Influencer marketing has become one of the most popular and effective ways for brands to reach new audiences and promote their products or services.
When it comes to social media, we are all familiar with that feeling of ads being shoved in your face constantly. A lot of people go so far as to employ ad-blockers. While it can be argued some persons use social media to find out more information about a product or service, we all know that most persons go to social media with the primary intent of being entertained.
This is where partnering with the right influencers could allow you to reach specific audiences and to create content that adds personality and authenticity to your brand while also being attractive, relatable and entertaining to users.
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing involves partnering with individuals who have a large following on social media to promote your brand or products.
Partnering with the right influencers provides you with an opportunity to tap into their loyal and often large following of people who trust and respect their opinions.
How can you make the most of influencer marketing?
If you're interested in using influencer marketing to promote your brand, here are a few tips to help you get started:
Choose the right influencers.
Look for influencers who have a strong following, preferably your target audience, and whose values align with your brand's.
Consider quality over quantity. While some persons may have large followings, observe whether or not they have active audiences.
What is their engagement like and what is the interaction between the influencer and their audience like? Are the comments they receive positive and do they also take the time to respond to their followers and foster their relationships with them?
Take a closer look. Investigate what content they might be tagged in. While everyone is focused on carefully curating their front facing newsfeed, are they as selective about what they are associated with?
Macro vs micro. Some potential collaborators may have much smaller audiences but upon a closer look much higher rates of engagement. This would be relevant depending on what you are trying to achieve.
Which takes us to our next point...
Set clear goals.
Consider your goals for the campaign you wish to engage influencers for.
Are you raising awareness of a new product or service?
Is it a partnership for a giveaway?
Are you driving sales?
Creating engaging content to develop your brand's personality?
Set clear goals, not just for the influencer you are partnering with, but also for yourself. This could also help you determine which influencers you wish to align with.
Macro influencers tend to be appropriate for building awareness because of their ability to reach high audiences organically. Micro influencers with high engagement rates could be good for creating fun interactions with the brand, such as a giveaway.
Build relationships.
Take the time to get to know your influencers, engage with them on social media, and show them that you value their work.
Some influencers you may want to engage with once for the purposes of a campaign while others you may wish to collaborate with for a long-term partnership.
Be clear about expectations.
Set clear guidelines and make sure your influencers understand your expectations.
Take the time to provide a few examples of the type of content you expect from them.
This can be pulled from existing content they have worked on in the past or from other pages. I have found that showing a good example of how you see your brand and their brand collaborating, significantly reduces the chances of any miscommunication and both collaborators and brands walk away from the partnership happier for it.
Provide creative freedom.
Allow your influencers to create content that resonates with their audience and gives them the flexibility to be creative.
Further to the aforementioned point, while I provide examples, I always reinforce that the examples provided are guidelines not demands. If I have selected an influencer, it is likely because I value their style and creativity that is evident from their profile. It is important to me that I leverage their strengths in a way that is beneficial to both the influencer and my brand.
You want to avoid dictating the creative process and subsequently losing the authenticity that may have attracted you to the influencer in the first place.
Measure results.
Make sure you have a way to measure the success of your influencer partnerships, whether it's through social media analytics, website traffic, or sales data.
Based on the aforementioned goals, ensure you have access to the data you need to measure your success or analyze opportunities for improvement.
To sum up, influencer marketing has emerged as a potent weapon for brands aiming to expand their reach and advertise their offerings. By carefully selecting influencers, establishing clear objectives, building authentic relationships and empowering creativity, you can leverage the power of influencer marketing to accomplish your marketing objectives.
Want to learn more about how to use tactics like influencer marketing to build your brand or business?
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