Influencer marketing promotes products and services by partnering with popular social media users, bloggers, or respected and visible community members. According to Single Grain, Return-on-investment from influencer marketing is comparable to or better than other marketing channels.
Who are these Influencers?
Influencers are people who have a large, engaged audience built of people sharing a similar interest. These followers respect the authority, knowledge, or position of the Influencer. Connection to him or her helps build product credibility and drive sales. They are popular with their followers but often do not consider them celebrities offline.
The best influencers are the people considered to be thought leaders in their area of expertise. Their posts are the most engaging, informative, and entertaining. Their followers add to relevant online conversations.
Influencer Marketing Campaigns
Influencer marketing campaigns can vary widely, from mentions of your company/product to product reviews and your product’s use in public. Long-term relationships with an Influencer are best. Repeated comments over time are more effective than singles.
In every industry, there are influencers; the trick is to find them. Researching competitors who already use influencers is an excellent place to start. The longevity of these collaborations indicates they are getting results. Even if you don’t see anyone using it in your industry, it still might be worth finding a highly compatible influencer and testing it out.
More details for the interested…
Finding your Influencer:
- Spend time researching the most effective way to find influencers for your industry. There are services available. See below.
- It is not an advantage to go after a competitor’s Influencer.
- The number of followers and likes an individual influencer has is only part of the equation. Look at their comments section for a better idea of how their followers interact with the content.
- BEFORE reaching out, mention them, share their content, feature them, and link them to your blog site. These contact points add to your credibility and separate you from others who are after their time.
- Influencers can have a busy online life with lots of interruptions from followers (and are bombarded with offers). Make your posts mentioning them helpful and memorable.
- Influencers who have worked on similar projects before will bring beneficial experience.
- The ultimate goal is the Influencer’s audience, but the Influencer is also your target market.
Planning Your Campaign:
- Have a strategy, plan, and budget prepared before contacting influencers; this includes a projected schedule for placements; for example, a once a month mention over a year.
- Coordinate Influencer launches with brand releases or promotions.
- Tailor your approach to each Influencer.
Working with your Influencer:
- Stay engaged with their posts.
- Be an active, intelligent part of the Influencer’s online community.
- When the time comes to reach out, begin with a good offer or suggestion that helps them (and you), i.e. share some industry data or helpful knowledge to improve their content. Then suggest a collaboration.
- Relax creative control of the influencers. Their followers enjoy their style and preferences, so their approach to present your product must be genuine. They are at the steering wheel of your collaboration.
- Ensure that the brand mention is not overly promotional or like an advertisement. Keep in mind that mentions work even when subtle.
There are services and platforms to help:
- Research for an influencer who would be a good fit for your brand on sites like Upfluence or Onalytica, searching LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter communities, and finding lists of industry experts on Google.
- Some like Dealspotr can help with promotional deals and coupons so influencers can share them with their followers.
- Several platforms are available to build and track the use of influencers. For example, Traackr helps manage relationships with influencers and monitor the success of your strategy.
- Influencer Marketing Hub can provide boilerplate contracts for use with an influencer.
For something relatively new, influencer marketing contains many intricacies but significant ROI. Research first and continue to follow through long after the campaign.
Need More? Check out these articles:
https://www.singlegrain.com/contentmarketingstrategy2/guideinfluencermarketing/
