This blog was sponsored by Socialfix
In today’s world, social media plays a very important role in our lives. Apart from that, marketers have also realized how to attract valuable customers through collaborations with various influencers on these platforms. Many brands across the globe now build trust with consumers and leverage trendsetters’ influence on their buying decisions. In this article, we’ll cover 5 things you should know about influencer marketing and reveal some tips and tricks.
What Is Influencer Marketing and Who Are Influencers?
Influencer marketing means working with influencers to promote your brand or specific products. Promoting the products can be done in several ways – from endorsements and product mentions to reviews and even interviews. An influencer is a person who has gained a solid follower base on social media like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc. The size of the following may differ depending on the niche he/she is operating in.
What Do Influencers Do?
So how exactly can a trendsetter help you? This really depends on the specific goals you’re after. They can, for example, link to your landing page or write a blurb about you or your product. Another way you can profit from working with an influencer is for him/her to contribute to your site/event/social media account or just to recommend your products to their audience. For example, this patriotic t-shirts company uses influencers to help promote their unique product line.
Where to Find the Right Influencers?
Hashtags
Try to search for hashtags that are relevant to what you do as a company. Think of at least 20 of them and go over tens if not hundreds of posts by different people. You should aim to find the one that suits your niche the best. This might sound tedious but it is a very effective way to find the right target audience.
Google Alerts
This is a great tool to find relevant influencers by keywords. Set up alerts for suitable terms (Google Alerts will display a results preview as you type). Voila! You will now start receiving notifications when someone posts something relevant to what you are trying to promote. Choose from the list of influencers and reach out to them for a promotion.
Blogger Outreach Groups and Platforms
Facebook has a lot of groups that are organized by interests – from motorcycle enthusiasts to postcards collectors and so on. Join as many relevant groups as you can and build relationships with the most active members there. The more groups you find, the better. Most importantly, don’t forget to give back!
There are also special aggregator and outreach tools like Pitchbox or Buzzsumo that help you build campaigns to target specific influencers. Depending on the software, there will be different setup processes for finding the right promoter. Just enter a few keywords, and the tool will scan the internet, turning up outreach prospects with contact details and authority info. It is important to look for those influencers with high domain authority and post engagement.
How to Evaluate Influencers?
When evaluating whether the influencer is going to bring you a positive ROI or not, keep the following things in mind:
Followers
This could be a tricky one. On one hand, you don’t want to invest your money into creating content that only a handful of people will see—that’s a waste of money. On the other hand, someone might have bought thousands of fake followers that are not even real and will also bring zero results. That’s why you also need to check how much people engage with this influencer’s content.
Engagement
How many likes does each post have? How many people left comments? What is the number of shares per post? These are the questions that you need answers to when measuring engagement.
Authenticity
Having tons of well-edited photos doesn’t mean it’s quality content. It has to be unique and resonating with the followers. Plus, it also has to reflect the personality of the influencer. Do you notice any patterns in the posts he/she is sharing?
What Are the Types of Influencer Marketing Campaigns?
Finally, let’s highlight the different types of influencer marketing campaigns. Influencers can:
- Organize a giveaway with your product
- Post sponsored content on their feeds
- Become your brand’s ambassadors and promote your goodies regularly
- Record an unboxing video of your product and share their ideas on how to use it
Conclusion
Influencer marketing can be a very powerful tool for boosting your brand awareness and driving more sales for your business. Now you know who influencers are and what they do. You also know where to find them, how to evaluate if they are a great fit for your brand, and what kind of marketing plans you and the influencer can develop. Congratulations! This is your very first step in learning how to get yourself into influencer marketing.
About the Author
Terry Tateossian is Founding Partner at Socialfix Media, a 15-year old agile and fearless digital agency based out of NJ, New York City, and San Francisco. Rooted in entrepreneurship, delivering data-driven, results-oriented strategies to clients looking for top agency talent, Tateossian spearheads client strategy, acquisition, and creative development. Always relationship focused, Tateossian utilizes aggressive growth strategies and leading-edge digital solutions, executed flawlessly to achieve maximum impact for the agency’s wide client roster. With a deep passion for the non-profit sector, Tateossian leverages agency expertise by volunteering time and individual skillsets to high-impact social causes and nonprofits.
