Yet, there are still people who don't really understand what influencer marketing is all about.
Indeed, some people come across the phrase for the first time and instantly ponder, “What is influencer marketing?”
Launch an Influencer Marketing Campaign
A decade ago, the influencer marketing arena was limited only to celebrities and a few dedicated bloggers. Now, it seems like we’ve seen social media influencers rise, saturate the market and even get caught up in fraud.
If you’ve started researched on influencer marketing before, you may have found conflicting information, with recommendations that range from you should absolutely be using social influencers or that they’re not necessary for growth.
Influencer marketing campaigns and strategies are more difficult to navigate than ever as a brand.
With influencer marketing, businesses can still reach their target audience, even if they’re blocking ads. And better yet, they can reach their audience through content they actually opt into, making them more receptive to the brand’s message.
Read on for our tips to determine if influencer marketing campaign is for you.
Who are Influencers?
We defined an influencer as being someone who has:
- the power to affect the purchasing decisions of others because of his or her authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with his or her audience.
- a following in a distinct niche, with whom he or she actively engages. The size of the following depends on the size of his/her topic of the niche.
What is influencer marketing?
At a fundamental level, influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that uses endorsements and product mentions from influencers–individuals who have a dedicated social following and are viewed as experts within their niche.
Influencer marketing works because of the high amount of trust that social influencers have built up with their following, and recommendations from them serve as a form of social proof to your brand’s potential customers.
Why is your brand failing at its influencer marketing Campaigns ?
Here are some common reasons why brands are failing at influencer marketing ?
1. Poor Influencer Selection
2. Underestimating Engagement rate
3. Underestimating Micro-influencers
4. More attention to Popularity than influence
5. Not Providing Creative Freedom
6. Losing Patience
7. Poor management
8. Confusing Influencer Advertising with Influencer Marketing
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How to Get Verified on Instagram ? Step-By-Step – Instagram Verification
What makes a good influencer marketing campaign ?
A great influencer campaign involves 3 things;
creativity, organization, and of course, the right influencers.
Those are successful that have found the right balance of elements to promote their brands in inspiring, engaging ways.
How to Launch an influencer marketing campaign
Like any marketing tactic, an influencer campaign takes deliberate targeting and planning. You won’t find strategic success just by sending free things out to everyone who asks or to your existing friends and acquaintances.
1. Research before your influencer marketing campaign
Much like any strategy, research is the first step. Choose the network you want to focus on first. You can always expand to other networks later but if you’re just starting out, stick with one.
Ideally, your brand should already have a presence on this network or be looking to expand into it. Demographics vary on each network. If you’re unsure of where to begin, our article on social media demographics is a good starting point.
The industry you’re in also matters when you’re planning to implement an influencer marketing strategy. Beauty and fashion brands shine on Instagram and YouTube. The video game industry dominates on Twitch.
During your research phase, look into the type of influencers you’re interested in. Are you going for celebrities with massive followings? Or micro influencers with less than 2000 followers? Perhaps something in between in the 5–10k follower range is more your preference. Whatever you decide to focus on will determine your budget.
You’ll need to think about the expected ROI of your social influencer marketing campaign: how will you gauge the contributions of influencer posts to your overall marketing goals?
Research is key and you’ll find yourself returning to this step often in the process.
2. Be relevant and use relevant hashtags in your campaign
Be relevant. When you choose your influencer, don’t just consider size, but also content. What does their target audience engage with? Then adapt your promotion to fit.
If the messaging doesn’t feel natural, at best, it won’t work. At worst, it can damage yours and the influencers’ reputations.
On the other hand, Instagram hashtags work by organizing and categorizing photos and videos. Since hashtags are used with an intent to discover content, the right ones can put your influencer marketing campaign in front of your Target Audience on Instagram, even if they haven’t connected with you before.
Hashtag challenges are ideal for engaging users through creative content. If imaginative, original or just plain fun, they can capture the imagination of your consumers, and hit viral levels.
Think about how the #IceBucketChallenge became a global success just through people wanting to be part of the trend. That’s what you’re aiming for.
3. Use creativity in your Influencer Marketing Campaign
Don’t stifle your influencers’ creativity. They’ve built an audience by creating content that people love - if you force them to adapt their style to fit your sales pitch, it won’t work.
In fact, it could turn consumers away from your brand.
Keep your promotional message simple, and allow your chosen influencers the freedom to be creative.
4. Find Your campaign's Target Audience
You need to determine your target audience. Which age group is more likely to buy your product or services? Which niche does your audience belong to? These are some of the questions that you must have clear answers to.
While defining your target audience, you should focus on locations, demographics, and interest areas. These factors will help you understand your target audience’s profiles. You can also use tools like Google Analytics and Facebook Insights to get a better understanding of your target audience.
Clearly understanding your target audience will help you find the right influencers.
If your target audience is mainly millennials who follow fashion, you should look up social media influencers in the fashion niche.
5. Review and refine your Influencer Marketing Campaign
Even if your influencer marketing campaign is ongoing, you should still have pre-determined dates where you’ll measure its progress.
The next part of this guide will go into how to track your results.
Not all campaigns are successful but hopefully, you’ll learn with each one you create.
6. Ask for Testimonials From Influencers for your campaign
Your marketing campaign doesn’t have to be limited to a certain number of posts that influencers share on their channels. Even after the campaign ends, you can use testimonials from influencers.
You can post content that showcases their testimonials or even include it on your website.
This way, everyone who visits your profile or website will know that an influencer is vouching for your brand. In fact, an influencer’s endorsement will help your brand in building more credibility and trust.
Moreover, you can also feature their testimonials in the promotional emails that you send out. Try to repost and repurpose influencer content to ensure that it reaches a larger audience.
Conclusion
In short, influencers are here to stay but how the world of influencer marketing looks and operates has changed a great deal in a short time, and in five years may be drastically different from today. This guide will help you get started with building your campaign, but like any social strategy it’s important to be ready for change.
Once you’ve gotten the rhythm down, you might find yourself creating additional types of influencer marketing campaigns. On the other hand, success varies between brands. So, don’t give up if your first one is a failure. You might find that incorporating influencers into your marketing strategy is wildly beneficial to everyone.
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