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The Ultimate Guide: Implementing An Influencer Marketing Strategy
In the last few years, influencer marketing has become a hugely significant strategy for brands and businesses looking to target their audience using a partnered influencer.
By collaborating with influencers who have already amassed a trusting following, brands can use these established relationships as a conduit to promote their own products and services.
In this blog post, we’ll explore everything you need to know about influencer marketing to help you understand the importance of implementing this invaluable strategy to grow your business and reach new prospects.
What Is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is an off-shoot of social media marketing that involves a partnership between brands and individuals with a large online following. These individuals, or “influencers,” can range from household names to niche content creators who have built a loyal online following.
Simply put – 69% of consumers trust in an influencer’s recommendations. Due to this, brands that implement influencers into their marketing strategy focus on using an influencer’s credibility and outreach for promotion. By leveraging an influencer’s authority, partnered brands can considerably increase customer engagement.
Why Is Influencer Marketing So Effective?
Influencers are trusted by their followers, and their recommendations are seen as being genuine, authentic and trustworthy. Followers are more likely to trust influencer content than the actual brand. Brands can align their social media marketing strategy with an influencer whose followers suit the demographic the brand hopes to target.
With some influencers having large and connected audiences, brands can utilise their wide reach, communicating their brand’s message, product or service with a broader range of potential customers. Because influencers generally have a high engagement rate, followers are more likely to interact.
Developing Your Influencer Marketing Campaign
To create and develop an effective influencer marketing strategy, several key steps need to be taken:
1. Define Your Goals
Even before reaching out to influencers, it’s vital to define your goals. Common goals include driving traffic to your website, increasing product sales, and gaining new subscribers for your service. You can better understand your influencer selection and campaign by strategising around concise and defined objectives.
2. Identify Your Audience
Your campaign will likely only succeed if you know your audience, even after partnering with popular influencers. Knowing your target demographic means you can select the right influencer for your brand, maximising their reach and effectively connecting with new customers.
3. Choosing Your Partner
Follower count means very little if your chosen influencer’s following is different from your brand’s demographic. Analyse the influencer’s socials and assess their engagement rates such as likes, comments and shares. Before committing to a partnership with an influencer, you should consider a few different factors:
- Does the influencer’s content align with your brand’s image and target demographic
- How active are their followers, and how often do their followers engage with their content
- Is the influencer genuine? Do they have a trustworthy presence?
- How many people could you potentially reach through the influencer?
4. Planning Your Campaign
A few common influencer marketing campaigns can be run. Decide which one best aligns with your goals and what campaign type your influencer’s followers are more likely to engage with
Sponsored Posts:
Pay an influencer to create a social media post where they promote your product or service. Unlike a review, a sponsored post will usually be an influencer hyping up your brand. You can present them with key USPs, and they’ll work their content-creating magic to highlight why your brand or product is special.
Product Reviews:
Send your product to an influencer to review and share with their followers. Your influencer has authority and trust, something that can be invaluable when promoting a new product
Giveaways:
Partner with an influencer to host giveaways or contests to encourage audiences to engage with content. It’s hard to say no to a potential freebie if all that’s needed is to comment and share.
5. Planning Your Budget
Costs can vary significantly depending on the influencer, their reach, and the campaign you’re looking to run.
It would help if you aimed to determine and set your budget as early as possible to keep your campaign from becoming too pricey. It’s also vital to take into consideration any overheads like product samples and platform advertising costs.
6. Outreach & Collabs
Before reaching out to an influencer, clearly state your message and clearly define your partnership’s benefits. Highlight your expectations and build a positive relationship from the get-go; this helps facilitate a smooth campaign and allows you to build a solid relationship that may prove beneficial in the long run.
Building long-term relationships with influencers can lead to more consistent promotions, and by investing time in nurturing these relationships, you can add an extra dimension of authenticity to your brand.
7. Create GOOD Content
Nobody knows your brand better than you. Work alongside your chosen influencers to create content that is authentic to your brand’s image and is also highly engaging. That being said, an influencer will better understand what their followers want to see, so allowing some space and creative freedom could give your campaign the boost it needs.
8. Monitor The Metrics
Any good marketer will tell you that a successful marketing strategy is all about the numbers — it’s a numbers game. Tracking the performance of your influencer marketing campaign by analysing key metrics such as website traffic, engagement rates, and conversion can offer invaluable insights into assessing its successes and opportunities.
Data is incredibly important to all schools of marketing and should be used to adapt current strategies and enhance future ones.
The Key Takeaways
An Influencer marketing strategy is a powerful and highly effective way to connect with your target audience and build brand authenticity. By developing and implementing a strategic plan, fostering healthy partnerships with influencers, and utilising thousands, if not millions, of followers, you can zero in on fresh prospects and begin building a new level of credibility.
If you’re looking to take your marketing game to the next level, partnering with a London digital marketing agency can be incredibly beneficial. Our specialised team of marketers can pair your brand with the right influencer, helping to create some killer, follower-engaging UGC. Take advantage of the power of influencer marketing.
Explore our available packages at The Good Marketer today and connect with thousands of potential customers.