase sales. 

However, there’s one invaluable effect organic influencer marketing specifically can have on a brand, which is sometimes overlooked: it helps grow real love for a brand. Read on to find out why organic influencer marketing works to foster a community of loyal consumers.

1.  Low-Cost Option

It’s no secret that influencers can be expensive and often come with steep fees for sharing a product or brand with their following. If this has deterred your natural food brand from experimenting with influencer marketing in the past, you’re not alone. 

However, organic influencer marketing offers a more feasible and low-cost approach to getting your brand in front of thousands of people on social media. The idea with organic marketing is to capitalize on influencers who are already genuine fans of your brand, so that they continue to share your product naturally with their audience because they just can’t get over how awesome it is. At the end of the day, influencers are usually seen as gurus or experts in their industry and want to share their best finds/tips with their following.

To find organic influencers to interact with, we recommend using a brand listening tool, like this one from Sprout Social.

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I’ve got a serious snack plate going on right now 🤗 Not shown: the double-chocolate-raspberry-studded paleo brownie I made last weekend. See previous post for the details on that! 😍 But let’s talk about this paleo snack mix from @thrivemarket. I give it 10/10 and would recommend getting the variety pack (they come in pre-portioned packs which is muuuuuch needed) #addictiveaf The only one I haven’t tried is the BBQ but if it’s anything like the savory or ranch, I’m sure it’ll be 🔥 #notsponsored 🤣 . #whatsonmyplate: cara cara orange + @thrivemarket paleo snack mix + @happyeggcousa HBE + celery w/ @goodfoods queso dip. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #paleosnack #dairyfree #queso #paleosnackmix #thrivemarket #protein #caracaraoranges #eatbetter #healthy #eathealthy #fitfoodie #realfood #fitfam #f52grams #buzzfeedfood #greatistyou #thekitchn #motivation #feedfeed #gethealthy #healthyfoodporn #wholesomeeating #eatpretty #todayfood #thenewhealthy #eatingwell #glutenfree

A post shared by KAREN (THE Mrs. K Ray) (@themrskray) on Feb 8, 2020 at 12:48pm PST

2. Feels Authentic

Another reason why organic marketing works so well for brands is that it feels unforced and authentic to both the influencer receiving the product and the person consuming the influencer’s content. Because influencer marketing is so prevalent in the digital space, all the #ad/#sponsored content can feel overwhelming and like we’re constantly being sold to (because, well, we are!) 

Organic marketing works to counteract this in a couple of different ways. It shows the influencer who receives your product that you are not requesting anything from them, but genuinely just thought they might enjoy your brand’s product. For influencers, this comes as a breath of fresh air as they are constantly being approached by brands and people looking to profit off of their community.

On the flip side, if the influencer does happen to share your brand’s product through social media, the person who is consuming the content (the “follower”) feels like they can trust the influencer’s recommendation since they see that they were not paid to share the product. This increases their likelihood to believe what the influencer is saying, and may lead to an eventual product purchase down the line.

3. Creates Relationships

Organic influencer marketing, when executed correctly, can also help to create valuable relationships. Influencers are bound to take notice when a brand approaches them in an organic and unpressured manner, especially if the relationship between the brand and influencer continues over a longer period of time. This creates a feeling of “closeness” for the influencer and brand, which pushes them to share their love and speak to the authenticity of a brand/product. This relationship can also open the door to future partnerships down the line (like a giveaway), which is an influencer is more likely to engage in with a brand they are already a super-fan of.

Additionally, the consumers of an influencer’s content (the “follower”) feel a certain type of connection to the influencer when they try a product they recommended and love it. This can oftentimes result in consumers sharing the brand/product on their own and tagging the influencer who originally introduced them to the brand. 

For example, last year Eva Chen (a mega influencer with over 1 million followers) organically started organically posting about Sumo Citrus, one of ChuckJoe’s clients, on Instagram. Because of Eva’s organic approach to sharing things she loves with her engaged following, many people tried Sumo Citrus out for themselves and shared it on their personal social media channels, with a nod to Eva for sharing the deliciousness with them. This year, on behalf of Sumo Citrus, we delivered a personalized Sumo Citrus crate to Eva Chen to reciprocate the love. This simple gesture lead to her posting about the gift and helped Sumo Citrus gain even further brand awareness. This type of interaction shows the various relationships being formed, which is all a result of organic influencer marketing.

Hopefully, you can now see the various benefits of organic influencer marketing and why your
natural food brand should be using it in your 2020 strategy. When in doubt, focus your organic influencer marketing efforts around authenticity, and you’ll most likely be successful.