Here at lotus823, we often recommend that influencer marketing be built into our clients’ public relations and social media strategies. It can be a great tool for building a loyal community of brand advocates that celebrate who you are and what you do.
Hit the bull’s eye
First and foremost, you need to identify and understand the target audience(s) of your product or service and make sure that the influencers you select really resemble that market. Just because a potential influencer has a strong social media following or is well-known in a particular community, doesn’t mean that they are a perfect fit for your brand. If their values don’t align with yours, you are missing potential customers.
Cultivate a meaningful relationship
When identifying, qualifying, and engaging influencers, it’s important to do your research. Use keywords to search and vet potential partners. Then, get on the phone with them (if you can). A lot can be said about the way a person presents themselves simply through their tone of voice. It’s also important to realize that influencer marketing is not a one-way street. Incentivize your partners, but don’t bribe them. Make the experience worth both of your time.
Lay it all out on the table
When planning your campaign, it’s important to identify what exactly you want out of these influencers. Do you want regular social media posts? Contributions to your blog? Content for a case study? Laying out what your plan is and then making these expectations clear to your influencers is key.
Draft up an agreement and make sure all parties are aware of what your relationship means and what you expect from one another. This can include everything from program guidelines to frequency of communication (both to you and publicly across their channels). Keeping an open line of communication will also ensure that an influencer with a bad experience doesn’t go rogue and damage your brand.
Measuring Success
It can be difficult to measure the results of an influencer marketing plan, but keeping a record of impressions (social media impressions, page views, website traffic etc.) can give you an idea of its success. Sales won’t always skyrocket right off the bat, but word of mouth marketing, which can result from aligning with influencers, will cause increased brand awareness among your potential customers, and that’s the goal!
Do you have any tips for developing an influencer marketing campaign? Tell us!