Influencers get their name from what they’re good at: influencing others across social media. They have strong connections with audiences that you might struggle to reach with other marketing channels.
In this blog post, Sr. Social Media Strategist, Ashley Nigro, will do a deep dive into this channel to help you develop the perfect influencer marketing strategy.
What You’ll Learn:
- What Is Influencer Marketing?
- Types Of Influencers By Size
- What Businesses Need Influencer Marketing?
- Types Of Influencer Marketing Strategies
- Mistakes To Avoid With An Influencer Marketing Strategy
- Influencer Marketing Software
- FAQs About Influencer Marketing
Our Expert Opinion on Influencer Marketing
Through an effective influencer marketing strategy, you’ll be able to build relationships with these media figures and subsequently have more influence over your target audience, as your brand and offerings will appear more credible and encourage more engagement.
Action Item: Begin your influencer marketing strategies by identifying the influencers whose audiences fall under your target audience, segmenting each audience based on interests and the influencers they follow. You can then establish a long-term relationship with these influencers through outreach and pitches, which will subsequently help you extend your reach to these audiences.
What Is Influencer Marketing?
First things first: What is a social media influencer, and what is influencer marketing?
Social media influencers are distinct personalities on social media that develop followings ranging from hundreds to millions of people. Many of these followers are loyal and are likely to follow the same brands and trends as their favorite influencers because of perceived credibility.
Influencer marketing, meanwhile, is a type of marketing strategy that entails building connections with influencers as a brand to connect with their audiences. You would begin by doing market research into your target audiences and determining what kinds of social media content they consume. Based on these interests, you can find influencers to reach out to and connect with, encouraging these individuals to promote your brand or specific offerings with videos relaying their experiences.
Ultimately, good influencer marketing strategies will help you build trust among audiences as the influencers you work with vouch for your business, products, and services.
The popularity of influencers across the web has enticed more marketers to shift from traditional social media advertising to more influencer-driven strategies. Proving this transition is the fact that, according to one recent study from Influencer Marketing Hub, 85% of survey respondents find these campaigns to be an effective means of marketing, with the industry expected to grow to a whopping $24 billion by the end of 2024.
The Benefits of Influencer Marketing
An influencer marketing strategy can help your business in various ways, such as:
- Increase brand awareness through wider audience reach
- Improve credibility as audiences connect your brand with the influencers they trust
- Raise engagement rates as you encourage more people to interact with your brand
Platforms Where Influencer Marketing Is Most Prevalent
Generally, the platforms that have influencers are those that are highly visual with an emphasis on video content. These platforms may include:
Types of Influencers By Size
In learning how to build an influencer marketing strategy, it’s important to choose the right influencers for partnerships. There are multiple types of influencers you can work with, depending on the number of followers and the niches they cover.
1. Nano-Influencers
Nano-influencers have the smallest audiences, typically no more than 1,000 to 10,000. They target the narrowest niches in most cases, but their followers are also among the most loyal.
44% of businesses today prefer to work with these influencers over others because of their combined loyal followings and cost-effectiveness.
An example of a nano-influencer could include an individual who focuses on personal training and their fitness journey. Many of these influencers in this particular niche have a small but dedicated following of fitness enthusiasts who are likely to purchase the same products as their favorite influencers.
2. Micro-Influencers
Micro-influencers comprise the majority of influencers, making up 47.3% of them. These influencers have around 10,000 to 100,000 followers with a fairly established online presence on their respective platforms.
Like nano-influencers, this category often focuses on niche interests and can help businesses save money on influencer marketing campaigns while getting results.
Many lifestyle, fitness, and fashion influencers fall under this category, offering helpful tips to their audiences while also promoting various brands and offerings.
3. Macro-Influencers
At the higher level, there are macro-influencers with about 100,000 to 1,000,000 followers. They’re highly established and are considered among the most authoritative individuals in their niches.
While they might cost more to work with than nano or micro-influencers, they’re better for highly targeted influencer marketing strategies than mega/celebrity influencers while reaching wider audiences than smaller influencers.
4. Mega Influencers
Mega or celebrity influencers sit at the highest level with over 1,000,000 followers. They have the biggest influence over audiences, often serving as trend-setters in their industries.
Think big personalities like MrBeast, whose YouTube presence has developed a following of over 300 million subscribers. Many well-known actors, fashion icons, and other celebrities also qualify as celebrity influencers.
These influencers will cost the most to partner with, but it can be worth it if you want expansive brand exposure across millions of potential customers.
What Businesses Need Influencer Marketing?
After asking “What is a social media influencer?” you may be wondering whether you’ll benefit from an influencer marketing strategy.
The following are some industries that can see real results with influencer marketing strategies.
1. Ecommerce
Many ecommerce brands benefit from influencer marketing, as they can partner with influencers who could promote their products and services.
For instance, an influencer could make a video showcasing the quality of your product along with the process of ordering from your ecommerce platform.
2. Fashion and Beauty
Businesses in this industry will find no shortage of influencers with small to large audiences.
3. Health and Wellness
People often follow influencers for advice on health and wellness, including guidance on buying the right health products.
For example, you could partner with a fitness blogger who can show how your products contribute to their health regimen and keep them physically fit.
4. Tech
5. Food & Beverage
Want to promote your food or beverage products online?
Influencers could produce videos reviewing your products, including texture and flavor profiles, while including a promo link for people to buy those products at a discount.
6. B2B
Platforms like LinkedIn can connect you with professionals for B2B influencer marketing.
An example here could include a live video stream with a popular LinkedIn personality who can promote your B2B products or services in the process.
7. Franchises & Franchise Development
If you own a franchise, influencers could help promote it as it grows.
For instance, an influencer could shop at one of your locations and record a video of the experience, relaying everything from the quality of your offerings to customer service.
8. Lead Gen
Influencers could also help lead gen companies by engaging with their services, showing in a detailed testimonial how they were able to attract more followers or customers through a lead generation strategy.
9. Healthcare
An influencer partnership could promote a healthcare company’s various health products with video reviews. If you own a healthcare practice, an influencer could also review their experience with your staff and any treatments offered. Or you could sponsor an influencer who will advertise your products or services.
10. Dental Practices
Influencers could partner with dental practices to promote their facilities and services. For example, an influencer might have a dental practice as a sponsor while offering tips for dental visits and dental hygiene.
11. Financial Services
Financial advisors, banks, and other professionals or institutions might work with influencers in the finance industry. An example could include a partnership between a finance influencer and a financial advisory business with an in-depth promotion differentiating the company from competing advisories.
12. Insurance
Sponsored content can also work for insurance companies, as influencers could create ads promoting the need for insurance and how your company can provide superior coverage.
13. Home Services
Popular influencers could enlist your services when undergoing a home renovation or upgrade, conveying how your services helped give them the desired results with “before” and “after” footage of the project.
14. Automotive
Dealerships, auto body shops, and other companies in the automotive industry might also sponsor automotive influencers. Influencers could simply promote your business or detail their purchase of a vehicle or auto part or particular services.
Types of Influencer Marketing Strategies
As you discover how to create an influencer marketing strategy, there are several types of campaigns you can use.
If you’re wondering how to get influencers to promote your product or business, here are some ideas:
1. Sponsored Content
Sponsored content could include videos, photos, or blog posts promoting your brand or specific offerings. The best way to create sponsored content is for an influencer to promote you in a way that doesn’t feel scripted or forced, allowing the influencer to use their own language and persona in the promotion.
2. Affiliate Links
Bloggers often include affiliate links in their content to promote companies or specific offerings, with a commission of the sale going to the influencer.
3. Discount Codes
Influencers could also include discount codes, often when promoting sponsored content in a video or audio format. Influencers may repeat the code and include it in a description. Again, a commission of each sale would go to the influencer.
4. Contests & Giveaways
You could partner with influencers to promote contests or giveaways involving audiences. For example, an influencer could offer a free product from a sponsor to a random commenter or subscriber based on engagement, such as through branded hashtags.
5. Posting Influencer-Created Content on Your Own Channels
Influencer content could function as user-generated content that you can then republish on your own channels. In the process, you would save time and money on content creation with invaluable assets to reuse across platforms.
6. Brand Ambassadors
If you establish long-term partnerships, influencers could serve as brand ambassadors, i.e., spokespeople for your business. This partnership could last as long as years with the right relationship, and people will come to associate your brand with the influencer over time.
Mistakes to Avoid With an Influencer Marketing Strategy
When learning how to work with influencers, there are some mistakes you’ll want to avoid, such as:
1. Choosing the Wrong Influencers
One potentially big mistake is to choose the wrong influencer for your partnership. Be sure to target influencers in a niche related to your industry and who fit within your budget. An agency can help connect you with the ideal influencers through in-depth research and develop a solution that’s both effective and affordable.
2. Lack of Clear Agreements
Always establish clear terms and agreements with your chosen influencer. Agreements should include the type of language used to promote your brand and the length of the partnership. An influencer marketing agency can help establish agreements and contracts to avoid potential issues down the road.
3. Overlooking Authenticity
You might be tempted to include a script for influencers to read, but this often isn’t the best approach. People familiar with the influencer’s language will likely tune out if the person is blatantly promoting a brand they might not believe in, whereas using natural language and their familiar personality can ensure promotions come off as authentic.
4. Ignoring the Right Analytics
The analytics you track with influencer marketing software should correspond to specific goals. For example, track KPIs such as clicks and views when measuring brand awareness, while conversions and sales should be your focus if you want to make a profit with your influencer marketing strategies.
Influencer marketing agencies will have the tools and knowledge to help you track what matters most to gauge performance.
5. Failing to Disclose Sponsorships
Sponsorships should always be clear in partnerships. Influencers should clearly mark sponsored content visually or with an audio introduction like, “And now a word from today’s sponsor.” Doing so could help prevent potential accountability issues while also helping directly connect your brand to the influencer.
Influencer Marketing Software
There are plenty of influencer marketing tools for you to use. The following are some potential influencer marketing software options for helping find influencers and measure your campaigns’ performance:
A social media marketing agency can help you make the most of these and other influencer marketing tools to boost your influencer marketing strategy.
FAQs About Influencer Marketing
Have more questions beyond, “What is a social media influencer?” The following are some helpful FAQs to give you more insights into what influencers are and how influencer marketing works.
1. How much does influencer marketing cost?
How much is it to collaborate with influencers, exactly? The answer will depend on the popularity of the influencer and the kind of agreement you have. For example, it will likely cost significantly more to partner with a celebrity influencer for a single promotion than it will to work with several nano-influencers in long-term relationships.
2. How do I measure the success of an influencer marketing campaign?
Using various influencer marketing tools, such as analytics platforms, you can measure the results of your campaigns against your goals. Keep in mind that your goals will directly impact the metrics used to track success.
3. What platforms are best for influencer marketing?
In discovering how to build an influencer marketing strategy, you’ll find many platforms available. Some of the most popular include Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest, ideally with highly engaging visual content.
4. How do I avoid influencer marketing scams?
Influencer scams are out there, but here are some effective ways to avoid them in developing legitimate partnerships:
- Check the influencer’s history, including previous posts and sponsored content
- Find out how many followers the influencer has and their engagement through comments
- Look for verifications on platforms like social media that confirm the influencer’s legitimacy
Get the Most from Influencer Marketing Campaigns With Ignite Visibility
Want to get the best results with influencer marketing? Ignite Visibility can equip your business for long-term success with the right approach. We’ll also provide you with a host of other social media and digital marketing solutions to help you grow your online presence.
With Ignite Visibility backing your brand, you can:
- Identify the best influencers based on niche and budget
- Develop pitches, agreements, and instructions to facilitate effective sponsorships
- Use a variety of influencer marketing strategy types, from sponsored content to discount codes
- Integrate influencer marketing into the rest of your online marketing efforts
Get in touch with us today if you’d like to learn more.
