How to use influencer marketing in 2021 ?

Influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways to expand your company’s reach on social media, increase your credibility in your industry, and your brand awareness.

An influencer isn't just someone with a high following or high engagement (even though this is important). An influencer is someone who has the power to influence their audience because of their knowledge, experience, and relationship with their following.

Sounds good, right?

Here are some stats that just shows how powerful influencer marketing is:

• Influencer marketing is expected to be worth $15 billion by the end of 2022 (Business Insider)
• 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations (Single Grain)
• 63% of marketers plan to increase their influencer marketing budgets in 2021 (Influencer Marketing Hub)
• Gen Z shoppers enjoy browsing and shopping from social sites, and 77% of them said they respond best to advertising that shows people in real-life situations (Entrepreneur Europe)

So, how can you use Influencer Marketing to your advantage?

1. Find the right influencers

• Using specific hashtags in your niche, search for content, and spot influencers you'd like to work with! You can also use tools like BuzzSumo, Followerwonk, and Traackr
• What is your audience on Instagram? (check your insights)

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• Is the influencer's following similar to the audience you want to target?
• Ask yourself: where are they based? where is their audience based?
• Check their engagement rate (socialblade.com) and value engagement over followers

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Youtube: Views > Subscribers

Instagram/FB: Comments > Followers

Twitter: Retweets, Threads > Followers

TikTok: Comments, Shares > Followers, likes

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• Do your research: how are they perceived in your industry? Is there any negative comment in their last 30 posts? How do people talk about them under other posts in the same industry? You need to know who they are.
• Now think: How would you bring them more value? What do they want? Some influencers are happy with free products in exchange of exposure, but most influencers will not collaborate with brands unless they are paid (it's their job after all!) The partnership has to be beneficial to both parties. Don't be afraid to talk to them, ask questions.

2. Define your goals

→ What do you expect from the influencer? Take time to reflect on your expectations before you jump on the collaboration!

What do you want to achieve as a result of this collaboration? Be as specific as you can.eg: make 500 sales on this specific product, or increase website visits by 10% within a month.

Once you are clear on your goals, discuss it with the influencer to manage expectations.

→ Make sure you can clearly pitch your idea, your goals for this collaboration. Most influencers will only accept to collaborate with a brand if it aligns with their vision for their page. They can say no if they consider your brand unethical, or if you don't have a great relationship with your followers for instance.

3. Track results

Giving the influencer a unique discount code isn't just about getting more customers on your website. It's also a great way to track how many people are buying from you through the influencer's campaign.

You can use an affiliate tracking program to track each sale by influencers (WP Affiliates)

Other metrics to track: shares, mentions, saves on your posts following the collaboration.Since you can't see Instagram insights on the influencer's account, you can use tools like Iconosquare (track mentions), SharedCount (shares), Mention.

→ Unlike a paid social media campaign, influencer marketing takes longer to see ROI. Also, you might not be able to 'measure' its impact. Users that are constantly reminded of your brand by two influencers in your industry might not purchase anything for 6 months. But they might do it eventually, and engage daily with your content. There's no way to measure these kinds of metrics precisely, but you'll see the impact over time.

4. Tips

→ Build a relationship with the influencer first - ideally, you want this influencer to value your brand and products so much that even when the collaboration is over, they still talk about your brand.

When they get asked product recommendations or simply engages with their audience, you want them to talk about you. This comes from building a relationship with the influencer. Show them you care about them too, not just their social media presence.(And this applies to you too, you should have no problem sharing their content, and talk about them on your social media)

→ Look for long-term relationships with the influencer. The first time a user gets exposed to your brand (through the influencer) they might not check out your page or buy from you straight away. But through repetition, and especially if they have a special connection with the influencer, they might actually follow you, buy from you, and become brand advocates.

→ Don't overlook Micro-influencers with 1,000 to 3,000 followers. They can also help you increase your brand awareness! Micro-influencers usually have a higher engagement rate, they have higher chances of building relationships with a smaller audience.

→ Give the influencer creative control: communicate your key messages and needs, but let them do their job. They are creative and they know their audience, they know how to convey a message perfectly adapted to THEIR audience. The more creative freedom you give them, the higher they will deliver. Making it fun for them is beneficial to you!

→ Make sure you get the rights to use influencer generated content on your platforms, websites, etc.

Conclusion

Influencer marketing can be really beneficial to your business and it continues to be a hot topic on social media. The key is to find the right influencer by taking into consideration: their audience, their relationship with their followers, and whether or not they would be a good fit with brand.

Try these tips, and let us know how it went! For more information, you can contact us Donutz Digital. We are experts in PPC, Google Ads, SEO and Social Media.

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