Influencers can help you grow your business, but it’s not as easy as having them push your brand in a few blog posts and watching the money roll in. This is not only a misconception, but a dangerous one at that. A brand won’t attain any of its objectives with this way of thinking. You need a plan and a strategy.
According to a study by Twitter, 49 percent of consumers rely on influencers to recommend products to them. It would be a shame not to take advantage of the valuable strategy of influencer marketing, which has helped some brands achieve massive growth.
What’s Behind the Advent of Influencer Marketing?
The truth is that conventional advertising just doesn’t work well anymore. We may have come to admire display ad strategies, but sadly, they’re becoming a thing of the past. There is a growing perception of them as being pushy and invasive. There are just so many that people have started to ignore them. All this has given rise to ad blocking technologies, the use of which is on the rise. More than 615 million devices across the globe were using ad blockers in 2017. Their use is increasing by 30% y/y. Currently, 11% of global internet users have them.
Are you overly reliant on online advertising? These figures probably come as a shock. There’s no way they wouldn’t. What’s more, over a quarter of internet users will have installed ad blocking software by the end of 2020.
Companies are coming to realize that human beings have great potential to promote their products. Micro-influencers, who have a limited number of followers, are starting to see more engagement than celebrities. This investment is budget-friendlier than celebrity endorsements and far more effective than placing conventional ads. Here is our guide on working with influencers to grow your business.
Set Specific Goals
If you want to work with influencers, start by setting concrete goals and KPIs (key performance indicators). These metrics tell you how influencer marketing is impacting your business so you can optimize your strategy and determine what works best. According to Linqia’s State of Influencer Marketing report, 90 percent of marketers assess the outcomes of influencer marketing based on engagement. Just under 60 percent measure them according to impressions, clicks, and conversions. These KPIs can be critical throughout your strategy to integrate influencer marketing so you know its effect on your business and if it needs improvement.
Why do brands turn to influencers? It can be for any one or more of the following reasons:
They want to generate greater awareness
They want to increase engagement levels with visitors
They want to increase product sales
Increase followers on social media
Capture email addresses
Boost website traffic
Ideally, your influencer or influencers and your audience should use the same platform because catering to audience needs is easier. It is also easier to introduce them to your brand. You can improve your lead generation, create a subscriber list, and augment engagement by choosing the platform that your target market loves most.
On the other hand, choosing an unsuitable platform for your campaigns could mean wasted resources and time and an overall reduction in ROI. That’s why it’s important to do research in advance. You’re ready for positive results and eliminate the probability of error by mapping out all the details beforehand.
Where is your audience most active? Which platforms do they use? You need to find the answers to these questions. You want to grab their attention on a platform where you know they are most likely to see your content.
Understand Your Target Audience
It can be difficult, if not impossible to choose the right influencer to endorse your products if you don’t know your target audience. This is also the case if you don’t know them well enough. For example, an influencer in the beauty niche won’t be a suitable choice to endorse gaming products even if they have millions of followers. Few of these followers have or would show an interest in gaming, if any.
It helps to create buyer personas, also known as customer personas, to get an idea of your audience’s needs, problems, and interests. You’ll get results sooner because they help you reach your goals faster. You do away with the guesswork for your influencer’s audience’s interest in your product or service by researching your target audience adequately. It is crucial to stick to influencers whose messages, values, and branding are similar to yours. This is because when they join forces to promote a brand or product, like-minded brands are more likely to succeed.
Defined Niches = Best Engagement
Influencers see good engagement when they are able to define their niche. Since branding is closely connected to aesthetics, the image of an influencer can be decisive. You need to consider the messaging style used depending on your content’s niche. A good influencer’s posts are distinct and unique. A reader can recognize their posts as they scroll through their social media feed. They will begin to trust the brand the influencer’s promoting as they keep seeing similar content. This is because they consider this person an expert in the niche.
Keep in mind that if the influencer suddenly and unexpectedly changes course, users might stop trusting the content. Creating a website with similar aesthetic and messaging would be a good strategy.
Set Measurable Goals
Everything starts with an overarching campaign goal, but once you’ve set that, the next step is to break it down into a number of smaller and measurable ones. They don’t have to be complicated; something like the number of shares will work. Some basic knowledge of social media analytics will help. It’s necessary to collect and analyze relevant data. While more expensive than doing it yourself, it’s more efficient to hire a consultant to do the creative work and manage the influencers.
Final Thoughts
Your influencer marketing campaign timing, marketing needs, and budget will determine how you go about all these considerations. Most consultants need lead time of at least a week.