Getting Started with Influencer Marketing: 5 Super Tips – You’ve probably heard of the term “influencer marketing” been tossed around on a number of occasions but what exactly does it entail and how can it benefit your digital marketing efforts?
What Is Influencer Marketing?
Basically, influencer marketing is a type of marketing strategy that involves the use of key individuals to promote your business.
Although the term ‘influencer’ in this context, is actually a shorthand for ‘social media influencer,’ however, it can take many forms such as Instagram influencer marketing, YouTube influencer marketing, etc.
Thus, for one to be called any sort of influencer, they’ll need to have gained a high level of credibility in a particular niche.
For instance, a certified doctor who posts unique health tips on social media can quickly drive up a large following from people.
They can regularly tell their followers about the best health practices. The followers may also give feedback on changes they noticed after following those tips.
This way, the doctor has succeeded in influencing the lifestyle of their followers. As a health-related brand, you can use that doctor’s influence to promote your business.
This is exactly what influencer marketing entails. Influencers have devoted followings made of people who value their opinions, have an interest in their tastes, or simply enjoying viewing their lifestyle.
As a result of this, they directly or indirectly, affect what their followers purchase. They can influence their followers’ buying decisions directly. That’s why it’s a big deal in today’s marketing.
Influencer Marketing Background
In the last few years, influencer marketing has zoomed into popularity among top-tier brands. Previously, many thought it would phase out like a passing fad. However, it has become a powerful marketing strategy for several brands today.
Influencer marketing began to gain some momentum when social media reinforced itself as the fastest source of information thus replacing traditional media outlets.
As a matter of fact, people weren’t just following celebrities alone. They were also following non-celeb social media users because they had interesting content.
With time, these users attracted sizable followings and, although they didn’t have as many followers as the celebs did, they had a huge amount of influence.
Thus, that was how social media influencing became a sought-after occupation thereby giving rise to well-curated Twitter feeds and picture-perfect Instagram stories.
Usually, younger people with a penchant for internet fame tried learning how to be a social media influencer, how to grow a following, and how to sell their service to businesses and brands aiming to expand their reach.
These social media influencers today now have as much influence and reach as several top celebrities.
Why You Should Consider Influencer Marketing
Influencers can be considered as the new celebrities today because they are highly trusted by their followers. There are several influencer marketing stats that buttress this fact.
In a particular survey, 49% of people stated that they rely on social media to make purchasing decisions.
Similarly, in another survey, 74% of the participants said they relied on social media before deciding to buy products or services.
What’s more, these people usually take decisions following influencer recommendations. According to a survey by Fullscreen and Shareablee, 42% of people tried out a product or service after following a recommendation from an influencer whose ad they watched.
Because social media has grown to become increasingly relevant to everyday life, influencers have also become more important.
A regular social media user consumes large amounts of influencer content; they may even watch several influencers’ post throughout the day.
This is why you need to consider influencer marketing as an effective digital marketing strategy for your brand.
Also, if you want to drive lots of traffic to your web page or social handle, you can leverage influencer marketing.
In truth, it can be tricky getting started with influencer marketing especially if you have zero ideas on how to go about it.
However, with this article, you should be able to get your campaign up to a flyer. Follow the five super tips below to commence your influencer marketing journey.
1. Identify your major influencer marketing goal
For your influencer marketing campaign to be successful, you need to start by identifying your major goal. What exactly do you plan on achieving with the campaign?
Usually, businesses look to influencers for help in creating and promoting brand content focused on a particular product or a specific event.
Once you’ve discovered the major aim of your campaign, you should create some key performance indicators next (KPI).
From there, you can proceed to define the perfect influencer profile.
2. Define the perfect influencer profile
Failure to define a suitable profile of your influencer may render your campaign unsuccessful. The truth is many brands have trouble identifying the right influencer for their marketing campaigns.
In order to select the perfect influencer for your campaign, the influencer must:
- Be active and shares high-quality content on a regular basis.
- Have a large community that actively engages the influencer’s posts (liking and commenting).
- Be authentic
- Have a certain theme and style that relates to your brand.
Don’t get carried away by the number of an influencer’s followers. It is a very wrong perception to think the influencer with the largest following will deliver the best results.
In fact, the rise of influencers with lesser followings (micro-influencers) have, at times, helped brands way more than what the larger influencers have and this is simply because of their engagement rates.
3. Identify suitable influencers
Since you now have an idea of the type of influencers that should be beneficial to your marketing strategy, your next task would be to identify the suitable ones that fit with your business’ style and branding.
This aspect can be tricky – you can opt to do it manually by looking up relevant keywords and hashtags on social media platforms. From there, you can identify influencers who post within your niche.
However, you don’t have to go through that painstaking process as tools like Linkedin, BuzzSumo, Ninja outreach, etc., can help you out.
With these tools, you will be able to identify suitable influencers. But if you want to make the process easier and more convenient, we recommend partnering with a digital marketing agency.
They can help you deliver excellent branded content, sponsored blog posts, as well as social influencer services.
4. Incentives for the influencer
When it’s time to approach your chosen influencer, try to be dynamic with your offer. Let your offer be unique and stand out from the rest.
Surprisingly, many brands find it difficult to incentivize their influencers beyond monetary rewards.
The fact is that influencers are more motivated to work with a brand when they are given extra perks rather than just cash.
Thus, consider offering extra incentives like discounts or free products to your influencer. With these, your influencer would be more motivated to work and help your company attain more success.
5. Measure your results
Once your influencer marketing campaign is up and running, the next thing to do would be to regularly check its performance to know whether the campaign is helping you meet your major goal.
Remember the KPIs we asked you to set earlier? Great! Take a look at them. Create a spreadsheet and measure the results so far on the metrics you set.
When you do this, you may get to learn some more about running influencer marketing campaigns. The best part is, you’ll get insights into what steps to take at improving your strategy more.
Conclusion
No doubt influencer marketing more than just a trend. It is one of the newest ways of marketing that changing how people interact with businesses.
Because influencer marketing is becoming more crucial to the marketing terrain, the potential for business growth is getting bigger.
So, why not give it a try for your brand today and see how it goes? If it all looks too overwhelming, try contacting the best digital marketing agency in Lagos – Vexceed Technologies to get started.
