There has been a tremendous growth in influencer marketing, all thanks to the decline in the radio and TV viewership and rise of ad blockers on websites.

As a matter of fact, influencer marketing ruled 2017 and is going strong in 2018 as well.

And there is a proper reason behind it. As a consumer, you are more likely to trust a third party recommending the brand, than the brand itself. It would make more sense once you try to understand it in a personal context.

You are more likely to trust a friend advising you to try a shampoo from a new brand than the brand itself.

This is simply because you are able to connect with your friend and can rely on their recommendations. An influencer is nothing, but this friend, who can easily win the trust of people.

Thus, a marketing strategy revolving around influencers who recommend your products to their large fan following on social media channels is nothing, but influencer marketing.

But, Does Influencer Marketing Really Work?

Let’s have a look on a few stats.

• As per MediaPost, people between 18 and 34 years of age are more likely to prefer a brand recommended from an influencer
• More than 80% people trust recommendations from people they know, according to a 2015 Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising study
• Influencer marketing can drive incredible conversions. As per TapInfluence, brands can get 11x higher ROI on influencer marketing
• As per 2015 survey by Tomoson, for every $1 spent on influencer marketing, businesses are able to make $6.50, which is whopping!

Step by Step Guide to Running a Successful Influencer Marketing Campaign

Just contacting a few influencers won’t make your campaign the next big thing in the market. It is important that you take care of certain technical and marketing aspects before triggering off the campaign. Here is how you do it:

 

1. Underline your objectives

In order to run a successful influencer marketing campaign, it is essential that you are well-aware of your objectives. You should be very clear about the goal related to your influencer marketing strategy. Your goal might be to widen your audience reach, to enhance the number of views and engagements, to generate sales, or simply to increase supporters on your fan page – whatever it is, make sure that you are well-aware of it.

2. Select your social media channels

Next, once you have a clear set of objectives in your mind, it is the right time to select the social media channels you would want to run your campaign on.

The right choice of social media channels to a large extent depends on your target audience. Simply put, if your customer base is more active on Facebook than on Twitter, it only makes sense to run the campaign on Facebook for best results.

3. Discover your social media influencers

Here are a few tips through which you can get in touch influencers in your niche:

• Conduct a hashtag search and find out who all are already doing posts for your brand
• Do a keyword research
• You might ask for recommendations from others
• You might take help of tools like BuzzStream, BuzzSumo, and Google Alerts

4. Find a credible influencer for your campaign

This is the real task. As already said, influencer marketing is all about influencers. Thus, make sure that your chosen influencer aligns well with your brand image. Here are a few ways through which you can do that:

• Check their social media profiles
• Filter their profile for any bad reputation online of offline
• Make sure that their view points and personality resonate well with your brand
• Ensure that they write well-researched posts and undergo a real communication with their fans at least once in a while

While the number of followers of an influencer definitely play a vital role, you should not make your choice solely based on that.

5. Select the right influencer for your brand

As already discussed, influencer marketing is all about influencers. Thus, it makes sense to try hard in order to select the right influencer which is in line with your brand and whose personality resonates well with your goals.

When deciding on the ideal influencer, you should first think about your niche and all the traits that you would like your influencer to have.

Here are a few attributes you should focus on while selecting the right influencer:

• How popular is your influencer on the concerned channels? What are the average likes, shares, and comments on their posts?
• Do the genre and niche of your influencer matches with your brand? Needless to say, if you are a travel brand, you should hire a travel blogger/vlogger. Further, if your niche is fitness and your target audience are women, you should target women bloggers and vloggers
• Which is the right type of influencer for your brand? You should be willing to choose between celebrities, micro-influencers, industry experts, brand ambassadors and the like. For instance, Amitabh Bachchan is definitely the right choice, but he might be out of your reach. This is where micro-influencers come to your rescue. Micro-influencers generally have 10,000 – 100,000 followers and can help you connect with your audiences easily.

If you are feeling way too much overwhelmed with all the involved nuances, it is always best to hire professional digital marketers who would do it for you.

6. Sync your publishing schedule

It is always a best practice to sync your publishing schedule. For instance, new blog posts, events, and PR should follow the same lead as that of your influencer marketing campaign. This is perhaps because building your marketing strategy around influencer marketing campaign would help you in attaining the best results.

7. Audit the content before publishing

Make sure that the content that goes live from your influencers’ account is in line with your brand image and campaign requirements. Proofread the content properly before publishing, and you might even choose to get the content written from your in-house copywriters and distribute the same to your influencers.

However, it is always a best practice to ask for influencer’s views on the content. This is because they know what grabs the attention of their followers better.

8. Measure your outcomes

As with any other marketing strategy, it is imperative to track the results of your influencer marketing campaign in order to measure its success.

The best way to do so is by glancing back at your objectives you defined in step 1 and analyses how far have you come from there.

• Is there any progress in your performance KPIs?
• Which posts performed well, and which posts didn’t yield expected results?
• Additionally, you might also track metrics like engagement per post, conversions per campaign, ROI, cost per impression and so on.

9. Reward your influencer

Do not forget to reward your influencer for their time, efforts and the loyalty towards your brand. Rewarding your influencer such that they feel loved would help you nurture your relationship with them. Although, money is a great idea, be cautious and approach them accordingly. You could also offer them commissions, discounts, and products – whatever works for them.

Your Turn

We’re sure, by taking a clue from the advice laid out above, you would be able to execute a successful influencer marketing campaign and would be able to reach a large number of audiences, boost your brand’s visibility and spread awareness about your product.

However, this might not be as easy as it seems to be. And for everything tough, it is always best to hire professional influencer marketing campaigners who would do the task for you!

Got any queries? Sound off in the comments below.