For anyone new to the concept, an “influencer” is a person or a dynamic group, that has garnered a considerable fan and follower base on social media or real life, with focus on a niche topic of interest. The tactic of influencer marketing (IM) is great for businesses to leverage and connect with a niche market and engage them with content that gains interest in their product or service.
While this strategy is now a worldwide phenomenon with businesses testing and trying new things in this marketing area, it is specifically efficient for small businesses, simply because of the affordability and an influencer’ reach to followers, who are essentially the business’ niche target audience. Which in past was hard by using traditional marketing techniques.
And most importantly, a positive testimonial from an influencer about a product or service, which they have used is bound to get noticed from followers too.
With advanced search engines and filtered options, identifying content, engagement and profiles that match your business ideals is possibly the easiest part of the process. What you must keep in mind, however, is that the number of followers, i.e., the reach, is not the only mark of a good influencer. A successful influencer is one who also creates engaging content, encouraging followers to revisit the page often. This list, however, is only the first step to finding the right influencer for you.
Leverage the platform or expertise of an influencer whose quality content you know will maximise awareness of your product. Deepen your relationships with those influencers who show curiosity and enthusiasm about your brand values and model. This not only helps to further determine similar interests and intent but is also a good way to gauge their style of engaging with their followers.
Start brainstorming ideas with the influencers, co-creating content, asking for quotes and sharing samples of your product for reviews. Build the trust by sponsoring influencers’ content or featuring their content on your page too. This will also help your product to get mention and create intrigue amongst the target audience.
There is a plethora of measures to track the results of your collaborations with influencers, but most important is to make sure your measurement metrics is aligned to your objectives, not governed by the drive to gain more followers and likes only, as those are somewhat superficial measures.
Affiliate links and promotion codes are also a great way to measure results; you can be sure that purchases through these links has directly brought followers to your page.
While going back to influencers with whom you have had successful collaborations seems like the most obvious point, try reconnecting with those from your initial list or finding new ones that match your criteria. The Influencer marketing spectrum is wide with up and coming up with content every day and it is important to see how influencers evolve on a regular basis.
Do remember it is simply not enough to create engaging content on your respective Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Twitter pages. Though Influencer marketing has proven to maximise potential for small businesses to reach their target audiences without the heavy investments, remember, engaging with influencers is as important as engaging with your followers; they are your brand’s advocates.
