In addition to serving as the main communication source for people all over the world, social media has become a very powerful tool for businesses to market their brands. By creating an online presence on various social media platforms, both small and well-established companies can easily and safely increase their following base, spread awareness of their brand and generate more sales.
However, using only social platforms isn’t enough to achieve great online marketing success. Businesses of all kinds and sizes should look for other marketing strategies to help them accomplish their goals in more effective ways. One particular marketing strategy brands can consider is influencer marketing.
In general, influencer marketing refers to the collaboration between a brand and an influencer, working together to promote products and improve brand recognition. If you are new to influencer marketing, here is our simple four-step guide to getting you started.
Know Who You are Influencing
Before you start searching for the right influencer for your brand, you first need to determine who you are influencing. This basically means determining who your target audience is and understanding their needs and personal interests so you can create authentic content that will help you stand out from the crowd.
Start by finding out what your customer persona is, as well as which social platforms they use the most so you can coordinate your marketing actions with their profile.
For instance, if you use Instagram as your main marketing source and want to learn how to grow Instagram followers organically, look for online tools and services that will help achieve your goals and reach a wider customer base.
Find the Right Influencer for Your Brand
When it comes to finding the right influencer for your brand, one of the first things you need to consider is the level of influencer you want to work with.
Typically, there are three main types of influencers and these are mega, macro, and micro-influencers. If you are a small business that is just starting out, then looking for micro-influencers is the right choice for you.
In addition to this, there are other important things you need to consider to make sure the influencer you have chosen is a good fit for your brand, such as:
- Whether the influencer is posting about other brands.
- Do their beliefs and values match yours?
- How big is the influencer’s following base?
- How influential are they in your industry?
Understand the Different Collaboration Types
Although the main purpose of getting an influencer is to share your products and services with their following base, there are several ways you can go about making that happen. These include sponsored content, brand ambassadorship, special discounts, contests and giveaways, and live events.
For instance, sponsored content is probably one of the most common collaboration types of influencer marketing which is used to get your brand’s message across to potential customers. It can be in the form of a text post, video, or social media post which is shared on the influencer’s social account, with CTA inviting followers to purchase the product or service.
Measure the Success of Influencer Marketing
Even after you find the perfect influencer for your brand and employ all the right marketing strategies to promote your products and services, you should track key performance indicators (KPIs) to see how well you are performing on your social media platforms. Some common KPIs are awareness, engagement, and sales/conversion rate.
Another way to calculate the success of influencer marketing is to make a competitive analysis so you can measure the effectiveness and performance of the individual influencer.
You can further measure the impact of your campaign using the interaction rate metric to see the peaks and drops in interactions from the time you started your campaign.
Final thoughts
No matter the size of your business, using influencer marketing is a great way to increase brand awareness, reach a wider client base and generate more sales. However, in order to reap all the benefits this marketing strategy offers, you need to complete a few steps that will help you set up your brand for success.
From understanding your target audience to learning how to measure the success of influencer marketing, refer to our post and follow the tips to make your company more influential than ever before.
