Many brands or companies nowadays are looking more into influencer marketing. That’s largely because influencer marketing can often bring in a higher ROI than other marketing channels. Of course, influencer marketing is always the most effective when coupled up with more traditional digital marketing. This could be search engine optimisation (SEO), content marketing, social media, and PPC (pay-per-click) advertising.
Moving towards “Micro influencers”
But when more companies are interested in influencer marketing, the cost is also rising. This means that the ROI isn’t as high anymore. Influencer marketing is saturating. It leads to the point where companies are ignoring the big stars. Instead, they’re seeking “micro influencers.” Micro influencers are individuals on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and TikTok. They can have a relatively small following.
That is because the micro influencer’s followers tend to be highly engaged. It is also easier to find more specific demographics within those followers. If a superstar has 20 million followers, it might be more difficult to find specific demographics. These micro influencers are good for marketers because this specificity makes reaching target audiences much easier. But most importantly, micro influencers generally charge much less than influencers with millions of followers. Hence, why brands and companies of all sizes are starting to seek them out.
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is a form of online marketing. That involves a brand collaborating with an online influencer to market one of its products or services. There can be a lot of different forms of collaboration between the brand or company and the influencer. Some brands for example just work with an influencer to improve brand recognition.
This form of marketing is kind of a hybrid of old and new marketing tools. An old thing is a celebrity endorsement. The new part is to place it into a modern-day content-driven marketing campaign. But influencer marketing doesn’t just involve celebrities. Nowadays it’s moving towards influencers who might not be famous.
Are you interested in exploring how influencer marketing will help your business? Contact us for more information today.
Who are influencers?
An influencer can be defined in many ways but here are couple of common characteristics:
- influencers have a power to affect the purchasing decisions of others. That might be because of their authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with their audience.
- they also have a following in a distinct niche, with whom they actively engage. The size of the following can be of a different size depending on the topic.
Influencers, unlike celebrities, can be anywhere. They can be anyone. What makes them influential is their large followings on the web and social media.
People usually can’t really see the difference between celebrities and online influencers. That would be important if you are looking for a collaboration for your company or brand. Influencers have built a keen and enthusiastic audience. You should also keep in mind that the audience follow the influencers, not the brand. The audience cares highly about the opinions of the influencer. They don’t care much about your brand or company. That is why you should not try to throw some business practices onto an influencer.
How to start influencer marketing?
Like any marketing tactic, an influencer campaign takes deliberate targeting and planning. It shouldn’t be sending free things to everyone who asks or to your existing friends and acquaintances. Here are few tips how to get started:
- Research and choose your network
This is your first step. After research you should choose the network you want to focus on first. It is possible to expand to another network later but first you need to focus on just one. Choose the network your company or brand already have a presence. And also remember that demographics vary on each network.
- Set a budget
You need to set a budget for your campaign. Be sure to also factor in time for planning, executing, and reviewing your strategy. Running a successful influencer marketing campaign is not a set-it-and-go type of strategy. It’ll involve careful monitoring and follow up.
- Decide the goals and your message
Most common goals are to build brand awareness and to increase sales. These are also the easy ones. It would be more profitable to mould your goals from your brand’s or company’s needs. Perhaps you want to increase your customer base in a younger demographic? Do you want to expand into a new user group with a new product? Or you want to skip trends and utilize influencers to talk about your brand values?
- Find the influencers
Back to step one: research. Do some research to find the right influencers to work with. You might look for an influencer who already post about similar things to your product or service. But remember to also scroll their feed and click out their post to see if they are legit. Or do you want someone who has worked with a similar brand before? You can also use some analytics tools to identify potential influencers for your campaign.
- Review and make changes
Even if your influencer marketing campaign is ongoing, you should still have pre-determined dates where you’ll measure its progress. You should also make some changes if it is needed.
Influencer marketing is here to stay
Influencers and influencer marketing are here to stay. The influencer marketing has changed a great deal in a short time and in five years may be drastically different from today. Still, while there are some unique considerations to working with influencers, setting up a campaign is the same as most marketing campaigns: research, set a budget, determine goals, find your influencers and review and revise.
Are you interested in exploring how influencer marketing will help your business? Contact us for more information today.
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