More than just buzz, influencer marketing is about timing, values, and real human connection.
What is influencer marketing? The million-dollar question... it's a bit like trying to define traditional marketing in a few lines. What often comes up when discussing this type of marketing is influencers (or influence), but in practice, it's much more than that.
Influencer marketing means delivering the right message to the right audience, at the right time, using today's communication tools and levers relevant to the stage your business is at.
It's much more than simply promoting a product with an influencer who has 1 million followers... it's about creating an extension of what your business truly represents, your values, your mission.
In this article, we'll walk you through the different concepts that make up influencer marketing and explain why your business should be using influencer marketing in 2025.
What Is an Influencer (Formerly Known as an Opinion Leader)
Before diving into the best practices and strategies for influencer marketing, it's worth revisiting the basics so we're all starting from the same point. What is an influencer? As the name suggests, an influencer is a content creator who has the power to influence a significant number of people (generally on social media). Once called an opinion leader in traditional media, an influencer today doesn't necessarily aim to deliver a message to their community.
Although today the term "influencer " is seen as somewhat pejorative by some content creators, an influencer is, generally speaking, someone who has the power to influence their followers' mindset through their photo and/or video content.
It's worth noting that YouTube content creators, for example, tend to distance themselves from the term "influencer," since it's often associated with posting anything and everything for a paycheck, even if that's not necessarily the case.
Broadly speaking, there are several categories of influencers, including nano-influencers, micro-influencers, macro-influencers, and mega-influencers.
Influence Strategy
To showcase your business effectively, it's first important to identify your business needs. While this may seem obvious to some, a strategic misstep could undermine the effectiveness of your final campaign. Are you at the stage where your business needs to be visible everywhere (so people know you exist), or the stage where you need potential customers to come back to your site to complete a conversion (other needs may also be at play)?
Depending on your needs, the influence strategy you adopt can differ completely from another, favoring your business's story or values over the specifics of your products or services.
Even once your business has carefully selected its strategy, you still need to make sure your social media looks polished and visually consistent, sometimes following a certain content ratio.
Why Use Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is now an essential tool for promoting your business. The key is knowing how to use it well (sharing the right message, at the right time, with the right audience). While traditional media has been gradually losing power over the years in Quebec, influencer marketing keeps gaining ground, whether on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, or even Pinterest. Even though various tracking tools can prove extremely costly, it's much faster and more affordable to run an influencer marketing campaign than it used to be.
When it comes to the consumer journey, here are four examples of reasons why you might need influencer marketing:
- Improve your visibility
- Convert potential leads
- Re-engage customers who have already visited your site
- Make sure people think of your brand at the moment of their final decision
It's also worth noting that, depending on the specifics, you might use other communication channels or platforms better suited to helping you achieve your goals (such as magazines, blog articles, video, email marketing, etc.).
Key Indicators (KPIs) and Questions for Influencer Marketing
Key Performance Indicator
Essential Questions to Ask
Audience Growth
What growth in meaningful followers are we aiming for on key platforms?
Visibility & Reach
How many people do we want to reach, and what level of shares/saves are we aiming for?
Engagement
What type and level of interaction (comments, shares, saves) do we want to generate?
Qualified Web Traffic
How much relevant traffic do we want to drive to our site?
Conversions & Actions
How many sales or other actions (sign-ups, downloads) do we hope to achieve?
Target Platforms
On which social networks is our audience most active and receptive to influence?
How Agencies Like One Way Can Help With Your Influencer Marketing
Bringing together several years of experience in marketing, influence, video production, SEO, and paid media, One Way is the agency that delivers cinematic-quality video production and authentic collaborations with influential content creators, helping maximize the impact of your campaigns and elevate your brand image.
Now bringing together experts in paid media, we're able to retarget potential leads who have already visited your site, reaching them with content creators they already know to improve their chances of converting. Above all, One Way aims to represent its talent at their true value by targeting well-known companies that their followers often already recognize.
Companies Specialized in Branding and Communication
Many businesses today underestimate the power of their branding and the strength of their brand image. While influence and video creation are now essential to delivering a message and boosting visibility with a target audience, planning and building a relevant, polished editorial calendar aligned with your values and industry is essential. Some Quebec businesses, such as Oui l'agence now offer strategic planning for all of your social media posts to define a strategy that resonates with your brand identity. Other businesses, like Thara Communications focus on understanding your needs and connecting your business with various partners.
The art of creating a great marketing campaign
While agencies like One Way excel at creating impactful content and connecting with local influencers, building a global brand strategy and a strong visual identity remains an essential pillar. That's where global creative giants like Forsman & Bodenfors come in. Known for their bold campaigns and their ability to build iconic brands, Forsman & Bodenfors bring invaluable expertise in defining a company's core message, values, and visual identity. Their strategic approach and internationally renowned creativity can significantly amplify the impact of influencer marketing initiatives led by agencies like One Way. By combining the creative firepower of a global agency with the agility and local market knowledge of a Quebec-based company, brands can deploy truly integrated and powerful influencer marketing campaigns that resonate authentically with their target audience.
Influencer Marketing in 2025: A Dynamic Ecosystem to Master
In conclusion, influencer marketing in 2025 stands out as a powerful, essential lever for businesses looking to thrive. Far more than simple product placement with a popular influencer, it's a complex and nuanced strategy that requires a deep understanding of how it works, the different types of influencers, and each brand's specific goals. Whether the goal is to boost visibility, convert leads, or build loyalty among existing customers, influencer marketing offers unique opportunities to build an authentic connection with your target audience.
To successfully navigate this constantly evolving ecosystem, businesses stand to gain by surrounding themselves with experts. Specialized agencies like One Way bring their know-how in creating engaging content and connecting with local talent, while global creative giants such as Forsman & Bodenfors can shape a strong brand identity and a global communications strategy. By combining these complementary areas of expertise, brands can deploy influencer marketing campaigns that are impactful, creative, and aligned with their core values, ensuring a significant and lasting impact in today's and tomorrow's digital landscape.
