Influencer Marketing? Really?
Yes, Really. Imagine if you wanted to sell a new kind of cookware, and you had a celebrity chef (Hello, Mr. Fieri) on social media explaining how this new line of cookware could make your time spent in the kitchen more enjoyable and produce better tasting, more appetizing dishes? Mr. Fieri would definitely have a following of food lovers and they would be interested in what he has to say on this subject. Your brand would have instant recognition and credibility, and this would dramatically influence your ramp up time for social media and digital campaigns.
Here are a few suggestions (rules are so absolute and limiting) on how to put together an effective and valuable influencer marketing campaign:
Influencers are social media “mavens” and high visibility bloggers. To find the right influencer for you, first determine the best social channel for your product. Soft drinks might use SnapChat, a baby carriage manufacturer may use Instagram or Facebook, etc. and look for the biggest names in those arenas, preferably those that have a potential connection to your product or service. Ie. A mom of younger kids for the baby carriage. Also, research hash tags to find out who has the most posts and related content for those hash tags. Be sure to also be conscious of the relevance of the audience of any potential social media influencer. Social Media followers can be a commodity in today’s market, so the influencer’s length of time in the social media platform and the geographic distribution of those followers are key indicators of the relevance of the audience.
You should include blogging in your influencer marketing campaign as well. Sites like Inkybee, BlogDash, and GroupHigh are excellent sources to reach out to bloggers that can be qualified by their organic traffic rankings, audience demographic and engagement per post.
How do you recruit influencers into your campaign? Most of the larger influencers are all about being paid for endorsements, and most of these resources are outside of the budget of the average online advertiser. Some may only want free product and will endorse only products that they actually use and are enthusiastic about. Some influencers are willing to trade customer lists and influence posts in related product verticals. The real find is an influencer who is passionate about your product-that can take time and effort, but is well worth the end result.
This is a step by step guide for implementing your influencer marketing campaign:
Identify and Qualify Influencers:
This is doing your homework. Find influencers that make sense, track their activities and product mentions via social media and blogging before reaching out to them.
Create a Plan:
Define your budget, write up a campaign brief and establish your goals and how you plan to pay or trade for reaching those goals.
Recruit your Influencers:
Create a pitch letter that is in your voice, and explains your passion for what you do, as well as how that passion will translate to the influencers audience. Influencers remain Influencers by providing valuable information. Be valuable.
Track Results:
Track your influencer marketing campaign results. Make sure that site visits and conversions are tracked, as well as level of customer satisfaction with the product from the customers who purchase from you as a result of your campaign.
Eric Van Cleave is CEO of Zenergy Works and zentiv agency, located in Santa Rosa California providing services from SEO to product packaging, marketing and website design and construction.