A few weeks ago, we covered the benefits of influencer marketing for your company. We have seen numerous brands utilize influencers to market their products and noticed that it is a growing trend. This week, we want to share a comprehensive guide to influencer marketing.
Before we continue with the blog post, think about this question: Has your favorite celebrity convinced you to buy a product before? If the answer is yes, influencer marketing has worked on you. The purpose of brands utilizing influencer marketing is to connect and engage with their target audience through someone their audience relates to or enjoys following.
Now, a new trend is emerging, micro-influencers are sharing products on their social media feeds. The premise is the same as influencer marketing, except brands are partnering up with people who have smaller social media followings. The hope is that by creating an authentic post surrounding the product, people will resonate with it more than if they saw it in a sponsored ad.
Marketers aren’t wrong, showcasing a product through an influencer’s social media platform receives higher engagement rates. Partnering with micro-influencers leads to putting your product out in front of a more targeted audience. If you think about it, how targeted an audience could an account with over one million followers be? People might be following them because they are a celebrity. However, if you are marketing a health drink and partner with a yoga blogger that has 1,000 followers, chances are people are following them because they are interested in health and yoga.
If you haven’t tried influencer marketing, you might want to experiment with it. After all, according to Linqia, in 2016 86% of marketers used it, with 94% of them finding it to be effective. Here are some tips for brands embarking on influencer marketing campaigns:
Influencer marketing works best with specific products. Typically, most influencer marketing posts are pictures or videos on Instagram. If your product is a complex technological software, it might not be best to showcase via an influencer marketing campaign. Products that tend to do better are apparel, food, drinks, health products, and location based posts.
Track the metrics of your success. The best way to determine how well your campaign did is going beyond post metrics (i.e. likes, comments, and shares). You should give influencers a unique discount code to track how well each post did. You want to be tracking conversions to determine how successful your post was.
Create brand guidelines to share with influencers. Prior to influencers taking photos of your product, you should hand them a set of brand guidelines. This will help them craft the perfect post that is aligned with your company goals and values.
Are you curious about the changing world of social media and digital marketing? Kraus Marketing specializes in Social Media and Digital Marketing. We service companies in the New Jersey and New York City area. Find out how we can help you by contacting us today.