Influencer marketing is a valuable part of a brand’s marketing strategy that involves endorsements and product placements from content creators with an engaged social media presence and cult-like following!
Brands are now leaning towards influencers to promote their products, as they offer a relatable, authentic and trusting touch that traditional ads are lacking.
With this in mind, their audiences consider them thought leaders and experts, and with 88% of consumers purchasing something based on an influencer recommendation in the past six months, it comes as no surprise that influencer marketing is absolutely here to stay.
There are some ground rules that we found to be most important when strategizing and executing influencer campaigns, that we’re not going to gate-keep!
1. Define The Goals
Defining the main purpose of the campaign is the first, and most important, step. Having clear, accurate goals in mind is the stepping stone on which the campaign is being built and the only way to ensure it's being implemented successfully.
What is the aim of this campaign? Is it brand awareness? Is it sales? What are your KPIs?
Knowing these answers will lead the way to customize and execute your strategy effectively. It will also help in staying focused on the targets you set and increase your chances to succeed.
2. Know Your Audience
Characterize your target audience! By doing this, you're able to target them correctly in the most relevant ways.
Ask yourself the following: which social media platforms are they using the most? How often do they use it? What are their likes and dislikes? What are their values?
Knowing who you aim to target also helps choose relevant influencers that not only align with your brand, but are relatable and share the same values to your audience. They can therefore promote your brand messaging in the most precise way and have a positive role to play in how your brand is perceived.
3. Choose The Correct Influencers
It’s crucial to identify which factors are most important to you when choosing the influencers for your campaign. Whether you are focused on the influencers’ audience size, their audience demographics, their engagement levels or any other factor, you should define these factors in advance and make your selection based on them.
Choosing the correct ones will not only target your exposure to your audience but also be cost efficient for your budget as you are expected to get the results that you’re looking for.
4. Let The Creators, Create
You chose the influencers because they're trusted amongst their audience, you feel their personality and values align with your brand, and they create amazing content. While there needs to be certain standards and brand guidelines to follow, you should let the creators do what they do best, and that is create! Trust their ability to create content that aligns with your brand in a way that will attract the right audience and strengthen your brand’s image and performance.
Of course always remember to review the content before it’s published and transparently communicate with the influencer if any changes are required based on the guidelines. But allow them creative freedom in the process.
5. Take Performance Learnings
Measure and analyze the performance of the campaign! You can use KPIs such as engagement rates, click-through rates, conversion rates and more to measure whether your campaign met its desired goals. The KPIs are drawn from your campaign’s goals and need to sync with it - awareness campaigns will focus on different KPIs than performance campaigns. Looking at the right performance metrics will enable you to accurately measure your success and optimize, or scale, accordingly.
Everything is a learning curve, so identifying the strengths, challenges and weaknesses can really help you tailor and execute your next campaign, shift the strategy if needed or scale it up with confidence.
The Key Takeaways:
If your influencer marketing strategy is authentic, concise and collaborative, there’s no reason why your campaign shouldn’t be a total success.
Remember to keep in mind these useful tips when thinking about your marketing strategy. Aligning all of your communication efforts toward a common goal will help in defining a relevant and cohesive brand voice and in turn allow you to become an industry leader in your space.
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