How do you choose an influencer for your brand, how do you find the best influencers that are online, and how do you make sure choosing an influencer will benefit your business?
But first of all, why an influencer marketing strategy?
Brands today use influencer marketing strategies to promote their products or services.
Many think it's easy to find a good influencer, but that's not always the reality.
Implementing an influence strategy is a sensitive procedure that requires planning and also good practices.
So, in this article, we offer you a complete guide on how to launch your own influencer marketing strategy and also what are the best tools to use to make your influencer strategy successful.
What Exactly Is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is the implementation of influence techniques in a marketing strategy.
Indeed, influencer marketing focuses on influencers and online communities to promote a company's products and services.
In other words, influencer marketing is the new way to market and target customers.
But why?
We are going to give you some numbers that will explain why you should opt for an influencer marketing strategy:
- Social networks have more than 4 billion active users in 2021. That said, social networks are becoming a great source of influence and data.
- The value of the influence marketing market exceeds $13 billion in 2022. There is then a great interest in influence marketing strategies.
- Marketers estimate that the budget allocated to influencer marketing will double in the next three years. Companies are therefore aware of the importance of influence marketing.
- 87% of buyers confirm that their purchase decision is made following influencer campaigns. Companies therefore have every interest in betting on influencers.
- 17% of companies spend 50% or more on influencer marketing.
Thus, we can notice that influencer marketing is advantageous:
- increase in notoriety
- better visibility
- greater retention of customers and prospects
- higher conversion of leads into customers
What is an Influencer Strategy?
Influencer strategy is the ability of a company to establish natural or organic influence without having to pay influencers.
An influence strategy is developed using one of two methods:
The direct method which consists of using the same tools of your company (social networks, mobile application, website, etc.)
The indirect method which consists of seeking collaborations either with collaborators in the field or by calling on influencers and brand ambassadors.
1. You As An Influencer (Direct Method):
Many companies do not prefer to be the face of their own influence strategies, when they have all the potential necessary to succeed.
Surprising isn't it?
Here are some reasons why you need to think about being the master of your influencer strategy:
- The content your business generates is a thousand times more engaging and professional than the content influencers will create for your product.
- Your company has an enormous know-how which is not explored! Now is the time to take matters into your own hands.
- No influencer knows your target audience better than you.
Thus, it is important that you are the best influencer for your brand.
2. Opting For The Influencer Service (Indirect Method):
The indirect method is as important as the direct method for the influence strategy.
In fact, the two methods are complementary.
If you succeed in becoming your own influencer, it's time to redirect your audience to other platforms.
Why?
Because you have already established your credibility and therefore, people who follow your account or read your articles have more confidence in what you say.
So, redirect their interest to other platforms:
- They can write recommendations on Google.
- Share your posts on other social networks.
- Recommend your website to their friends.
However, that doesn't mean you should neglect other types of influencers.
On the contrary!
It is important to target the right people and find partnerships with them. They will help you build your "customer advocacy".
But above all, focus on your strategy and clearly define your objectives.
The Various Types of Influencers:
There are indeed 4 types of influencers:
- Nano-influencers.
- Micro-influencers.
- Macro-influencers.
- Mega-influencers.
1. Nano-influencers:
Nano-influencers are those with fewer than 10 social media followers.
They are often very engaged with their community and have a more authentic influence on consumers.
Small brands must therefore rely on this category of influencers to build solid relationships with customers.
An example of a nano-influencer is Kalan Laws that offers educational content.
2. Micro-influencers:
Micro-influencers are those who have between 10 and 000 social media followers.
They are more plentiful and cheaper to hire than big influencers, making them an attractive option for small businesses.
Additionally, they often have a much higher engagement with their community and can therefore provide you with credibility.
An example of a micro-influencer is Alina Gavrilov who is a fashion influencer.
3. Macro-influencers:
Macro-influencers are those who have an audience between 100 followers and 000 million followers on social networks.
They have a strong influence and their voice is heard. Moreover, they have a significant impact on consumer decisions.
Companies must then rely on these types of influencers to maximize their influence strategy.
Among the macro-influencers, we find the Instagrammer JERICHO who is a lifestyle influencer.
4. Mega-influencers.
Mega-influencers are those who have an audience that exceeds 1 million subscribers on social networks.
They also have a considerable influence on consumer decisions.
These influencers are difficult to woo because they receive a lot of business proposals.
However, if you manage to get their cooperation, it can be very beneficial for your business.
Among the mega-influencers, we can find Whitney Simmons who is a sports influencer.
The Steps To Implementing An Influencer Marketing Strategy:
1. Define your campaign objectives
Determining your objectives in advance is very important because it will allow you to choose the right influencers for your campaign.
The objectives can be varied: increase sales, expand brand awareness, make yourself known to a new audience,...
It is important to define SMART objectives (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound).
The more specific your goals are, the more you will know what your needs are.
For example, consider:
- The target audience: To know which influencers to contact.
- The type of message to broadcast: To know which platform to use. An influencer marketing campaign on Instagram is different from one on YouTube.
- Desired visibility: To know what type of influencers you need.
2. Analyze the environment
The environmental analysis is an important step for the influencer marketing strategy.
You need to determine the factors influencing your industry and the opportunities and threats this presents.
Influencers have a strong influence on consumers, which means they can have a significant impact on your business activities.
It is therefore essential to choose appropriate influencers according to your sector and your audience.
3. Define your budget
Once you have your goals well defined, it's time to set your budget.
As with any marketing strategy, the budget will vary depending on the objectives and the target audience.
Remember that investing in an influencer campaign doesn't just mean spending money: you can also invest time if you have the necessary skills in-house.
It is important to keep in mind that prices can fluctuate depending on the influencers chosen: the most popular ones tend to be more expensive.
4. Connect with influencers
The first contacts are fragile. They must be maintained with care.
Influencers have their own agenda and do not respond to all emails. Here are some tips to maximize your chances of achieving them:
- Be clear, concise and specific in your request.
- Say who you are and what you do.
- Research the influencer thoroughly before making your request.
- Add a personal touch to your email.
- Be patient and persistent.
5. Choose the right influencer based on your campaign goals
Depending on your objectives, it is important to choose the appropriate influencer for your marketing strategy. influence marketing.
If you want to drive traffic to your site, it's best to choose an influencer with a lot of social media followers.
On the other hand, if you are looking to obtain qualified leads, it would be more advantageous to collaborate with a person who has a good reputation and who is credible with his community.
6. Establish a contract with the influencer
The contract is essential to define the terms of the collaboration between the company and the influencer.
In particular, it must specify the objectives of the campaign, the duration of the partnership, the allocated budget and the elements to be made public.
The company must also be attentive to the social networks used by its target influencer: if it is active on Twitter, but not on Instagram, it will have to adapt its strategy accordingly.
7. Track your campaign performance
Once your contract is established and the campaign has started, it is important to track performance.
This will allow you to assess whether the campaign succeeded in achieving the defined objectives and, if necessary, modify your strategy accordingly.
Influence measurement tools offer a variety of features that can help you monitor the effectiveness of your campaign.
These tools compare the total number of mentions of the influencers participating in your campaign with that of the target audience to gauge the overall impact.
8. Reward the adopted influencer
It is true that many influencers require financial compensation, but most of them prefer a reward in products or visibility.
So be sure to offer them what you can, and clearly define the terms before you start working with them.
It is also important to thank the influencer after a successful campaign.
Send him an email or contact him on social media to congratulate him and ask for his feedback.
This will show your commitment to collaborate in the future.
9. Analyze campaign results based on your metrics
To judge whether the campaign was successful, you must analyze the results according to your indicators.
These must be defined beforehand and correspond to your influence strategy.
For example, for a social media campaign, the metric could be the number of followers gained or lost during the campaign.
For a content campaign, it would be relevant to measure the number of clicks and/or the time spent on the pages of the site by visitors.
Tools To Help You Choose An Influencer:
1.Kolsquare:
Kolsquare offers a directory of more than 1 million influencers.
Also, Kolsquare supports you in making contact with influencers and implementing your influence strategy.
Their tool will also allow you to find the right influencers for your activity.
2. Yoo:
Yoo has more than 20 micro-influencers in its database.
These have been selected on the basis of their notoriety, their skills and the themes they cover.
Yôo also helps you in setting up your influence strategy by offering support and consulting services.
3.Reach:
reech helps brands find the best influencers for their marketing strategy.
With their Reech Influence Cloud service you can easily find relevant influencers for your product or service.
4. Influence4You:
Influence4You supports your influencer campaign completely, from finding influencers to analyzing the results.
They have an extensive database of influencers and also offer a full support service.
5.Hivency:
Hivency is more geared towards fashion and beauty influencers on Instagram.
Hivency is a platform that helps brands easily identify and contact influencers, as well as analyze and track their activity.
6. Upfluency:
upfluences specializes in influencer marketing on YouTube.
They have developed technology that allows advertisers to target influencers based on their audience and engagement.
Upfluence also offers tools to track the impact of influencer campaigns and measure performance.
7. Doctor-Like:
Doctor-Like is a platform that specializes in improving the performance of social networks.
If you can't find the right influencer for you, Doctor-Like helps you improve the performance of your account on social networks, such as Instagram.
Doctor-Like offers you the services of:
- Buying Followers for Instagram.
- Buying Likes for Instagram.
- Buying Views for Story, IGTV, Reel and Videos.
- Several other targeted services.
Conclusion:
Throughout this article, we've looked at what influencer strategy is, the different types of influencers, and the steps to set it up.
It's important to keep in mind that influencer marketing is not a goal in itself, but rather a tactic that should be incorporated into your overall marketing plan.
Moreover, this strategy often requires a lot of time and work to be deployed effectively.
But if you take the time to plan your strategy and choose the right influencers, you will be able to significantly increase your brand awareness and your sales.
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