Once upon a time, not that long ago at all, influencer marketing was limited to high-profile celebrities. Today, however, the world of digital marketing has changed immensely — largely thanks to the magic worked by influencer marketing services. The industry has expanded to include not only millionaire celebrities but also micro- and nano-influencers, who are becoming increasingly popular in the marketing world.
According to a survey, 32 percent of respondents said they got increased engagement from influencer marketing. The caveat: you need a solid and well-planned influencer marketing strategy in place that aligns well with your business goals.
With that in mind, here are some best practices used by people that offer influencer marketing services all over the world — so you, too, can create and incorporate a successful influencer marketing strategy for your brand.
5 Steps to Jumping into the World Of Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has emerged as an increasingly popular strategy for both small and large brands. It can, after all, offer a lot to businesses: everything from boosted engagement to the generation of accurate leads and enhanced sales numbers. To get your hands on a slice of this incredibly lucrative pie, here are five steps you can follow.
1. Define Your Goals in The Context of Your Audience
The very first step to formulating a successful influencer marketing strategy is to determine your objectives and performance metrics. What exactly are your business goals? Are you looking to enhance brand recognition or engage more with your intended audience? Do you want to raise subscribers, acquire more website traffic, or increase product sales?
Once you have defined your objectives, specify a few key performance indicators (KPIs) to track your campaign’s effectiveness. For example, if your goal is to increase brand recognition, your focus might be on KPIs linked to reaching and impressions.
Additionally, it is essential to identify your target audience. Providers of influencer marketing services conduct thorough market research to identify your typical buyer’s demographics. Which social media platforms does your intended audience hang out on and spend most of their time on? What influences them to make purchasing decisions? You can then leverage this information to locate an influencer who aligns with your objectives, target platforms, and brand values.
2. Choose the Perfect Influencers for Your Brand
To proceed with the strategy you’ve charted out alongside your influencer marketing services provider, the next step is to discover suitable influencers for your campaign. For those new to influencer marketing, this task might seem incredibly overwhelming, especially at first glance. After all, there are so many different kinds of influencers out there!
It’s imperative that you ensure that your list includes influencers whose audience demographics align with yours and who have the potential to influence the decision-making process of your target audience. If you find yourself lost at this stage, an influencer marketing services provider can be of great help in narrowing down the right influencers for your needs.
3. Take a Good Look at Their Metrics
Once you’re done shortlisting potential influencers that fit well with your brand image, it’s crucial to assess their metrics to determine who would fit best with your influencer marketing strategy. To do this, you can begin by checking their social media platforms and reviewing their number of followers, reach, and engagement metrics in relation to their audience.
Additionally, it’s imperative that you take the time to ensure that their content aligns with your brand to avoid partnering with an influencer whose usual promotions are not relevant to your product.
A large audience may be tempting, but it’s not the all-end-all of influencer marketing. In many cases, the bigger the following, the less intimate and authentic their relationship with their audience. An experienced influencer marketing services provider can help you get a much closer look at an influencer’s engagement metrics and their fit with your brand image.
If you’re targeting a specific market, for example, it is almost certainly more beneficial to collaborate with several smaller nano-influencers who have more relevant and niche audiences than one big influencer.
4. Iron Out the Terms
Once you’re done narrowing down your shortlist of potential influencers, it’s time to take action and start engaging with them. This can be an intimidating process at first, which is why many brands partner with influencer marketing services to handle the nitty-gritty for them.
If you want to go the DIY route, you can do so by reaching out to them and starting a conversation. Be clear about your budget, the desired brand coverage, and the level of control you expect to have over sponsored posts. It’s also important to discuss content usage rights at this point.
Once all terms are mutually agreed upon, influencer marketing services include a contract which both parties sign — and voila! You’re ready to shoot for the stars.
5. Keep Track of Results and Course Correct as Necessary
Once your strategy is on the internet, it’s time to track and measure the outcomes of your collaboration. You should revisit your initial objectives to evaluate whether the influencer is meeting your expectations and whether their promotions have had a favorable impact on your campaign.
For instance, you can check if there has been an improvement in your website ranking or if you have gained more social media followers or made more sales.
These considerations can be analyzed with an influencer marketing services provider, who will be able to assist you in determining if your campaign has been effective or if you need to make any changes to your influencer marketing strategy.
The Upshot
When you work with an experienced and trusted influencer marketing services provider like AdLift, you get the full package. In other words, they take care of everything for you, from finding the right influencers to planning and optimizing the content that will go out on your behalf. In some ways, it’s a lot like having a co-pilot for your digital marketing strategies. It’s a pretty sweet deal, right?
