Strategy Guide for Influencer Marketing in 2021

Influencer marketing — it’s something we hear about all the time. When done well, brands expand their online following and generate a huge return on investment. When done poorly, the reputation of brands can come under an uncomfortable spotlight when the influencer themselves gets caught in controversy. Fortunately, the second example is rare, and most businesses enjoy a boost to their brand image after working with a modern influencer.

If you keep hearing about influencer marketing but don’t really understand how it works, you’re in the right place. In this guide, you’re going to learn how it works, the types of campaigns you can create with an influencer, and how to get started with this marketing technique. You no longer need to awkwardly smile and nod when others are talking about the topic!

What’s Influencer Marketing?

If we go back to basics, influencer marketing is all about working with so-called online influencers to advertise to consumers. Influencers are people with large followings on social media; this includes YouTube, Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, and other platforms. By choosing an influencer in your industry, you potentially appeal to thousands of new customers with an interest in your products/services.

The reason influencer marketing works comes down to the concept of social proof — the idea that people follow the advice and actions of others online. When choosing between YouTube tutorials, we choose the one with 200k views rather than 17 views. If more people have watched the first video, this suggests it has the answers we need. There’s no clearer example of social proof than with influencer marketing. The audience of an influencer listens to their opinions and takes their views very seriously, and this relationship is where a business can capitalize.

Is Influencer Marketing a Viable Strategy?

Compared to 2015, you’re right in thinking that influencer marketing is more of a saturated market today. Despite the many changes in the industry, consumers still follow influencers and are at the risk of pointing out the obvious, swayed by their perspectives.

However, getting influencer marketing right is harder than ever before. Now, consumers want to see authentic relationships between brands and influencers. A couple of years ago, social media platforms changed their rules so that all influencers needed to make sponsored posts clear. Consumers thought they were being used when influencers would advertise products without knowing a payment was involved between the influencer and company. Now that all relationships are clear, authentic content and engagement are critical.

As long as you can work with an influencer who genuinely loves the brand, there’s no reason why you can’t implement influencer marketing into your wider strategy. Be aware that consumers will soon work out when an influencer is only promoting products for money — in fact, not many influencers will agree to this type of relationship anymore anyway.

Types of Influencer Marketing Campaigns

If you thought working with influencers was a linear experience, this isn’t the truth at all. Currently, there are three types of influencer marketing campaigns you can try.

1. Traffic and Clicks

Firstly, you can push for clicks, traffic, and ultimately, sales. Ideal for YouTube, blogs, and Instagram Stories, lots of businesses choose this strategy to get people clicking towards the website and product pages. Therefore, you’ll need an audience with a knowledge of their pain points. They’re desperately seeking solutions when you show up as their savior. Not only this, but their favorite influencer is advertising your products which means that you must be good.

If people don’t convert the first time, try a retargeting campaign for all those who clicked through from a specific post without converting. Rather than using the product as inspiration, experts suggest using aspiration to generate results.

2. UGC

Short for user-generated content, this is a great way to fill the internet with solid content containing your products and brand. While traffic is perhaps best for macro-influencers, we recommend micro-influencers for user-generated content. Rather than asking an influencer to post to their social media accounts, UGC is often best positioned on the accounts of the company itself. While some use it on their website, others create ads based on user-generated content.

With user-generated content, it’s all about creativity and going further than with other campaign types. Of course, it’s important to remember the needs and wants of the consumer at all times.

3. Brand Awareness

With thousands of people following a single influencer (sometimes even millions!), it’s normal to want brand awareness from this relationship. This time, we’re looking to Instagram because it manages to find the balance between cost and ROI. If you choose to blog, the ROI is lower. If you choose YouTube, the cost is higher.

If possible, choose an influencer who not only has a large audience but an engaged one. Without engagement, the campaign may fail, and you won’t get the desired awareness. One method is to use Instagram for visually appealing content; by catching the eye of an engaged audience, the only thing left is for users to notice the product/brand.

Two important factors contribute to the success of a brand awareness campaign:

• It needs to be authentic and natural in your influencer’s feed
• It needs to fit in with your other branding materials

If the content isn’t on-brand, or if it looks like a blatant advertising post, most people will ignore the content no matter how engaging it might be.

Implementing an Influencer Marketing Strategy

Influencer marketing is more dynamic than many people give it credit for; sure it’s used for user-generated content, brand awareness, and clicks/traffic, but the success of any marketing strategy relies on solid foundations. How do you implement an influencer marketing strategy? Let’s take a look.

Step 1 — Choosing a Platform and Influencer

Research, research, research — this is just as important with influencer marketing than with any other strategy. First and foremost, what social media channel will allow you to achieve your goals? Will Instagram work best or are you relying on longer-form content? Should you choose an influencer with an audience on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or another channel?

After this, think about your industry. For those in the fashion and beauty industries, they rely on visual platforms and this is why Instagram shines brightest. Meanwhile, gaming brands may look for an influencer on Twitch, where gamers stream to large audiences.

As well as platform and industry, you also need to think about the type of influencer you want to attract. For smaller brands, it’s probably unwise pushing for an A-list Hollywood celebrity. Instead, you can probably achieve your goals with a following of 5,000 people. There’s time to scale eventually, but don’t push for an audience of millions when it isn’t necessary just yet.

The reason it’s important to choose the right influencer is that it plays a role in how much you spend. In 2017, somebody with 100,000 followers received over $750 for a single post. On the other hand, the cost was just $83 per post for somebody with 1,000 followers.

Things to consider when choosing an influencer include the following:

• What they’re currently posting (does it suit your style?)
• The size of their audience
• Their ideals and beliefs with topics in your industry
• The seriousness of their social media channels
• How frequently they post
• Their history with companies/brands

Step 2 — Set a Budget

Unfortunately, it’s far too easy to overspend on influencer marketing. Once you know the type of influencer you need, research an estimated cost and set a budget from here. As with paid advertising, you can’t just create your influencer marketing strategy and forget about it. Instead, pay attention to how things are going, whether the influencer is meeting deadlines, how much you’re spending, etc.

Step 3 — Optimize the Message

Most businesses utilize influencer marketing because they want to make sales or generate brand awareness. Yet, it’s not enough to know your objective on this broad scale. Instead, think about where you want to improve brand awareness. Does the company have a need to reach out to more younger people? Older consumers? The more specific your objective, the easier it becomes to optimize your message.

Don’t choose an influencer and shape your goals around them, start with your goals, and then find the influencer who fits this need exactly. Influencers exist in all shapes and sizes, so take advantage of this.

Step 4 — Track Performance

Finally, you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that performance tracking is the final step. How do you measure success with influencer marketing? This is an interesting question, and one way is to use a dedicated hashtag. When people use this hashtag, you can assume they’re using it because of the campaign. Alternatively, use specific tracking links and affiliate codes so that you can trace website traffic and sales back to their origin.

With this, you know everything you need to know about this valuable marketing technique!