Award winning guide to running an influencer campaign
Over the last 12 months, we've seen a huge rise in clients wanting to know about influencer marketing. Whether it's marketing managers hearing of the 'craze' and wanting some for themselves, or those looking to dip their toe in a relatively new form of marketing.
Of course getting influential people to help sell your product or service is nothing new, however, the wave of social media has changed the rules somewhat. This article looks at how to be successful at influencer marketing...
Influencer marketing was the hot topic in 2017 and its continued growth in 2018 shows it really is here to stay.
The perfect influencer is a bit like a unicorn – hard to find but guaranteed to add a touch of magic to anything he or she touches.
According to Entrepreneur, influencer marketing:
- Has an extremely high ROI ($6.50 for every $1 spent according to a recent Tomoson study)
- Is growing faster than any other marketing channel
- Provides quality customers likely to spend money with your brand over time
Despite report after glowing report listing its benefits, some marketers still have reservations about dipping a toe in the influencer marketing pool.
Those new to the idea might worry that influencer campaigns are expensive or difficult to manage. Factors like these are particularly relevant when you’re a new brand, small business or nonprofit. In fact, influencer campaigns can get great results with a next-to-no-budget – provided you do your homework.
Why do some influencer campaigns fail?
- Heavy-handed sales tactics (e.g. too many posts about the product)
- Poor targeting (reaching out to people who are unlikely to be interested)
- Disingenuousness (when the posts sit awkwardly on the influencer’s social feed and it is clear they aren’t genuinely interested in the product)
Posts and campaigns that snag on any of the above ultimately lead to the brand and the influencer losing credibility with the audience. This is why good influencers are choosy about who they work with.
For the right influencer, money and/or gifts will probably not be the deciding factor. They might already be a customer, or be on the lookout for a product like yours to solve a problem. They might be interested simply because they think their audience will benefit from hearing about your brand.
The best-branded content or promotional posts blend seamlessly into the influencer’s social feed. People won’t think, “Zoella must be getting paid a lot to advertise those bedsheets” – they’ll think “Her bedroom looks so cute, I wonder where that bedding is from?
Conclusion
A campaign will be a huge success when you chose the correct audience and then look for who they were engaging with on social media, so many people I'd spoken too had fallen down at the first hurdle.