Influencer Marketing is a form of digital marketing that utilizes social media personalities with large followings to promote and drive engagement for your brand. This strategy has gained traction in the last decade, and it’s been found to increase ROI for brands in a wide variety of industries, such as ecommerce, lifestyle, fitness and beauty.
The first step to success in influencer marketing is understanding who your audience is and what goals you want to achieve. This will help you identify which influencers to target and determine what type of content is best suited for your goals. Influencers can be divided into tiers depending on their reach and level of trust within their community. Microinfluencers typically have a following in the thousands to tens of thousands. They are often cheaper to work with and more effective than mega influencers, which can cost a fortune and may not align with your brand’s values or voice.
Once you’ve established your budget and outlined your goals, start looking for influencers who can best suit your campaign. There are several ways to do this: using an influencer marketing hub, searching for influencers on relevant social media platforms, or searching hashtags that are popular in your industry. When finding influencers to contact, focus on those who have a genuine fanbase and are not using fake accounts to grow their following. It’s also important to share your goals with potential influencers and discuss how they can help you meet your objectives. This will prevent them from feeling like you’re forcing them to promote your brand, and will make it easier for you to track the campaign’s performance with media monitoring apps such as Brand24, which can help you monitor branded hashtags and significant keywords, as well as provide sentiment analysis reports.
Creating engaging, authentic content is the most effective way to work with influencers. This can take the form of videos, photos or blogs, and it’s a great idea to have an influencer create several pieces of content for your campaign, spreading the reach of the content. This will allow you to compare the success of different influencers and their posts in terms of reach, engagement and conversion.
Another great way to work with influencers is by running a giveaway. This can be a great way to boost your ecommerce sales, and it’s simple for influencers to get behind because they are already sharing their own experiences with the product or service. One example is fitness app Fitplan, which worked with influencers to increase their followers’ workout motivation by offering free gym memberships for new users.
It’s important to be realistic about the return on investment you can expect from your influencer campaigns. While a ton of likes and comments are a good indicator of success, it’s essential to measure the impact on your sales and conversions too. Ensure that any influencers who are promoting your product include an affiliate link or unique UTM code in their content so that you can track conversions and sales.