With the rise of digital media, the popularity of influencers have skyrocketed to the point where a lot of brands clamor for these young individuals to endorse their brands and help improve their sales. But before we dive in, let us break down the basics.
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What exactly is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing involving product placements and endorsements from an influencer all in the aim of increasing product sales.
The difference between an influencer and celebrity and thought leader is that an influencer is an ordinary person from a humble background who manages to build a huge social media following by posting relatable content. A thought leader is sort of an influencer but the difference is that they are go-to experts within their field of industry with strong opinions about various aspects of their industry, which can often generate controversy similar to influencers and celebrities.
The reasons why influencers are that powerful is that the moment they reach that level of popularity, they can easily influence and impact the purchasing power of the audience within their chosen niche.
Sounds great right?
Now hold your horses. There are some things to bear in mind before approaching any influencer to endorse your product:
1 Choose an influencer that fits your brand:
Don’t just pick any random influencer to endorse your brand. Before you choose an influencer to market your brand, do some research into the influencer in question. Check all their social accounts and take note of their posts. Check whether that person’s brand voice is similar to your brand’s as that would make the influencer a more natural fit for your brand and not make your campaign look like a mere advertisement.
2 Thoroughly check their social media analytics
This step is very crucial as some social media influencers are known to buy fake followers which do not match up with their engagements. Ask for screenshots of their analytics and use advanced analytics tools like Google Analytics to do your investigation.
3 Check that their followers are within your intended target audience
Besides fact checking their metrics, do a thorough analysis on all their followers and take note of the demographics, locations of each follower before approaching said influencer. Some of their followers could be bots and they may not realize it.
4 Branch out internationally
Sometimes local influencers may not work as their pricing may be too high or their follower count is not what you expected. In that case, go international. MyHeritage DNA, which is an Israeli company, worked with a popular Irish YouTube channel called Facts and got a lot of success thanks to the majority of the channel’s subscribers who happened to be American.
5 Check Past campaigns
This part is the make-or-break moment for most influencers. Check their past campaigns on their various social media accounts and look at the products that they endorsed and see if it fits into your niche. If it does, then you have a clear winner.
Conclusion
Influencer Marketing can be fun but also challenging depending on how you approach it and the influencer in question. Research is a key factor here so take that into consideration and proceed with caution.