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In recent years influential marketing has undergone both expansion and democratization. More name brand companies are turning to influencers to create more authentic storytelling. In effect, this has become the digital version of word of mouth advertising and businesses large and small are cashing in.
With the advent of blogging and social media, influencers can reach people on exciting new levels, but it has also changed who qualifies as an influencer. Individuals who blog about food, clothes, pet products and children's toys have developed huge followings and now qualify as influencers. To take advantage of these shifts, an influential marketing campaign must have specific elements.
Obvious though this may sound, many people start an influencer campaign without a clear objective of what they want to achieve. Creating an influencer campaign is time-consuming so if you go down this road, you want to have a plan for a destination.
- Increase Brand Awareness
- Drive Traffic to Content
- Boost Online Sales
- Increase Mobile App Installs
- Promote Seasonal Purchases
Use your goal as an endpoint and create a campaign around it.
If you market your business, you should have this information at hand but, depending on the scope of your influencer campaign, you may need to make adjustments. Start with:
- Where do they live?
- Which demographic groups are you trying to reach?
- What social media platform do they use?
- Who do they view as "experts" on the topics you want to promote?
Once you've reviewed this information you can
that will effectively connect your brand to this audience.
Create a pool of potential influencers by conducting online searches and scanning popular forums. Use analytics to identify trends on related topics and read posts to see who everyone is talking about. Once you've identified a few influencers, don't be shy about asking them to give you additional names.
Narrow your list by
. For relevance consider:
- What topics they discuss. Read several pieces of their content and review their comment section to assess their message.
- Whether their audience matches your target regarding age, gender, and location.
- If their personal brand a fit for your business brand.
If you find they have relevance to your target audience, determine if they have influence by reviewing their numbers including:
- Recent engagement rate: What is their average number of likes, shares, and comments over the last three months?
- Engagement growth rate: Is it growing and how fast?
- Comments: Are the comments real or spam (e.g. "#follow4follow")? Are they positive or negative? Do they reflect an audience that recognizes this person as an influencer or just someone with an opinion?
Use this information to invite select influencers to participate in your campaign.
Unlike traditional marketing, this is
. You are inviting influencers into the process, and you will not have complete control over what they will say or do. To manage the contributors, create guidelines that include:
- Timelines
- Deliverables
- Content Limitations (topics, word count)
- Expectation of Results
Remember that you want to use the influencers to promote your goods or brand. The influencers want to use this opportunity to expand their audience and raise their level of perceived authority. You must strike a balance, but do not lose sight of the fact that you brought this group together to serve your needs, and everyone else's should be secondary.
The most common deliverables of influential marketing pieces is a series of quotes to be used on a website, on a blog, or a compilation blog where the selected influencers present their opinions on your chosen topic. An excellent example of a way to implement influencer marketing is
. What makes it a great example is it:
- Groups like influencers together.
- Provides a narrow topic for the influencers to address.
- Allows each influencer to promote their website and share social media links.
- Engages the reader.
- Is aligned to be optimized and equipped for social media engagement.
Capitalize on your deliverable by tweeting,
, instagraming, pinning, and posting it. You should expect to convert some of the influencers' followers into your customers, growing your brand as you achieve your marketing goals.
Influential marketing can create buzz for your brand or drive business to your website. Marketing efforts are compounded with each influencer you invite to join your project, and you can capitalize on their followers. This process can be challenging but, if done well, the results are worth the effort.
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