The business landscape is changing on a daily basis. There is fierce competition among brands and product sellers.
Satisfying the desires of consumers and even getting them to notice or buy your products is increasingly becoming tougher. And worse, traditional marketing strategies are no longer yielding the desired outcome for business owners.
Business owners who are able to improvise and generate new ideas to skyrocket their marketing efforts are the ones who will witness remarkable growth in their business.
One way in which you, as a business owner, can stay ahead of the competition, generate leads, and boost sales is through influencer marketing.
For starters, influencer marketing is all about getting an influential person to promote your business and products. These people could be celebrities, bloggers, or social media content creators who have large followership on various social media platforms.
One good thing about influencer marketing is that your products are being endorsed by others who already have audiences that trust them.
It is time for you to take another approach and complement your marketing efforts with influencer marketing in order to boost your ROI. Join the influencer marketing train, get an influencer to promote your products. If you are not yet convinced about the power of influencer marketing, here are some facts that will get you thinking.
- Adweek reports that the influencer marketing industry would reach a staggering $10 billion by 2020.
- A survey undertaken by an influencer marketing agency known as Mediakix in 2018 revealed that the ROI derived from influencer marketing is eleven-times higher when compared with other digital marketing methods.
- According to Mediakix, the earned media value (EMV) in which brands get from influencer marketing is $11.69 for every $1 spent.
Now you know how powerful influencer marketing can be, and what it can do for your business.
But, you must also know that getting influencers to market your products is becoming a daunting task. A recent finding revealed that about 85% of marketers could not get influencers to market their products, due to various reasons, they got turned down by the influencers.
So, how can you get influencers to be involved in your products?
How do you set your influencer marketing goals, and measure the progress of your influencer marketing campaign all within a reasonable budget?
Here are some powerful tips you can use to get you started and get influencers involved in your products.
#1 Identify and Define Your Influencer Marketing Goals
You need to define the aim and goal of the influencer marketing campaign you want to embark on. Do you want to collaborate with an influencer on the short-term to raise awareness for your brand or product, or you want a longer collaboration like a seasonal or ambassadorial campaign?
Also, what aspects of your business do you want to affect with your influencer marketing efforts? Do you want to grow the network of followers for your brand, or you want to generate more leads and make sales?. You’ll need to figure out your goals as this would enable you to assess the effectiveness of your campaign.
#2 Strategy
This is a very important stage that you do not want to overlook. It covers a whole lot of factors from budget, target demographic, platform to use, timeframe for your campaign, etc.
All these are important factors you need to consider. The platform you intend to use for your campaign could determine the success or failure of your campaign. Each social media platform has strengths in specific industries and demographics. Instagram particularly has been crowned as the king of influencer marketing.
Aside from the fact that Instagram is good for sharing photos and videos, Instagram boasts a very high engagement rate at 3.21%, with over 1 billion active users. The engagement rate of other social media platforms stands at 1.5%. If you are not sure of the platform to use, check out this article to find which platform is best for your niche.
Your target demographic is also a very important part of your strategy; this would help you create a more tailored campaign fit for your chosen demographic when you identify them. This will also enable you to look for influencers who have the type of followers you want to target.
#3 Find Influencers That Share Same Value With Your Brand
Finding the right influencers is the key to achieving success with your campaign. You do not want to get rejected by influencers because they do not share the ideas and values of your brand or maybe they are already involved with one of your competitors. You’ll also have to deal with the problem of fake influencers, so research is the keyword here.
In searching for influencers, you need to look for the ones who regularly share content that is relevant to your niche; their audience will also most likely be your ideal demographic.
You also need to look for influencers with the number of followers that you desire for your marketing efforts. Do you want micro-influencers with modest 2-3k followership, or maybe you would prefer the ones with 5-10k followership? Whichever one you choose, you’ll also need to consider your budget.
There are also numerous third-party tools you can use when searching for the right Instagram influencers. Tools such as People Map, Fohr Card, SocialBlade, and Scrunch can come in handy.
Furthermore, you can also search for the right influencers using relevant niche-specific hashtags as well as branded hashtags. They could get you some amazing influencers to work with. You can also use a hashtag generator to find popular posted hashtags relevant to your niche; then you can sort out influencers who have interacted well with them.
Another good way to look for influencers is by asking your social media followers. They would really give you a good idea of the kind of influencer that would best promote your brand and products.
#4 Check Engagement Level Of Influencers Before Making Your Choice
When you have identified your influencers, make a list of about 10, or as you desire, then, you’ll need to check their level of engagement with posts. You’ll need to ask the following questions;
- How often do they post content?
- Do their followers really engage with their posts? An ideal engagement rate is set at 2.7%.
- Do they just repost what others are saying or they come up with fresh content that generates comments and likes from their followers?
- Do their posts match the ideology of your brand?
These are important questions you need to ask before making contact.
#5 Reach Out
On the off chance that you’ve identified your ideal influencers, then it is time to reach out and make contact.
First, you need to introduce yourself, and then, you need to appreciate what they are doing and let them know the ones that resonate with you. Then you can explain your aim of contacting them and how you would love to collaborate with them. Give some information about your business so they can understand what you do, let them know how the partnership would work and what they stand to benefit from it.
You can also request to see their media kit or rate card. This is important as it would give you a lot of information about the influencer. You would get to see some important metrics about their type of audience, social media reach, website traffic. You’ll also get an idea about their fees or payment modalities.
You can reach them through a polite and friendly email, do not overwhelm them with too many demands or information.
Final Thoughts
Now you know the importance of influencer marketing and how you can tap into the enormous potential of this tool to expand the reach of your business, generate new leads, boost your ROI, and maximize your profits.
The influencer marketing train is growing even bigger. Always try to be honest and authentic in your approach. You can always measure your progress and track your success as you go along. Then you can tweak your campaign based on your analysis.
If you are not already making use of influencer marketing, the time for you to start is now.
About the author
Anna is a specialist in different types of writing. She graduated from the Interpreters Department, but creative writing became her favorite type of work. Now she improves her skills while working as a freelance writer and translator for TheWordPoint and has free time for another work, as well. That is the reason she has so many unpublished articles.
