Over recent years, influencer marketing campaigns have continued to be a popular communications tactic for marketers to explore – both from a trade and consumer point of view – and there’s really no wonder. The data truly does speak for itself.
According to the Digital Marketing Institute, almost half (49%) of consumers depend on influencer recommendations, with 40% saying they have bought so mething after seeing it on social media. Ultimately, if someone trusts an influencer and sees them recommending a product, they’re more likely to go away and explore purchasing!
With this in mind, many organisations are turning to influencer marketing to increase brand awareness and drive sales, to name just a few. As such, here are our top tips for anyone considering exploring influencer marketing…
Know your audience
As with any PR and comms activity, knowing the audience you want to target with the activity is crucial. There are more than 4.8 billion social media users around the world, so when it comes to campaigns that are heavily focused on social media, it’s crucial you’re using the right channels to target the right people – otherwise the content generated will get lost and the ROI won’t be what you were looking for.
Influencer marketing campaigns are an amazing way of getting in front of people, however these types of campaigns don’t neccesarily work for every audience type. With that in mind, before progressing the planning any further, it’s important to really consider if influencer marketing is the right tactic for the organisation and wider marketing/business strategy.
Consider the metrics which are most important to you
Considering your overall goals and KPIs for an influencer campaign is just as important as with any traditional marketing strategy. You need to know what success looks like for the influencer campaign to avoid working with creators who aren’t going to be able to generate the results you want.
From impressions and engagements, to link clicks and new followers, there are a whole host of metrics which can be reported against when rolling out an influencer campaign. Identifying which metrics are important to you, and that align with the wider marketing plan, will allow you to set out a clear influencer strategy which will generate what you need.
Finding the right influencers that fit your budget
Now that you know who your target audience is and what your KPIs are for the influencer campaign, it’s time to start looking for influencers who fit the bill. You need to have a very clear budget in place too as this will have a considerable impact on who you will be able to work with. Some influencers will work with brands on a gifted basis, although for a lot of creators this is their job so be mindful of that!
There are three core influencer sets which are based on follower numbers – nano, micro and macro. However, there is no clear cut guide out there that specifies the number of followers needed to fall in to each category. Here at Refresh, we tend to say that nano influencers have anything below 10,000 followers, micro have 10,001 – 100,000 followers and macro have 100,000+.
There are various platforms available to use to find influencers that fit the brief, however more often than not, manually searching (especially on Instagram) is just as effective. Plus, it gives you the opportunity to explore the influencers content yourself and ensure it’s aligned with your organisation’s values.
Have a clear brief
Here at Refresh, we love working with influencers in both the consumer and trade sector. They add an extra depth to a marketing campaign and help to create a real mix of content. However, it’s crucial that influencers receive a clear and concise brief which highlights what the aim of the campaign is, who the target audience is and the type of content you’re looking for.
However, we believe the best content is created when creative license sits with the influencer, so make sure you’re not too prescriptive – if you are, all of the influencer content will look the same and also it won’t come across naturally!
If you’re wanting to start working with influencers, whether that’s to appeal to a B2C or B2B audience, get in touch today!