As marketers, we know the value of a good influencer. Influencer marketing helps you gain reach in a targeted audience or niche and can drive campaign performance whether it’s increasing brand awareness, generating leads or boosting sales.
Working with an online content creator means your brand can benefit from their creativity and authenticity. Influencers are creative individuals with a skill for making content that their audience will love, and their voices can be valuable to your brand.
It can also allow you to gain traction on platforms where you may not yet have a presence; creators on TikTok for example are experts at making promotional content that fits in seamlessly with their organic content and entertains their audience.
But influencer marketing can be tricky. It’s not just about finding someone with a lot of followers, it’s about finding the right influencer and making the most of that collaboration. Ultimately, it’s about being clever with your influencer marketing strategy from the start.
This influencer marketing guide offers everything you need to identify influencers, conduct outreach, plan effective collaborations, and much more.
Influencer marketing is a form of marketing that focuses on using influential individuals, often referred to as influencers, to promote a brand, product, or service to their target audience. Influencers are individuals who have established credibility and a significant following on social media platforms or other online channels.
Influencer marketing involves collaborating with influencers to create content that showcases or mentions a brand, product, or service. The content can take various forms, such as social media posts, videos, blog articles, or sponsored events. The goal is to leverage the influencers’ influence and reach to increase brand awareness, drive engagement, and ultimately, encourage their followers to take action, such as making a purchase or trying out a product.
The effectiveness of influencer marketing lies in the fact that influencers have built strong relationships with their followers, who trust their opinions and recommendations. By partnering with influencers who align with their target audience and brand values, companies can tap into the influencers’ authenticity and credibility, making it more likely for their message to resonate with the audience.
Influencer marketing has gained popularity due to the widespread use of social media and the increasing influence of digital content creators. It has become a key strategy for many brands to reach and engage with their target customers in a more organic and relatable manner.
Types of Influencers
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Mega-influencers: These are typically celebrities or well-known personalities with massive followings, often in the millions or tens of millions. They have a broad reach but may not have a specific niche.
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Macro-influencers: These influencers have a significant following, usually ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of followers. They often specialize in specific niches such as beauty, fashion, fitness, travel, or food.
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Micro-influencers: Micro-influencers have a smaller but highly engaged following, typically in the range of a few thousand to a hundred thousand followers. They often focus on specific niche markets and have a more personal and authentic connection with their audience.
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Nano-influencers: Nano-influencers have a small yet dedicated following, usually in the range of a few hundred to a few thousand followers. They often have expertise in niche areas and can have a high level of trust and engagement with their audience.
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Industry experts: These influencers are professionals or experts in a specific field or industry. They have in-depth knowledge and credibility in their respective domains and often share insights, advice, and recommendations with their audience.
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Content creators: These influencers primarily focus on creating and sharing high-quality content, such as photography, videography, or written pieces. They may have a smaller following but are valued for their creativity and storytelling abilities.
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Social media celebrities: These influencers have gained popularity and a significant following primarily through social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, or Twitter. They may have diverse content niches or cater to specific interests.
Influencer Marketing Do’s and Don’ts
There are a few top tips you should think about for your influencer marketing campaigns – otherwise known as your influencer marketing do’s and don’ts checklist!
- DO re-share and re-purpose
As your collaboration takes off, make sure you amplify it by resharing and cross-posting the content on all of your social channels. And make sure you have a conversation with the influencer about opportunities to repurpose the content they create; for example, you may use a TikTok post created by an influencer as advertising content.
- DO build relationships
While it can be tempting to hop from one influencer to the next, building relationships with individual influencers is hugely valuable. Returning to specific influencers for multiple campaigns helps them be even more authentic when talking about your brand, and builds on brand awareness among their audience.
- DO be present on their channels
Before reaching out to an influencer, don’t be afraid to actively engage with their content and show your support. While the collaboration is running, be present and active on their channels, and keep it going after the collaboration has ended.
- DON’T be a control freak
It’s important to not be overly prescriptive or controlling when working with an influencer. It is, after alll, a collaboration and you should be making the most of their creativity, originality, and connection to their audience. While a detailed brief is useful and script approval can be arranged, allow the influencer to contribute ideas and take the lead on things like content scheduling and release details.
- DON’T be vague when reaching out
When sending your first outreach email to an influencer, don’t be vague or impersonal. Be very clear about who you, your organization and/or your product are. And don’t forget to state what you like about their content, why you think they would be a good fit for your brand, or call out specific work you admire.
- DON’T be coy about your KPIs
You should have a clear idea of your KPIs for your influencer collaboration, and be upfront about them. Be clear about what analytics or stats you expect to be delivered at the end of the campaign. Influencers often provide a general set of analytics, but it’s always worth stating exactly which metrics you want to see from the outset. Our ‘Targets and KPIs toolkit’ can help you develop metrics if you need guidance.