How to Make Influencer Marketing Your Greatest Asset

Everyone is talking about influencer marketing, thanks to social media. But to trace back originality, it is not a very new concept. Many decades ago, influencer marketing was restricted to celebrities promoting the product. Then, once the blogging scene came around, a lot of brands collaborated with dedicated bloggers to promote their products.

Now, this marketing strategy has found its way on social media including Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Snapchat. This type of marketing is carried out by individuals who have been posting about products and have built a loyal fan following. Their followers trust their choice, and when they endorse a product, the chances of people buying them are higher.

Is Influencer Marketing Important or Mandatory? 

In short, yes. If you are not convinced, take a look at the statistics:

1. 89% of the marketing people believe that the ROI is better than advertising in other channels, as it delivers 11X more 
2. For every dollar invested in influencer marketing, the business generates $6.50 revenue on an average 
3. 49% of people rely on influencer recommendations 
4. The influencer marketing space is about to hit $10 billion by 2020

How to Grow Your Business with Influencer Marketing

• Set Specific Goals 

Before you start searching for your influencers, you need to set a specific goal you want to achieve. Some of them include increasing brand engagement across social media, growing followers count, creating a strong brand presence, increasing web traffic, and ultimately increasing sales. Do some competitive research and see who they are working with and how it is working out for them.

• Find Correct Influencers and Decide on Pay Scale

When you are on the lookout for the right influencer for your brand, look into the type of people you are interested in. You must also consider people whose values and posts are in align with your business. There are different types of influencers, including celebrities and popular ones, with more than 50,000 followers. Nowadays, micro-influencers are also on the rise. They have a follower count between 5000 to 10000 and sometimes even less than in 2000. But they are more focused on the topics they post about and their engagement with their followers is high. The compensation method for celebrities and popular accounts will be paid in cash and handled by agencies. It costs anywhere between $300 to $800 per post. While the micro-influencers simply accept your product and can offer you a review. Having a transparent working relationship can make your brand trustworthy.

• Allow Influencer’s Creative 

If you have found the right influencer, the next step is to plan your marketing strategy. There are so many things you can experiment in collaboration with your influencers, and the best part is they showcase their creative side as well. Don’t be rigid on the ways to market and allow them to contribute. One of the ways to catch the audience's attention is hosting a giveaway through your influencer page. It automatically brings traffic to your website and increases your follower count. If you are planning to launch/relaunch a product, you can ask your influencer partner to do as well. Finally, nothing like planned weekly/monthly posts decided by them that keeps reiterating the brand presence among the audience. You can also offer discount codes, custom URLs, etc. You can also ask them to take over your social media and do live or Q&A sessions. 

• Get Reviews and Testimonials 

The first thing the customers look for while buying online is what people are saying about it. Nobody wants to buy a product which is not useful for them or does not work out for them in a longer run. In that sense, testimonials are quite important. Ask your influencers to get testimonials and ask them to give reviews as well. These are a great asset to your product.

• Decide on Which Platform to Promote

With so many existing social media platforms, choose ones that will help you reach the end goal. This is as important as choosing your influencer. The social media platform must suit your demographics and audience. For example, if your product speaks through pictures, then Instagram is ideal. While videos go viral on Facebook and YouTube. For long written forms and professional information, LinkedIn is ideal. Try and test different platforms before fixing something.

What Not to Do While Engaging with Influencer Marketer

1. Don’t expect your influencers to work for free. A clear monetary arrangement is necessary. 
2. Don't make the posts boring or generic. Help influencers to work on creative posts with clear inputs. Don’t be afraid to change the strategy at any point in time. 
3. Keep in touch with your influencers even after the assignment is completed. Send a holiday greeting or thank you note. This simple thing can go a long way. 
4. Don’t rush the influencers and expect immediate results. These things take time.