Influencer marketing is one of the fastest-growing marketing tactics for the past few years. Studies show that 40% of consumers had purchased something after seeing it advertised through someone they follow on Instagram, YouTube or Twitter.
So what is influencer marketing? Influencer marketing is the promotion of a brand or its products through the use of individuals who have influence over potential customers. Below are some of the most important influencer marketing tips you need to know.
1. Define Your Goals
An influencer marketing campaign without clearly defined goals and a specified target audience are almost certainly set to fail. This is why you need to have a clear idea of your goals and who you will target to plan your campaign effectively.
Numerous goals can be achieved through an influencer marketing campaign, including brand awareness, reach and engagement or generating revenue and leads. The goals you set will enable you to plan and measure your campaign successfully, by understanding the key metrics you’ll use to assess your performance.
2. Understand Your Target Audience
Along with setting goals for your campaign, you should determine your target audience. This is often overlooked yet is vital to creating a successful influencer strategy. Strategising your campaign will be much easier once you have a clear idea of who you’re targeting. It’s important to take lots of factors into consideration when developing your target audience. You need to know your audience and think about their age, demographics, interests, locations, and more to help you make sure that your campaign reaches the right people.
3. Do Thorough Research on Your Influencers
Influencer marketing’s popularity has increased the number of influencers in the market. Brands flock to influencers to reach out to their massive audiences. These influencers, in turn, charge high fees due to the increased demand. Therefore, when selecting your influencers, you should perform thorough background research about them and their social media profiles. Check the number of followers they have and the average engagements per post. Then, check if they’ve worked with any reputable or recognizable brands in the past.
4. Mark Sponsored Influencer Marketing Content
There are already laws about this in many countries, so this one shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Always clearly mark ads as sponsored content, and expect this from all the influencers you work with. The audience has a right to know if the content they are seeing is sponsored by a brand. This applies even if the creator gets free products instead of money. A clear visible hashtag like #sponsoredad is a great way to properly mark content.
5. Find The Right Social Media Platform
Review and evaluate the social media channels that can best achieve your objectives. Most influencers have different social media platforms – they may be present across channels like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and more. However, you need to know which platform would be most appropriate for your brand. That being said, each channel has its own set of unique influencers, users and content format. Therefore, you need to do deep research when it comes to social media.
6. Reach Out Privately and Personally
Start your communication with a new potential partner slowly by interacting organically with their posts – like their content, comment when appropriate, and engage with them genuinely. When you’re ready to suggest a partnership, a direct message is a great place to start. It may take a little longer to write a personal message to each influencer. But it will show you’re serious about the potential partnership. This will in turn increase your chances of striking a deal. Another key thing to remember is that you don’t want to use influencers when reaching out to potential partners. They prefer it when they are called ‘content creators’ since the term ‘influencer’ is now seen as an insult that belittles their work.
7. Don’t Expect Sudden Results
While influencer marketing may seem like a quick success marketing strategy, the truth is that there are no shortcuts when it comes to anything digital marketing related. A popular influencer may easily be able to showcase your brand extremely quickly to a large audience. However, converting those people into lasting customers can take a lot of time and presence.
Need help with influencer marketing? We’re here to help you. Parachute has over 40 years of collective experience as a digital marketing agency. Contact us today for a free proposal.
