What is Influencer Marketing in the first place? In this type of marketing, the focus is basically on influential people instead of the target audience. It identifies people who have influence rather than the potential buyers. Over the last five years, Influencer Marketing has become very popular, becoming the fastest growing and effective channel of marketing. Even though there have been cases where the influencer has mishandled his/her responsibilities and botched the reputation of the firm, but ideally if you hire a Gigi Hadid or David Beckham for your company, your sales are going to reach the stars!
But in reality, Influencer Marketing is much more complex and you need to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset to get things straight. There are few points we would like you to keep in mind:
- Make sure your Influencer is the right fit
Instead of choosing someone who is immensely popular, you should go for someone who belongs to the same field. Also someone who doesn’t engage in hate speech and someone who isn’t rude to the media. - Finding someone who has real interest in your product
You would want to invest in someone who actually uses your product or service, rather than someone who doesn’t have a vested interest in your company. For example, if you were brand selling sports shoes, you should not go for a footballer who wears some other brand while playing. You need to find someone who uses your product and gives the world a much real feedback. This way, you know exactly what they’d tell their audience behind closed doors when you’re not around. When you invest in someone to work with you, you need to make sure the person is on the same page; if he understands what your company aims to achieve. It is important for you, as a leader, to give him an imagery, to get to see and understand your vision. So check for compatibility. - Understand the difference between depth and reach
Just because an Influencer has a large following, it does not necessarily mean they have the attention of all their audience, i.e. it doesn’t mean they are successfully reaching to all of them. So don’t get mesmerized by their follower count, instead analysis the engagement posts. You can also try out micro-influencers; Micro-influencers tend to have a very engaged following that is genuinely interested in their content. - Give away creative freedom
Allow the Influencer to use his/her personality, giving them full creative control while they are promoting your product to gel with the audience. - Track and analysis your campaign consistently
Look into your Google Analytics and check your referral traffic for any large increase in sales. Did your own social profiles see increased followers and engagement?