What is influencer marketing, and how can it actually help your business?
Influencer marketing is the process of working with well-known social media personalities to promote your business. Build awareness around your brand by allowing influencers to use their voices to spread your message. Through their own pages, each influencer has cultivated audiences with similar interests. With 10k-100k followers, even a micro-influencer can help grow your base at a reasonable price. By working with influencers, you also gain access to new audiences at a fraction of the price of traditional marketing banners.
STEPS INVOLVED IN GETTING BENEFIT FROM AN INFLUENCER CAMPAIGN:
- Set the target audience for your campaign.
- Locate the right influencer for the job.
- Build a relationship with the influencer
- Set ideal campaign goal strategies
- Help influencers create better content
- Monitor the campaign
Knowing the purpose of your campaign
Having an unclear campaign goal is a mistake that everybody does for influencer campaigns. Henceforth it is better to have a clear picture on what is your marketing goals. Strategy varies from if your objective is to increase followers to generate leads or boost engagement. Increasing sales by generating more traffic to your business should be your prime goal in influencer marketing.
Once your objective or campaign goals are clear, then it's time to connect with influencers.
Where and How to find influencers for your Business?
Instagram is the best place to find the right influencers for your business since 79% of brands consider Instagram is the most important platform for them. With so many influencers online, it is difficult to find the appropriate ones.
HERE IS HOW YOU CAN FIND THEM:
1. Search your own social media pages:
People who are already interested in your brand and who are consistently engaging with your posts.
Look for people who consistently comment on your posts.
Check and see if your account is tagged in posts. Anyone who regularly engages with your brand is a potential candidate.
2. Search hashtags related to your business:
You can find influencers who are already working with similar products to yours when you search hashtags related to your business.
3. Look through your competitor's pages:
If you have competition, look through their social media accounts for influencers.
Review and select from the Influencer options
Take some time to inspect their accounts. Make sure that the influencer’s audience is similar to yours. What is their geographic location? What is their age? Do they speak the same language as your market demographic? The goal here is to discover where your audiences overlap with each other.
You have to consider some key facts before choosing your Influencer:
Demographics: Look out for the locations where your influencer's followers located
Engagement: "A huge following is useless unless that audience is engaged. High engagement rates mean followers are tuning in and taking action."
In general, you want to see at least 2-3% engagement for a worthwhile influencer. 5% engagement is considered great, while anything above 10% is viral and likely some stellar content creation.
Content: check with the content quality and should add value to your brand.
How to reach out to your Influencers?
Check their account or webpage for email contact. Make sure you introduce yourself personally so that they feel like they know who they’re talking to.
Most professional influencers have a media kit of some kind. Asking for one is a great way to see if you are working with a serious influencer.
Once you’ve made introductions, talk about your campaign. Explain the direction of the campaign and be as transparent as possible about the timeline for the project, important dates, and rates.
Conclusion
Adding influencers to your marketing campaigns can be the next big game changer for your business.