Before we speak about building your influencer strategy, let’s first answer. What actually IS influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is when a brand works with individuals with a large social media presence known as “influencers” or “content creators” to advertise their products or services.
Similarly to traditional forms of advertising, brands would often work with high-profile individuals and celebrities on TV advertisements to sell their products because those individuals are seen to have more influence as they have a strong fan base who trust them.
The difference with influencer marketing is that influencers can now be anyone through the phenomenon which is the parasocial relationship, the power is now being given to the customer. Even your gran can be an influencer because social media gives everyone a platform to build an engaged audience.
So now you’re thinking, OK so why should I work with influencers?
Well first of all, 58% of marketers have admitted that influencer marketing was the most beneficial marketing strategy in 2021, ahead of SEO, short-form video content, and other marketing strategies.
Influencers also provide a unique advantage for brands to target a specific niche or geographic location if you wish to gain exposure and tap into a new audience who are already highly engaged. Laser focused targeting and working with the right influencers within your target audience that will resonate with your brand, it also seems too easy! To support this, 71% of marketers said they reached a better audience and got better customers from influencer marketing than any other marketing strategy.
You can also work with certain influencers to position your brand in the market effectively whilst targeting your ideal customers. For example, if you want to be known for green beauty then working with a vegan lifestyle, environmentalists and eco-friendly influencers will put your brand in front of the right people and even can result in excellent PR opportunities.
You want to get ahead of your competitors, as according to Klear, sponsored posts feed had been increased by 26.7% in 2021. This means that brands are increasing their budgets and investing more into influencers than ever before.
Ultimately, influencer marketing is the must have marketing strategy if you have an eCommerce business if you want to:
To work with influencers, first, you need to identify which type of influencer will suit your business the most. Basically, there are 5 types of influencers:
Micro-influencers generally have a following of around 10,000 to 50,000. EVen though some might consider this to be a smaller audience - micro influencers typically have high engagement rates which allows them to bond with their followers on a daily basis.
Due to the size of their following, micro-influencers are a perfect fit for businesses that want to develop personal relationships among their target audience.
More than 56% of marketers who invest in influencer marketing work with micro-influencers and according to Klear's research report "91% of all sponsored post engagements were with content created by micro-influencers."
A blogger is someone who owns a well-established blog that generates a good amount of traffic to their blog each month. There are many ways that brands can collaborate with bloggers.
One thing we don’t recommend and generally considered bad practice when starting relationships with bloggers is to mass email without any personalised messaging or using bloggers solely for superficial back links for page rank manipulation and running the risk being on Google’s bad side.
These influencers are well-recognised on social media platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook, and are followed by thousands or millions of people.
There are many ways to work with social media influencers :
Unless stated in the contract, influencers own their own usage rights - this means you DO NOT have the licensing rights for advertising purposes unless you have the consent of the original owner. When working with influencers be sure to find out their usage rights fees in order for you to use this content for you own marketing campaigns, website, ads, email etc.
Celebrity influencers can be defined as high-profile individuals who are in the public eye. They have the ability to promote your products or services to larger audiences.
Working with celebrities will come at a much higher cost. For example, Kylie Jenner charges $300,000 per post. However, if you are a makeup brand, to even be associated with someone who influences millions of people with their makeup looks - this is a collaboration that can bring sales to your business for years to come.
It is also a really strong PR move and a way to position yourself in the market by who you associate your brand to. Remember every post you publish adds to the legacy of your brand.
Thought leaders are high-level experts in a particular niche within a particular industry. Such as a key opinion leader might specialise in yoga, adventuristic lifestyle, or women workout training.
If you want to target a very specific audience then thought leaders are a perfect fit for you.
Now, as you know about different types of influencers and which one would be a good option for your business, let's move towards building an influencer marketing strategy to increase your conversions in 2022.
Follow these steps to start building your influencer marketing strategy:
Influencer marketing is boosting day by day and can be a sure-shot strategy to increase your business revenue in 2022.
But with that said, the biggest challenge businesses face with influencer marketing is measuring the ROI of the campaign and cost is the second biggest problem businesses face. However, you can reduce your campaign ROI stress and cost and achieve your goals faster by working with our specialised team.
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