It’s nearly impossible to navigate social media without encountering influencer marketing in some form. Influencers are everywhere, promoting the latest snacks, clothing, makeup brands, and candles, and that’s just the beginning. Influencers are constantly exploring new ways to earn sponsorship on their preferred platforms, from traditional posts to the ever-popular Instagram Stories to lengthy videos.
It’s critical to keep in mind when defining influencers that anyone can be an influencer. As John Maxwell puts it, “In order to be an influencer, you must first love people.” If you have even one follower, you have influence. You have generated engagement if you receive a single like on one of your posts. As a result, let us take a moment to recognize the rising influencers. These individuals disseminate information about their favorite brands and products purely out of love for them. To be fair, they’re probably hoping for a brand deal in the long run, but they’re not making any money right now.
Influencer marketing may appear to be a novel concept that has only recently gained popularity. Indeed, influencer marketing began 15 years ago. PayPerPost, the world’s first marketplace for bloggers to be compensated for branded content, launched to great fanfare. Given the origins of blogs as online diaries, many experts questioned whether including advertising or sponsorships in the content would feel authentic.
That remains a challenge for today’s influencers, but there are numerous rewards for those who can promote products or services while remaining genuine and authentic. After all, consumers purchase from other consumers, and when they like someone, they are more likely to trust their recommendations.
How To Develop An Influencer Marketing Strategy
1. Develop a list of your goals and key performance indicators
Any strategy worth its salt begins with objectives. When it comes to influencer marketing, there are numerous campaign objectives to consider. While the most obvious benefit is almost certainly increased sales, working with influencers can accomplish much more for your brand than increase revenue immediately. Several possible objectives include the following:
Developing Brand Awareness
By collaborating with influencers, you can ensure that thousands of people who have never heard of your brand will see it. They’re learning about your brand from a reputable source, which means they’ll be more receptive to learning about your business or following you on social media.
Attract A New Market
There is no better way to sway the opinion of your ideal customer than by partnering with an influencer. Bear in mind that convincing the influencer that your brand is the best fit for their audience will almost certainly require additional effort on your part. Because of the time and effort they’ve invested in growing their following and earning their trust, influencers are frequently protective of their audiences. However, if you work with the influencer to develop an effective campaign strategy, they may be able to help you reach a new market.
Facilitating Lead Generation
Finally, influencer marketing can help you increase your lead and customer acquisition. Depending on the product or service you’re selling, you may want to direct your influencer’s followers to a nurturing campaign where they can learn more about your brand. Alternatively, you could direct them to your e-commerce store and immediately start generating revenue.
Following the establishment of your objective, you must define your key performance indicators, or KPIs. These are the metrics you’ll track throughout the duration of your campaign and analyze at the conclusion to determine its effectiveness. If your goal is to increase brand awareness, you may want to monitor website visits and social media followers. If your goal is lead generation, you’ll want to monitor the number of people who subscribe to your nurturing sequence. Sales can be tracked easily with the help of influencer-specific links or a unique promo code.
2. Develop a thorough understanding of the influencer landscape
Before you begin working with influencers in earnest, it’s critical to have a firm grasp on the landscape. Recognize the different types of influencers — we’ve talked extensively about micro-influencers, but there are also macro-influencers and celebrities. In general, you should avoid celebrities, as their followings are so large that their engagement rates are extremely low, but they are frequently quite high.
Prior to approaching anyone with your brand, spend some time observing influencers and their brand promotion strategies. This way, you’ll be more informed and better equipped to make an impression on the influencer.
3. Develop relationships with influencers
Once you’ve established that you’re on the right track, it’s time to establish relationships with influencers. There are numerous strategies for identifying influencers who will work for your brand, but you should start with your industry. You’ll learn not only about your competitors’ collaborations, but also about the size influencers they’re targeting. Then you can choose whether to seek out individuals with a similar-sized following or something entirely different.
There are tools available to assist you in identifying influencers in your niche, depending on the platform on which you wish to promote. While InfluenceGrid can help you find TikTok influencers, Awario can help you find influencers across multiple platforms. However, such tools are not required to identify influencers. Additionally, you can conduct a hashtag search to identify users who publish #sponsored posts. You can then look at their audience to see if their message resonates with you.
Furthermore, you can start with your followers. Choose a few people who are already fans of your brand. Examine their other followers’ accounts to see if you can identify any influencers. This is a fantastic way to connect with someone who is already communicating with your ideal audience.
Finally
Influencer marketing is here to stay, and its popularity will continue to grow in the coming years. Whatever their goal, ecommerce brands can truly benefit from collaborating with influencers. Influencers can help you grow your audience, boost your sales, or simply spread the word about your business. In any case, today is an excellent day to kickstart your influencer marketing strategy.