Add impact to your influencer strategy with Influencer One
Why an influencer marketing strategy?
The digital marketplace is changing. Once the domain of banners and pop-ups, we’re seeing a change in how consumers react to advertising. 54% of people state they won’t click a banner ad. So what would they click instead?
You need to look at the world of social media. Places like Instagram, Twitter, and blogs are now dominated by influencers - people that create content that engages your consumers. With 40% of people saying they would purchase an item after seeing it used by an influencer, what you need to do is link those influencers with your brand. That is influencer marketing.
The trick is making sure your influencer marketing campaigns are done right - which isn’t easy. But our 12 dos and don’ts will keep you on track.
Find influencers
DO decide if you want reach or engagement
When it comes to influencers, some people think reach is key to getting results. That the more eyes you get on your content, the better.
But that isn’t always the case. Engagement is just as important - quality content that gets your audience actively commenting on and sharing your message. The issue is, reach and engagement are often two sides of the same coin. Celebrity influencers can reach huge audiences with limited engagement. While micro influencers often engage smaller, niche communities.
Decide what result you want first, and then pick an influencer to suit.
Get your butt to Space https://t.co/6AFEGhERrG @DollarShaveClub #ad https://t.co/v1H4nnYnpP
— Weird Science (@weird_sci) October 24, 2018
With 2.02 million followers, Weird Science is great influencer for opening your brand to a wider audience. But not for driving engagement.
DON'T pick the wrong influencer
Your influencer has reach. And engagement. But what about relevance?
Don’t let the metrics override your observations. Before picking an influencer, pay attention to their content and see exactly what they’re saying. Do they discuss your brand over your competitors’, or is it more equal ground?
And what about your brand purpose? Do your brand values align with your potential influencer’s? When you align your brand with an external voice, you’re showing support for their messaging. If they say something controversial while aligned with you, you’re going to face the music too.
DO keep your team updated on your choices
As with every digital marketing campaign, communication is essential to making sure your influencer strategy work. And that means ensuring all your teams are kept updated and informed.
Spreadsheets won’t cut it here. Instead, you need a complete influencer marketing platform, that displays exactly which influencers you’ve found, what social platforms they use, which stage of contact you are at with them, and what impact they’ve made to your campaign.
DON'T spam your influencer
This ties into the above. Imagine receiving an email from a company requesting something from you. Then the next day, you get another email from a different person from the same place. And the next, another email from another person from the same company.
How would you feel? Confused? Maybe. Annoyed? For sure.
Align your teams. Communicate. And make sure either one person takes responsibility for the external comms, or that all the messages you send are tracked.
an Instagram diet shake company literally wouldn’t stop emailing me about a potential ‘’collaboration’’ and so after at first ignoring them, I decided to tell them what I actually thought pic.twitter.com/OKEKLirAEU
— char (@_charl0ttesweb) November 19, 2017
Spamming can quickly turn your influencer campaign into a social crisis.
Manage influencers
DO approach influencers correctly
Once you’ve found your influencer, make sure you approach them correctly. You’re building relationships here - start right!
First up, find out how they like to be contacted. Check bios or profiles to find the best contact point for them: some people prefer an email, others a tweet.
In this GDPR age, don’t go searching elsewhere for additional contact points. Just because you’ve randomly found a number for a potential influencer, it doesn’t mean they’ll appreciate a call.
DON'T underestimate their professionalism
And when you do make contact, keep it professional. There’s a misconception that influencers are amateurish, just because they run their business from home. Forget that!
Many are independent entrepreneurs, managing their own profile and brand. Yes, they may appear undisciplined online, but behind the scenes, many are working hard to maintain a business. Treat every influencer as you would any other supplier.
LadBaby’s Mark Hoyle may seem eccentric in his videos. But offline, he’s a professional running a network of social media channels.
DO set a clear relationship
This is something to consider from the start of your communication. What do you want from this relationship? And what do you want to give in return?
It’s a two-way street after all.
By covering this from the very start, you avoid getting yourself into a sticky situation further down the line. Nobody wants to finalize a campaign plan, then see all the hard work come undone when you discover your content creators will cost more than your budget.
DON'T expect a freebie
Yes. Free mentions are great. But don’t expect to get them every time. Set your budget when you start your campaign and expect to spend it.
For many, their social channels are their career. At the end of the day, they have to convert their workload into a wage slip. Giving stuff away isn’t going to put food on the table.
Saying that, you may be able to offer something just as valuable to them. A free product is always appreciated and may win them over. And some may be willing to work for you just for the cred. See if there is anything you can offer that will satisfy both parties.
A freebie can go a long way...
Monitor influencers
DO set a goal
What do you expect to achieve from your campaign? Before you start to work with influencers, you need to know what you expect them to do.
Set yourself some tangible targets that you can set, and then measure against.
SMART goals are essential for effective influencer marketing. Don’t just aim to “improve” or “grow.” Aim to improve by XX% or grow by X% year-on-year.
DON'T make it vanity
Speaking of goals, make sure they’re impactful. And that means they relate directly to your business goals (i.e., make you money).
Vanity metrics won’t help you here. Yes, it’s nice to grow your Facebook audience. Or to get a blog post with a huge reach. But does that really do anything for your business?
Forget just building brand awareness. Set a goal that will make a real difference, and make that the target of your campaigns.
DO monitor your results
Monitoring your results appears difficult. In fact, 53 percent of marketers struggle to measure the performance of their influencer campaigns.
But with a decent influencer marketing platform, it’s simple. By placing a real value on each mention and engagement you receive, you can convert you influencer campaign results into a tangible ROI. Which you can compare against your other content marketing and PR efforts.
An influencer marketing platform like Influencer One, helps you manage your campaign ROI in real-time.
DON'T forget to tie them back to your goals
But...Don’t forget to link those results back to your campaign goals. If your influencer marketing strategy is to increase sales of your latest software by 10%, and you actually improve sales of another product instead. That’s great. But it’s not quite what you wanted.
By linking back to your goal, you can see what is not quite aligned in the campaign. Maybe your influencer CTA is wrong. Or your target audience isn’t quite right. Having clear goals and measurement means you can optimize the campaign as you get results.
12 steps - One awesome influencer marketing strategy
That’s all you need for influencer marketing success. Simple steps to remember that will help you find and use influencers more effectively.
Not detailed enough?
Then you’ll love our new Influencer One - the one hub that links your teams, your influencers, and your campaigns.
Be one of the first to try it out. Request a free demo now...
