Years ago, influencer marketing was all about some niched bloggers and celebrities. Nowadays, the number of influencers is much higher and the market can actually be considered saturated. The evolution of influencer marketing is unquestionable and it is changing digital marketing as we know it.
What Is Influencer Marketing?
To put it as simplyas possible, influencer marketing can be defined as a marketing type that utilizes product mentions and endorsements from influencers, which are individuals that have a really high influence or social media following. Usually, they are seen as being niche experts.
Influencer marketing is very effective because of the trust that the influencers built up in front of the following. Recommendations are practically social proofs for the potential customers of a brand.
How To Develop Your Influencer Marketing Strategy
Similarly to any marketing strategy, when you create an influencer program, you need planning and targeting. Strategic success is practically impossible by simply sending out free things to people. This is why you need to consider the following when the marketing strategy is developed.
Finding The Right Type Of Social Media Influencers
Research is always the very first step to take when you want to create an influencer marketing campaign. Everything starts with a network and finding the right influencer. Based on budget, you might choose microinfluencers (people with a following under 2000) or very strong influencers that have millions of followers.
Set A Campaign Budget
After you figure out what type of social media influencers you look for, it is time to think about finances. Obviously, different people will ask for different compensation. However, regardless of your choice, you need to be sure that a management strategy is also set up.
What is important is to understand that influencers are human. This means that you have to be really careful with the operations.
When the budget is enough, it is possible to utilize an ambassador program.
Decide On The Message And The Goals
Influencer marketing is oftentimes used to increase sales and/or increase brand awareness. These are obviously very broad targets. In order for an influencer marketing campaign to be successful, you have to create messages that are very precise, with exact goals that have to be monitored.
An influencer can reach highly specific audiences. Because of this, you have to carefully craft the message. Obviously, in many cases, it is the influencer that dictates this.
Contacting Influencers
After you find influencers that are appropriate for your campaign, you need to get in touch with them. This is a very important part of the process. The influencers always clearly list the preferred contact emails and phone numbers. You should never use another way to contact an influencer when you want to discuss business.
When you create your initial message, it is very important that you clearly highlight why you are getting in touch. If there is one thing that influencers hate, it is that they receive a totally impersonal message that is just a copy-paste piece of text. Because of this, you have to be sure that you clearly communicate everything and that you have full transparency.
Review The Strategy And Change It When Appropriate
After an influencer marketing campaign is launched, many marketers make a big mistake. They do not carefully review the strategy and never make modifications. The initial message that they draft is what is utilized. That is a very big mistake because of the fact that things always keep changing.
When you start your influencer marketing campaign, make sure to have a review method in place. You have to monitor results, especially when there are several messages that are drafted and published. Then, you have to be aware of when you need to make modifications.
As an example, when you use influencer marketing on social media and you chose video marketing, you have access to countless tools to monitor results. When you see that they are not as good as they used to be, you have to make the necessary changes.
Final Thoughts
Developing an influencer marketing strategy in 2020 is mandatory for many brands that want to stay ahead of their competition. However, the process is not at all simple. If you do not have experience and you do not know what to do, the best thing to do is to hire specialists.
