Currently the buzz word of marketing, influencer marketing is taking centre stage and for all the right reasons. As us PR folk know, the value of word-of-mouth is priceless and when it comes from someone your target audience respects and values, then the results can be outstanding.
What with nearly 70% of millennials using Ad blockers and 73% of marketers committing budget to influencer marketing, this channel is becoming a highly effective tactic when it comes to reaching, building and engaging with a brand’s target audience online.
But what should you bear in mind when conducting an influencer campaign? Here we give a few pointers.
Be Specific
An influencer can be an individual or group of people that has an interest in a particular subject and has a track record of influencing others in their purchase decisions. More often it applies to those on social media but it could equally be a member of the public who has no pre-existing fame as it could a celebrity, journalist, academic or industry specialist. As with any marketing campaign, it’s therefore important to be specific when defining your influencers and rank them in order of importance.
Check Relevance
While audience numbers do matter, demographic is more important. Find people who have an audience which matches your own. For example for a skincare brand this might be someone who suffers from a particular skincare issue or simply likes to experiment with different types of looks. But do your research and make sure they have the right tone and affinity to your brand. It needs to be a realistic relationship, even if it is paid for.
Don’t always think bigger is best
When it comes to reach it’s generally known the smaller the audience, the more influence you have but it’s unlikely that someone with 100 followers is going to be as influential as someone with 100,000! It’s also known that once a social media influencer reaches a critical mass, their engagement level decreases. A recent survey of 2 million social media users by Markerly revealed that the sweet spot is with the micro-influencers – those with a following of between 10,000 and 100,000 followers. Many campaigns have shown that working with a larger number of micro-influencers can deliver greater results than with one larger influencer.
Think about the long term
Large brands are committing to long term, even life term contracts with certain influencers in order that they remain loyal to their brand and don’t work with any competitors. If this is a paid for influencer campaign, ensure you have a good contract in place which delivers your brand needs not just now but for an agreed period.
Set goals
What are you looking to achieve from the campaign? Is it reach, engagement, conversions? One of the main uses of influencer marketing is to boost a brand’s content but even greater success can come if you involve the influencer is production of that content. This way it becomes a more natural feed in of the brand which then resonates more effectively with their audience.