Influencer marketing is more popular than ever in 2020. 70% of Gen Y and Gen Z often learn about products they wish to buy through social media, and, according to Business Insider Intelligence estimates, Influencer marketing will be worth around $15 billion in 2020, up from $8 billion in 2019.  In this digital world, it means that if marketers aren’t utilizing influencers to advertise their business, they’re missing a huge opportunity.

Luckily, there are four tips that anyone can use to tap into influencer marketing and get their products endorsed by some of the most influential people in the world. 

TIP 1.  Plan, plan, plan!

Before you go finding influencers, you need to ask yourself a few questions. 1. What is my company trying to achieve, 2. how will we measure achievement, and 3. how will we achieve our goals? By answering these questions, you will set your company up for success in utilizing influencers.

 What is your company’s purpose? Is it advertising an event? Are you promoting a contest? Are you launching a new product? Whatever the answer may be, figure out your marketing needs and then plan on how influencers can help you fulfill your purpose.

 Next, we need to figure out how we will measure our achievements. This will help us determine how well our influencer marketing campaign performed in helping us accomplish our marketing goal. This could be something as simple as measuring the number of clicks an advertised link receives, how many times a post is shared, or even the number of visits to your website; make sure that these measurements are tied to your marketing and sales goals.

 Lastly, you need to figure out how to accomplish the goal you’ve set for your brand. You can achieve your goals by creating an organized and comprehensive influencer marketing campaign that encapsulates your purpose, target audience, and brand. 

TIP 2. Know your Audience.

If your product is unicorns and rainbows, a Harley Davidson biker probably isn’t the best choice of Influencer to market your brand. Nonetheless, it is crucial to understand what influencers fit with your brand and products. Luckily, you can figure this out easily by knowing who is talking about you on social media and what platforms they are conversing on.

 The first step is simple: figure out which platforms your customers are utilizing to discuss your brand. This will help you decide which social media channel is the best to target your influencer marketing campaign. In other words, if your brand has a lot of engagement on Instagram, you should utilize Instagrammers as your product’s influencers.

 If you don’t research and acknowledge where your potential customers live online,  then you could be wasting valuable time and resources targeting social media platforms that go unused by your audience.

 For example, if your company sells beauty products and your audience consumes Instagram content the most, it would not make sense to launch an influencer campaign on LinkedIn.

 After you find where your audience is engaging with your brand, realize who your target audience is. By identifying who your target audience is, you will then be able to research the hashtags they like, the people they follow, and the content they engage with the most. Finding themes amongst these categories will lead you to discover influencers that your target audience is motivated by.

 Just make sure to choose your Influencer wisely, as they can make or break your campaign. According to Morning Consult, the number one reason an individual buys an influencer’s recommendation is that “the influencer seems knowledgeable on the product, brand, or industry they are promoting.”

 Notice that much of your audience positively engage with a particular local blogger? It sounds like that is the perfect Influencer to contact.

TIP 3: Be Flexible.

While well-thought-out and researched marketing campaigns are necessary to launch your influencer campaign, you also require agility. Make sure you have a Plan B that you can pivot to, just in case your first marketing plan does not work out as planned.

 For example, if your influencer marketing plan requires five bloggers to post about your product, but one does not meet the deadline, what do you do? Hopefully, you have already prepared for this scenario by having a backup blogger ready to write a post before the deadline.

While this concept is simple, it’s crucial to have a fail-safe influencer campaign. You won’t want your marketing plan to derail due to something easily preventable. 

TIP 4: Show Emotion.

Do you want your content to go viral? Do you want your audience to remember your brand? Do you want your audience to care about your product? There’s only one way to achieve all of these aspirations, and that is to use emotion. 

‘Emotions’ aren’t just a hit song by Mariah Carey; they are also your ticket to a memorable influencer campaign. Emotional stories have power. They can make viewers discuss your brand for years. Emotional narratives give audiences a specialized attachment to your brand that will keep them intrigued for years.

 The best part about emotional narratives is that they do not cost any extra money to make. So long as you create a compelling story, develop a marketing plan, and find the influencers that are ideal for conveying your message, you will have a campaign that is worth more than any expensive ad. People are bombarded by bland graphics daily—make sure your content is something that they will remember.

 A perfect example of the power of emotional narrative is Nike’s ‘Make It Count’ campaign. Nike employed influencer Casey Neistat to create an advertisement that conveyed the feeling of their new Fuelband fitness tracker: “life is a sport. Make it count.” Neistat created a captivating video that encapsulated Nike’s ‘make it count’ branding. The video was so moving; it reached more than one and a half million views in just three days.

CONCLUSION:

As Influencer marketing becomes more and more popular, marketers must hone in on these top tips that make influencer campaigns successful. Without thorough planning, research, storytelling, and flexibility, your company’s time and money will be wasted on ill-fitting influencers and social media platforms. Make sure to leave a mark in the digital world by following these four simple tips for influencer marketing.