Even if you don’t know anything about online and social media marketing, if you have accounts in any of the numerous platforms, we can guarantee you that you have come in contact with influencer marketing. Do you know what we are talking about? The most popular people on Instagram pop up on your feed wearing designer clothes or promoting different brands.
There is no need to emphasize how important this advertisement strategy is. Just think about how many people around the world one influencer can reach and you will understand why all major corporations invest a lot of their funds into this strategy.
If you are thinking about starting this campaign to promote your business, then there are some things that you should know. If you aren’t even familiar with the basics of influencer marketing, our advice is to hire a marketing service company like fifthwalldesign.com that is going to help you. So, let us give you some tips and let’s discuss some trends.
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Find a partner
The first thing that you have to do is to build a trusting relationship with the influences you want to hire. Since basically, they are going to work for you (you are going to pay them a certain sum of money every time they post a photo or video of your product) it is easy for company managers to forget that they are actually your partners.
The only way to ensure a long-term effective collaboration is to treat them as a partner instead of another marketing tool. Present them with your plan at the beginning, tell them what you expect from them, and discuss the compensation. However, keep in mind that not everyone expects to be paid. Some of them might want to get your products or use services for free. Just keep an open mind.
Also, you should know that companies are encouraged by the positive ROI to increase the budget for this type of marketing, so you should be prepared to invest a significant amount of money. Conduct research and you are going to learn how successful thus important this type of advertisement has become.
Unique content is still important
It is a natural course that some trends lose their value over time, while new ones appear. Still, one that has managed to stay the most important one is authenticity. The only way to attract new customers and sell them your merchandise is to provide them with one-of-a-kind content.
This is true for every advertising strategy, and influencer marketing is no different. According to A&E, you should come up with the type of ads and posts you would like to use and find users accordingly. When it comes to the type of posts, you have to know that videos are still the best.
Many influencers will agree that videos are the most popular aspect of marketing, because not only do they allow you to capture the essence better than photos, but they are also more engaging for the followers. Social media platforms understand the importance of these which is why they have created the IGTV that allows people to post longer videos on Instagram.
Don’t focus on like
Well, actually, you won’t be able to focus on these and use them to measure the success of the campaign. Why? With the new update of the Instagram app, the likes disappeared. In reality, they are just not visible to the followers, but users are still going to be able to see them.
Some might say that this is going to have a bad effect on marketing, but we disagree. Instead of concentrating on the number of likes, influencers will have to post content that is going to gather more comments and in order to achieve this, they will have to take the game to the next level.
This is another criterion you should use when looking for new ‘partners’. Opt for users that generate a large number of quality comments on their posts. This means that they are no strangers to their followers and that they have great communication with them.
What about micro-influencers?
According to surveys, users that have less than 100k followers are actually the most successful since they generate the highest engagement rates. It is believed that this is true because their connection with followers is the strongest. Simply put, they communicate with a smaller number of people which means that they are able to respond to most of the comments and DM messages.
This is not only beneficial for companies that want to hire these people since they are going to save some money, but it is also great for those users that want to try to build a reputation as an influencer. They can simply start by posting about local businesses and stores and increase the chances of being noticed and eventually employed.
How to choose the right person?
Due to some of the reasons that we have already mentioned, brands have a larger pool of potential partners. In order to ensure the best collaboration possible, it is expected that companies are going to choose influencers that share their values.
You cannot go with an unpredictable person if you are targeting a conservative audience. Instead of going for the user that has over a million followers or choose someone simply because you can afford them, you should observe their profile for some time before contacting them.
Try to learn as much as you can about their behavior in general but especially towards the audience. You want to make sure that your products are advertised by the right people.
Influencers are only going to grow
Without a doubt, this is something that is going to happen for sure. Managers understand the power of this type of marketing which is why even small start-up companies are investing in it. On the other hand, taking into consideration that nano-influencers are quite significant, more and more people opt for trying their luck in this career.
The number of agencies that specialized in this type of marketing is increasing and also it seems that every month there is some new platform that gains popularity quickly. What’s more, they constantly work on upgrading their features which is simultaneously affecting and improving influencer marketing.