Influencers are people who have a large following on social media and who’s knowledge and opinion has a large bearing on their followers. Influencers are increasing becoming a more prominent and trusted voice on social media, with their messages having a large impact on consumer trust in a product.
Many companies have made it a key marketing strategy to team up with influencers to expose their products to a wider and more niche audience. However, some organisations struggle to find the right influencer for their product and measure ROI of their influencer marketing efforts.
Here are some key tips to master the art of influencer marketing so that you get the most out of your investment:
Define your goals
What do you want to get out of your influencer marketing campaign? Your goal might be to generate leads, increase sales, reach a new audience, remain relevant, or create more brand visibility. Whatever your goal is, use that as a starting point then go back from there. After pinpointing your objective, identify what kind of influencers would be best suited to help you achieve that goal, and then finally find influencers to match the attributes and characteristics you’ve identified.
Defining both short-term and long-term goals will help you choose the right influencer and then have a measuring rod to determine the success of your influencer marketing strategy.
Stay authentic and consistent
Your role as a marketing professional is to have a narrative about your product you want to relay to your audience. Don’t veer away from that narrative, even when it comes to engaging with influencers. Influencers should be seen as an extension of that narrative, not a separate entity.
To ensure your influencers are narrating your story accurately, it’s crucial to identify and select influencers who resonate with your brand, and who share similar values as your brand. If this is not the case, then your influencer marketing won’t be consistent with your message and won’t seem authentic to the audience. Authentic and consistency in influencer marketing is what creates an emotional connection with their audience and as a result, success for your brand.
Make reciprocity a priority
Building a good relationship with your influencer will be ultimately be a boon for you and your brand. Therefore, as a marketer, you should be supporting influencers who support your brand. Find ways to add value to your influencer’s audience, which in turn will add value to your influencer’s brand. This involves doing your due diligence on your influencer and their audience, finding their likes and dislikes. Use these insights to create targeted content that will resonate with the interests of the influencer and their audience. Targeted content could take the form of things like special offers and discounts, access to events/experiences, or prizes.
Define your ROI
Defining your ROI can help you determine if you’re going in the right direction with your influencer marketing or if you need to rethink your strategy. There are a few techniques you can use to help measure ROI from influencer marketing such as page views, demand generation, impact on sales, and so forth. Don’t forget to communicate the ROI to your influencers so everyone’s one the same page.
-5WPR CEO Ronn Torossian
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