As you might have noticed from the increased #ads on your Instagram feed, influencer marketing has grown as one of the most popular advertising strategies for many small businesses and large companies alike. With the rise of social media, many people began to establish themselves as online personalities, gaining the trust of a dedicated audience who look to them to for advice. Since then, companies have brought on “influencers” to help market their products. While effective, there are a few key strategies to be aware of when influencer marketing.
Research Your Influencers
There are influencers out there for virtually every industry, find one that is the right fit for you. The main advantage of bringing on an influencer is access to their built-in audience. You want to ensure that an influencer you choose to work with has an engaged audience that matches up with your target audience. Remember, ROI involves more than just a subscriber count. Don’t get hung up on the amount of subscribers an influencer has. Rather, study the engagement and interaction their posts and videos receive. An influencer with a smaller follower count might have a more engaged audience and receive more views on their posts and could be even more of an asset to work with. Do your research and find an influencer that fits your brand and your requirements.
Build a Relationship
Bigger influencers receive hundreds of emails a day from companies looking to work with them, make sure you stand out from the rest. Start by engaging on their social media platforms to begin building a relationship with them. This will help the influencer recognize your brand when you send out your first invitation email. Designate one point of contact for the influencer. An influencer will be more interested in working with someone they know, like, and trust. You can build this trust by being a consistent point of contact for them and by proving you’re friendly and easy to contact. This relationship will help when negotiating terms and working out the technicalities of your potential partnership.
Encourage Creativity
It is important that the content your influencer produces be genuine so their audience doesn’t feel as though they are being over-sold your particular product. The best way to do this is to release some control and let your influencer take creative reign over the content. Of course, you’ll want to ensure that the influencer you are working with is leaving a good impression with their audience and is representing your product in a way that is appropriate and on-brand for you, but allowing them to have creative control in the way they execute their ideas will produce overall higher quality content. As long as the final product is in line with your agreements and you have final approval, let the influencer do what they know best when marketing your product to their audience.
At the end of the day, you want to make sure you are reaching your final goal with influencer marketing: increasing sales and getting in front of a new, interested audience. These marketing strategies will help you create a bond with your influencer and get the best results out of your partnership. If you’re interested in bringing on influencer to help support your business, we can help! Give us a call at 949-436-5173 or visit our site for more information.
