You have probably heard a lot about Influencer Marketing in the last few months. It is a growing trend and a very successful marketing tool that your brand should seriously consider adopting. Influencer Marketing places majority of its focus on digitally influential people in your industry rather than the target market as a whole. It involves taking the idea of an endorsement and placing it into a modern day content driven marketing campaign. Influencer Marketing cannot exist without social media or content marketing. Thus, it cannot replace them. Influencer Marketing can be anywhere and can be anyone. Influencers are considered influential due to the large amount of followers they have on the web and social media. As a result, they are easily recognized by their followers which is also the target audience that you’re after. Influencer marketing is so successful because 95% of consumers trust recommendations from others over content that comes from a brand, states a Nielson survey. Working with an influencer will create buzz around your product or service and can provide a return on investment that is 11 times higher than tradition digital marketing forms.
How Influencer Marketing Works
Firstly, you must carefully consider your approach in Influencer Marketing. To do this, you have to be organized, and must put together a strategy, plan and budget. You also need to spend time on research as well. You want to find, vet, and work with influencers that have interest and a connection to your brand. The next step is to develop a schedule. This will all depend on the influencer’s preference as some want to create their own content for the campaign, while others prefer for the brand to do it. Promoting your product or service through a blogger, social media user, or otherwise influential person who has significant engagement with their following, is a good way to get meaningful exposure.
How to Find the Right Influencers
Start With What You Know
To find the right influencers, start with what you know. Ask co-workers at your business which influencers they follow in your industry. It is beneficial to seek out influencers with lots of comments on their stories and social media posts as well as social shares.
Conduct a Google Search
By doing a quick Google search of influencers in your industry you will be able to find a number of micro and macro influencers. For example, if you are looking for influencers in the fashion industry, Forbes compiled a list of the top 11.
Browse Your Own Followings
Next, identify your most favourable and active followers. When you have followers that are passionate about your business, they maybe also willing to act as brand advocates for you.
Look to Journalists
Journalists are one of the most important influencers, especially within local communities as they are extremely credible sources. With that being said, subscribing to journalist Twitter feeds and commenting on their web articles is a good way to get their attention.
How to Approach Influencers
Another aspect of influencer marketing is approaching influencers. This is done through establishing a connection. Let them know immediately why you’re a fan of their content to keep their attention and give a clear and concrete example of how their work relates to your brand’s goals. You must also state what’s in it for them. Lastly, thank them for the time that they took to consider your proposal and provide them an easy way to contact you with questions.
Set Influencers Up for Success during a Campaign & Use Third Party Platforms to Find Them
To set influencers up for success during a campaign, make sure to provide them with resources such as brand guidelines, photography, videos, or anything that will help them to get to know your brand more. Most importantly, be available to them. If an influencer raises a question regarding how a product works, provide them with the information that they need as soon as possible. The final thing is to follow up with them. This may inspire the influencer to post about you again in the future or to link to you in a relevant post.
Four tools that you can use to find and manage influencers include Influence.co/Social Blade, Zoho Social, and Asana.
The most popular “paid” third party platform which helps you identify influencers in any industry is called Upfluence.
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