Influencer marketing has been around for quite some time, but it is constantly being refined and improved. While the technique used to include spending millions of dollars for a celebrity to endorse your brand, the technique has now been scaled down in such a way that even small businesses and website owners can utilize influencer marketing as part of their outreach campaign, which does not only increase traffic to their website, but also gains them a significant level of authority within their niche. Influencer marketing is now seen everywhere – not just on the television anymore. The Influencer Orchestration Networks report that for every $1 that a business invests in influencer marketing, they generate approximately $6.50. This ROI is much higher than many other advertisement methods, including display ads on Google AdWords, which make influencer marketing worth implementing into your company’s marketing plan.
There is one particular problem, however, that companies and website owners often face when they want to utilize influencer marketing to drive more traffic, improve their authority and gain new customers – this is the fact that they do not know how to find the most appropriate influencer for their brand. When you do not choose the right influencer, the campaign may fail to generate positive results and even lead to a loss. When you do manage to find the perfect influencer, on the other hand, your brand can achieve a great deal of benefits through the campaign. Let’s take a look at a step-by-step guide on how you can utilize influencer marketing and be good at it on the first try.
Step 1: Identify Appropriate Channels To Target
Before you even think about connecting with or contacting influencers, you first need to determine which channels are the most appropriate for your brand or website. If you do not target the right channels, your message will not be heard (or read) by the right people. Thus, first spend some time on all social media networks and try to learn where your target audience is most active. Syndacast reports that more than half of all internet marketers agree that video marketing has the best value for their business, which means YouTube and other video platforms should be one of the main channels you should look at while investigating different platforms. eMarketer also reports that Facebook and Instagram have the best value for brands that are working with influencers – and these statistics was reported by influencers who have worked with thousands of different brands. Consider these networks, but do not limit your search to Instagram, Facebook and YouTube alone. For example, if you have a business that targets other businesses, you might have more success if you use an influencer on LinkedIn.
Step 2: Work On Your Profile
Once you have identified the best channels to target with your influencer marketing campaign, you should not blindly launch such a social media outreach campaign. Instead, you first need to do some preparation. One particular area that you should pay special attention to is your profile and, of course, the profile of your brand’s pages and presence on the channels you are targeting. Make sure you have a professional bio, professional profile picture and an appropriate cover image should it be applicable. Ensure your pages link out to your brand’s website and add any relevant content that could increase customer engagement and build trust.
Step 3: Find And Connect With Potential Influencers
Once your profiles are good-to-go, you need to start finding potential influencers that you could use in your campaign. This might be a time-consuming task as you should pay close attention to every detail of the influencers that you could use. The first step, of course, is to identify some influencers in your niche. You do not necessarily have to restrict your search to the channel you are targeting, but can also take your search off social media networks. For example, you could search Google to find potential influencers, take a look at their website to see if they are linking to a profile on the channel you are targeting and then connect with them. Group High explains that, instead of focusing on the number of followers the influencer has, you should rather consider the influence they have on their followers. Thus, take a look at how much each potential influencer engages with their followers and also consider the quality of the content they share. When you find influencers that seem to have a lot of authority in your niche, connect with them on your desired channel. If the influencer does not seem to connect with their followers, then move on to the next one.
Step 4: Spark A Conversation
Now that you have connected with a couple of influencers that could be potentially useful in your influencer marketing campaign, it is time to start talking with them. Start with an introduction just to spark a conversation with each. Tell the influencer what you do, what your brand is about and, of course, what you need from them. Be very clear from the first message to avoid confusion. When you and the influencers start talking, you’ll be able to determine which ones you will be able to work with based on how well you can converse and, of course, how long they take to respond. You don’t want to hire an influencer that takes a week to respond to a message.
Step 5: Negotiate And Select
The final step to choosing the perfect influencer for your next influencer marketing campaign is to negotiate with the potential influencers you have connected with and to select one, in particular, that seems to be a good fit. As you and the influencer converse, you can start to talk about hiring them as an influencer for your brand. Ask them how they can help you and also determine how much it will cost to hire each of them. Once you have this information ready, you can start to filter through the influencers to find one that you want to use in your campaign. While your goal might be to pay as little as possible, you should not always go with the cheapest one without considering the others as well. Sometimes you can get a much higher return on your investment and better engagement by paying just a little more. You also don’t have to go with the influencer with the most followers – recent reports suggest that micro influencer marketing often yields the best results, especially for small businesses.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing is an effective way to generate some buzz for your brand. The major benefit that the latest advancements in this marketing strategy have is the fact that you can now utilize influencer marketing from smaller budgets – with some companies being able to hire influencers for as little as $150. If you’re new to influencer marketing, we advise you to follow the step-by-step guide we’ve prepared here to ensure you do not make any mistakes and to ensure you choose the right influencer the first time around.
