When you think about influencer marketing, the first thing that comes in your mind is usually celebs and other popular people from the field of acting, sports or politics. While these people are truly influencers but they all have one fundamental issue. They are all very difficult to reach or they are too costly to hire.
On the other hand, smaller but more effective and niche based popular social media icons have risen who have taken the whole concept of influencer marketing to a totally new level. These social media stars have a very dedicated audience and since such influencers communicate and discuss a lot with their followers, when they add content on their timeline it gets a lot of interaction from their followers.
All these things are positive signals for various brands and businesses. Thus influencer marketing has become a very big trend and is being used heavily to sell products and services online.
Here, we will discuss the various influencer marketing tips for promoting a business.
1. Leverage the entire network of the influencer: Most influencers are also bloggers who maintain blogs in multiple locations. If the influencer in question is an Instagram star or a YouTuber, chances are that they are active on multiple social media networks. Even if their following on other social networks is low, it is still a good idea to leverage all of their social reach.
Sometimes, by not asking you might miss out on several marketing channels, for example the influencer might have an active email list on your niche but since you haven’t asked for it, you might miss out on their newsletter promotions. Do note that it might cost extra for such type of promotions but when you buy in bulk, you can always expect discounts.
2. Provide images, info graphics and other creatives: Influencers are good with marketing and they usually make their own designs when they start promoting your content or business. But do note that an influencer isn’t usually a designer and they might not have an actual designer on their team. However, as a businessman and an entrepreneur you have your resources.
You don’t even have to create these designs because chances are that over the years you have already created many info graphics and other promotional creatives for your business. Simply re-use them by giving those to your influencer so that he can use it in your promotions. Even if you don’t have something ready, it is still wise to get something created, rather than start the promotional work without enough graphics.
3. Let the influencer plan the marketing content: Most businesses have various departments that manage every aspect of their work flow. In such a situation the person in-charge of the content along with his team will create the content. This content might not be an exact fit for the influencer or his network, but since the influencer does not have a role in content creation, he can’t help it.
If the influencer is directly involved in content creation, he can create content that specifically targets his audience. Such content helps a lot in brand building, connecting with the consumers and getting the maximum out of the influencer’s reach. If the influencer is paid for creating the content, even after the end of the campaign, the influencer is likely to keep sharing the content.
4. Develop a story around your brand: Every brand has a story which is either told or untold. If no one has heard your brands story then chances are that you haven’t told it yet.
Sit with your influencer and discuss your brand’s story in detail. Most stories are good, which starts with how the idea of your business started and took the shape of how things are now. Get a good writer to write the story with complete attention to the details. Once your story is ready, let the influencer plan its spread.
5. Include multiple influencers in your Campaign: Successful campaigns are a result of marketing at different levels. Such co-ordinated marketing efforts require more than one influencer. To make this work, one needs to hire multiple influencers and target several social media networks at the same time. The same campaign and the content have to be promoted on YouTube, ticktok, Instagram along with several other networks to make it work.
It is also important to time such campaigns well, especially if a particular festive date or event is involved.
6. Let your audience communicate with your influencer: Having some influencers to share your content isn’t enough. The influencers need to interact and communicate with your audience and your customers. One of the best ways to do this is to run an AMA session. Pre-plan a date and time when your influencer is going to be online, then during that time, let your customers ask questions to your AMA guest influencer.
Such AMA sessions can be run on YouTube, Instagram or even Telegram group chat. Even Twitter chats are good places to host AMAs or simply such it like a regular twitter chat which is equally effective.
7. Display Influencer Testimonials: Testimonials are always best when you display them on your website. No point posting the testimonials on some inside pages of your website where no one will bother to read it. The best place to display these testimonials is the front page of your website. Let people see how the influencers are recommending your projects. This way people’s trust in your business will grow further.
Influencers are popular people and everyone easily recognize their faces. When you get such people to recommend your brand, use their text along with your images and make a good quote from it. Then, not just put it on the front page but also actively share it across the social media.
8. Explore mutual benefits with the influencer: Influencers like to get paid for their time and effort. Let that be the priority of the hire and once their pre-decided work ends, it is time to discuss the road ahead. Ask the influencer if it is all right to run an ad campaign on Facebook featuring their testimonials and recommendation. See if they are happy to do a sponsored post about yourself on their blogs and YouTube channel. There are always plenty of things that can be done as a mutual collaboration and such relation lasts longer than just money. When it comes to influencer marketing, the possibilities are huge and we have only just scratched the surface. In time, more and more brands will directly collaborate with niche influencers and use their influence to promote their brands and businesses.