7 Tips to Sharpen Your Influencer Marketing Strategy
Influencer marketing is fast taking the center stage within the hemisphere of digital marketing. Augmented by prolonged stay-at-home periods, consumers were seen consuming more video content online with topics ranging from self-care to DIYs. The bond of trust and authenticity that creators bring to the table has made influencer marketing a top priority for marketers with a budget growth of more than 25% in 2021.
By RACHEL SMITH
If you have already hopped onto the bandwagon, it is worth noting these influencer marketing tips to hone your ROI:
- Rethink Your Goals and Target
Has it been a long time since you revisited your marketing goals and target audience?
We live in an ever-changing world that is witnessing phases of inventions and technological transformations. Therefore, it is inevitable to modify your goals as per the need of the hour. Also, with changes in the population or your product line, your target audience may grow wider or narrower. So, it is a best practice for influencer marketing to revisit your goals and re-evaluate your target audience from time to time.
- Find The Right Influencers for Your Brand
A useful tip for successful marketing, in the long run, is to first figure your brand’s identity and then hunt an ideal group of influencers. For example, it is easy to find a ‘fashion influencer’ for a fashion brand, but if your brand is into a niche product category, say handmade items, it may take some time to find influencers that can share your brand’s core values.
Apart from having a common share of voice, the influencers you choose should also have the same target audience, the right aesthetic, and the desired engagement rate.
- Pick Quality Over Quantity
It’s not all about the number of followers. The influencers that you choose to collaborate with should have a highly engaged audience with similar interests and values to your brand. So, you can try looking for smart influencer outreach tips to reach out to influencers that have a real impact on their audience.
Some of the most important influencer engagement metrics are:
— Brand recall
— Website visits
— Leads
— Sales
You can add UTM parameters to the links shared by your influencers. This will allow you to see the source of traffic, the amount of traffic, and the number of conversions that an influencer drives to your website.
- Create Authentic Influencer Content
One of the main reasons why brands leverage influencers for marketing is because consumers find them authentic and trustworthy. So, focus more on creating authentic influencer content which users can find relatable.
Marketing posts need to fit with the real tone and aesthetics of the creator’s page. This will ensure that the bond of trust between the influencer and the target audience is maintained and thus generate more leads.
- Allow The Creativity to Flow
Once you’ve found the influencer that meets your brand’s expectations and values, you need to let them create the magic that they usually do to generate a high engagement rate. Do not try to impose too many regulations as it might dampen the spirit of their posts. Allow some creative freedom as long as your chosen advocate speaks to your brand’s missions.
Influencers are also aware of the latest tools on social media platforms that can help your business. For example, an up-to-date influencer would use branded links on Instagram stories to boost engagement and brand visibility. So, it is okay to give up a little control as creators are the best judge of what will work and what wouldn’t for their audience.
- Build Long-term Influencer Relationships
The upcoming trend of influencer marketing points towards symbiotic, long-term influencer relationships. This means that the influencers’ social media efforts will be more invested in your brand’s marketing. Whereas, for influencers, it opens up various collaboration opportunities and shows them that the brand trusts them completely, thus making them feel like a marketing partner.
Explore new avenues for long-term influencer marketing such as social media takeovers, signing brand ambassadorships, and new product line collaborations.
- Take a Multi-channel Approach with Influencers
To make the most of your influencer relationships, think about how to include influencers in marketing activities other than social media campaigns. It could be for OOH advertising like hoardings or billboards, marketing events, to boost website traffic, etc. By doing so, you are also increasing the chances of brand recall in the minds of your target audience as they will relate the same face from the awareness to the purchase stage in their buying journey. The audience will be more invested in your brand and products because someone they trust is noticeably involved with your brand.
Be wary of involving the influencers in every aspect of your strategy if it doesn’t make marketing sense.
If you are observing a plateau in your marketing success, then give these influencer marketing tips a try. Sometimes, it just takes a bit of rethinking and brushing up to push your influencer marketing metrics ahead.
Influencer marketing can be a great way for driving brand awareness and sales, but only if you are committed to putting constant efforts behind it.
Rachel Smith is a communication executive who works with the content marketing team at Affable, an influencer marketing company that provides AI-driven solutions that allows you to plan and execute your influencer campaigns strategically. She develops content around social media and marketing topics that can help her readers understand how to pick the right influencers, measure their impact, and run effective influencer campaigns. In her free time, she loves meeting new people and attending workshops on communication and psychology.
