Everyone is talking about influencer marketing, but not everyone knows how to utilize it for big ROI. For a successful influencer marketing Campaign campaign, you need to understand what influencer marketing is about and carefully follow the trends in the ever-changing landscape of influencer marketing.
This is especially true for small business owners who need influencers to help them spread brand awareness.
To help you get started with influencer marketing, here are 8 tips that have proven to result in successful campaigns.
1. Look for Audience Engagement
Influencer reach is no longer considered an indicator of an influencer’s quality says Evan Asano, CEO, and founder of Mediakix, a leading influencer marketing agency.
Instead, what you should focus on is looking for influencers that are engaged with their audience. These kind of influencers are more likely to motivate their audience to take action while the same may not be true with influencers who simply have a large number of subscribers – not all of which are interested in the message they’re trying to spread.
2. Give Your Influencer Creative Freedom
Sure, you need to have some creative control over how your brand is represented, but you also need to give some of that control to your influencers.
Influencers know their audience best because they interact with them on a regular basis and have been creating a specific type of content their audience enjoys.
Let your influencer create material for your brand that matches their own brand and there’s a greater chance you’ll promote your product/service through organic content which most internet users now enjoy.
3. Micro-Influencers are Big Now
If you’re a small brand with a tight budget for marketing campaigns, then micro-influencers may be your only viable option. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing as Markerlyreports.
According to their latest research, micro-influencers are now attracting even big brands due to their greater audience engagement. These influencers are also more likely to attract an audience interested in content, meaning, you’ll actually be able to get their attention with the help of a micro-influencer while also spending less.
4. Keep a Close Eye on Your Campaign
While 95% of marketers judged influencer marketing to be effective, 78% of them also said that measuring the ROI of their influencer marketing program will continue to be one of their top challenges.
Luckily, there are ways you can roughly determine if your program is successful or not. Google analytics can help you analyze your referral traffic.
Other than that, any kind of increase in sales and leads could be a strong indicator that your campaign is working. Other things to look out for are impression visible through likes, views, and shares.
5. Find Your Match
Of course, a successful influencer marketing campaign is the one that results in a long-term business partnership.
Make sure to find an influencer that you will be able to work with for the long-run and think of your relationship as a partnership above all else. But for this to happen, you need to find the best influencer for your specific goals.
One way you can do that is through your own research or you can ask marketing agencies to help you with that.
Other than that, platforms like Proven SEO can also help you find the right influencers.
6. Make it as Effortless as Possible
Jamie Simoni, Social Marketing Manager at American Eagle Outfitters, says that its best to lay everything out on a silver platter when you’re trying to get someone involved in your campaign. Since influencers already have their hands full with their own content creation, audience engagement, and other endeavors, the easier you make it for them to spread your message, the better.
Communicate clearly with your influencer and if possible, do the majority of the work for them.
7. Focus on Shareable Content
Organic and authentic content is shareable content. While you’ll probably be giving plenty of space to your influencer to sponsor your product as elegantly as possible, it is still important to be clear with your influencer about how they will go about this.
Overly-branded content does not work in influencer marketing because it is not material that can be easily shared and liked. Evan Asano suggests creating organic content that people will find easy to utilize in their own life.
A good example is how-to instructions for a certain product which are more likely to be shared over a long period of time while product reviews not as much.
8. Keep Your Other Content Up to Date
A big part of every influencer marketing campaign is getting more traffic to your brand’s social media profiles and website. For this reason, make sure to keep these sites up to date and publish new content regularly. These sites will work as promotional material in themselves, adding up to your marketing campaign.
Also See : Top 6 Social Media Marketing Trends to Stay Ahead in 2017
Conclusion
Influencer marketing is all the rage now, and for good reasons. The marketing strategy has proven to be more in tune with online users helping generate more sales and increasing brand awareness.
If you are just starting with influencer marketing, make sure to follow these tips and we’re sure you’ll join in on the 95% of marketers claiming that this strategy helped them increase revenues.
