Influencer Marketing: A Beginner's Guide

The popularity of influencers has paved the way for brands and businesses to reach a wider audience thanks to the mileage they provide as advocates and ambassadors.

It opened the concept of influencer marketing, a game-changing strategy that offers valuable promotion and brand exposure to a specified audience.

Influencer marketing is a powerful technique, especially in the digital world, where people lean toward people they believe in before trusting a particular product or service. 

This article provides a guide on utilizing this practical approach to grow your business. 

 

What is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing is a social media marketing plan that taps influencers, content creators, and bloggers to promote or endorse products and services through their audience. These influencers are determined as an authority or have a certain level of expertise in a specific niche that makes people interested in them.

With their huge following, they have the power to shape customers' buying decisions and drive sales toward your business. 

In 2022 alone, a whopping 4.14 billion was spent by businesses for influencer marketing drive, proving that the rise of influencers plays a significant role in today's competition. The photo-sharing app Instagram is the most-used social media platform where influencer marketing thrives.

The collaboration between brands and influencers can go from product mentions and postings to event participation and endorsements. 

Influencers can often be confused with UGC creators. The main difference between influencers and UGC creators is a social following. Influencers have established audiences based on a specific niche. UGC Creators do not have social media followings and specialize in creating video content for paid media. 

 

Tips for Effective Influencer Marketing

To pull off a successful approach, you must understand the right way to collaborate with influencers and achieve benefits that go both ways. Here are some pointers to remember as you create solid influencer marketing. 

 

Look for an influencer that fits your brand

The first step towards influencer marketing is to find the perfect fit for your business. But with millions of influencers worldwide, how do you identify the right one?

Follow these steps to identify the influencer that suits your brand.

·     Know your target audience. Have a clear picture of who your audience are. By knowing their behavior and choices, you will know the influencer they subscribe content from.

·    Research. Search social media platforms for relevant influencers with a good following and the correct engagement rate with your target audience. Observing the depth of their interest in your industry is also essential. 

·     Evaluate. Once you have made your list of potential influencers, look into their content. Weigh in the type of content they provide and if they align with your brand's vision and values.  Furthermore, be mindful of their reputation and check if some red flags may pull down your brand if you associate with them. 

·   Collaborate. Now that you have determined the right influencer for you, it's time to settle the details of your partnership. Be open with your objectives and set things in black and white before finally inking a tie-up with them. 

 

Pick a suitable influencer marketing program that addresses your goals

Considering your objectives, select a type of influencer marketing program that you will dedicate your efforts to.

Here are the various forms of marketing techniques to look into:

Affiliate Marketing

One of the leading types of influencer marketing programs is affiliate marketing. About 50 percent of businesses use this program for influencers, allowing them to get a commission for any sales they generated through their dedicated affiliate links. 

Brand Ambassadorship

A long-term partnership between the brand and the influencer, brand ambassadorship is a long-term understanding between the brand and the influencer where content is made on a recurring basis. As ambassadors, influencers are considered the face of the brand and may require for their appearance and participation in events.

Sponsored Content

Sponsored content is a program where brands pay influencers to create specific content highlighting their products or services. This content can be through social media posts, videos, or blogs. 

Influencer Marketplaces

A hub where you can find the most suitable influencer for you, networks gather influencers from different niches which can apply to you when they meet your criteria. 

Influencer Networks

A platform of influencer communities that lets you connect with them and find opportunities for collaboration. 

Influencer Events

Influencer events involve gathering selected influencers organized to introduce your brand and let them experience your products or services. This event can allow influencers to create content and share it with their subscribers. 

 

Track your campaigns

Use a tracking system to monitor the performance of each campaign and see how the influencer positively affects your objectives.

Ensure that all areas are covered across all devices and social media channels. Insights derived from your tracker allow you to adjust your strategy, change your campaign, or make informed decisions for your next steps. 

Introduce your brand

Influencers need to be familiar with your brand or at least have heard about you before you start collaborating with them.

If your brand is relatively new to them, you may introduce your offering by sending out free samples or trials. This opportunity gives them first-hand experience of your products and services, where they can find out if they can resonate with you and eventually endorse you to their followers.

Building a relationship before you engage with them formally provides a more profound sense of interest and understanding. 

Ensure an excellent customer experience for leads

As your influencer does the job of promoting your brand, ensure that leads are treated with a satisfying experience.

From your physical store to your website and social media platforms, create a user-friendly experience for all your bases. This shall mirror the positive reviews and endorsement of influencers towards your brand, reflecting truthfulness and authenticity.

Get an influencer marketing specialist

Influencer marketing cannot be learned overnight. If you have little knowledge about this approach, then you need to connect with a skilled professional who can take on the role of executing this job for you.

An influencer marketing expert can help you maximize your resources and ensure that all investments are placed in a campaign that will help your business grow. 

Create a workspace for your campaigns

A project management hub is essential to oversee all campaigns for your influencer marketing efforts. With the right processes and tools, team members' communication is faster, and project collaboration is more seamless.

A workspace also allows easier tracking of ongoing projects, making sure that everything is accomplished at the right time. 

Be clear with your message

For all the content you provide with your influencers, always set things clear on your call-to-action.

Curate a clear and concise message that your influencers are set to disseminate to their followers. A clear message may only lead to losing potential customers and sales. 

Provide regular updates and keep influencers engaged 

Build a connection that goes beyond a one-time collaboration. Provide updates to influencers about the progress of your project and allow them to give honest feedback. 

In return, you may also offer support by providing insights on their content, helping them optimize it, and increasing engagement with their followers.

These efforts strengthen your collaboration and foster a healthy and lasting relationship between them. 

Influencer marketing is an effective technique to introduce your brand to a broader audience. However, this strategy does not only work by getting influencers with millions of followers and paying them for promotion.

Aside from considering every campaign's reach and engagement, authenticity plays a vital role in this drive. Every campaign needs to be anchored with trust and credibility to receive genuine business growth.