Brands will designate a staggering $15 billion for influencer marketing in 2022. Using influencers has arisen as perhaps one of the most significant strategies in digital marketing, empowering brands to lay out a more credible association with their interest group. This is principally credited to individuals’ inborn trust in influencers and their substance over customary organization information.
A recent study reveals that 63% of participants aged 18 to 34 place more trust in what influencers communicate about brands compared to the brands’ self-promotion.Â
Engaging with influencers to enhance your business is a strategic decision but comes with nuances. Let’s delve into some essential best practices for optimizing the collaboration between influencers and brands.
1. Pick the Right Social Media Platform for Your Product or Service
Picking the right platform is a major piece of your social media strategy. Your decision depends on a few things:
a. Your Goals: Determine if you want more website traffic, increased sales, or more interaction with your audience. Different social media platforms take care of different objectives. For instance, if you hold back nothing, is a decent decision with a typical commitment pace of 5.9%, while Instagram has 0.83% and Facebook has 0.13%. LinkedIn is the best platform for your business and generating leads.
b. Your Target Audience:Â Think about your audience’s age, gender, and location. For example, Instagram has numerous clients aged 24 to 34, while TikTok is well known among ladies aged 18 to 24. Do some research to align your platform choice with your audience instead of just following trends.
c. Check Out Your Competitors:Â Check out your rivals’ performance on various platforms. Gain from their victories and errors. It’s a life hack and can give you important experiences.
d. Influencer Presence: Make sure the influencer is well-known. They have an enormous following on TikTok yet are practically imperceptible on YouTube. Check if their audience on the selected platform is engaged and active.
Choosing the right platform is critical, so do your homework before diving in!
2. Choose the Right Influencer
Picking the right powerhouse is significant. You need somebody who converses with similar sort of individuals you do. For instance, assuming that you’re selling wellness stuff, find an influencer who shares supportive data about well-being or exercise recordings. Being significant is no joking matter since it assists work with trusting your crowd.
There are different types of influencers and these are the following.
- Nano-influencers: 10,000 followers or less.
- Micro-influencers: Between 10,000 and 100,000 followers.
- Macro-influencers: Between 100,000 and 1 million followers.
- Mega-influencers: 1 million or more followers.
If you want many people to know about your brand, mega and macro-influencers are cool. However, micro and nano-influencers are great if you want people to take action, like buying your stuff. Interestingly, compared to celebrities, micro-influencers frequently have a greater influence on people’s actions. People trust them more and find them relatable. So, think about your goals and choose the influencer type that fits best!
3. Make Sure the Followers Are Real
Before teaming up with an influencer, checking if their followers are genuine is crucial. Some accounts pretend to be accurate by having fake followers and engagements. You might have come across these fictitious accounts if you are using a business account on a social media platform.
Checking a few followers’ interactions is a quick way to confirm if an influencer’s followers are genuine or not. Confirm their profiles to guarantee they are genuine and that they relate to your objective customers.
Counterfeit accounts often have zero or very few posts, follow tons of accounts, and have fewer followers. They might also need a profile picture or a vague profile description. These are signs that the followers could be fake.
Another thing to look at is the influencer’s past posts. Be cautious if you notice only a few likes, comments, and shares despite a high follower count. This could mean the influencer bought fake followers. It’s a good idea to talk to the influencers about their past successful campaigns to understand their authenticity better. Don’t be fooled by a considerable number of followers—make sure they’re the real deal!
4. Let Influencers Be Creative
It’s essential to let influencers bring their creativity to the table. The stuff they share with their audience should feel genuine. The trick is to look at what they’ve done before as a guide and then collaborate on how the content will look. Discuss any limits or goals you have, but give them space to talk and share their ideas. It’s teamwork – let them add their touch and make the content authentic!
5. Keep an Eye on Engagement and Check How Your Campaign Is Doing
A major piece of social media marketing is focusing on what individuals say regarding your brand. It’s like checking out what clients are visiting, referencing your brand, and getting onto the trends connected with your organization. This helps you determine if your campaign is hitting the right notes, what’s working well, and what to avoid in the future.
To understand how influencer marketing impacts your brand, don’t rely only on the info the influencer gives you. Use social media listening tools like Brand Watch. They help you know your audience, track results, and keep tabs on brand mentions.
If influencers are driving people to your website, set up Google Analytics. It lets you know significant stuff like the number of guests that you’re getting, how long they stay, and assuming they’re bobbing ceaselessly rapidly. Also, assuming that you’re selling things on the web, track deals progressively.
A simple way is to give each influencer a unique discount code for their followers. Like that, you can without much of a stretch see where every sale is coming from. Keep your finger on the beat of your mission to make it a triumph!