An influencer program, like any other marketing strategy, requires careful planning and targeting. Sending freebies to everyone who asks or to your existing friends and acquaintances won’t guarantee strategic success.
1. How to locate influencers and how much to pay them?
Research is the first step in any strategy. Pick one platform to concentrate on first.
You can always move on to other platforms in the future, but if you’re just getting started, stick with one. Your brand ought to either already be present on this network or be looking to enter it.
If you don’t know where to start, social listening can help you find the most influential voices in your industry on each platform and where people are talking about your industry and brand.
When you plan to implement an influencer marketing strategy, your industry also matters. Fashion and beauty brands shine on YouTube and Instagram.
On Twitch, the video game industry is king.Investigate the kind of influencers you’re interested in during the research phase. Are you looking for famous people who have a lot of fans? Or microinfluencers who have fewer than two thousand followers?
You might prefer something in the range of 5 to 10 thousand followers. Your budget will be based on what you decide to focus on.Additionally, compensation varies greatly; therefore, common rates for those influencer types should be examined.
Microinfluencers typically accept products and are focused on a few subjects. While some microinfluencers are self-employed, others may be represented by a network or agency. Celebrities and larger accounts, on the other hand, will need to be compensated and may even use a talent agency.
Consider the anticipated return on investment (ROI) of your social influencer marketing campaign: How will you determine how much influencer posts contribute to your overall marketing objectives?
One strategy might be to contrast your expectations for influencers with those of other businesses. Consider the cost of having a video production company make an advertisement for you versus having an influencer make a video.
Using this method will provide you with a familiar point of comparison and contrast, despite the fact that evaluating the value of influencers may initially appear to be unpredictable.
2. Create a budget and a strategy
for management now that you know how much influencers should be paid. Include time for planning, carrying out, and evaluating your influencer program.
A successful influencer marketing campaign cannot be planned out in advance. It will necessitate careful follow-up and monitoring.In contrast to a more automated advertising strategy, influencers are humans who frequently manage multiple partnerships.
As a result, some of them may fail to meet their posting commitments or make mistakes in your requested tags or calls to action. To cultivate these relationships and learn from experience about what works and what doesn’t in your niche, you’ll need the time to be more hands-on.
3. Set goals and a message
Perhaps you want to expand your clientele among younger people. or you want a new product to reach a new group of users. Or you want to talk about your brand’s values by avoiding trends and using
Influencers can connect with very specific groups of people. Influencers will assist you in ensuring that a highly targeted audience likely to be interested in your product reads and engages with your content rather than relying on thousands of followers.
Influencer content that has a conversational tone and a personal story helps set it apart from posts that a brand might make for the same product on their own feed that focus on features or sales.
Your objective is just as significant as your message. You don’t want to stop an influencer from being creative and original, but you also don’t want them to post about something that has nothing to do with your campaign. Determine the structure and message of your influencer marketing campaign so that you can adhere to it in the future.
Keep in mind the following while conducting this study:Is the influencer already posting about your service-related topics? For instance, if you run a restaurant and want to advertise a new menu, you should look for influencers who frequently post about how they eat out and what they eat.
Do they exist? This entails clicking on posts and scrolling through their feed. A fake account will have comments that look like spam and a low engagement rate in relation to the number of followers.Have they worked with brands that are similar before?
A seasoned influencer will be able to demonstrate a press kit that includes a portfolio of their work, depending on the kind of influencer you are looking for.
On the same platform, you could send a private message directly to microinfluencers. If you’re looking for more seasoned ones, look through their profile. In their bio, they may provide contact information for business inquiries. They might also link to a website that lists partnerships between brands.