Introducing Influencer Marketing into your Advertising Strategy
In today’s fast-paced digital world, audiences are no longer susceptible to a “one size fits all” marketing strategy. It is becoming increasingly difficult to target consumers in such a saturated market, and the credibility of advertising messages are lessening every day. This is why more and more companies have been devoting their efforts into influencer marketing, as it allows access to niche audiences through original content from someone that is trusted by their followers. In 2019, 55.4% of marketers leveraged influencer marketing - That number is predicted to grow to 72.5% in 2022, for a total increase of 17.1%.
Photo via Jay Wennington jaywennington, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
The influencer marketing industry grew from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $13.8 billion in 2021. In 2022, you can expect to see this number increase to a whopping $16.4 billion; there is no denying that influencer marketing is a profitable business, and that’s because it directly drives sales. Whatever your needs are, influencer marketing is an innovative way to tap into niche audiences and get your brand seen. If you like the sound of extending your reach, building trust for your product or service, increasing your following, increasing site traffic, facilitating lead generation, and boosting sales, reach out to Alpha Tango Media today to discuss how influencer marketing can elevate your brand.
Influencer marketing is the concept of partnering with an influencer in order for them to promote your brand in front of their followers. The reason influencer marketing is so successful is because these influencers have the ability to drive the purchasing decisions of their followers and fans. Fans trust in their favorite influencers because of their knowledge and authority on a subject, and these marketing messages are delivered in an authentic, personal way. Consumers do not like to be advertised to anymore – it comes across as a cash grab or gimmicky. So, partnerships with influencers are a highly successful means of building sincere, personal relationships with consumers. Through connecting with your brand message in front of their followers, influencers are converting this group into potential customers, expanding your company’s reach and lead generation.
Read on to learn 6 steps to effectively introduce influencer marketing into your advertising strategy.
Step 1: Determine Your Goals with Influencers
First thing’s first; what do you want to achieve out of this partnership? Start by thinking about what your brand needs, and how an influencer marketing campaign will fit into your overall marketing plan. Clearly defining your goals in the early stages of your campaign will help you shape a consistent strategy throughout the entire collaboration. Some examples of goals are:
Increasing your sales
Creating more original content
Increasing your social following
Generating more engagement from your followers
Increasing lead generation
Increasing brand awareness
This is also the step where you should consider your KPIs (key performance indicators) that will eventually be used to measure the success of your campaign. Some awareness KPIs to be mindful of are website traffic, search interest, social engagement, and media mentions. Some Direct Response KPIs to consider are registrations, signups, clicks, or follows.
Step 2: Identify Your Target Audience
Your audience is a specified group of people to whom your brand appeals; defining who these people are is crucial when it comes to a successful campaign. One mistake that brands make in their marketing efforts is trying to cater to a general audience. To maximize your marketing efforts and budget, you need to zero in on your typical customer profiles. Conduct some demographic research; where does your audience live? What are their interests and hobbies? What time of day is best to reach them? What devices and social platforms do they frequent?
Demographic and psychographic insights are your friend when it comes to building a successful campaign that is memorable and relevant to your target audience.
Photo via Free-Photos, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Your audience is a specified group of people to whom your brand appeals; defining who these people are is crucial when it comes to a successful campaign. One mistake that brands make in their marketing efforts is trying to cater to a general audience. To maximize your marketing efforts and budget, you need to zero in on your typical customer profiles. Conduct some demographic research; where does your audience live? What are their interests and hobbies? What time of day is best to reach them? What devices and social platforms do they frequent?
Demographic and psychographic insights are your friend when it comes to building a successful campaign that is memorable and relevant to your target audience.
Step 3: Familiarize Yourself with the Options Available
Once you have outlined the goals for your campaign, it’s important to be aware of the different kinds of influencer marketing partnerships available to you; different campaigns help you achieve different goals. Some examples of influencer campaigns are:
Sponsored Content – Usually the brand will reach out to an influencer and ask if they are willing to promote a product or service for them. The final product is usually a photo, video, or story post endorsing and advocating for your brand.
Reviews - Brands will send an influencer their product or complete a service for free in exchange for performing a review to their followers.
Collaborations - Working closely with influencers to co-create products or content.
Contests and Giveaways- Brands offer a free product or service for the influencer to give away to their followers.
Influencer Takeover – An influencer will take over the social channels of the brand they’re partnering with. During this time, the influencer will post ‘behind-the scenes’ content, sneak peeks, and generally engaging content that keeps your followers interested.
Long-term Brand Ambassadors – This is when a brand and an influencer partner up for an extended period. The influencer becomes the ‘face’ of the brand in a way.
Step 4: Identify Influencer Candidates that Cater to Your Audience
It is so important to find the right influencer to represent your brand; it must be someone that your audience respects, and trusts. If the influencer you have chosen is not a good fit, the partnership will seem disingenuous to your target audience.
You should start by doing a little bit of research on your competitors and others in the industry. This will help you gage not only who they’re working with, but the tier of influencer that your brand may need. The tiers are as follows:
Photo via Vladimir Kudinov madbyte, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Nano – up to 10,000 followers.
Micro – up to 100,000 followers.
Mid-tier – between 500,000-1M followers.
Mega – 1M+ followers
Celebrity – 10M+ followers
However, let us not forget – just because someone has a huge following does NOT mean they are an ideal candidate for your brand. In fact, research has shown that nano and micro influencers have the highest engagement rates on social media compared to other influencers; Those with 1,000 to 5,000 followers had the highest rates of engagement at 8.8%. This is because they are authentic, brand-enthusiastic, and offer some sort of reputation or authority in their field. Not to mention, nano and micro influencers are much more cost-effective than big names and celebrities while garnering all the same benefits outside of reach.
Step 5: Let This Partnership Grow
People trust long-term relationships between brands much more than one-off posts. Followers will not believe that a one-off post is a genuine endorsement. The benefits of long-term partnerships include:
A deep understanding of your brand objective and goals
A deep understanding of your expectations from them as a partner
The creation of original, high-quality content
Long-term partnerships demonstrate loyalty, authentic endorsement, and your brand’s heightened relevance to the consumer. Fans and followers want to support the ventures of their favorite influencers but find it hard to when the partnership seems artificial. So, a long-term project or partnership will help sell the legitimacy of the campaign.
Step 6: Analyze the Results
Circle back to your objectives and defined KPIs from step one. Did we meet these goals? Have you seen the improvements that you wanted to see? We can compare and evaluate by looking at a few key elements:
Brand Awareness – An increase in brand awareness can be measured through audience growth, an increase in impressions, reach, and brand name tags/hashtag mentions.
Social Engagement – likes, comments and shares can help us measure an increase here.
Click-through rate – We can evaluate the number of times a potential customer clicks on a certain links to your content or website; a low CTR shows that users are not finding on your website, and a high CTR means more and more people are landing on your pages. More eyes on your content means an increased chance of making a sale.
Referral traffic – You can see how many people viewed your site or content through specific affiliate links. With influencer campaigns, you will typically use unique affiliate links to track campaign success.
Sales – We can evaluate how much of the traffic you received got converted into paying customers.
Discuss Influencer Marketing with the Experts at Alpha Tango Media Today
If you are ready to introduce influencer marketing into your advertising strategy, contact us at Alpha Tango Media today. We have the experience necessary to help you achieve your social media marketing goals.