Looking to grow your small business and up social media engagement? In that case, influencer marketing is the way to go. Social media makes up a large percentage of the total media we consume on a daily basis, so why not harness the power of social media influencers to get the word out about your company.
Influencer marketing can sometimes be intimidating or difficult to understand, especially for growing businesses. Luckily, we are here to break down influencer marketing step by step so you too can utilize the most powerful ecommerce marketing services currently available.
In this article, we’ll guide you through how to plan a campaign, finding the right influencers, and ultimately increasing your engagement and conversion. Let’s get started!
If you haven’t heard of influencer marketing, you have definitely seen some examples on your social media accounts. Any time an influencer, no matter their size, makes a branded post or announces a brand partnership they are participating in influencer marketing.
Influencer marketing is a partnership between a brand and an influencer who is willing to market the brand. Your company’s goal can be anything from increasing brand awareness to directly increasing the number of conversions on your ecommerce site. Whatever your marketing goals, influencer marketing is a great way to quickly and authentically reach a large audience. Influencer marketing has grown exponentially in the last few years and shows no signs of slowing down.
Before we start discussing how influencer marketing works, it is important to note that influencers are everywhere and have a wide range of followings. It doesn’t matter your industry or budget constraints for ecommerce marketing services, you can still work with influencers to grow your brand.
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When you’ve decided you want to try influencer marketing as a part of your strategy, you should start by setting a goal and creating a budget. For small businesses without a marketing department, this may seem overwhelming. However, if you are just starting out, it is best to keep it simple. Start by setting a specific goal that can be easily measured once your campaign has ended. For example, your marketing goal could be to increase online awareness, grow your follower count, and increase online conversions by 50 percent. These numbers will be different depending on the product or service you offer and it’s average cost.
Once you have established your budget, it's time to start exploring the fascinating world of influencers.
Social media is inundated with influencers and promotional materials. That means that truly anyone can become an influencer once they have amassed a dedicated and authentic audience. Many mistakenly believe that all influencers have millions of followers and are constantly being approached by brands for collaboration opportunities. However, many influencers fall into the “nano” or “micro” influencer category, which is a great place to start for a small business. Before we get too far into choosing the right kind of influencers, let's break down the different influencer tiers and how they work:
Once you have determined the level of influencer you want to promote your small business, it's time to start your research.
Now your influencer marketing campaign is really coming together! The next step is sometimes the most difficult — finding the right influencers. If this is your first time using influencers to accelerate your brand, we have a few tips to make sure your marketing strategy will be effective.
Many people do not know where to start looking for potential influencer partners apart from Instagram, TikTok and other platforms. Luckily, there are several services available that allow you to search, validate and and even send messages directly to influencers that most closely match your brand identity.
Once you’ve selected your influencers, it is time to reach out and see who is the best fit for your next campaign. There is a subtle art to reaching out to influencers, and we are here to teach you how to appropriately contact potential social media ambassadors. When you are writing your message whether via email or direct message, it is important to remember these tips:
When it comes to validating your influencers, the first step is to analyze their content. Is their content high quality? Will the partnership make sense? Can I trust this person to seriously promote my small business? Once you have answered these questions and reached out to a few influencers, it is time to ask for their metrics. Influencers are ready and willing to share their specific metric and engagement with brands, especially if there is payment involved, so don't be afraid to ask. After all, you need to make sure that your promotions are reaching the right audience.
Now that you have settled on an influencer — or several, to jump start your campaign — it's time to go over the details of your agreement. First, you should decide the type of content you want to be posted. Is this an instagram post? A story? A blog? Or even a TikTok? It is up to you to decide which platform and which medium works best for your goals. Once you and your chosen influencer have decided on the kind of post, it is time to discuss compensation. If your budget is limited, you will probably start by exchanging products for digital content creation. However, if you have set aside a budget, you can pay larger influencers to make dedicated posts. Remember, the more followers they have, the more compensation is expected.
Once you have ironed out the details regarding content and payment for your influencer partners, it's time to launch your campaign. It could be as simple as one Instagram post going live, or it could be promoted posts, or even several influencer posts going up at once. Whatever the situation for your small business, once your posts go live, it's time to start seeing the benefits of your influencer marketing campaign. A great way to keep track of your engagement is by using affiliate links, otherwise known as UTM codes to see how much site traffic is directed from the influencers. Later, you can use this data to find out how your campaign is performing.
Now that your campaign is over, you should determine if you reached your goals from the very first step in this article. As previously mentioned, you can use UTM codes to track exactly how much engagement came directly from your influencers. If you fall short of your initial goals, you can always try a different strategy for your next campaign. Regardless, it is important to learn from any mistakes and use your knowledge to build even better campaigns in the future.
No matter how big or small your business, Responsival has the tools you need to run a successful influencer marketing campaign. Beyond influencer marketing, Responsival provides ecommerce marketing services and development for our diverse set of clients. Let’s work together, schedule a discovery call with our sales team today!
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