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A type of strategy 93% of marketers are using nowadays to achieve their business goals is influencer marketing.
By definition, influencer marketing is a form of digital marketing that uses social media personalities and brand ambassadors to market goods or services online. These influencers typically have a large base of followers and promote products to them through various social media channels and other platforms like blogs and podcasts. Doing so provides organizations with plenty of benefits, including higher ROI, online credibility, and increased brand awareness and reach.
But, in order to reap all these benefits, businesses must know how to properly utilize influencer marketing. Here is our guide sharing five tips on how to launch a successful social media influencer campaign for your company.
Establish your goals
Establishing your goals is essential when utilizing influencer marketing. You need to determine whether your main objective is to increase your following base, raise brand awareness or gain a competitive edge.
For example, companies that are using Instagram as their main social media marketing channel usually aim to increase their reach and engagement. If this is the case for your organization, you can easily achieve these goals by working with an influencer or a third-party service to gain a larger following.
For optimal results, make sure you look for the best Instagram growth services to help you get real Instagram followers organically, who are genuinely interested in your brand.
Know Who You Are Influencing
When utilizing influencer marketing in your marketing campaign, knowing who you are influencing is very important. To do this, you need to first understand your audience by learning more about their needs, interests, and preferred content types. This will help you define your audience persona and coordinate your marketing actions with their profile.
Also, don’t forget to identify your influencer channels because the platforms you use for your influencer marketing campaign will depend on your audience. For example, TikTok is the best channel for reaching Gen Z, while Instagram is a better option for millennials.
Find the Right Influencer
Another important step you need to complete is to find the right person to promote your brand. You need to find someone who is relevant and unique and shares your brand values because that will be the only and most effective way to achieve your business goals.
Some criteria you can use to make an informed decision when searching for your influencer include:
- The influencer’s audience and niche;
- Their engagement rates;
- Their relevance on social media and how your product or service will fit in their profile;
- Their authenticity and creativity with content;
- Their publishing frequency.
Set up your Marketing Budget
Before partnering up with an influencer, it is important that you set up your marketing budget. Many influencers are looking for financial compensation for their time, so you should decide how much you are willing to spend on your influencer marketing campaign. The key is to choose an amount you can comfortably afford and also your influencer is willing to accept. Some things you can consider when budgeting for an influencer marketing campaign include:
- The length of the campaign;
- The type of content you will produce;
- How many influencers will you need;
- Production, distribution, and other associated costs.
Track your results
To find out whether your influencer marketing campaign is working, you should track its success. Doing so will give you valuable insight into whether you need to improve anything or change your tactics to achieve your business goals.
To track your metrics there are plenty of ways you can measure your campaign’s progress. For example, you can use tactics like coupon codes and unique links to monitor the results from each individual influencer if you are working for multiple ones on the same campaign.
You may also use UTM parameters to track the number of visitors an influencer sends to your website and measure how much engagement your campaign receives.
Incorporating a dynamic QR code generator into your tracking efforts can provide an additional layer of data and convenience for both you and your influencers.
Final thoughts
Influencer marketing is undoubtedly a powerful marketing tool to promote your brand online. It involves working with a social media personality or a brand ambassador with a large following base and will help you market your products or services online.
For optimal results, follow the tips from our post and launch a successful influencer marketing campaign for your organization.