Building an effective influencer marketing strategy

Influencer marketing has the power to ignite your brand – in the best way possible, but you need to have a solid strategy to make this a reality. If you don’t, it would be equivalent to launching a missile in the incorrect direction. You should put developing an influencer marketing strategy at the top of your priority list for this reason.

what is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing is when you – a brand – partner with an influencer to promote a product or service. This is done through sponsored posts, videos, or any brand promotion content. You and your influencer will collaborate together and curate posts that will resonate with the influencer’s audience. The reason brands focus so much on influencer marketing is that it works. A Twitter study shows how much influencers impact customer behaviour: 40% of people acknowledged having purchased something from an online retailer after seeing an influencer using it on Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube, and 49% stated they relied on influencer recommendations when making buying decisions.

An influencer is anyone with a social media influence – not just celebs. As long as someone has an engaged group of followers on social media, they are an influencer. Influencers fall into the following categories:
Nano Influencers: these Influencers are not necessarily defined by numbers, but rather by the intimate relationship with their follower base
Micro-Influencers: 1k – 10k followers, whose following is based on their area of expertise and interests
Macro Influencers: 10k +
Celebrity Influencers: 100k +

The type of influencer you choose for your campaign is solely dependent on your campaign goals. If you want high engagement, use nano influencers. If you want a high-profile celeb, shoot for macro and mega influencers.

Influencer marketing is a multi-billion-dollar industry and brands invest in smart strategies to get the following benefits in return:

  • Enhanced brand awareness

    • Gives your target audience the chance to get to know you and your story.

  • Building trust and authority

    • Partner with quality influencers and pump out quality content.

  • Reaching target audiences

    • The best way to do this is to find out who they are already listening to.

  • Connecting with new audiences

    • If you are ready to expand into new territory, get in touch with influencers from all over the globe.

  • Generating leads and conversions

    • Effective influencer strategies will deliver sales. You need to figure out how to make sure you are covering all the bases – we can help you with this.

  • Creating long-lasting relationships

    • Good business always comes down to the relationships you create and the people you create them with. If you are in it for the long run, you are going to need the right influencers by your side.

What would you like your campaign to accomplish? Do you have a firm grip on their demographics? Do you know who they follow on social media? Do you know what their interests are?

Companies like theSALT have thousands of Influencers opted into our platform, who are ready to work with you and your brand.
Now that you’ve identified your audience, you need to spend time getting to know them and what they are into. This step will set the foundation for your strategy, here’s what you will need.

All the research around building an audience persona is taken care of for you when you pair up with a company such as ourselves. An audience persona is the description of a person who represents your target audience – fictional, but based on real data. When you take this a step further you create influencer personas, and they will “swipe right” on your audience personas.

A solid foundation for your influencer marketing strategy is based on the following 3 steps:

  1. The goal of the campaign
  2. Ideal Target Audience
  3. Understanding the demographics, psychographics, and interests of the market

Finding the right influencer for your campaign has become a problem for marketing professionals. In the past marketers went out of their way to find the biggest name athlete or celebrity they could find – and afford – but thanks to nano-influencers, the game has changed. Now a campaign has to identify the nuances of the audiences it is targeting and match them to the right influencers whose values align with the brand’s values, and who have the necessary followings.

However, if this is your first venture into influencer marketing with nano- and micro-influencers, you may want to start small. In our experience, influencer-led campaigns that are supported by performance campaigns always have greater engagement and conversion outcomes than brand-led campaigns. The key is to start since you are in an ever-changing and expanding environment. The more you familiarise yourself, the better your business will be able to anticipate trends.

Author: Kevin Kirby

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