How do you make the most of Influencer Marketing?
Weight-loss tea? Fitness shakes? Makeup palettes? Hair-growth pills? What about acne cleansers? If you’re active on social media, you’ve probably scrolled through your timeline and found one of your favorite Social Media Celebrities casually mentioning how they love one of these products. This is called Influencer Marketing. With social media platforms evolving over the years, Influencer Marketing has become a buzzword in the marketing industry and one of the most effective ways to grow brand awareness.
28% of marketers say that Influencer Marketing is the fastest-growing online customer-acquisition channel; beating organic search (SEO), paid search (PPC) and email marketing. This year, 84% of marketers have at least one Influencer Marketing campaign planned. Marketers are doubling down on their Influencer Marketing efforts by increasing budgets to include the tactic as part of their marketing strategy. But many people assume that once an Influencer mentions their product or service, the sales and cash flow will start coming in. Unfortunately, that isn’t always guaranteed.
Don’t copy and paste a caption.
Before you begin your campaign, you need a plan. You need to figure out that once an Influencer is involved with your brand, will your campaign be effective? Picking Influencers with the right audience can be extremely effective, or incredibly detrimental. An Influencer with 2 billion subscribers may seem like the best idea, but you may find disappointing results if the Influencer doesn’t match your brand.
Below, are a few tips we’ve put together to guide you on making sure that your Influencer Marketing Strategy is successful and stands-out.
Step 1. Why does your brand need Influencers?
Simple, you want your brand to get noticed. Modern day consumers are blind to billboards and deaf to commercials. Consumers are increasingly self-sufficient and often want to research a brand or product on their own. When you partner with an Influencer, they can provide brands with some extra insight and can keep your content relevant. Consumers trust recommendations from an Influencer more often than a brand itself, because if you think about it in a more personal context, the Influencer is like a mutual friend. They become the connection between your brand and your target consumers. For example, 73% of teenage YouTube subscribers trust Influencer opinions over traditional celebrities. Because of their audience’s loyalty, an Influencer can drive traffic to your website, increase your social media exposure, and can sell your product through their recommendation.
Step 2. What’s your budget?
Set a budget to work with. Marketing strategies always require money. However, money doesn’t always mean better results. On average, businesses generate $6.50 for every $1 invested in influencer marketing. This means, you don’t need to be able to afford to pay Michael Jordan to promote your new athletic shoe line. How many campaigns can you afford each month? Should you push your budget to the limit? You can’t assume that a mention from the Influencer will bring in the cash flow. You need to track everything– to the time of day, to the content, to how many reviews or views your campaign received. By doing this, you’ll understand what is and isn’t working in your campaign.
Step 3. Outline Your Goals. Who is your Audience?
Next, start by knowing your industry. You should already have a solid idea about your audience. To create the ideal campaign, you need to put yourself in your customer’s’ shoes and ponder the types of topics and blogs they would follow. However, before you start creating content, before you find an influencer, and before you do anything else, you need to outline the goals of your Influencer campaign. Every decision you make is informed by your goal. An easy way to remember this is by splitting your goals into 3 parts:
- What is the Influencers demographic data?
- What is the Influencer going to help you do?
- How is the Influencer going to help you do it?
The social platform you choose, the influencer you partner with, the type of content they create, all those factors will come into play after you’ve outlined your goals. And once you have all the logistics in place, it’s time to move on to finding your Influencer.
Step 4. The search for the chosen one
Choosing the right Influencer is vital to the success of your Influencer Marketing campaign. Every industry has Influencers to “influence” purchase decisions. Hollywood has celebrities, while business has its moguls. Social Influencers are social media personalities, or industry experts, who have developed a large and loyal following by being insightful, engaging, transparent, humorous, and, most importantly, relatable. But it’s far from easy.
There are four main ways you can target Influencers: manual search, using databases, tapping networks or exploring marketplaces. Overall, choosing the best method to find your Influencer can be complicated. Ultimately, you’re looking for a partner. And just like any partnership you need to consider all of your options.
Once you find your Influencer, take the time to build a real relationship with them. This gives you the opportunity to see if the Influencer fits with your brand and increases authenticity. Start by following them on social media, sharing their content, or engaging them in relevant conversations. Make them truly understand your brand’s voice and what you stand for.
Influencers build credibility because their followers trust them. Recommendations, testimonials, brand commentary, and reviews can spread like wildfire. For example, This type of connection gives these influencers unprecedented authority—the right influencer knows who they are and what their audience wants. As an SMB consider 3 influencers you already know:
- Clients and customers
- Connectors
- Competitors
The above categories of influencers are not mutually exclusive. Finding influencers isn’t about finding the most famous person. It’s about finding someone your audience trusts and leveraging that influence to promote your brand. Leveraging influencers is even more powerful when there’s a combination of two or three. So, as you explore the world of influencer marketing, be sure you’re not overlooking these non-celebrities.
Step 5. Getting the most out of your influencer campaign
Okay, so now that you’ve outlined your goals and chosen your influencer (all while building your relationship with them), it’s time to create your actual campaign. First be authentic. There is no denying that traditional ads are no longer appealing to consumers as they once were because they feel inconsistent and fake. If you inundate your audience with too much sponsored content, they have no choice but ignore or block them, potentially losing them entirely. But, even though the influencer talks about your brand, you must keep authenticity in mind to be effective.
Second, choose your platform. Pay attention to where your audience is most active and what type of content performs best on each platform. There are many hurdles to overcome when it comes to influencer marketing campaigns, but one of the most important things is to establish the best performing platforms to take your campaign to. Based on this infographic, you can see that the 4 best performing platforms are Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and Facebook.
Want a loyal following using aesthetically pleasing images, use Instagram. Looking for long-form video content that can form a deeper connection with your product? Check out YouTube. If you want to connect with millennials, get on Snapchat. Finally, Facebook will always be the most popular platform for worldwide sharing of innovative content.
Once these factors have been established, you can think of ways to reach beyond your influencers audience, but ultimately, you will have your ideal campaign.
Influencer marketing may seem like another cool buzzword. But it’s the real deal. In short, people trust People more than they trust big Corporate Brands. Influencer marketing allows you to leverage that trust to create rapport with your brand. If you think about it for a second, you’re scrolling through your Instagram or Facebook feed and you see advertisements. Your favorite influencers are promoting products or brands, while still staying true to their unique voice and story. With these tips in mind, you’ll be sure to get the most out of your Influencer Marketing Campaign.
